Dambagasare Sri Sumedhankara Thero was a Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka who re-discovered the Seruvila Mangala Raja Maha Viharaya temple in 1922.
[1] In early 1922 young Sumedankara Thera set sail from Dodanduwa,Galle, Southern Province and arrived at Muttur, Trincomalee by a maha-oruwa [1] (local coaster).
He soon undertook the task of restoration with the patronage of a few Southern Sinhala Buddhist traders in Trincomalee, Mudliyar D. D. Weerasinghe and the Archeological Department.
The temple is among the sixteen holiest Buddhist shrines Solosmasthana in Sri Lanka and thought to contain relics of four Buddhas: Kakusandha, Koṇāgamana, Kassapa and Gautama.
[2] He is the teacher of Kiribathgoda Gnanananda Thero, the founder and chief advisor of Mahamevnawa Maha Sangha Sabha,Mahamevnawa Buddhist Monasteries & Shraddha Media Network.