Girihandu Seya (also known as Nithupathpana Vihara[note 1]) is an ancient Buddhist temple situated in Thiriyai, Trincomalee, Sri Lanka.

[8] The stone made circular platform of the Vatadageya is opened to the four directions and accessed by flight of steps with guardstones (Muragala) and balustrades (Korawak Gala) showing the usual Sinhalese architecture.

The short prose inscription in the Vihara, written in Sanskrit, states that it was indited in the 23rd year of the reign of king Silamegha, Lord of Simhala.

It is said that the Chinese pilgrim Hieun Tsang had noticed the remains of two Stupas built over the hair relics, on his journey from Balkh to Bamian in Gandhara.

[note 6] The Pujavaliya, a 13th-century Sinhalese religious work definitely states that the two merchants Tapassu and Bhalluka built a Stupa, enshrining the hair relics after they went on a sea voyage and came to the island of Sri Lanka.

[note 7] Meanwhile, the Burmese Buddhists also firmly believe that the two merchants enshrined the hair relics of Buddha in their own Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon.

[21] The location of the Girihandu Seya, discovered by J.A Jamissghno, an Ayurvedic doctor from Ranasgalla village, was conveyed to Mr. Senarath Paranavithana in a letter