Polonnaruwa Vatadage

Located within the ancient city of Polonnaruwa, it is the best preserved example of a vatadage in the country, and has been described as the "ultimate development" of this type of architecture.

[1] The Culavamsa, an ancient chronicle, mentions that he built a circular stone shrine to hold the tooth relic of the Buddha.

This is contradicted by several ancient sources of the island, including Rajavaliya and Poojavaliya, which mention that it was built by Nissanka Malla.

However, according to the studies of Arthur Maurice Hocart, Nissanka Malla only renovated an already existing building and made some additions such as the entrance and outer porch.

[6] Both these relics were important objects in ancient Sri Lankan culture, and would have made the Polonnaruwa Vatadage one of the most significant and venerated buildings in the country.

It was not until 1903 that the Department of Archaeology began excavation work at the site under Bell, who noted that it was "only a mound of earth" at the time.

[12] It is the best preserved example of a Vatadage in the country,[2] and is somewhat similar in design to those belonging to the Anuradhapura period, especially Thuparamaya and Lankaramaya.

Four elaborately constructed doorways lead from it to the upper platform, which is surrounded by a brick wall on its edge.

[13] Employing citizens in construction and repairing works was done in ancient Sri Lanka as a form of tax payment.

[11][20] These decorational elements were commonly placed at entrances to monastic buildings of ancient Sri Lanka,[21] and historians believe that sandakada pahanas depict the cycle of Saṃsāra in Buddhism.

[22] According to Bell, the carvings on the sides of the upper platform are "unrivalled, whether at Anuradhapura or Polonnaruwa, and probably in any other Buddhist shrine of Ceylon".

[14] The straight, symmetrical stone columns found in the Polonnaruwa Vatadage are quite similar to those seen in buildings of the Anuradhapura period.

[13] However, another theory is that the Vatadage did not have a roof, and the stone columns were used to hang lamps, curtains or Buddhist symbols.

[3] The stupa in the middle appears to have been of the Bubbulakara (bubble shaped) design commonly seen in Sri Lanka.