Polonnaruwa Era

Polonnaruwa

Polonnaruwa Sri Lanka's medieval capital was established as the city of the land in 11th century A.D.
Polonnaruwa replaced Anuradhapura as the capital city of Sri Lanka, Because of the invasion of south India.
It was the capital of Sri Lanka from 11 AD to 13 AD.
The important kings of, Polannaruwa period are, King Wijayabahu the first, King Maha Parakramabahu the first and King Nissankamalla.
When the South Indian Kings ruling the country, the Prince called Keerthi of the Sri lanka formed an army and came to attack. The South Indian King who occupied Anuradhapura. He defeated the South Indian King and become the King of Sri Lanka as Wijebahu the First.
He did not have time to develop the country but he united the country. Later the King had chance to the develop the country Wijebahu built his palace In Anuradhapura and he shifted the capital to Polonnaruwa.
During Polonnaruwa period lot of developments took place. in irrigation paddy cultivation and agricultural Products.

Because of this foreign trade was done between South Asia, Arab and China. The most important King during this period was King Maha Parakramabahu the first he ruled tire country from 1153 AD to 1186 AD. During his period he built 165 dams 3000 canals, 163 major and 2376 minor tanks. Of all these the biggest tank was Parakrama Samadra.He was very interested in irrigation work and architecture. He united Sri Lanka in 1153 AD. He died in 1186 AD. After his death the Sinhalese kingdom began to break n due to civil war and foreign attacks. At the end of 13 century the glory of Sri Lanka faded. For 70 years Sri Lanka was ruled by Cholas from South India.

During the period of three Kings Buddhism was unified and helped the Sanga to perform Katikawatha at Gal Vihara. The three Kings built monuments such as Ata dage Wata dage, Hata Dage. Thuparama, Nissankalatha mandapaya, Lankathilaka, Manik Vihara, Kiri Vehera, Gal Vihara, - Rankoth Vihara, Thivanka Pilimage, Pabalu Vehera, Siva Devala, Sath Mahal prasadaya and Demala Maha Seya.

Statue of Parakramabahu the 1st

The most important king during the Polonnaruwa period who ruled from 1153- 1186 A.D. During his period lots of development took place in irrigation, architecture, paddy cultivation, and agricultural products. Relationships with foreign countries were tightened and trading was done between South Asia, Arab and China.
He built or restored 165 dams, 3000 canals, 163 major and 2376 minor tanks.
His golden saying let not even one drop of water goes to the sea without serving the agriculture and mankind still remembered by Sri Lankans.
According to historians The yoke in the hand is to say that he had a great consideration on agriculture. some says he holds a cord which is a symbol of royalty.

Gal Viharaya

Images of Gal Viharaya are the most impressive sculptures found at Polonnaruwa built in 12th century A.D. by King Parakramabahu the 1st.The great Buddha images of different postures are carved in one granite rock.
The first is a samadhi image in meditation posture while the second is inside a cave and the third standing buddha image with crossed arms and the fourth is a recumbent buddha image depicting the passing away.
The third standing buddha image is highly appreciated as it indicates Buddha's great mercy and sorrows also see the ability of the artist who made the black patch going over the nose and avoided going over the eyes.

Palace of King Parakramabahu the 1st

King Parakramabahu was one of the greatest developers in Sri Lanka, who rained from Polonnaruwa making it his royal capital during (1153-1196 AD)
The place of Parakramabahu is found to be in the place called the inner city (citadel). The extent of the inner city is about 25 acres, enclosed by a high wall. The place was named " Vijayantha Pasada", after the palace of God Indra. The chronicle describes it as a seven storied building with thousand (1000) chambers


Gal Potha (Stone Book)

Stone book of King Nissankamalla (1187-1196 A.D.)
The largest slab inscription of SriLanka.20 tons in weight, 3 pages, 27 lines, 8m in lenth and 3m in width.belived to have brought from Mihintale using elephants and logs.
It describes the places king visited, connection had with foreign countries, about wars and rules & regulations to be abyed by even after his death.

Anuradhapura Era

Anuradhapura

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 remains 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 

Every monastery has a dagoba. Ruvanveliseya is the dagoba of Maha Vihara. 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 eightfold 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 flatter than bubbly.

Jaya Sri Maha Bodhiya

THE OLDEST HISTORICAL 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 gained 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 pleasure garden, although the garden is no more.
Other kings after Tissa improved the site with ornamental gateways, flights of steps and channel the tree.
Even after Anuradhapura was given up us the capital city, and the jungle tide overtook the Dagabas(stupas) and other monuments, the Bodhi Tree was protected by the villagers. They lit bonfires around it every night to ward off wild beasts.
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.
In old Anuradhapura, now declared a sacred city, the ones ostentatious buildings are no more 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.
In the words of historian Paul E Peiris: "It is doubtful whether any other single incident in the long history of their race had seized upon the imagination of the Sinhalese with such tenacity as the planting of the Sri Maha Bodhi.

"Like its roots which find sustenance on the face of the bare rock and cleave their way through the stoutest fabric, the influence of what it represents has penetrated in to the inner most being of the people."

Abayagiriya

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 Samadhi, 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 as long as you like. This is the finest Meditation Buddha statue in the whole World.




Isurumuni Lovers

6th Century Gupta style carving. The woman, seated on the man's lap, lifts a warning finger, probably as a manifestation of her coyness; but the man carries on regardless."
The figures may represent Dutugemunu's son Saliya and the law caste (Sadol Kula) maiden Asokamala whom he loved. It's known that he gave up the throne for her.

Sandakada Pahana (The Moonstone)

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, which represents the dist between good, and evil. To some, the moon-stone is symbolic of transcending worldly temptations and achieving nibbane.
At the heart of many moonstones is a lotus petal. Buddhists regard the lotus as a sacred flower, a symbol of the male and female creative forces that prevails throughout Sri Lankan art, architecture, sculpture and literature. It figures in the legend attached to the birth of the Buddha, 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.



Kuttam Pokuna

The Twin Ponds.
These 3rd Century monks' bathing pools are archaeologically perfect.
The water that feeds the ponds flows first into a filtering basin made of rock; It runs through a beautiful makara mouth and a lion's head into the smaller tank. A submarine conduit feeds the larger tank.





Guard Stone (Naga King)

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.