Many of them lived in the various vihdras or residences situate throughout the island; but the main centre of intellectual effort, down to the 8th century, was the Maha Vihara, the Great Minster, at Anwradhapura.
It is possible that in these ruins we may recognize the Nan Vihara of the Chinese traveller Hsiian Tsang.
He is said to have supported 64,000 Buddhist priests; he founded many religious houses, and his kingdom is called the Land of the Monasteries (Vihara or Behar) to this day.
The portico is composed of forty-eight pillars, the whole enclosed in an oblong courtyard about 140 feet by 90 feet, surrounded by a double colonnade of smaller pillars, forming porticos to a range of fifty-five cells, which enclose it on all sides, exactly as they do in a Buddhist monastery (vihara).