The Sacred City of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

The Sacred City of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka
(Greatest monastic city of the ancient world, 437 BC-845 AD, a World Heritage Site)

Must Visit

Life-line: Great Ancient Man-made Lakes (Rainwater Reservoirs)
Renovated Stupas, Ruins of Stupas, Monasteries & Temples.
We mustn't fail to see: Glorious Golden Sand Stupa, Serene Samadhi Buddha Statue, Enormous Jetavana Dagoba, Isurumuniya Rock Temple, Sacred Sri Maha bodhi tree.


Sri Lanka's northwest
Sri Lanka's northwest (of which Anuradhapura is a major city) also known as the dry zone is arid, rolling, open country coloured in shades of dusty brown earth and golden ripening rice fields. Farming here depends on artificial irrigation, and the countryside is dotted with great ancient artificial reservoirs to retain rainwater and allow crops to thrive through the dry season.

Three great rainwater reservoirs & River Malwatu
The ancient city of Anuradhapura is surrounded by three great man-made lakes, Nuwara Wewa reservoir to the east & Tissa Wewa reservoir together with Basawakkulama Wewa reservoir to the west with two directions of the city being defined by River Malwatu Oya that flows through it. We have Anuradhapura new town to the east of the river & sacred ancient city to the west of the river. It cannot get any better.

History of Anuradhapura (WHS)
From the origins as a settlement by Minister Anuradha in the 6th century BC, Anuradhapura was developed at a rapid pace & was made the capital of the island by King Pandukhabaya (437-366 BC), who took a leaf out of the book of King Abhaya (474 BC), the builder of the first rainwater reservoir of Lanka. King Pandukhabhaya commenced the irrigation schemes in a larger scale providing the lifeline to the fledging Aryan civilization of the Sinhalese. By the mid-3rd century BC Anuradhapura's fame for the excellence of its temple art and palace architecture, the ingenuity and skill of its irrigation engineers, noble elephants, precious gems, fine spices and its military prowess had spread as far as the Roman-Hellenistic world.

The greatest monastic city of the ancient world
It was not only one of the most stable & durable political power & urban life in South Asia, but also the greatest monastic city of the ancient world, the cradle of the island's temporal & spiritual power. The city attained its highest magnificence in the beginning of the Christian era. At the height of its glory, Anuradhapura ranked beside Nineveh & Babylon in its colossal proportions - its four walls, each 26 km long, enclosing an area of 663 sq. km - in the number of its inhabitants, & the splendour of its Buddhist shrines & public edifices.

The Stupas second only to great pyramids of Khufru & Khafra at Gizeh
The temples & monumental dagobas, amongst greatest architectural feats of its age, have been surpassed only in scale by the great pyramids of Khufru & Khafra at Gizeh. Jetavana Dagoba, Abayagiri Stupa & Golden Sand Stupa.

Crowning glory: Agricultural prosperity
Together with stupas, temples & monasteries of Buddhism, the crowning glory surfaced: irrigation. Colossal rainwater reservoirs were constructed by way of man power & at once the bulldozer & bulldog of the nation, elephant. With the concept of saving rainwater by means of reservoirs, the island became self-sufficient in rice, the staple diet of the Sinhalese. Almost all of these tanks have been restored & even to date provide the lifeline to farmers, the irrigation of the province.

Great manmade rainwater reservoirs
Anuradhapura is of enormous hydraulic achievements. Nuwara Wawe (7 km across) to the east, & Tissa Wewa (spanning 65 hectares) & Baswakkulama Wewa to the west constructed to preserve the monsoon rains, supplemented with a system of sluices (valve-pit) (Bisokotuwa) were put in place to feed the thousands of smaller reservoirs that were built in the concept of "Ellangawa" (cascade of water) & keep the rice paddies productive. In the numerous minor irrigation networks, the systems provide water for domestic use & livestock, wildlife & recharge of groundwater while enhancing the village environment: multiple dimensions of the value of water.

The world's first hospitals for the animals as well as to the humans: the gentle sway of Buddhism
The gentle sway of Buddhism, the concept of tolerance & doctrine of compassion, led the Sinhalese to build the world's first hospitals. The respect of right to life of all living beings, inherent in Buddhism, was to become a cornerstone of the Aryan Sinhalese civilization.

The Roman connection
Agricultural prosperity brought in by ingenious irrigation engineering resulted in 1300 years of grandeur of the city of Anuradhapura, the mass of Roman coins found in excavations testifying to the city's fame that spread to Greece & Rome. The idea of Taprobane (Sri Lanka) as a utopia, which was to become commonplace among Roman writers, occurs first in Artemidorus of Ephesus (104-101 B.C) (as cited Pliny N. H. V11 2.30)

The Chinese Connection
By the 1st century AD, the island had established trade and diplomatic links with China. The Jetavana treasures, unearthed over the past 20 years (some are now displayed in the Jetavanarama Museum, on site) show evidence of these links to east and west.

The social fabric of the kingdom
Anuradhapura was home to thousands of Bhikkus (buddhist monks) served by a large peasant & merchant population. Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Fa-Hsien, who came in search of Buddhist text in Anurdhapura as Buddhism was already in decline in India, had recorded the splendor of the city. He narrated that there were two major segments, namely wealthy merchants of Indian, Mediterranean & Persian origin & Sinhalese nobles living in richly adorned houses & city dwellers who were engaged in agriculture.

Marauding Dravidian invaders from South India
Yet the glory itself brought about the downfall of the great city. During more than a millennium of its history, countless South Indian invasions with a view to kill & plunder, laid waste to the land leading to its destruction. Marauding Dravidian forces of Rajaraja Chola of Southern India racked & ruined the great city in the 9th century AD. The Sinhalese capital then moved to Polonnaruwa. Although attempts were made to preserve its monuments following the overthrow and expulsion of the marauding Dravidians, Anuradhapura was never restored to its former glory since the kingdom was subsequently shifted to Polonnaruwa.

Survival of the fittest
As at Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura's secular buildings were built partly or entirely of wood, which has not survived the centuries, whereas the giant dagobas, made entirely of earth, brick and stone, still stand intact..

Sacred Sri Maha Bodhi tree
A sapling of the sacred Bo tree (Peepal) (Ficus religiosa) in the shelter of which Prince Siddhartha Gauthama attained supreme enlightenment & became Buddha was brought to Sri Lanka by Buddhist nun Sanagamitta, as a gift from her father, the Mauryan Emperor Asoka in the 3rd century BC. Today, the huge specimen of this Peepal has no rival to the claim of being the oldest recorded tree in the world. It has been guarded by an uninterrupted series of guardian monks since it was planted.

Southwest of the sacred bo-tree, on the shore of the Tissa Wewa tank, are several other interesting monuments.

Return to the sender (a sapling)
Though the original Bo tree at Bodh Gaya in India was destroyed, Sri Maha Bodhi in Lanka survived. Cuttings from Sri Maha Bodhi in Lanka have been grown all over the world. A cutting of the sacred tree was sent to India to transplant at Bodh Gaya, next to Mahabodhi Temple complex, which is now in fine fettle.

Loha Maha Prasada (Brazen Palace)
All we have today is ruins of a vast building, next to the sacred tree. Founded by the hero of the nation, King Dutugemunu (reigned 161-137BC), it was once home to a community of 1000 Buddhist monks, whose duties included, among numerous others, tending the sacred tree too.1600 pillars are all that remains of the nine story monastery, each floor with 100 rooms, surmounted by a bronze roof. The whole building was decorated with silver and gems.

Golden Sand Stupa (Ruwan Weli Seya Dagoba)

Anuradhapura Archaeological Museum
The first of five new museums planned for the Cultural Triangle, the Anuradhapura Archaeological Museum, between the Brazen Palace and the Golden Sand Stupa (Ruwanweli Seya), contains a range of exhibits discovered on the site along with explanatory displays. Among these is a model of the Thuparama Vatadage and a relic chamber from Mihintale.

Thuparama Vatadage
This shrine, immediately to the north of the Golden Sand Stupa (Ruwan Weli Seya), is the oldest in Sri Lanka and contains the collarbone relic of Buddha, a gift from the Indian Emperor Asoka of India to King Devanam Piya Tissa of Lanka, who converted his kingdom to Buddhism. Originally built in the 3rd century BC, it has been extensively rebuilt over the centuries & most recently in 1840. It is ringed by columns which originally supported a circular roof.

Royal Palace
200m north of the Thuparama Vatadage, on the opposite side of the road are the ruins of the Royal Palace date from the 12th century AD, when King Vijayabahu the first made a last attempt to restore Anuradhapura back to its former glory and prestige. South of it is the ruins of a temple which may have been the first to house the sacred Buddha's tooth relic which now resides at The Holy Temple of the Tooth in Kandy.

Jetavana Dagoba

Abayagiri Stupa

From China with love
South of the dagoba is the Abhayagiri Museum, a gift to Sri Lanka from China in honour of the 5th century Buddhist academic Fa Hien. The museum contains relics and archaeological finds illustrating the ancient connection between China and Sri Lanka. In AD 412 Fa Hien visited Anuradhapura and wrote an account of his travels.

Ratna Prasada (Gem Palace)
Northwest of the Abhayagiri Stupa are to be found the remnants of a 2nd century monastery palace of which only the mighty pillars, carved with naga (benevolent snake spirit) symbols remain.

Kuttam Pokuna (Twin Ponds)
Two lovely ritual bathing pools, fed by a stream, situated to the east of the Abhayagiri Dagoba, were once used by the monks of the Dagoba Monastery.

Samadhi Buddha Statue
Southeast of the Abhayagiri Dagoba, this image of a seated Buddha dates from the 4th century AD and is one of the finest images of Buddha.

Mirisavatiya Dagaba

Royal Pleasure Gardens
Also known as the Park of the Goldfish, these gardens testify to the skill of the architects and landscape gardeners of King Dutugemunu's reign. Covering approximately 14 ha (35 acres), they are built around ponds and rocks, with views over the Tissa Wewa tank, and were intended as a tranquil retreat from affairs of state. Some of that tranquility survives.

Vijitapura Raja Maha Viharaya (Royal Temple at City of Victory)
Vijitapura Raja Maha Viharaya is located close to great Kalawewa reservoir in the field where the hero of the nation, King Dutugamunu (161-131 BC), following a series of battles in numerous Dravidian strongholds through long 30 years, finally defeated Elara of Marauding Dravidian invaders & rescued the nation & faith. The victorious king allowed the defeated Dravidians to live in northern peninsula to where they fled: live & let live ideology of the Aryan Sinhalese. The gentle sway of Buddhism with its concept of right to life of all beings saved the marauding southern Indian Dravidians from being pushed into the Indian Ocean.

Kadu Ge Gala
Kade Ge gala in the courtyard of Vijitapura Raja Maha Viharaya is the stone at which the thousands of swords of King Dutugamunu's army were sharpened during the great battle at Vijitapura.

Isurumuniya Rock Temple
This rock temple, nicely built into the crevices between great smooth basalt boulders, is one of Anuradhapura's hidden secrets. It is well known for its sensual sculptures of embracing couples, indicating a culture which, while devout, was clearly not prudish. Dating from the 3rd century BC, it stands beside ponds above which the rock face has been carved with cheerful looking elephants at play.

Love conquers all, even the throne & kingdom
More stone carvings are on display at a small museum within the temple. Among the displays is a slab that shows two lovers seated side by side, Saliya (the only son of the hero of the nation, King Dutugemunu) and his wife Asokamala. Saliya met Asokamala walking in the Pleasure Gardens, fell in love head over heels and married her. As she was not of royal blood, he was obliged to forfeit his claim to the throne.