A district in Ceylon near the modern Kurunegala, fifty-five miles from Anurádhapura. When Dutthagámani planned to build the Mahá Thúpa silver appeared near a cave in this district by the power of the devas and was discovered by a merchant who reported the find to the king; the king himself came to gather the silver for the thúpa (Mhv.xxviii.20-35; MT.512).
Later, Amandagámani Abhaya built the Rajatalena Vihára here (Mhv.xxxv.4, 5). It was in this district, in the neighbourhood of the Kuthári Vihára, that Moggallána defeated his brother the parricide Kassapa I. (Cv.xxxix.21ff)
According to the Mahávamsa Tíká it was in Ambatthakola that King Mahácúlí Mahátissa worked in Sonnagiri in a sugar mill to earn money for an alms-giving (MT.624; Mhv.xxxiv.4f ) (v.l. Ambatthakolalena).