Showing posts with label Sita Eliya. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sita Eliya. Show all posts

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Sri Sita Amman Temple and Ashoka Vatica, Sita Eliya

Sri Sita Amman Temple and Ashoka Vatica, Sita Eliya

The Sita Amman Temple, located halfway between the highland village Sita Eliya and the Hakgala Botanical Gardens, has become the most venerated of all Ramayana Trail sites in Sri Lanka, because it is believed to be the place where Sita lived most of the time of her captivity on the island of Lanka. After she refused to stay in Ravana's magnificent palace she was transferred to Ashoka Vatika or Ashoka Vana where she lived under Ashoka trees. It was here that Ravana's wife Mandodarim visited her and that Hanuman met her for the first time, identifying himself with the finger ring of Rama. Sita is said to have bathed in the nearby stream. There are remarkable holes in the rocks at the river bank believed to be footprints of Lord Hanuman