[2] Located around 12 km south to the Colombo city, near Dehiwala - Maharagama road, the temple attracts hundreds of devotees daily and is famous for its annual Esala Perehera festival which usually takes place in the month of August or September.

[4] There is literary evidence in ancient texts such as the Sinhala Bodhivamsaya which records that the Bodhi-tree in Bellanwila as one of the thirty-two saplings that sprang from the sacred Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi at Anuradhapura planted in the 3rd century BC.

In the Kotte period Buddhism rose to great heights with the royal patronage of King Parakramabahu VI (1412-1467), who was the last native sovereign to unify all of Sri Lanka under one rule before the European colonial invasions.

One day in 1850, when he was traveling by boat along the Katu-ela stream towards Pepiliyana, it is said that he heard the sound of drums from a nearby thicket.

The thirty-two saplings including "Bellanwila Bo Tree" are only seven days younger to Sri Maha Bodhiya.

[9] The Esala festival of Bellanwila, which is usually held throughout a week in the month of August or September in every year, draws many devotees from the district of Colombo and from other parts of the country.

[10] Bellanwila esala festival includes Dhamma Desana sessions (religious sermons) which draws many devotees to the temple.

Invoking of blessings starts with a week long Pirith chanting, which is followed by the processions that parade in the neighborhood of Bellanwila during the nights of Esala festival.