A ford in the Maháváluka-ganá, near the Dhúmarakkha mountain. It was here that Pandukábhaya captured the Yakkhiní Cetiyá (Mhv.x.59). This was a strategic point in the wars with the Tamils, and we find Kákavannatissa entrusting its protection to his son Díghábhaya (Mhv.xxiii.17). It is probable that, some time afterwards, the place fell into the hands of the Tamils, for we find Dutthagámaní mentioned as having captured it from the Tamil general Kapisísa (Mhv.xxv.12). According to the Mahávamsa Tíká (322, 366) the place was nine leagues from Anurádhapura, but Nimila journeyed there and back in one day.
The Anguttara Commentary (i.367) mentions that a man named Mahávácakála was once born there as a crocodile, a fathom in length, for having cast doubts on the efficacy of the Buddha's religion. Once he swallowed sixty carts with the bulls attached to them, the carts being filled with stone.
The ford is now identified with Mahágantota, the spot where the Ambanganga and the Mahaveliganga meet (Geiger, Mhv.Trs., 72, n.2). The Ambanganga was probably called Kacchakanadí, and at the spot where it met the Mahaveliganga, King Subha built the Nandigámaka-vihára. See Mhv.xxxv.58, and MT.472; on this passage see also Geiger's Trs., p.250, n.2; MT.472.
See also Assamandala.