A Hospital from the Ninth Century

“The granite beheth oruwa — a body-shaped trough where patients were immersed in medicinal oil — still sits among the ruins.

Excavated ruins of a monastic hospital at the foot of Mihintale hill, built under King Sena II in the 9th century CE. The layout of cells and courtyards is still legible, and digs here turned up surgical instruments and medicine grinders.