ANNURADHAPURA

The city of Anuradhapura is situated 205 kms away from Colombo in the north central province of Sri Lanka on Malwathu Oya. Founded in the 6th century BC, it was the capital of the Sri Lanka from 4th century BC to beginning of 11th century AD. Today this ancient capital of Sri Lanka has become sacred to the whole Buddhist world , with its surrounding monasteries covering a area of 40 sq kilometres and one of the worlds major archaeological sites.
According to Mahavamsa, the great chronicle of the Sinhalese, the city of Anuradhapura was named after a Minister called Anuradha who founded this area as a village settlement. He was one of the ministers who accompanied king Vijaya from India, who according to the tradition founded the Sinhalese Race in Sri Lanka.
It was king Pandukabhaya who made it his capital in the 4th Century BC. It was during the period of his grandson king Devanampiyatissa that the Buddhism was brought to Sri Lanka by Arhath Mahinda Thero, the son of Emperor Asoka in India. This was 236 years (middle of 3rd century BC) after passing a way of Load Buddha. From this point onwards a great civilization developed based on one of the greatest religions of South East Asia, Buddhism.