Thaniwella Great Devol is located closer to the 62th kilometer post in Colombo Chilaw road at the entrance to the Madapa village. Madampa is a very beautiful rural village and this village has become famous to this powerful great devol and many people who are travelling in Colombo-chilaw road stops at the devol to worship on the way all the day.
This devol is worshiped by all the religious people including Buddhists, Catholics and Muslims because of its greatness. This place is very much famous among pilgrims with a statue of white horse and the devol building which is believed to have powers. The age of the Bo tree situated in this sacred land is more than 200 years. This place is historically valued from the kindom of kotte.
The annual religious festival in this devol is called the Nanumura festival and it is held in a Saturday of the month of August in every year. Many pilgrims come to this festival from all over the country. All the pilgrims come for this festival are provided the lunch from the organizing committee.
Name of the Thaniwelle Devol
The name of the devol is given according to the name of the young king, young King Thaniya wallaba who ruled the Madampa area in the time of kingdom kotte. He Thaniya wallaba was the son of king Parakramabahu viii, who ruled the Kotte kingdom.
At that time, Madampa region was very famous for commercial activities such as marketing gems, pearls and exporting because this area is closer to costal harbors like Negombo and Kalpitiya.
Under the rule of this young king the area was developed rapidly and many foreign invasions were occurred to capture economic activities. Young king Thaniya wallaba was very brave and he fought against and kept the area safe. In the book Rajawaliya It is mentioned that for these activities the young king has got numerous supports from his brother, young king Sakala wallaba, who ruled the Udugampola area at the time.
Young king Thaniya Wallaba was a powerful regional leader and has done a great support to the agriculture and irrigation of the area and had ensured safe and prosperous life to his people.
Because of this the people in the area started to worship him as god.
However, there are no written historical evidences about the time and the construction of this devol and it is believed that it may have developed in 17th century. There are some literatures done in relation to history of this religious place and Sri Lankans believe that this devol is a blessing to the country.
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