134 



JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XIV. 



ANCIENT CITIES AND TEMPLES IN THE KURUNEGALA 



DISTRICT, 



By F. H. Modder. 



XII.— Panduwas Nuwara. 

 The founding of the City. 



Hidden away in a secluded part of the district, about a 

 mile and a half to the south-east of the modern village 

 Hettipola, on the Wariyapola-Chilaw minor road, distant 

 about twenty miles from Kurunegala, lie the ruins of this 

 ancient city. Its antiquity is beyond all question ; but its 

 identity with Upatissa Nuwara, or that it was founded by 

 the king after whom it is said to be called, is open to doubt. 



The following extract from a Sinhalese history of Ceylon* 



supports the tradition that Upatissa Nuwara was built by 



the regent after whom it was first designated, and that the 



name changed into Panduwas Nuwara on the accession of 



King Panduwas Deva to the throne : — 



Panduwas Nuwara is said to be the oldest city founded in Ceylon 

 except Tammana Nuwara, which was founded by Wijayo, the first 

 king of Ceylon. The city Panduwas Nuwara was originally founded 

 by Upatissa, Prime Minister of Wijayo (505 B.C.), and was called 

 after him.f He reigned in it only for one year as sub-king and gave 

 it up to Panduwas, the nephew of Wijayo, on his landing in Ceylon, 



* Furnished by the late Samuel Jayatilaka, Mudaliyar, to the Hon. 

 P. R. Saunders, C.M.G., when Government Agent of the North- Western 

 Province, and included in the correspondence with Sir W. H- Gregory, 

 Governor, more particularly referred to below. 



f Upatissa Nuwara. President Marambe of the Village Tribunals of the 

 Dewamedi hatpattu, who has been at some pains in collecting- material on 

 this point, feels convinced that Upatissa Nuwara and Panduwas Nuwara 

 are one and the same city. He quotes from the Narendra-charitdwa 

 lokana-pradipihdwa that the former was built on the banks of the Beduru- 

 oya, and from the Mahdwansa that it was built on the Kadamba river, 

 and points out that Kadamba in Pali is equivalent to Kolom in Sinhalese. 



