Holiday in Sri Lanka (9): Anuradhapura and Mihintale
One of the wonders of going on holiday these days is that one can share impressions and photographs instantly with family and friends. One of my Facebook friends – a Japanese woman who has visited Sri Lanka – posted a comment suggesting that I try a local food of which I had never heard: hopper. – a kind of bowl-shaped pancake made of rice flower and coconut mint. So this morning I had an egg hopper for breakfast (tasty).
Our group set off at 8 am to spend most of the day at a place an hour and half’s driving due north called Anuradhapura. This was the capital of Sri Lanka for more than a thousand years, becoming the capital in the 4th century BC under King Pandukabhaya, achieved the height of its power during the 9th century AD, and finally being razed to the ground by the Cholas in the 10th century. It was gradually reclaimed by the jungle and lay largely forgotten until the area was cleared in the 19th century.
It is a very extensive area that is still being excavated and examined and we spent three and a half hours viewing some of the highlights. After an introductory visit to a small (three room) museum, our explorations took in no fewer than four reconstructed Buddhist stupas (or – as they are called in Sinhalese – dagobas) with amazing names and histories:
- Jetavanarama Dagoba: When it was constructed in the 3rd century, this stood some 330 feet (100 metres) high, making it the tallest structure in the world at that time except for the Egyptian pyramids at Giza.
- Abhayagiri Dagoba: Built in 88 BC, this stood at 380 feet (115 metres) until the structure lost its pinnacle.
- Thuparama Dagoba: This was the first dagoba to be built in Sri Lanka, being constructed in the 3rd century BC and said to house the right collar bone of the Buddha.
- Rumanwelisiya Dagoba: Dating back to the 2nd century BC, this is now enclosed by a striking wall with a frieze of black elephants.
Besides these four stupas, the other structures that we viewed included the Sri Maha Bodhi Tree (the largest and oldest bo tree on the site), the Samadhi Buddha statue (4th century meditation pose), Kuttam Pokuna (two huge ponds for bathing by monks), Mahapali Refectory (long stone trough which was filled with rice for the monks), and remains of the Mahasena’s Palace (wonderful 8th century moonstone featuring five circles of life).
After some lunch at “The Grand Heritance Hotel”, we drove half an hour to a place called Mihintale. This is a sacred hill where Mahinda, son of the Indian king Asoka, converted King Devanampiya Tissa to Buddhism in the 3rd century BC, leading to most of the country converting to the new philosophy (not religion).
If one is so minded, one can start at the bottom of a long series of steep steps and finish up at the very top of the hill, but this involves a grand total of 1,840 steps. Instead Rashmika drove us to a point missing out a lot of the steps and we did not actually climb to the top of the hill. It was enough to see our fifth stupa of the day, the Mahaseya Dagoba.
In fact, at each of the five stupas we had to remove our shoes and walk around in stocking feet (or, in Rashmika’s case, bare feet) which was tough when the stone was rough and/or hot (the temperature rose to 35C today) and especially hard at this stupa where one had to climb worn and rough rocks before reaching the actual structure. But I guess that you could say we had a stupa day!
We were back at out hotel towards 6pm, having been out for 10 hours. As always, dinner was at the hotel and this evening I had my second banana split of the day.