This can be called the first dagoba of King Dutugemunu built between 161-137 BC. This shrine was located in a place sanctified by the touch of the feet of the Buddha. It is also considered as a great land where one hundred and ninety thousand Arahants visited Mirisawetiya during the Pooja. It is said that this shrine was built by King Dutugemunu who rendered a great service to the Buddhist Sasana and was a great dagoba at that time. The Mahavamsa states that when alms were offered to the Maha Sangha, the king repented for forgetting to offer a chilli curry to the alms and made the Mirisawetiya Chaitya for it. It is very clear that this was a literal consideration. The main purpose of building the dagoba and the temple was not to take the spear [ kunthaya] from where it was placed. [The spear is the symbol of the state.] The spear [ kunthaya] was left at this place when the king went to the Tissa lake for water. When he went to get it again I couldn’t even shake it. Seeing a miracle there, the king thought that there was no doubt that the six-coloured Buddha radiance had spread because it contained the relics of the kuntha, and that it might have spread like a ring around the kuntha. Marichi is a Pali Sanskrit word for Rashmi. Marichi, also known as Charichi, later became MRelics are deposited in this dagoba.irisa.The circle, broken by the vatta-ivatta-vati, was the vatiya.
Relics are deposited in this dagoba. Also, the King’s Triumphal Sacrifice has been offered as a treasure and Rs. 19 million has been spent. The circumference was 560 feet and the height was 60 feet. Renovated from time to time by Sinhala kings. King Gajaba also sacrificed a village for the benefit of the Maha Sangha. It is said that King Parakumbha who ruled in Polonnaruwa raised this stupa to 206 feet and offered monasteries and temples.
It was later demolished in 1888 and, more recently, is now a dagoba, which was renovated and completed by the government.
