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It was built to shelter the Buddhist monks who I spent their time in meditation to reach the ultimate state a human can ever reach. The vast forestland was scattered with patanagara or apartments designed for meditation, bathing ponds providing hot and cold water, a hall designed for walking and a two-kilometer walking path designed for the monks to meditate while walking. The special characteristic of the patanagara is that a water canal perhaps to keep the interior of the apartments cool. Some apartments stand-alone while some are twin apartments. The twin apartments are connected together via a stone bridge. The walking path and the walking hall were designed to provide much needed exercise to the monks who spent most of their time in meditation. The Tissamahapaya was designed as a hostel for the monks and they used it as a dharmasala, where they preached to the public who provided them with food, medicine, and clothing.

The Arankale monastery was improved upon by King Jethatissa. The Arankale forestland was chosen as the suitable place, considering the security it provided. The land is surrounded by the ancient dolukanda, dunkanda and madukanda mountains and are full of trees with medicinal and timber value. After King Jethatissa, King Mahasen and King Buddadasa too added their touch to the monastery. It is believed that King Buddadasa, who was also a specialist in Ayurveda, instructed the planting of medicinal plants around the monastery. Today none of these remains except for the ancient trees and creepers, which protect the monastery from the greedy eyes of treasure hunters and tree cutters. However, the Buddhist monks still use these grounds for meditation. Eighteen bikkhus attached to the Arankale Maliyadeva Senasana continue with their meditation using the new and old meditation apartments available to them. Most of them are situated deep in the forest far away from the attachments of today’s commercialized world. The deep silence which provides the walking path, the ruins and the meditation apartments is capable of healing the most untaimed soul. Ruined staircases lead to an open space conveying the secret message of nibbana.

A creeper or a pusvela may cross the trail of the walking path telling a centuries old story of rejection and solitude. This rejection and solitude has attracted other kinds of inhabitants. Numerous species of reptiles, amphibians, butterflies and other types of insects are a common sight to anyone who visits Arankale. One cannot miss the sight of butterflies dancing among the sunbeams at daybreak. This is also a ground for bird watching in the mornings. One can easily observe a Bird Wing Butterfly or an Ankatussa resting, among the trees of the Arankale.

Arankale has become an archaeological site, a biological hotspot, and a garden of medicinal plants subject to the changing character of nature. Walking through the path at the end of the day one can catch a glimpse of the yellow robe of a bikkhu on his way to the pond or retreating to his meditation grounds after a walk. The sight takes you 800 years back, when Arhath Maliyadeva, the last Arhath of Sri Lanka, spent his time meditating at Arankale.

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