Ten kilometres from Tissamaharama is the coastal village of Kirinda, which looks out over the Indian Ocean. Arthur C. Clarke was enraptured with this charming tropical village.

There are traces of the ruins of a palace, where it is said Kavantissa welcomed and later wed Viharamahadevi There are also some ancient monuments at Magul Maha Viharaya, near Palatupana, just within Yala National Park, where the pair are said to have spent their honeymoon.

The popularity of this romantic legend makes Kirinda a focal point for pilgrims. They come specifically to the rocky outcrop - a group of boulders piled up in bizarre fashion - to see a modern statue of Viharamahadevi and make offerings at a dagoba built on the ruins of an ancient one erected to commemorate the safe conclusion of the princess's voyage. Kavantissa's royal coat of arms - featuring the sun and the moon - were carved on a boulder nearby to mark the landing place.

Kirinda is sometimes used as a base by divers who wish to travel by boat to the Great and Little Basses Reef. (Basses, by the way, is derived from the Portuguese baxos, or reef.) In 1961 Kirinda achieved a place in the history of underwater exploration in Sri Lanka with the discovery, during the filming of Mike Wilson's underwater short film Boy Beneath the Sea, of a wreck of unknown origin on the Great Basses Reef, containing several cannon and thousands of silver Moghul rupees, all dated 1702.

Kirinda Beach Related references