Ancient Kadurugoda Viharaya (Kantarodai) is one of the very few Buddhist sites remaining in Jaffna today.

The site was discovered in 1917 by the Magistrate P.E. Pieris where he reported that bricks from this site is being carried a way by cart loads by the residents around the area for building of houses.

An excavation done in the 1917-1919 has unearthed remains of a shrine room, parts of Buddha Statues, Bodhisattva statues, Buddha foot imprints and coins belonging to pre Christian era.

Kantarodai (Kadurugoda) in Chunnakam (Hunugama) has been identified as the Kadurugoda Viharaya in the Nam Pota, a book of important Buddhist centers in Sri Lanka, compiled in the Kandyan period.

In 1917, P.E. Pieris has located 56 Stupas in the area but today only about 22 remains. The largest is about 23 feet in diameter and the smallest is about 6 feet.

There are also number of foundations of stupas which have disappeared. The stupas are made of coral stone and are gray in colour. They have a very distinguished design with small holes all over. The stupas do not have the standard ”Hathares Kotuwa” above the dome. Instead a pinnacle is fixed to the top of the dome.

Photography by- Deva Jayawardhane