Elmaldeniya Raja Maha Viharaya is a Raja Maha Viharaya located in the Matara District of the Southern Province of Sri Lanka. It belongs to Kotapola (Pitabeddara) Divisional Secretariat Division. After going three miles on the Akurassa-Siyambalagoda road, turn right at the Elmaldeniya intersection and walk another two miles on the Elmaldeniya temple road to find this temple.
According to legend, King Saddhatissa (137-119 BC) built this temple.[1] When the king was traveling from here, a temple was built to offer sacrifices and some of the people who came with the king stopped here. The village has been born from that group. At present, Elmaldeniya is a paddy field. In the past, it was a dense jungle. Even though there is no village, this place must be passed by when traveling from Pitabeddara to Mullatiyana and also when going through Akurassa, Opagoda, Urumutta to areas like Panakaduwa, Diyadava, Siyambalagoda. The two had white flowers. Because it had white flowers, it was known as
Elmaldeniya.
Legend also has information regarding the destruction of the letter on the rock near the temple. The guardianship of this temple was held by the people who were stopped by the king and the surrounding villagers cultivated the lands here. The guardians of the temple demanded their share when the harvest was taken away. Even though he refused to give it there, when he showed the inscription, he had to give the part of the temple. It is believed that the angry villagers destroyed this inscription.From Awasa Gei, one can reach the cave
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temple by going down the hill for about a mile, crossing a beautiful stream and climbing the hill again for about a mile along a flight of stairs. At a distance of about 300 meters from there, there is a pagoda which was built in modern times. Behind the pagoda is an illegible inscription. The cave temple has a reclining idol and standing idols as well as idols of Kataragama and Vishnu. The walls of the caves have paintings that are characteristic of the Kandy period, but it is clear that they are not very old. Below this cave, two small sized caves have deity statues. A cave temple, it has a 12 cubit reclining Buddha statue and two standing statues. These are the statues of Kandy tradition. Along with the cave temple here, the Avasa house has been declared as a monument by the Department of Archeology.