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  • Dakkhina-vihāra

A monastery built by Uttiya, a general of Vattagāmanī-Abhaya, to the south of Anurādhapura (Mhv.Xxxiii.88; Dpv. xix.19). It was originally inhabited by monks from the Abhayagiri-vihāra, but later there was a schism by the Dakkhinavihārakā, as the monks of the Dakkhina-vihāra were called (Mhv.Xxxiii.98).

Amandagamanī-Abhaya built for the monastery the Mahāgāmenditank (Mhv.Xxxv.5), while Kanitthatissaka added a mantling to the thūpa and built a refectory on some land on the boundary of the Mahāmeghavana; he also constructed a road to the vihāra, and moved on to one side the wall of the Mahāvihāra in order to do this (Mhv.Xxxvi.12f). Vohāraka-Tissa erected a wall round the monastery (Mhv.vs.35) and Gothābhaya restored the uposatha hall (Mhv.vs.107). The thera Tissa, for whom Mahāsena built the Jetavana-vihāra, was an incumbent of Dakkhina-vihāra, in this context called Dakkhinārāma (Mhv.Xxxvii.32). Aggabodhi I. erected a splendid pāsāda in the vihāra (Cv.xlii.14).

The vihāra is generally identified with what is now known as Elāra's tomb (But see Cv.Trs.i.66, n.3).


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