Sithulpawwa rock temple monastery is an edifice dedicated for religious worships in the country of Sri Lanka. In order to reach the temple, you have to travel about 30 from Yala village. The name ‘Siththul pawwa’ was derived from ‘Cittal Pawwa’. It meant ‘The hill of the quiet mind’. The temple beholds a great possession since 2000 years ago.
Certainly, there were about 12000 arahant monks in residence around the 1st century. There are 2 temples positioned on the high stunning rock. From that ‘Maha Sithulpawwa ‘rock is 400 feet in height. The Sithulpawwa Dagoba, perched on the top of the rock can be toured with steep stair cut into the rock. This ancient type was built by King Kavantissa (100-140 A.D). Besides the dagoba is an intricate cave complex. This cave temple is 67 feet high and 30 feet long. The caves are made to provide shelter and accommodate reservations for Bhikkhus. The wall paintings at the main cave belong to Anuradhapura era. Due to the excavations, few Brahmi inscriptions were found. The inscriptions proclaim that the villagers donated money to erect and maintain Sithulpawwa monastery around the 2nd century. It is believed that the temple is an enormous shrine for devotees as well as a center of Buddhist scholarship. Climbing towards the rock is a little bit hard but well worth. Due to the high elevation, a fulgent spectacle of Hambanthota district can be from the top of the rock.
Make sure to bring a bottle of water with you, perhaps you may get tired if you traveled here in the afternoon. Being located on a part of Yala national park, the temple perimeter is almost surrounded by a thick forest. Simultaneously the area is a kingdom of wild life animals. Yet any harmful incident done by the wild animals hasn’t recorded recently.
The Vihara geya (Image house) is still safe keeping some remaindering frescoes and paintings. You can travel for a number of rock caves, Poya geval (chapter houses), Bodhi gara located at the temple complex. You will find several ruins o erected dagabos. Not only that but also a number of ponds decorated with ‘Nelum’ flowers are on the rock. To the east Ruins of an ancient sermonizing, the hall can be seen. Usually, the temple gets crowded with pilgrims on full moon poya day. Many foreign travelers are consented to visit the monastery every day.