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1 of UNESCO approved a scheme, known as The Cultural Triangle of Sri Lanka Project, identifying a number of outstanding features at all of the sites for special attention. It took another two years for the master plan to be finalised, and it was signed by UNESCO and the Sri Lankan government in December 1980. The work is ongoing; to date it remains one of the organisation’s largest cultural heritage projects. It is believed that Sri Lanka has 4. and 5. A century ago visitors described the western face of Sigirya as a gigantic art gallery, with images covering an area 460ft by 130ft, but many frescoes were wiped away when the citadel became a monastery. It was felt that the paintings would disturb the meditation of the monks. The remaining frescoes, depicting graceful, semi-naked female figures, are stylistically similar to some of the paintings in the Ajanta caves in India. Photos: Kate Dunning. 6. The highly decorated walls of the Thuparama, a brickbuilt, vaulted shrine which once housed an image of the Buddha. It is the oldest image house in Polonnaruwa. 11th century. Photo: Ray Dunning. 7. Standing figure with downcast eyes and folded arms at Galvihara. Some believe this to be an image of the Buddha’s disciple Ananda in a posture of grief after the death of the Buddha. H. 23ft. Photo: Ray Dunning. been inhabited for at least 127,000 years and that the aboriginal Veddhas, the only representatives of its prehistoric peoples to survive into modern times, arrived on the island around 16,000 BC. Starting in the 5th century BC, the Veddhas were supplanted by waves of Indo- Aryan immigrants from northern India. These ancestors of the present-day Sinhalese were first confined to fertile river valleys near the east coast but, as their irrigation skills developed, they moved inland to the arid northern plains. It was here, on the banks of the Malvathu Oya, that the city of Anuradhapura was founded in the 4th century BC. King Pandukabhaya made it his capital ,and it remained the capital of Sri Lanka until the beginning of the 11th century AD. As such, it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. According to Sri Lanka’s Great Chronicle, the Mahavamsa, Buddhism was brought to the island in 246 BC by Mahinda, son of the great Indian emperor Ashoka. He was closely followed by his sister, Sangamitta, carrying relics that 5 4 included a cutting from the sacred bo tree at Bodhgaya under which the Buddha attained enlightenment. It was with the arrival of Buddhism that the great period of building began in Anuradhapura. Apart from the construction of palaces, monasteries and dagobas or stupas, living facilities were improved to accommodate an expanding population and an impressive irrigation system was created, with reservoirs and a system of sluices to keep the paddy fields productive. Today the ruins of Anuradhapura consist mainly of three classes of building, dagobas, monastic 6 7
Sri Lanka 8 9 buildings and pokunas (pools built to hold water for drinking or for bathing). Dagobas were built to protect the most sacred Buddhist relics. They take the form of bellshaped stone structures standing on a square platform and topped by a pinnacle. By the 4th century AD the three main dagobas in Anuradhapura were the second tallest group of monuments in the world after the Pyramids of Giza. Remains of the monastic buildings are to be found in every direction in the form of raised rectangular stone platforms bearing stone pillars. The most famous is Loha Prasada, or the Brazen Palace, erected by King Devanampiya Tissa to accommodate the city’s monks and possibly the Indian entourage who delivered the sacred bo tree sapling. All that remains of this once exalted building are overgrown rows of grey pillars, 1,600 in all, which convey nothing of the splendours described in the Mahavamsa. The chronicle tells of an ivory throne with a seat of mountain crystal set in a wooden structure nine storeys tall with 100 rooms on each floor. One of the most beautiful features at Anuradhapura are the Kuttam Pokuna, or Twin Ponds, that originally served as bathing pools for the monks. The northern pond is 91 feet long and 14 feet deep. Its companion is 132 feet long and 18 feet deep. Water, supplied by underground pipelines, passes through several filtering chambers before entering the smaller pool through a stone lion’s mouth. For a short period in the 5th century AD the Sinhalese capital was moved from Anuradhapura to Sigiriya. In AD 477 Prince Kasyapa 8. The Ruvanvalisaya, or Great Stupa, in Anuradhapura. H. 180ft. Photo: Ray Dunning. 9. Reclining Buddha at the Galvihara Rock Temple at Polonnaruwa. L. 46ft. There is disagreement over whether the Buddha is shown in a state of final Nirvana or is merely sleeping. Photo: Ray Dunning. 10. The Gal Potha in Polonnaruwa, a 26ft slab on which King Nissankamalla recorded his deeds and genealogy. The inscriptions have given researchers a better understanding of the Sinhala script. Photo: Ray Dunning. usurped the throne and, fearing an attack from the rightful heir, Mogallana, who had taken refuge on the mainland, moved his palace to the top of Sigiriya, a massive rock with vertical walls that looms 1,591 feet above the surrounding jungle. As a fortress it was impregnable but, when Mogallana mounted an attack in AD 495, Kasyapa made the mistake of descending to the plain to direct his soldiers from the back of an elephant. In the heat of battle he became separated from the bulk of his army and, rather than be taken alive by his enemies, cut his own throat. The triumphant Mogallana moved the capital back to Anuradhapura and Sigirya was left to an obscure order of monks. Today, it is a major tourist attraction made accessible by means of vertiginous staircases. These allow intrepid visitors to reach the summit, passing by the Lion Platform and some remarkable frescoes on the rock wall. The site chosen in Anuradhapura by UNESCO for special attention is the Abhayagiri Monastery, founded in the 2nd century BC by King Valagamba, who was also responsible for the magnificent rock temple at Dambulla. He was so grateful to the cave-dwelling monks there for giving him shelter during a period of exile from the capital that he established the temple when he returned to power. Anuradhapura was finally reduced to rubble by Rajaraja I, king of the Tamil Cholasb, in AD 993. The Tamils established themselves in the city of Polonnaruwa until they were ejected in AD 1070 by Vigayabahu I. The new Sinhalese king was crowned in Anuradhapura, for the sake of tradition, but he elected to rule from Polonnaruwa because it was easier to defend. Under Vigayabahu’s successor, Parakramabahu I, Sri Lanka entered a Sinhalese golden age that reached its zenith in the late 12th century under King Nissankamalla. Polonnaruwa’s extensive and wellpreserved remains paint a vivid picture of medieval Sri Lanka. The city boasts some of the island’s finest monuments scattered over an area stretching some 2.5 miles from north to south. It was originally surrounded by three concentric walls and included many parks and gardens. At the centre lie the remains of the royal residences, while religious buildings are grouped to the north. These include the 12th-century Alahana Parivena group, the site in Polonnaruwa selected by UNESCO for special attention. As well as the stupas, the image house and numerous monks’ cells built on terraces, excavations have also revealed a hospital, a chapter house, an alms hall and ponds. All of this suggests that Alahana Parivena was a flourishing monastic university in the 12th century. Among the most exceptional monuments to be found at Polonnaruwa 10 48 Minerva January/February 2013
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