Unawatuna
-
General Information
, State: Southern, Sri Lanka
Area: 0
Languages Spoken: Sinhalese, Tamil, English
Long Distance Code: -
Importance: -
Best Time to Visit: September to May and -
International Access: 152 km from Colombo Air PortDescription
One of best places in Sri Lanka with Scuba Diving Locations. About 5 km south of Galle is the golden beach of Unawatuna. It is also one of the safest beaches in Sri Lanka as it is protected by a reef. Surfing, snorkeling & diving are some of the water sports you can participate here. All the equipment you need can be rented from many a beachfront place. The description of the beach paradises in Valmiki's epic Ramayana sounds like Unawatuna. "a seashore dotted with thousands of trees, coconuts, and palms dominating, strings of houses and hermitages along the coastline, human beings and superior beings such as Gandharvas, Siddhas, and ascetics, living in them and countless bejewelled celestial nymphs thronging the shore, the coast intermittently visited by heavenly beings, Gods and demons.": Unawatuna traces its roots to the great epic Ramayana. In the epic, the monkey-warrior Hanuman was sent back to India to fetch the four medicinal herbs by Jambavan namely, mritasanjeevani, vishalyakarani, suvarnakarani, and sandhani from the Himalayas in order to heal Lakshman who was wounded trying to save the abducted Princess Sita from the demon king Ravana. Hanuman failed to identify these herbs, so he lifted the entire mountain and carried it to the battlefield to try to save Lakshman, but in the process, a chunk of it "fell-down" in the location of the present day Unawatuna, the name of the village derives from "Una-watuna" meaning "fell down". Currently, an edifice is being built in honour of Hanuman on the harbour end of Rumassala Hill by Japanese monks of the Mahayana sect of Buddhism near the Peace Pagoda that they built.Location
125 km from ColomboClimate
-