Not far from Anuradhapura, only 13km away, Mihintale is another amazing buddhist site which will leave you a memorable souvenir. The distinctive characteristic of Mihintale is to be on the top of a hill with a 360° panoramic view on the jungle and rice fields. The place is ideal to admire beautiful sunsets on its dagoba and giant white Buddha.
Mihintale is what we can call the cradle of buddhism in Sri Lanka. Mihintale, also called "Mahinda mountain", is the place where Mahinda, an indian Buddha disciple, met the Sri Lanka king, Dewanampiya Tissa. The king was seduced by Mahinda speech an decided to convert himself to Buddhism religion, along with the rest of the island. This is how the first buddhism temple of Sri Lanka was built in Minhintale.
Mihintale is located on the top of a 346 meters high hill. On our way to the top through majestic stairs to climb, we had the nice surprise to meet pulpils dressed up in white uniforms, very cute :)
The top of the site is made up of four major attractions :
- a first white stupa surrounded by columns and monkeys
- a bigger white stupa reminding the white one of Anuradhapura,
- a giant white Buddha where people come to pray
- and the show highlight, a rock that you can climb to admire the diving sunset. The climb is not an easy thing, with steps from different sizes, sometimes no steps, just a rock with a handrail to help you. Some people dare to climb it with small children but I would not recommand it as safety is very limited or quite non existing. Otherwise, have fun, the climb is quite entertaining and the view really worth it. The way to the top offers an amazing view on the jungle.
Admire the transformation of colors during the sunset and the dance of clouds :)
- a first white stupa surrounded by columns and monkeys
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