Badulla

Not to be confused with Badula.

Badulla බදුල්ල
City
City of Badulla
Badulla Clock Tower Badulla Clock Tower
Badulla
Coordinates:
Country	Sri Lanka
Province	Uva Province
District	Badulla
Government
• Type	Municipal Council
Area
• Total	10 km2 (4 sq mi)
Elevation	680 m (2,230 ft)
Population (2011)
• Total	47,587
• Density	4,387/km2 (11,360/sq mi)
Time zone	Sri Lanka Standard Time Zone (UTC+5:30)

Badulla (Sinhalese: බදුල්ල, Tamil: பதுளை) is a major city in Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of Uva Province and the Badulla District. Badulla is located 60 km southeast of Kandy, almost encircled by the Badulu Oya (River), about 680 metres (2200 ft) above sea level and is surrounded by picturesque hills and mountains, most of which have tea plantations.

Geography

It is located on the southeast of Kandy, almost encircled by the Badulu Oya River, about 680 metres (2200 ft) above sea level and is surrounded by tea plantations. The city is overshadowed by the Namunukula range of mountains (highest peak 2,016 metres above sea level). It was a base of a pre-colonial Sinhalese local prince (regional king) who ruled the area under the main King in Kandy before it became part of the British Empire. Later, it became one of the provincial administrative hubs of the British rulers. The city was the end point of upcountry railway line built by the British in order to take mainly tea plantation products to Colombo.

Badulla is about 230 km away from Colombo towards the eastern slopes of the central hills of Sri Lanka. There are multiple routes to Badulla from Colombo, Kandy and Galle. From Colombo, one can travel via Ratnapura, Balangoda, Haputale, Bandarawela and HaliEla along A4 and A16 to Badulla which may take about 5–6 hours. From Kandy there are two routes. Either via "Victoria-Randenigala Raja Mawatha" or via Nuwara Eliya (route A5). From Galle, the best route is via Matara, Hambantota, Wellawaya, Ella, Demodara and HaliEla (route A2). All routes are scenic and one can get splendid views of geography which changes while travelling. Badulla and surroundings are highly recommended for eco-tourists as Horton Plains National Park and the Knuckles mountains are few hours away.

Tourist attractions

• Muthiyangana temple, is an ancient Buddhist temple located in the middle of Badulla. It is regarded as one of the Solosmasthana, the sixteen sacred places in Sri Lanka, believed by Buddhists to have been visited by Gautama Buddha.
• Dunhinda Falls, a 64 metres (210 ft) high waterfall, located 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north of Badulla. Dunhinda waterfall is one of the most popular waterfalls of Sri Lanka mentioned on several famous songs and works of literature which draws many local and foreign tourists to the region.
• Dhowa temple, a 2,000-year-old rock temple, located on the Badulla-Bandarawela Road. The Dhowa temple contains a 12 metres (39 ft) unfinished Buddha statue carved into the surrounding rock.
• Bogoda ancient wooden bridge, is one of the oldest surviving wooden bridges in the country (being over 400 years old) and is located 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) south of Badulla, close to the town of Hali-ela.

Demographics

Ethnicity	Population	% Of Total
Sinhalese	29,961	73.22
Sri Lankan Moors	5,519	13.49
Sri Lankan Tamils	2,717	6.64
Indian Tamils	1,989	4.86
Other (including Burgher, Malay)	735	1.80
Total	40,920	100

Badulla is an ancient city situated in the lower central hills of Sri Lanka. Badulla is a multinational city with the ancient Muthiyangana Temple situated in its heart. The Catholic Church has a diocese headquartered in the city. The city is emerging as a well developed city in Sri Lanka with a state of the art provincial hospital and many more developments. In the 20th century Badulla was a regional hub for the British rulers. They made Badulla the capital of Uva Wellassa now known as the Uva Province. Even today there are some British colonial buildings in Badulla. The Badulla train station is one such example. It is the last train station in one of the main train lines in Sri Lanka the Upcountry train line this train line was used by the British to send tea collected from the Badulla district to Colombo. Badulla district is one of the leading tea producing districts only behind Nuwara-Eliya district.

• Badulla tea.jpg

  "Tea" For which Badulla is famous for...

• 

  Driving to Badulla on Raja Mawatha

• 

  Badulla Railway station.

See also

• List of cities in Sri Lanka
• List of Archaeological Protected Monuments in Sri Lanka
• Provincial General Hospital - Badulla

External links

• Office of the Governor - Uva / ඌව පලාත් ආණ්ඩුකාරවර කාර්යාලය
• Provincial General Hospital - Badulla / පළාත් මහ රෝහල - බදුල්ල
• A school in Badulla District
• Badulla
• Detailed map of Badulla vicinity and Sri Lanka