Etymology
Kurunegala has been named after the Elephant rock(ඇතුගල). "Kurune" means Tusker or an Elephant with protruding teeth and Gala in Sinhala means rock. Kurunai means Tusker or an Elephant and Gal in Tamil means rock or hill. Kurunegala's old name was Hasthishaila-pura, which can be translated as The city of the Elephant rock in Sanskrit. In some ancient literature the word Athugal-pura(ඇතුගල්පුර) is also employed to describe the city of Kurunegala.
Nearby are three archeological cities - Parakramapura (Panduvasnuwara-පඬුවස්නුවර) (north - west) with remains of a moated palace and monasteries from the 12th century, Dambadeniya-දඹදෙනිය (south - west, mid-13th century), and Yapahuwa (north).
Kurunegala enjoys a pleasant location overlooked by huge rocky outcrops some of which have been given names of the animals they resemble: Elephant rock, Tortoise rock etc. According to folklore legend, long time back the city had experienced a severe drought. To exacerbate matters for the humans, animals had threatened the city's storage capabilities by consuming huge amounts of water. Fortunately for the humans, a witch had volunteered to alleviate the problem, transforming some of the animals magically into stone figures.
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