There is literary evidence in ancient texts such as the Sinhala Bodhivamsaya which records that the Bodhi-tree in Bellanwila as one of the thirty two saplings that sprang from the sacred Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi at Anuradhapura planted in the 3rd century BC.
The story of the revival of Bellanwila Viharaya is closely linked with Attidiya, a village adjoining Bellanwila.