A ford in the Mahāvāluka-ganā, near the Dhūmarakkha mountain. It was here that Pandukābhaya captured the Yakkhinī Cetiyā (Mhv.x.59). This was a strategic point in the wars with the Tamils, and we find Kākavannatissa entrusting its protection to his son Dīghābhaya (Mhv.xxiii.17). It is probable that, some time afterwards, the place fell into the hands of the Tamils, for we find Dutthagāmanī mentioned as having captured it from the Tamil general Kapisīsa (Mhv.xxv.12). According to the Mahāvamsa Tīkā (322, 366) the place was nine leagues from Anurādhapura, but Nimila journeyed there and back in one day.
The Anguttara Commentary (i.367) mentions that a man named Mahāvācakāla 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 Mahāgantota, the spot where the Ambanganga and the Mahaveliganga meet (Geiger, Mhv.Trs., 72, n.2). The Ambanganga was probably called Kacchakanadī, and at the spot where it met the Mahaveliganga, King Subha built the Nandigāmaka-vihāra. See Mhv.xxxv.58, and MT.472; on this passage see also Geiger's Trs., p.250, n.2; MT.472.
See also Assamandala.