Gandara (Sinhala: ගන්දර, Tamil: கந்தறை) is a village in the Matara District on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, 168 kilometres (104 mi) from Colombo.

[1] It was slightly affected by the Asian tsunami in December 2004.

Historically, Gandara belongs to the area called Ruhuna, one of the three kingdoms in Sri Lanka (Thun Sinhalaya).

The temple in the village was built by ancient kings and now is a popular sacred place among Buddhists in the area.

Gandara is on the Matara – Kataragama main road, which is served by the A32 highway.