Hatadage

Anuradha Piyadasa - Google

Admire the perfect stone works of this ancient building, which is said to have been built in sixty hours to house the Sacred Tooth Relic and the Alms bowl of Gautama Buddha. It was once a two storied building where the relics were placed on the upper floor. One of the inscriptions on the walls suggests that it was built in 60 hours hence it was named “Hatadage”.

King Nissanka Malla was known for his architectural constructions and contributions to preserve Buddhism in Sri Lanka. He has been a heroic leader and was able to invade states of South India. He also made quite a lot of inscriptions about his virtues, and his contributions. Several of his inscriptions including the Gal Potha refers to Hatadage and it has been built in sixty hours. There is another belief that it was called Hatadage as it housed sixty different relics.

The two storey building was believed to have a clay tiled roof built on wooden rafters. However only the walls and ruined Buddha statues now remain. The interior of the shrine is made of red-bricks and the exterior is covered with rock slabs. The building also consists of moonstones, guardstones, statues and rock inscriptions.