NAGADEEPA RAJAMAHA VIHARAYA
NAINATIVU ISLAND, SRI LANKA
The Nagadeepa Purana Rajamaha Viharaya is one of the sixteen most sacred places of worship by the Buddhists in Sri Lanka. Pilgrims have been coming to the Nagadeepa since about the 1st century AC to worship at its famous Rajayathana stupa. The Rajayathana stupa was constructed by two warring Naga kings, Chulodara and Mahodara, at the site where Lord Buddha during His second visit to the country on a Bak Maha Amawaka Poya Day, five years after attaining Enlightenment, intervened and mediated in settling a dispute over the possession of a gem-studded throne. The precious throne was offered to the lord Buddha, was returned to the Naga Kings and was later enshrined in this Rajayathana stupa.
History records that the Nagadeepa Purana Rajamaha Vharaya was developed and reconstructed by pious kings, Devanampiyatissa, Dutugemunu and converted into a fully accomplished sacred place. During the period of Portuguese, Dutch and British all the Buddhist religious places were destroyed and the Nagadeepa Viharaya too has been subjected to it and Buddhists were deprived of worshiping these religious places.
In the year 1931 Ven. Randombe Somatissa Nayake Thero from Ambalangoda has visited this place and observed the ruins of the Rajayathana stupa and the Kiripalu Nuga tree and identified as the stupa constructed with the gem studded throne on which Lord Buddha has preached, and Thero then reconstructed this stupa with the support of donors to enabling Buddhists for their religious observances.
Praveenacharya Damma Kiththi Sri Venerable Navadagala Paduma Kiththi Tissa Thero the Chief Sanganayake of the Northern Province is the present chief Incumbent of Nagadeepa Purana Raja Maha Viharaya and he is a pupil of former chief Incumbent Rajakeeya Panditha the Late Most Venerable Brahmmana Watte Damma Kiththi Tissa Nayake Thero of Amarapura Nikaya.
The Nagadeepa Purana Rajamaha Viharaya is a shining example of inter racial harmony in Sri Lanka and this had been improved at various stages and ever since it has become the most sanctified place of worship by the devotees.
Naga Tribe
The Naga people were the aboriginal inhabitants, who ruled the coastal districts of mostly the Western and Northern Ceylon, particularly the Jaffna peninsula from the 6th century BC to 3rd century BC. The interchangeable names Nagar and Naka or Naga, meaning Cobra or Serpent were applied to and self-described by these snake - worshiping people.
According to the Mahavamsa the Nagas were a set of super natural beings whose natural form was a serpent, but they could assume any a form at will. There were three Naga Kingdoms as Wadunnagala (Kalpitiya) ruled by a Naga King called Choolodara, Samudra Naga Bhavana (Nagadeepa) ruled by a Naga King Mahodara and Kelani (Kelaniya) ruled by a naga King called Maniakkhitha and they lived as three separate Naga communities.
