The Sunday Leader By Kumarasiri Hettige
Venerable Rahula Thero, The largest Na forest in the island, The biggest Pink Quartz deposit in South Asia and Ruins of an ancient Buddhist place of religious worship
It is indeed doubtful that there is anybody in Sri Lanka today who is not aware of Asia’s biggest Pink Quartz Deposit belonging to the pre-historic era — 550 million years ago — and the biggest Na forest located in Sri Lanka.
This national treasure that has by now attracted the attention of the whole world was a mere forest reserve in the Mahaweli H-Zone just two decades ago. It was then known as Galappalle Lunugal Debala and Na Jungle. At a time when the present National Namal Uyana was being stripped of her natural beauty by the relentless onslaught of the illicit timber dealers and hunters, this area attracted the attention of Venerable Rahula Thero residing at a close-by temple at Ranawa as a result of ‘sonic’ information passed on to him in a dream.
When the Ven. Rahula Thero visited the site described in the dream he was able to catch sight of not only Na Trees but also some ruins of an ancient Buddhist place of religious worship, including a bodhi chamber, dagoba, statues etc. A special object that caught the eye of Ven. Rahula Thero, who has a natural inclination to mother nature, was a stone receptacle filled with water that was carried in a small stream flowing along the forest.
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