Ritigala kanda (Ritigala mountain) lying in the Southern part of the North Central Province bears a legendary, historical and monastic past, unsurpassed by any other mountain retreat in Sri Lanka.
Today, the Ritigala kanda is a sanctuary and a protected area maintained by the Department of Forest Conservation.
It is the highest peak rising from great central plain of Sri Lanka and reaches beyond the elevation of Sigiriya, Mihintale and Dambulla - the more famous neighbouring rock hills emerging from the same plain.
The Ritigala kanda lies midway between the two ancient cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa and is about 16 kilometres to Habarana. It is bounded to the South by the Habarana- Maradankadawala - Anuradhapura road and to the West by the Ganewalpola- Halmillewa road.
History records that Ritigala had been a natural habitat for aboriginal tribes, devotees, princes and royal natives biding their time to wage war for the kingship.
For over 1,500 years its uniqueness remained until its monastic complex was destroyed in the pillage of Sri Lanka by the invading Cholas from Southern India in the end of the 11th and beginning of the 12th century A.D.
A visit to the Ritigala monastery precincts begins at the Archaeological Department Office close to the foot at the Banda Pokuna.
There are ruins of several buildings including those of an Ayurvedic hospital in the Ritigala reserve.
Around the 3rd century BC, Aritta, who was the Chief Minister of King Devanampiyatissa, who later was ordained as the first Sri Lankan bhikkhu and became an Arahath, spent his monastic life at Ritigala.
The names of kings Pandukabhaya and Dutugemunu are connected with this mountain. These kings have used this mountain as a hiding place.
A scenic view of what lies on either side of the stone pavement
Ruins of an Ayurvedic hospital