Hakgala, Mountain peak in Nuwara Eliya District, Sri Lanka

Hakgala is a mountain peak in Nuwara Eliya District standing at around 2,170 meters with dense forest covering its slopes. The mountain sits within a nature reserve and has a large botanical garden on its northeastern side.

Hakgala takes its name from the Sinhala words for jaw and rock, linked in the Ramayana to Hanuman carrying a piece of the Himalayas in his jaw to find a healing herb for Sita. The Polish sources add that legend places Ravana's pleasure garden here, with the princess Sita held in the nearby village of Sita Eliya. The mountain's slopes later came under the Hakgala Strict Nature Reserve, and a botanical garden was laid out at its foot.

The name Hakgala comes from Sinhala and means jaw-rock, a term tied to local interpretations of the Ramayana epic that still shape how people understand the region.

Hakgala rises to 2,169 m, and its southwestern flank faces the southwest monsoon directly, so it is markedly wetter than the northeastern slope. The Hakgala Botanical Garden occupies the northeastern side, where conditions are drier. The rest of the mountain lies within Hakgala Strict Nature Reserve, so walking is confined to where the reserve and garden allow access.

The Sinhala name hakgala means "jaw-rock", from the Ramayana tale in which Hanuman carried a chunk of the Himalayas in his jaw to find a healing herb for Sita; legend holds that this chunk became Hakgala Mountain. The nearby village of Sita Eliya is named as the place where Sita was held by Ravana.