Ambakke Dewalya

 The Ambakke Devalaya is located in the Central Province of Udunuwara in the Kandy District and is famous for its ancient Sinhala wood carvings.  Daulagala is a junction on the highway from Peradeniya to Embilmeegama.  The shrine is built in the middle of a village with a paddy field about half a mile down the road from there to the river.

                                  

  The Ambakka Devalaya, located in the Ambakka Gnarama, is home to these precious carvings along the length of the temple, known as the Hewitt Pavilion.  The house is 53 feet long and 25 feet wide and consists of 32 wooden pillars which were used for carving.  The Ambakke Devalaya was built in the late 14th century during the reign of Gampola, under the patronage of King Wickramarabahu III (reigned from 1357 to 1374 AD) under the patronage of a craftsman named Delmada Mulachari.  This shrine is most famous for its wood carvings.  Scholars acknowledge that "Ambakke has some of the greatest wood carvings in Sri Lanka."  It is believed that Goddess Henakanda Biso Bandara, who was the maidservant of King Vikramabahu, was attached to this devalaya.  There are various legends associated with the Ambakke Temple.  There are many superhuman folklore regarding Goddess Henakanda Biso Bandara.  According to folklore, she was once the queen of the king, a woman who was not a queen but a close associate of the king, and later became the queen of the god Kataragama.  The Ambakke Devalaya is dedicated to Goddess Kataragama as well as Goddess Henakanda Biso Bandara.  That is the emotional world behind this work of art.  In the architectural elements of a temple building, more than five hundred carvings represent a variety of art forms.  That is, by adapting the surface as a space for carving the entire elements of the house, such as wooden pillars, beams, beams, planks, etc.  This group of wood carvings is one of the greatest historical works of art in the country.