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Dakkhiṇa-vihāra

A monastery built by Uttiya, a general of Vaṭṭagāmaṇī 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 Dakkhiṇa-vihāra were called (Mhv.xxxiii.98).

Āmaṇḍagamaṇī Abhaya built for the monastery the Mahāgāmeṇḍi reservoir (Mhv.xxxv.5), while Kaniṭṭha Tissa 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.12 f).

Vohārakatissa erected a wall round the monastery (Mhv.vs.35) and Goṭhābhaya restored the uposatha hall (Mhv.vs.107). The thera Tissa, for whom Mahāsena built the Jetavana-vihāra, was an incumbent of Dakkhiṇa-vihāra, in this context called Dakkhiṇārāma (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 Eḷāra’s tomb (However, see Cv.Trs.i.66, n.3).