Pilimathalawa

This is a small Kandyan town located about ten kilometres from the main town of Kandy and over a hundred kilometres from the capital, Colombo.
The name bears its origins to the words Pilima, meaning statues and Thalawa, meaning flat area in Sinhalese. The explanation is still debatable but popular belief does weigh in a bit towards this theory.
The town has gained fame over the years for its traditional brassware and Buddhist temples, which are considered extremely important around the area. The Embekka temple is also greatly significant to Pilimathalawa.
Also called the Embekka Devalaya, this temple is dedicated to worshipping Mahasen and a local deity Devatha Bandara. This shrine has three parts which display extremely superior architecture using wooden carvings. A lot of the carvings at this temple are considered some of the best instances of Sinhalese art.
The spelling of Pilimathalawa has also seen a fair bit of confusion and controversy due to the shortcomings of translating the Sinhalese names to English. Many authors have spelled the name in different ways and some of them include ‘Pilimatalawa’, ‘Pilimatalawwe’, and ‘Pilimatalauwe’ among others.
As part of Kandy, this town has witnessed a great deal of history and has been part of some of the most significant incidents in Sri Lankan history. Visiting the town allows a big chance to delve further in to the rich Sri Lankan heritage over many centuries.
The more the interest in these artefacts and former cultural hubs, the deeper it has proved to dig in to the vast cultural face of Kandy as well as Sri Lanka.