Jetavana Dageba was named after the first Buddhist monastery (names of the Jethavanarama and Abhayagiriya Dagabas are sometimes reversed). The largest dagaba in Anuradhapura (considered by some to be the highest in the world). It is also being renovated with help from UNESCO. 

Started by King Mahasena (AD 275-292), the paved platform on which it stands covers more than 3 ha and it has a diameter of over 100m. In 1860 Emerson Tennet, in his book Ceylon, calculated that it had enough bricks to build a 3m high brick wall 25cm thick from London to Edinburgh, equal to the distance from the southern tip of Sri Lanka to Jaffna and back down the coast to Trincomalee.

 Its massive scale was designed in a competitive spirit to rival the  orthodox Maha Vihara.