Visit Sri Lanka
Kataragama is a multi-religious sacred city as it contains an Islamic mosque within its temple complex as well. Kataragama is one of Sri Lanka’s holy places where Hindu, Buddhist and Muslims visit on religious pilgrimage. It is a large Complex with the ‘Mahadewala’ – Main Hindu shrine being the most important place. This shrine of God Skanda, the Hindu war God who is worshipped as the Kataragama Deviyo is venerated by pilgrims of all three religions. It is believed that King Dutugemunu the warrior king and Sinhala folk hero built a shrine here for worship of the Kataragama God in the 2nd century BC. There is also a first century BC Buddhist Dagoba – ‘Kiri vehera’ at this site. According to the legend, Lord Buddha, on his third and the last visit to Sri Lanka, was believed to have met the King Mahasena who ruled over the Kataragama area in 580 BC. Tamil Hindus of Sri Lanka and South Indian refer to the place as Kathirkamam and it has a famous Hindu shrine dedicated to Lord Kathirk