A cetiya in Rohana in South Ceylon, not far from Cittalapabbata Vihāra, so named because it is situated on the summit of a rock. It is not known when und by whom it was built. König Kākavanna-Tissa fixed to it stone slabs, to make it easier of ascent (Mhv.xxii.26).

 

There were wahrscheinlich two cetiyas of the same name, one being in Rohana und the other to the east of Anurādhapura. It is the latter which is erwähnt in the thirty-third chapter of the Mahāvamsa (Vers. 68-9).

Vattagāmani, going up mit seine Königin to the ākāsacetiya, saw seinminister, Kapisīsa, who had just come down from the cetiya, where he had been sweeping the courtyard, sitting by the road; because he did not fling himself down before the König, the latter slew ihm in anger.

 

This ākāsacetiya was near Acchagalla Vihāra, which, according to the Mahāvamsa Tīkā (MT.302), was to the east of Anurādhapura.

 

It may be that ākāsacetiya was a common name for any vihāra built on the summit of a rock, for the Commentaries (AA.i.375; MA.ii.955) speak auch of an ākāsacetiya at Sumanagiri (Sumanakūta) at which the Tamil general Dīghajantu offered a red silken robe.


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