I like to believe that we are quite flexible and understanding people yet we found our Anuradhapura guesthouse to be just too difficult to manage. The location was beautiful - overlooking the tank - but we just could not get comfortable and wished that we could have brought our own well maintained and clean Olu Ella guesthouse with us ! Let me hasten to say that the staff were really lovely and went out of their way to make us as comfortable as they could serving a lovely meal in our room so that we could escape the mossies and chain smoking restaurant seated tourists. They deserve a much better product to work with but sadly maintainence is very low on the priority lists of business owners, even those in the tourism sector who seem to be determined to make as much money out of tourists as possible with little care for customer satisfaction and repeat business.
After several phone calls, Lucky was able to find a subsitute place for us to stay for our next night, Jay's Holiday Resort at Habarana, and this proved to be really excellent - more later about that.
Finally we were able to leave the guesthouse to go and get our Cultural Triangle tickets and take a look at the historical sites.
It was still still raining, making everything fresh and beautiful and we set off full of anticipation for a great day – our first in this historic part of Lanka. I was in for a huge surprise! Everything we saw was much larger and miles more impressive than anything I remembered. I have puzzled over this and now realize that not only did we have a very good guide who knew where to take us and also a lot about each site, but also that UNESCO has been working with the Sri Lankan authorities since 1981 and has done a lot of restorative and excavation work.
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| Jetavana Dagaba |
Our first stop was Jetavana. I last saw this stupa in 1969 and it was then covered with vegetation! Now that it has come under UNESCO status, it is much better looked after. Built by King Mahasen in the 4th Century, it is the tallest brick building in the world – the stupa/dagaba is over 120 metres tall which also makes it the largest stupa in the world and all this was done, probably by conscript labour, in the 4th Century ! This was a monastic complex, housing some thousands of monks which grew until about the 10th Century . Although it was too wet for us to walk around we could see the ruins of the residential halls which were built around the main dagaba, refectory and chapter house.
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| Nagaya Guardstone |
Next stop was Abhayagiri ! There has obviously been a lot of restorative work going on here because I could hardly recognize the place Iast saw in 1968 !
Abhayagiri monastry was founded in 88BC By King by King (Valagambahu) (104-76 BC) in 88 BC. He had lost his throne to invaders from South India and while he was escaping from the city he was taunted by a Jain priest apparently named “Geri “ who called out ‘ The great black Sinhala lion is fleeing “ or something like that. King Valagambahu never forgot this taunt so when he had regained his throne some 14 years later he came back and destroyed the Jain temple and then put a Buddhist one in his place naming it Abhayagiri. Abhaya means “ Have No Fear” and is one of the King’s own names and Giri was the name of the Jain temple that he had destroyed. It is also similar to the name of the monk who badmouthed him! Maybe he had some regret about taking such terrible revenge for a loose tongue or maybe he was afraid of some godly retribution hence the “Giri” , who knows. I think that “giri” also means small hill.
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| Buddhist flags at Ruwanweli Dagaba |
This monastery at one time held 5000 monks and apparently embraced several Buddhist schools including Mahayana and Tantric Buddhism which apparently got its leaders in trouble with the orthodox Theravadans of the day ! Today, Sri Lanka is exclusively Theravadan [ my experience !] and people look at you strangely when you mention other schools and practices. Some have no idea that there are any practices other than their own.
Anyway, the most dominating thing about the Abhayagiri monastery is of course, its dagaba, also known as “stupa”. As it is still being renovated we did not get close to this one. Although smaller than Jetavana nearby, it thought to have been around 115 metres high in the early days. A Chinese monk, named Fa-Hsien, who visited Anuradhapura in the 5th Century wrote that the dagaba was then 122 metres high and that the spire was at that time decorated with gold, silver and jewels – that would have given a real sparkle to the neighbourhood ! It is also said to have been built over a foot print of the Buddha. Amazing! Another Buddha footprint in a country when there’s no evidence to support such a visit !
Fortunately the rain had cleared so we were able to walk around this huge complex taking a look at the Relic Shrine ruins consisting of stone pillars with interesting top parts and guardstones that are well preserved.
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| Samadhi Statue |
There were not many people around until we came to the Samadhi Statue – Buddha in a reflective pose indication that it depicts him after his enlightenment. Lucky suggested that we take a look at it from both sides as well as from the front as it gave different expressions. From the left the expression is said to be sadness and the right he is said to be smiling slightly. Of course I looked at it from these positions and have to agree with this idea! This statue which was thought to have been sculpted around the 3rd or 4th centuries, is made out of dolomite and is more than 2.21 metres tall. It was uncovered in 1886 as it had fallen on to the ground. It was then reconstructed and the nose fixed up and the whole statue plastered to preserve it. Its eyes probably had precious stones in them but there are long gone, leaving hollows. This seems to be a popular statue and people were offering flowers and performing prayers. Anuradhapura is much more than ruins – it is a living breathing place.
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| Elephant Pond - Eth Pokuna |
The Elephant Pond is the size of six Olympic size swimming pools ! What an amazing plumbers Sri Lanka once had! This large man made pond is complete with a sophisticated plumbing system which brought water from a nearby tank and also filtered it. Sometimes, in a really wet season, I was told that it still spouts water! The bathrooms and toilets there were used by the 5000 monks - not elephants. I wonder who named it "Elephant" pond ?
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| Refectory - maybe a rice bowl |
Moonstones are a repeat feature of the temple ruins here in the Cultural Triangle and in temples throughout Sri Lanka.This moonstone is from Polonnaruwa because I couldn't get a really good shot of the famous Pancavasa as I had to hold my camera pointing down and just click and hope for the best.
The significance of the moonstone, which is like a mat in front of a staircase, relates to the Buddhist idea of the attainment of Nibbana - an enlightened state where rebirth no longer occurs. The outside edge is a ring of flames, below that is a pattern ring elephant, horse, lion, bull. This ring is followed by a vine pattern, then a ring of swans with a leaf and a twig in their mouths followed by another vine pattern. In the centre of the semi circle is a lotus. I was told that the ring of fire represents the never ending life and the suffering that goes with it. The four animals represent the four noble truths as taught by the Buddha. the significance of the swans is that they are said to be able to separate the water out of milk representing the idea that people need to be able tofilter the good from the bad in the way a swan filters the milk. Once you have achieved this hopefully you will be able to achieve Nibbana. At Polonnaruwa we saw moonstones that omitted the bull, probably in deference to Hindhuism that was also being practised at that time. The bull appeared higher up on other structures.
As I mentioned, Anuradhapura is an important centre for Buddhism, the national religion. The busiest places actually were the Ruwaneli Temple and the Sacred Bo Tree Temple.
As I mentioned, Anuradhapura is an important centre for Buddhism, the national religion. The busiest places actually were the Ruwaneli Temple and the Sacred Bo Tree Temple.
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| Ruwaneli Dagaba - Mahathupa, Anuradhapura |
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| Wall of the Ruwaneli Temple, Anuradhapura |
Some records state that today the stupa, which looks like a huge bubble on a sea [ the large flat surrounding area], is 107 metres tall and 92 metres in diameter and also that it was not always so big with records showing that it was originally only 55 metres tall. Some also say that various kings since Dutugemunu have renovated it so I guess they added a bit each time. Other experts state the opposite - that originally it was much taller than it is today. Either way, I wonder how the same bubble shape was kept.
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| Bikkhunnis at Ruwaneli Temple |
Today, this temple was quite busy with people making offerings of flowers, incense and sitting chanting and bringing their small children to educate them in the rituals as well. Cheeky monkeys were quick to make use of any food left as offerings or scraps left over from the worshippers snacks.
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| Ruwanveli Temple |
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There are four little shrines on the compass points on the wide, flat platform around the temple.
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| Cheeky Monkey ! |
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After a pleasant and rainless walk around the circumference of the Ruwaneli Dagaba we followed a very busy path down to the Sri Maha Bodhi - The temple of the Sacred Bodhi Tree.
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| Sri Maha Bodhi, Bodhi Tree Temple |
This was the liveliest place of all with families gathering to participate in the puja that finished soon after our arrival and to consult with some lay priests as to what the future held for them, to make vows, to repay favours and many other things. We noticed a middle aged lady who was definitely in a trance as she talked quietly in what I think was not her normal voice while swaying from side to side, forwards and backwards, watched and listened to by her very attentive family and friends. We did not stop to intrude and neither did we photograph this interesting but personal event.
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| Bodhi Tree Temple |
The story of this Bodhi Tree needs a lot of faith, I think. It is said that it was brought to Sri Lanka by a woman named Sanghamitta, a nun, who was the sister of an Indian king. What she brought was the sapling of the very tree under which the Buddha sat until he attained enlightenment. It was planted on this very site in 249 BC so if the story is indeed fact, then this tree would now be 2259 years old - the oldest in the world ! Propped up by many poles the tree is vulnerable to disease and old age so the Buddhist authorities and the Sri Lankan government had one cloned.
It promptly died ! There seem to be many other Bo trees around the sacred one so maybe they could shift the focus to one of those. I am told that there are actually 41 "companion" trees around so maybe there is doubt as to their parentage.
Anyway, Anuradhapura was eventually abandoned and the temples and other edifices were overtaken by jungle in much the same way as was Siem Reap in Cambodia, at about the same time. However the Sacred Tree continued to be looked after by the villagers who are said to have burned bonfires to keep elephants away from it. They also developed the custom of collecting firewood for the whole year on one day annually. This became a ritual - the Daromiti Perehera - and is continued to this day.
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| Guardstone at Sri Maha Bodhi |
Mihintale and Polonnaruwa are our next places to explore so we'll leave Anuradhapura now.
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