Malewana Buddhist Monastery - Wellawaya

Temples and monasteries are both major parts of Buddhism, playing a vital role in upholding the community. Anyway, monasteries have a quieter setting, both in location and public engagement. They are usually situated near a forest or in the village. Monasteries are places where monks live and practice the Dhamma, but the public can also visit them for spiritual development.

Malewana Buddhist Monastery is such type of very underrated gem in the area. Last week, we visited the place for the 2-year remembrance of my Grandmother.

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The Location

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It's located in a small rural village called Malewana near Wellawaya town, in the Monaragala District, Uva Province of Sri Lanka. From Wellawaya town, take the Monaragala road for around 2 km, and at the Malwaththawala junction, turn right towards Malewana road. You can travel on a carpet road for around another 2km, and there's a sandy road for the rest.

The area is not crowded with people, and there are plenty of parking spaces available inside and outside the premises.

The entry gate

You will see the real beauty of a Sri Lankan village when passing through paddy fields, canals, mountain ranges, and small jungles. The monastery itself lies at the foot of a mountain, with some components are in the top of the hill.

As you can see in the images below, the natural setting of the place and the landscape of the monastery are very beautiful, and it will soothe your minds easily.

Beautiful landscape of the temple

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There are not many written records about its history, but tales say that the site was dedicated to the Arahants at least 2,500 years ago, with the support of kings. In the mountain, there are caves, ponds, etc, which were used by them. Currently, some of the monks live there with improved facilities.

The monastery was mostly neglected, but the current head chief did an amazing job with the support of villagers and dedicated devotees. With their financial and labour support, he renovated and redecorated the temple without disturbing the mountainous area. Now, it has become a spiritual hub in the village. There are around 15 monks and Bhikkhunīs reciding in the premises, and my School Chemistry teacher has also dedicated her life to that path in this monastery.

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As the common practice, here we can see the main components of a Temple: a stupa (dagoba), a Bo Tree, and statues of the Buddha.

The stupa was recently constructed. It's not large; around 10m in height with the crystal, surrounded by 4 beautiful rooms to keep offering. It's surrounded by a white colour guard wall, and the whole scenery is pleasing to the eye.

On the other side, there's the Bodhi tree standing as a giant guardian. There's a gold-plated fence around it, and you can see a 24*7 working big oil lamp beside it.

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In the premises, there are a few buildings serving many purposes. The building designed for sermons is large enough to host around 300 devotees. During the Poya day, devotees stay here, and many events are held here. It's half open, and on the walls we can see wall images, and notice boards with Buddhist teachings.

There's another dining room that's used to arrange the meals, wash, clean, and store any utensils as well. There also we can see many images, and cahntings all around the walls, trying to teach something about the life.

The relic chamber

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This is the newest and most importance addition to the onastrery. As you can see the room is adjacent to large stone cave and the other parts are sorrounded. The chamber consists of relics of anchient arhants, the Thripitaka (Pali Canon) and other importnat religous books, and a Buddha statue.

This place is very sacred and chantings can be heard all the time.

Monks arriving to get the meals

Well, this is the most fascinating thing in the monastery. Unlike other temples, we get the chance to offer them meals once a day. Normally monks eat breakfast and Lunch only. So, here they take as reuired for both the meals at once in their alms bowl.

Anyone can reserve a date to offer meals to them, and as my sister is living in this village we also visit here two times a year. We have to take the meals at around 6.30 a.m in to the temple, and at first meals are offered to Lord Buddha by a monk, and we observed five Precepts.

There is a desicated place to arrange the meals, as you can see in the above image. We brough rice, string hoppers, different types of curries, fruits, sweets, and youghurt. So, at around 7.00 a.m. priests are coming one by one and take as they needed. Their walking itself is a testimony of calmness.

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There are seperate rooms in the premises for monks and bhikkunis. Meanwhile some of them are resideing in the caves at top of the mountains time to time, to pursue their spiritual journey without any desruptions.

Recently a distniguished donor, has constructed a special room for head priest, as a token of respect who pioneered in renovating this monastry. It's full A/C with facilities. Anyway, he resides most of the times in the caves, and come to the below for special occasions.

The chamber of head priest

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There's a special daily routine for all the monks to follow, and the visiotrs also should adhere to this.

Their day starts at 3.00 a.m. and enaged in Dhamma reflection and chanting from early in the morning. They take their breakfast at 7.15 a.m. and the lunch at 11.30 a.m. before sun arrives the other side.

There are different types of meditations they follow; walking meditation, sitting meditation, Metta meditaion, etc. Here it's self study, and self actualization most of the time. And they end their day at around 10.30 p.m again with Dhamma chantings.

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Well, the things I mentioned above are in the ground level. We can climb a bit to explore some other features of the temple as well.

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Well, it's not a big hike. Anyway, from the top we can have an amazing view of the sorrounding area. There is a small relic chamber at the top, and a small pond with fish. And also they have buld awaste disposal tank at the mid, and close it to protect from the animals.

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Visistors are allowed to reach to this point. But above this, there are caves where monks residing. It's not allowed to disturb them, unless with a special request.

So, after all, this place is a blessing to the village, and don't miss out to explore here if you are in the neighbourhood.

The Place	Malewana Buddhist Monastery - Wellawaya
Type of place	Temple/ Monastry
Opening days and hours	24*7
Location	on Google Maps, on Steem Atlas
Contact Number	+9455-3125855
Website/ Social Media	No official ones
Time of Visit	17th of August, 2025

Until the next time! Enjoy!

Thank you.
Best Regards!