KAMALIKA PIERIS

In 2010, with the end of the Eelam war, the Department of Archaeology initiated a survey of the Buddhist sites in the north.  The Department sent a team to the North, to map out the Buddhist remains in Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya, Mannar and Jaffna. 

Their task was to find and list all the Buddhist monuments they found    and bring those areas under the authority of the Department of Archaeology. The purpose was to protect these archaeological sites from possible damage by the development projects planned for the Northern Province. The project was completed in 2015.

In July 2020, Vasana Premachandra of the Department of Archaeology together with Kalpa Asanga gave a talk to the Institute of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, (IAHS) Colombo on the findings from this project. That  talk can be viewed on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNeaiDsTBoY.

 The Department had   obtained a grant from UNDP for this project.  The grant ended in 2014,  but the project continued to 2015. The team   paid 14 visits to the Northern Province, staying   10 days per month.

We were unable to walk the full area of a site, as we should, said Vasana. The army did not allow us to do so. We were confined to the areas the army permitted us to go, but this included high security forested areas as well. However, they were able to cover 80% of Mullaitivu area and 60% of Vavuniya.

The team first looked at the 44 known sites, but more sites emerged and the project went on to discover a total of 379 sites. They found 48 in Jaffna, 16 in Kilinochchi, 175 in Mullaitivu, 60 in Mannar and 80 in Vavuniya.

We were the first civil unit to go into these areas after the war, Vasana said. It was very difficult. There were no local informants. Also the Department of Archaeology had not been active there for the last 30 years. But the army was very helpful in the actual search. ’They would call us to come and look at the things they had found.’ The Buddhist sites found in Mullaitivu and Mannar were mainly Anuradhapura period, some were early Anuradhapura, some middle Anuradhapura.

Vasana said, in answer to a question from the audience, that the Department did not take the Sangha along to inspect sites. If we took them that could have created problems”. The only bhikkhu who had explored the area successfully was Ellawela Medhananda

The team prepared maps containing the location of these sites. The locations were also put on the Department   website https://archaeologysl.maps.arcgis.com/home/index.html..  These maps were given to the other Departments to be included in their maps of the north.   In addition, the Integrated Strategic Environment Assessment for the Northern Province of Sri Lanka (ISEA-North) 2016-2017 prepared a map of the Buddhist remains in the north, based on the Archaeology Department  project. 

 Wont these ruins disappear in ten years, now that they have been identified,” asked the audience   at the IAHS talk. Vasana replied ‘that is why we have put them on the website, so now they cannot do away with them’.

The team obtained   GPS positions for all the sites.  The team was asked, when you give GPS locators won’t that help people to destroy these places.  The team replied that most of these places are in  high security forests or high security zones, also we have not publicized the GPS locations.

 In Mullaitivu the team found 175 archaeological sites, mostly Buddhist . The team found 44 huge ( ‘visala’) monasteries , 34 sites where the Buddhist ruins could be identified and another 55 where they could not identify what the function of the Buddhist   ruins was.  The ruins spread over  large areas In Mullaitivu, .

Here are some of the findings at Mullaitivu. Ambakamun ruins had a standing Buddha statue, stupa mound and ruins of monastery. At Andankulam the team found Buddhist ruins in 4 places there was a stupa 6 meters tall circumference 20 meters, a Buddha statue and asanaya. There was a monastic complex at Janakapura.

Mutiankattikulam  has been a huge monastery. The  team found a korawakgala and  asana there.  A stupa  had emerged  in the wewa when the water went down. The Oddusuddan area had lots of Buddhist ruins spread about the area,  as at Keridamadu, Kachchilamadu, and Muniyan Kaddikulama. Materials from Buddhist ruins were used for the Oddusuddan kovil.

Buddhist pillars  were seen beside the Sivapuram Sri Malai Kovil also stone edict dated to 8 to 10 AD which has been published. .‘Vannammaduva had a complete Buddhist statue in Samadhi, the army took it and it is now kept in the  army camp.

Buddhist sites were found in several places in Mannar. Maligapitti had lots of ruins with a  stupa mound. Place is surrounded by houses. A Buddha statue was  found near Murungan,  also  a stupa in a banana plantation. Buddhist ruins were found near Murungan hospital including siripatula, an inscription and stone columns. The inscription  and siripatula were used for  patients to sit on.  There were  Buddhist sites at Mardamadu  Pudalpitti,  Neeravi kulam and Pokkaravanni  .A. Buddha statue was found at Koviyamadu. The army had placed it inside a hut and were looking after it.

The team found 6  firmly established monasteries in Mannar. They were monastic complexes. They belonged to the Anuradhapura period,  but the team  did not have the time  to accurately identify which Anuradhapura period they belonged to. The large complexes were always  near water. 

  The team also found a vast number of inscriptions in Mannar which were not known earlier. The script  used in the northern inscriptions was the same as  the script found in the southern inscriptions.

Following on the Archaeology Department project, in 2013  the National Heritage Ministry  gazetted 83 ancient monuments in north and east, many of them  ruins of Buddhist temples situated in villages in Mannar, Mullativu, Jaffna and Vavuniya districts. There are nearly 30 such monuments in comparison with 7 Hindu ones on the list. Majority are in the Mullativu district with one in Jaffna district, said  the media  ( Continued)