3rd BC - 10th AD
Several centuries before the Jesus Christ, while the Greek empire was at its zenith, many other regions were emerging from the stone age; Anurdhapura was already and advanced civilization. The city was well laid out and well linked. Irrigated by sophisticated systems of man-made lake s and canals, this city was a world trade center. This is evidenced by the Greek merchant guide book titled "purples of the Erythraen Sea", Ptolemy's first ever map, and further by monk travelers Fa Hien and Buddagosha of, the 5 th century A. D.
Anuradhapura was known from Tibet to Yellow Sea.
But unlike Greek and Roman ruins, Anuradhapura has only the re
mains of a monastic architecture. This city's name means the City of Anuradha.
Anuradha was the first general of the king Vijaya: the legendary ancestor of the Sinhalese race. The city measured 52 square kilometers' and was maintained by at least 500 scavengers.
The city was divided into several quarters.
Foreign traders lived in one quarter. Their houses were of 2 or 3 stories. Artisans occupied some avenues.
Ruwanweliseya
It was built by a Sinhalese hero king Dutugemunu in the 2nd century B.C. The architect ingeniously combined the Buddhist philosophy in the architectural conception. He conceived this as a bubble of milk: representing life, which will burst in no time just like the fragility of our lives. Its dome represents the vastness of the doctrine; the four facets of the box oh top represents the four noble truths. The concentric rings there after indicate the noble eight fold path that leads man to illumination. The illumination: the whole truth is light and transparent like the rock crystal at the pinnacle. The 1956's restoration curb on the dome is much to the chagrin of the purists: which looks flat
ter than bubbly.
Jaya Sri Maha Bodhiya
This is the oldest recorded sacred tree in the world.
The introduction of the Sacred Bodhi Tree, the oldest historical tree in the world and the most venerated, is commemorated by Buddhists in Sri Lanka on Unduwap Poya (full moon) day.
Unduwap Poya is more popularly known as Sri Sanghamitta Day, beacaus it was the missionary nun Sanghamitta who brought the sacred Bodhi hear. It was a branch of the original Ficus Religiosa under which the Buddha g
ained enlightenment when meditating in a park at Buddha-Gaya, India.
Sangamitta was the sister of the Apostle Mahinda, who introduced Buddhism to this country. His missionary work during the reign of Kings Devanampiya Tissa (250-210BC) was singularly successful. Many men and women wanted to be ordained as monks and nuns.
The rules of the priesthood, however, forbade Mahinda from ordaining women. Accordingly, he advised the king to request the Emperor Asoka of India to send his sister, Sangamitta, with a party of nuns for this purpose. He also suggested that the Emperor be requested to send a branch of the Bodhi Tree at Buddha-Gaya which would be planted hear as an object of veneration and would keep the devotees always in mind of his teachings. King Tissa commissioned his nephew, Arittha, for this job. His mission was successful and Sangamitta duly arrived with a chapter of nuns and a branch of the Bodhi Tree in a golden pot.
The king, who had rushed to the port to meet her, went neck-deep in the sea to take the sacred branch, and in a gesture of proud humility took upon himself the duty of acting as a guard out side its temporary residence on the shore.
From there the sacred saplin was with great ceremony to the capital city of Anuradhapura.
On the way, the royal party broke the journey at Tantirimale, where a large shrine was later built to mark this occasion.
All that is left of that shrine today is a vandalized 10-metre long reclining image of the Buddha, and a Bodhi tree that is said to have been raised from a sapling taken from the tree at Anuradhapura.
In Anuradhapura, the sacred Bodhi still stands where it was originally planted in the king's ple
asure garden, although the garden is no more.
Other kings after Tissa improved the site with ornamental gateways, flights of steps and channel the tree.
The firewood required for this purpose was collected in toto for the whole year and brought there in a procession on the night of the Nikini Poya, or August full moon.
This procession is continued even today in memory of those bygone times. It is called the Daramiti Perahera,or the procession of the bundles of firewood.ore today than an inanimate pacthwork of the stone mason'sand craftsman's art. The only living thing is the sacred Bodhi Tree.
Propped on platform upon platform, enclosed by white washed walls and an iron railing, and surrounded by altars laden with perfumed flowers and spluttering candles,it still remains green, once again a focal points of worship and pilgrimage.
Abayagiri Monastery
This was the home of mainly the Dhammaruchi sect, although it was open
to many other sects including Mahayanism. There is little literary evidence as the rival monks of the Maha Vihara were the compilers of the chronicle. How ever, this 500-acre monastery was the biggest for 600 years, and Was home for 5000 monks. It was an international center of the arts, philosophy and mysticism, With branches in Java, Burma and China. Its center was this dagoba in ruin built over a sacred
foot of the Buddha.
Samadhi Buddha Statue
Mahamevuna Uyana. Anuradhapura,
"Samadhi Budu Pilimaya"
This limestone image of lord Buddha is dating from the 3rd Century.
Seated under a Bo tree, depicts the Lord Buddha in the serene state of Sama Every monastery has a dagoba. Ruvanveliseya is the dagoba of Maha Vihara.dhi, or deep meditation. It's not secret why the Great Indian statesman Jawaharlal Nehru found solace and strength in a photograph of this statue when he was imprisoned by the British in 1940s.
The kindness of Lord Buddha flows through the half closed eyes, Watch as aslong as you like. This is the finest Meditation Buddha statue in the whole World.
In old Anuradhapura, now declared a sacred city, the ones ostentatious buildings are no mlifts a warning finger, probably as a manifestation of her coyness; but the man carries on regardless."
The elaborate moonstone at its base is in itself a distinctive element of ancient sculpture in the island. These semi-circular slabs of granite or gneiss acquired increasingly complex bands of decorations over the years. They range from the near abstract tongues of fire and bands of creeper vines - to symbolic interpretations of the four perils of life
The latter consists of the elephant, a symbol of birth, the bull indicative of decay; the lion, resent in disease. and the geese, a symbol of death. Some also band of geese,
esents the dist between good, and evil. To s
ding worldly temptations and achieving nibbane.
ddha, when seven lotuses sprang into bloom at his feet as he took the first seven steps of his life. The lotus bloomed again in profusion at the moment he reached the state of Enlightenment.
The Twin Ponds.
These 3rd Century monks' bathing pools are archaeologically perfect.
This is the finest of it's kind in Sri lanka dated from 8th century AD and one of the climax of Sinhalease art works.
He is the god of water,The God of protection and with a vase of plenty which is a symbol of prosperity and carrying a flower stalk which is a symbol of pertility.
King figure is adorned with beautiful jewels and above it's head rise seven hooded cobras. It is said that he is from heaven and this is the moment he touches the floor.
