Thuparamaya Dagaba

The Sapalama stupa is the first stupa built in ancient Sri Lanka. It is white and pure. It is the oldest stupa in Sri Lanka before it was destroyed, and it is very distinctive. The existing Du Pagoda was rebuilt in 1840 and is surrounded by granite floors and two rows of stone pillars. The historical legend of the pagoda is that in the 3rd century BC, Mahende, the son of King Ashoka of the Mauryan Dynasty in India, converted to Buddhism after preaching the Dharma, which opened the history of Sri Lanka's Buddhist country. The Dublam Pagoda was built by King Disa to worship the Buddha's collarbone relic. It originally had a "rice-field-like" shape and was transformed into a more conservative "bell" shape when it was renovated in 1862. It is 19 meters high and has a bottom diameter of 18 meters. Historically, the pagoda has been destroyed many times. The stupa is surrounded by a circle of slender columns at the top of the "vatadage", which can be said to be a special place for the stupa. These columns enclose the building in four concentric circles. Also impressive is the pediment of the Stupa, which is said to have originally had 176 columns, but now only 41 remain. Although some Sri Lankan scholars believe that these columns should be supported by conical wooden roofs, there are no archaeological findings to support this assertion. The dome no longer exists, only stone pillars are left with lotus flowers, lions, etc. carved on the top. There is also no evidence that the stupa was modeled after similar structures in South India. The stupa in South India is basically the model of all the stupas of the Sinhalese.