A monastery built by Uttiya, a general of Vattagāmanī-Abhaya, to the south of Anurādhapura (Mhv.xxxiii.88; Dpv.xix.19). It was originally inhabited by monks from the Abhayagiri-vihāra, but later there was a schism by the Dakkhinavihārakā, as the monks of the Dakkhina-vihāra were called (Mhv.xxxiii.98).
Amandagamanī-Abhaya built for the monastery the Mahāgāmenditank (Mhv.xxxv.5), while Kanitthatissaka added a mantling to the thūpa and built a refectory on some land on the boundary of the Mahāmeghavana; he also constructed a road to the vihāra, and moved on to one side the wall of the Mahāvihāra in order to do this (Mhv.xxxvi.12f). Vohāraka-Tissa erected a wall round the monastery (Mhv.vs.35) and Gothābhaya restored the uposatha hall (Mhv.vs.107). The thera Tissa, for whom Mahāsena built the Jetavana-vihāra, was an incumbent of Dakkhina-vihāra, in this context called Dakkhinārāma (Mhv.xxxvii.32). Aggabodhi I. erected a splendid pāsāda in the vihāra (Cv.xlii.14).
The vihāra is generally identified with what is now known as Elāra's tomb (But see Cv.Trs.i.66, n.3).