Arankele Monastery in Sri Lanka

Huge trees, creepers and stone pillars scattered around Arankele speak of an intriguing civilisation, a bygone era, while rare species of insects, found in abundance, tell of a rich, biological heritage. However, Arankele is not an old kingdom or a palace which once sheltered a mighty king. The whole forest was designed for another purpose.It was built to shelter the Buddhist monks who spent their time in meditation to reach the ultimate state a human can ever reach.

The vast forest land was scattered with patanagara or apartments designed for meditation, bathing ponds providing hot and cold water, a hall designed for walking and a two kilometre walking path designed for the monks to meditate while walking.The special characteristic of the patanagara is that each was surrounded by a water canal perhaps to keep the interior of the apartments cool. Some apartments stand alone while some are twin apartments. The twin apartments are connected together via a stone bridge.

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