Era : Anuradhapura,
Built : King Dutugemunu,
Dutthagamani of Anuradhapura, a Sinhalese king of ancient Sri Lanka, known for his campaign that defeated and overthrowed the usurping Tamil prince Ellalan of Chola Kingdom, reigned from 161 BCE to 137 BCE in the Anuradhapura Kingdom. Upon his victory over Elara, he initiated construction of Ruwanwelisaya, also known as the "Great Stupa", one of the tallest monuments built before the 20th century.[7][8] Among other materials, silver was required for the basement of the stupa.
In the meantime, some merchants were travelling from the central highlands of Sri Lanka, to the then capital of the country; Anuradhapura. According to the chronicles, they saw some ripe jackfruit in the Ridigama area; cut it and thought of offering the first half to Buddhist monks as a ritual. Four Arhat monks appeared according to their wish and accepted the Dāna. Then four more monks came and accepted the Dāna. The last monk, known as Arhat Indragupta, after partaking the jackfruit, directed the merchants to a path which led to a cave with a silver ore. They informed the monach of their finding after arriving in Anuradhapura. He was much elated upon hearing the news. The ore provided the required amount of silver for the construction work. In gratitude, he built a temple complex on the silver ore, employing 300 masons and 700 others including his chief artisan Vishwakarma Prathiraja.
There are approximately twenty-five caves around the temple, which are considered to be inhabited by Arhat monks, since the arrival of Arhat Mahinda in 3rd century BCE. The temple was revived in the 18th century CE, during the reign of Kirti Sri Rajasinha of Kandy (1746-1778 CE). Uda Viharaya was added to the complex during this period. Several affiliated devalas: Kumara Bandara Devalaya and Paththini Devalaya were also established. Ridi Viharaya now falls under the Malwatte chapter of Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka