The Ancient Stupa of Girihandu Seya

“Held by tradition to be the first stupa built in Sri Lanka, with a vatadage (circular relic house) still standing around it.

A hilltop stupa at Thiriyai, about 45 km north of Trincomalee, reached by a long stone stairway. Chronicles and inscriptions associate it with the seafaring merchants Trapusa and Bahalika, said to have enshrined hair relics of the Buddha here.