RAMAYANA-FAME SITA AMMAN TEMPLE & HAKGALA GARDEN - Sri Lanka
Hakgala Botanical Garden and Sita Amman Temple close to Nuwara Eliya are ‘mythologically’ linked.
Hakgala Botanical Garden is the second largest garden in Sri Lanka, only second to Peradeniya Botanical Garden near Kandy. Hakgala garden is contiguous to Hakgala Strict Nature Reserve. It is situated 5,400 feet above sea level and about 16 km from Nuwara-eliya on the Welimada Road. The mean annual temperature averages between 16 deg C to 30 deg C during the course of the year. It becomes colder from December to February, while warm climate persists from April to August.
The garden has an interesting history. It was established in 1861 under George Henry Kendrick Thwaites as an experimental cultivation of Cinchona, a crop thriving at the time and used for making Quinine, the drug for Malaria. It was later turned into an experimental Tea planting area and in 1884 it was converted to a botanical garden, with a variety of sub-tropical and some temperate plants planted in the garden. Hakgala Garden attracts thousands of visitors during the ‘April Season’ where they are greeted by over 10,000 species of flora including a large number of species of Orchids and Roses planted here. It is estimated over 500,000 visitors visit the garden every year.
The visitors coming from Nuwara-eliya can easily visit this garden just by the main road and interestingly, the other side of the road will find the world-famous “Sita Amman Temple”. In the folklores, it says the demon King Ravana after abducting Sita, kept her hidden in this area and offered the area to Sita as a pleasure garden. The area was named “Sita Eliya” and “Sita Amman Temple” was built on the site. The jungle area above the garden is the place which has been mentioned in the “Ramayana” as “Ashok Vatika” or “Asoka Vanam” in Tamil.
Situated about 30 km from Nuwara-eliya on the Kandy road is a place called Ramboda. According to ancient stories, forces of Rama gathered here to fight against King Ravana. Rama was helped by the king of ‘monkey tribe’ called Hanuman, who is also treated as a Hindu God and an ardent devotee of Rama. Hanuman is a central character in the Hindu epic Ramayana, some also believe him as an incarnation of Lord Shiva.
In another legendary incident in the same epic Ramayana, Sita had to prove her chastity to Rama by taking the famous Oath of Fire supposedly at a place called Divurumpola near Welimada, I have covered it in another blog in steemit. Some relevant pictures from the site:
