Ambokka Temple is located in the Matale District of the Central Province, Sri Lanka.
Ambokka Pattini Devalaya is the only shrine in Matale district that is associated with the Kandy Perahera. The Basnayake Nilame of Ambokka Pattini Devalaya is the only Basnayake Nilame of the Senkadagala Kandy Maha Perahera, representing the regional Pattini Devalayas. The highest mountain in the “Ambokka Utthuru Matale Udasiya Patthuwe” is Ambokka Kanda, which is 4031 feet above sea level and separates the Matale Hatkorale in Udugoda.
There is a belief that the Ambokka Pattini Devalaya belongs to the Dambadeniya era. Therefore, the temple there is an ancient one. According to oral tradition, history states that it was built by a king who ruled Dambadeniya. There is a folk tale from ancient times about the origin of this temple. “In the past, when the Veddas of the village of Millawana went to collect bees, a “Milla” tree had a sacred stone (halamba) of the goddess Patthini. After that, when the Patthini temple was built under the Millawana tree and the pujas were held, the cotton of that temple started dying after a year. At that time, a man from the Millawana area had been told in a dream that the Patthini Halamba should be brought to Ambokka and a temple should be built there and arrangements should be made to hold pujas there. Therefore, the Halamba of the goddess Patthini was brought from Millawana to Ambokka in a grand procession. When the people of Millawana brought the Halamba of the goddess in a grand procession, the people of Ambokka also went to accept the Patthini Deva (halamba) of the goddess Patthini in a grand procession.
The people of Millawana and the people of Ambokka, when they arrived in a procession, both The place where the two men were to meet was called Mugunawela Wela, and the place where the processions of the two men met was called “Hamba Thota”. According to folklore, when Goddess Pattini arrived, orange trees miraculously sprouted from the ground, and that place was named “Dodam Liyada”.
It is a great temple full of miracles that provides protection to the people of Matale and all Sinhalese people by the power of Goddess Pattini.