Ishtripura Caves near Welimada
The Sinhalese word Ishtripura or Shtripura means “area of women”. It is said that Ravana shifted Sita to this cave as a precautionary measure after Lord Hanuman’s advent on Lanka. Legend has it that Sitadevi took a bath in the nearby stream and afterwards dried her hair sitting on a rock and put clips to her hair, hence this rock is known as Konda Kattu Gala, Konda means hair, and Kattu are clips.


According to Ramayana Yatra Sri Lanka
It is believed that the Sthreepura cave had been used by King Ravana to hide the Princess Sita Devi as a precautionary measure during the battle between King Rama & King Ravana. There are remains of rock caves and interconnecting tunnels located at this site which have been built during the reign of king Ravana according to the folklore. Ishtreepura seems to be a part of a network of tunnels, which is interconnected to all the major areas of King Ravana’s city. These tunnels are yet to be explored. Sthreepura is one of the important Ramayana Sites of Sri Lanka.
Technical details of Sthreepura Caves
Sthreepura Cave at Kiriwanagama consists of an upper level of cavities in quartzite formed by arenization and a lower level developed in a saprolite formed from the weathering of gneiss sandwiched between two layers of quartzite. The lower level cave is not like most arenization and phantom rock caves as the walls are composed of saprolite, not exhumed un weathered rock. Reference: pathmakumara jayasingha
Note
Sthreepura Cave at Kiriwanagama in Uva Province is not to be confused with Sthreepura Cave at Batathota or the now flooded Sthreepura Cave at Pannala (Basnayake 1983).