Rattota - gateway to Riverston

Rattota, also transcribed Raththota, is a small town in the Matale District, between the district capital and the Riverston Pass. Rattota's Tamil community operates a large Hindu temple dedicated to Ganesha, known as Pilliyar in Tamil. The temple at the main road is simply called Rattota Kovile. Side shrines continue scupltures of Hindu deities.

Among Hindu pilgrims from India, however, Rattota is much more famous for a second shrine at the main street, only 200 m further north. Until recently, this was Sri Lanka's only temple building dedicated to Lord Rama, the namegiving hero of the Ramayana epic, the core part of which is set on the island of Lanka. But the Chinmaya Mission also ingtegrated a Rama temple in their new headquarter in Colombo.

There are several guest houses providing accommodation around Rattota. However, most of them carry the toponym "Riverston" in their name. Indeed, from a touristical perspective Rattota is mainly considered to be the gateway to Riverston and the northwestern part of Knuckles Range. In between Rattota and Riverston are the Bamarakiri Falls, which are in short distance from the road.   

Rattota is situated 11 km (7 miles) east of Matale and 17 km (10.5 miles) west of the Riverston view point car park and office by road. Driving distance to Kandy is 35 km (22 miles) and to Dambulla 36 km (22.5 miles).