KAMALIKA PIERIS
Revised 22.6.20
Medhananda told his biographer that he had
thought, when listening to lectures at Vidyodaya, as a student, that it
would-be good to investigate some of the things mentioned in the Mahavamsa. He had joined a
Vidyodaya archaeological trip to look at Neelagiri seya. Ven.
Handupelpola Punnaratana, who was teaching at Vidyodaya, had drawn
attention to this seya. It was this
exploration under the leadership of Gunapala Senadheera that inspired me to do
my own archaeological work, said Medhananda.
When Vidyodaya launched its own journal, in
1960, Medhananda had contributed an essay
on ‘Some of the kings not mentioned in the Mahavamsa’. He was asked to
contribute to the next issue. He then wrote Mahavamsa katuvarun nodutu Sinhala
rajadhani’.
This essay had come to the attention of many. Ven.
Handupelpola Punnaratana had praised it to Vice Chancellor Weliwitiye
Soratha and arranged for Medhananda to
meet the VC. Medhananda had said then that he wished to explore undiscovered
areas in our history.
A group of Vidyodaya students had gone on an
archaeological visit to Rajagala and brought back an inscription they had
copied there. Medhananda was interested, because he had read an essay
in the University of Ceylon Review, which said that the remains of Arhat
Mahinda were at Rajagala.
Medhananda tried hard to get a copy of the
inscription from the leader of the expedition but that person dodged giving him
a copy. So Medhananda went on his own
to Rajagala, with two others from Napawela. The date is not given. At Bakkiela
he made contact with persons who had previously lived in Napawala. Some youths
form Bakkiela also joined Medhananda. They took provisions and left from
Bakkiella vihara. Medhananda managed to
find the inscription. They were in letters six inches high. He copied it by
hand. The inscription said ‘this is the
stupa of Mahinda and Iththiya.’
This was the start of Ven. Medhananda’
exploration of Buddhist archaeological sites. As at 2007, Medhananda has
visited a total of 369 archaeological sites , situated mainly in Northern, Eastern,
Sabaragamuwa and Uva provinces. Medhananda has visited 77 sites in Ampara and Batticaloa, 64 sites
in Ratnapura district, 53 sites in
Moneragala , 40 sites in Kurunegala
, 26 in Anuradhapura, 18 in
Polonnaruwa, 17 in Kegalle ,
16 in Trincomalee , 12 in
Vavuniya and Mullaitivu , 12 in
Badulla , 12 in Hambantota, 10 in Matale, 9 in
Puttalam and 3 in Jaffna .
I spend 8 days exploring in the Toppigala jungles. Toppigala area has
150 archaeological sites. All
hillsides around Toppigala, such as Motagala, Vesibandagala, Atubandagala, Varakamulla, Kunchinamalai, Devinigala,
and Kavinigala had vihara on
them. Some had inscriptions too.
Kudimbigala, Veheragoda,
Panama all have Buddhist ruins. These areas
are watered by Kudimbigal Ara,
Halava oya, Vil oya, Heda oya. at Kudimbigala, there are Buddhist
ruins for at least 600 acres. Numerous stupas can be seen today, on the
rocks . The cave architecture of Kudimbigala is astounding. They were placed on top of each
other for 100 acres or so. Medhananda had found ten more inscriptions at
Kudimbigala, to add to those found by Paranavitana. Medhananda found that the ruins at
Buddanehela Raja Maha Vihara, Vavuniya
are fast deteriorating.
Medhananda’s explorations were solo efforts.
They consisted of personal examination of archaeological ruins, with particular
reference to Buddhist ruins and rock inscriptions. He never attempted to do an
archaeological dig. He said he had neither the permission, the equipment nor
personnel to do so. ‘I did not upset any archaeological
item I looked at,’ he said.
Medhananda said that he did his archaeological
explorations at his own expense. I went
on my own money with a couple of others to assist. I am the only person who had
done this, said Medhananda. He has not
used any equipment, not even binoculars, or a good camera to take photos, only
a small camera which could take just 12
photos per film roll.
He has copied all the inscriptions by hand. He seems to have done this by himself,
without any assistance. There is no record of anybody else copying them for him.
Most inscriptions are below the drip ledge but Medhananda found quite a few
above the drip ledge, such as the
inscription at Budupetun kanda. Letters that were not cut deep enough got
erased over time, those cut deep have lasted, he observed.
Medhananda tried to cover as many sites as
possible on one trip. It took him eight
days to go on an exploration from Batticaloa via Bibile, to Maha oya-
Omunugala- Kusalana kanda- Kasimottai- Kadurupetana malai- Atubandagala- Vasi
bandagala- Narakamulla- Motagala – Toppigala- Vadumune- Manampitiya to Valachchenai.
The jungles encountered on this trip were extremely dense, difficult and
hazardous, said Medhananda.
From Omunugala, on another occasion, he went
to Kunchinamalai, Kusalanakanda, Kadulupotanamalai, Lavini aru ending at Dambaliyaddegala. On another trip , he went from Pottuvil-
Panama- Kudimbigala- Bambaragastalawa- Lenama- Budubava to
Nalitta. He was at Kudumbigala for a week then Bambaragastalawa where he
spent the night in a cave. On yet another occasion he went from
Kudimbigala, to Budubava, Neelagiriya
and Naliththa.
The lack of access roads did not deter him. He was told that Kirimakulugolle, at Diyainne , Balangoda had an inscription, but
there was no road to the place. Medhananda went. He was told that there was no
way of getting to Namalu archaeological
site. (Ampara-Moneragala boundary- Heda oya- Namalu.) He visited the place.
Medhananda has gone into dense forest, endured
hardship, faced danger, to locate ancient monasteries and find new inscriptions. The explorations seem to have been done with no advance preparation.
They decided as they went.
The Saman gala trip was very scary, recalled Medhananda.
Saman gala was surrounded for miles by deep forest with
wild elephants, leopard, and bears. He was advised not to go late evening
as there were wild animals in the area. However, the team got to the take off point around
6.45 pm. They were lumbered with provisions, such as rice and coconuts. They
had missed the bus they were planning to take.
They decided to
go in on their own though they did not know the route and did not know the
correct turning. There were turn offs everywhere, could hear
wild animals cries all round. They went deep into the jungle, following a footpath made by those searching for firewood. They followed that for
about 1 ½ miles and then after
travelling about 5 miles altogether arrived
at Saman gala forest monastery at 11 pm. There was just one monk there,
living alone. He was connected to the Buddhangala monastery. They were informed that a few minutes ago a
leopard had gone by.
The Neelagiri trip was equally challenging. Medhananda and team started out
at 6 pm to explore Neelagiri. They did
not know the route but they had a guide. We
had to go through dense forest which was
home to wild animals. We could see that elephants had gone ahead, from their droppings. We pressed on as we wished to see the ruins.
The hill was very steep and sheer. A
very difficult climb but we made it to the top, holding on to small bushes and
trees.
Omunugala
in Maha oya area was an usually difficult trip, recalled
Medhananda . It was very difficult to get there, had to cross two oyas, then
miles of muddy forest, where animal footprints could be seen. Getting to Bowattegala was also very dangerous, it was all dense forest.
Medhananda went twice. Both times were
dangerous experiences, he said.
Medhananda said he faced a lot of frightening
experiences on the Kudimbigala trip. He wrote about them in his book on
Kudimbigala. For the Horowopotana exploration, we climbed three
hills and copied inscriptions. One hill was very dangerous to climb. If our foot slipped we would fall hundreds of
feet below to our death.
It is advisable to go into the forest with
someone who knows the place said Medhananda.He and his team got lost at Karanda
Hela kande. ‘Fortunately we met our
guide, while wandering around,’ said Medhananda . They got stranded at Yoda Wewa forest
too. They managed to get to the main road,
and got a lift from a lorry to Medawachchiya.
The team had planned to sleep by the Kumbukkan
oya on one exploration, but Medhananda
said no, the river might rise in
the night. It did. On the Neelagiri
trip too, the team knew that they could not return via Heda oya as it would be
too strong to cross on the return. They had to sleep in the jungle.
Medhananda was not a mountaineer, he had no training at all in hill climbing. He scrambled up hills and rocks as
best as he could. At Danagirigala his
team made a ladder, he climbed this and copied
inscriptions .
Medhananda had at least three dangerous falls. At
Neelagiri, Medhananda had to climb about 100 feet to get to an inscription. The
old steps had gone and there was no access. While
climbing he slipped and fell deeply down
but ended up in a bush, between a tree and a
rock and was saved.
At Velellugoda kanda Medhananda found a inscription and
wanted to copy it somehow. There were some vines ( vel) there and Medhananda tried to climb using
these. The vel broke and
Medhananda fell between two rocks. The
others came running and pulled him out.
Medhananda
was badly injured at Viharagoda
when he fell, trying to slide down a huge rock. He injured his foot. The
wound took one and half months to heal and the scar can still be seen on his right
foot.
There were other mildly
uncomfortable expeirneces too, for Medhananda . At Handagiriya, Medhananda
was given a mattress of kurakkan karal to sleep on, as a special gesture. Insects
from this were running across his body all night. On another occasion, he was given a ‘pillow’ of dried leaves to
sleep on. Insects from the pillow crawled all over his
face. While sleeping at Halmabagala temple Medhananda found a wild cat settling
on his chest.
Medhananda ‘s explorations were done with a small team of
volunteers, sometimes just two or three
people. One group had five.The
exploration teams were ad hoc ones, each
containing different sets of persons. I don’t think they knew anything about
archaeological exploration, or jungle maneuvers, they were simply supportive.
Medhananda and his team travelled by bus and on foot, with the occasional lift from a lorry. When
exploring Samangala, Medhananda started early from Napawala, went to Kandy,
took the Ampara bus to Veranketagoda junction, then travelled on Bandaraduwa
road on foot to Samangala. To see Galpiyuma aranya in Anuradhapura district,
Medhananda went by bus to Kebetigollawa then Pulmoddai and through forest to
Galpiyuma, known earlier at Galpokuna.
Medhananda
and team once went by bullock cart. There was an unusable jeep track
between Siyambalanduwa and Mahakalugolla, but there was another route between
chena and forest, used by hunters and wild animals. Medhananda decided to go on this route. ‘We used a bullock cart which transported firewood.
It was a very bumpy, rough ride. We thought our bones would break.
Medhananda and his team, were not
experienced in jungle explorations. They
made up for this in enthusiasm and staying power. They used small trees to climb onto bigger ones,
carrying their luggage. They slept on mats on top of boulders and inside caves. At Henangala, for instance, they went through
thick forest and got into a cave. They
were attacked by mosquitoes every where they went.
Medhananda
and team carried provisions with them, including rice and coconuts. On one occasion they took scraped coconut in polythene
bags and made roti on the heated rock in the jungle. They picked
‘nai miris’ from where ever they went in the jungle. They once
drank coffee with nai miris as a substitute for sugar. On another occasion they had a tasty meal of a wattakka picked up
from a chena on the way, stuffed with nai miris, salt and a tomato also picked
up on the way, and roasted on the embers
of a fire on a rock on which they were
sitting, trapped by elephants below.
They were sometimes without water or food,
having finished what they had brought. Once when they found they had no water, it suddenly
rained for a few minutes and the team were able to collect the water they
needed.
The journeys were dangerous. Medhananda and his group went for miles on foot, into dense jungle containing wild elephants. We often followed animal tracks, ready to
hide if they came. Despite encounters
with animals, we were never harmed by a wild animal, said Medhananda .
Medhananda and team had plenty of near encounters with wild elephants, bears and
leopards. In one instance , they were sleeping in a cave, when wild elephants
marched by. One broke down the makeshift
door to the cave and put his
trunk inside and explored. Fortunately
he withdrew his trunk and went away.
At Korawakkegama they were so intent on
examining the ruins they did not see an elephant coming at them with its trunk
lifted. They ran as they had never run before and got onto a rock. The elephant
stopped below the rock.
On one exploration the team got ready to cross
Maduru oya using branches and vines of
the trees by the bank. They heard a yell ‘bahinna epo,’. There was a large elephant
below and if they had swung down they would have landed on top of the
elephant. A man also waiting to cross
had warned them. They waited till the elephant left and proceeded.
It was dangerous to enter the water using those vines but we managed, recalled Medhananda.
At Handagiriya
they were confronted by a herd of wild elephants. They took refuge in the
chena of Chandana hamy, who had come from Yatipasgamuwa. Later they found that the herd at attacked
the hut they had slept in earlier.
The team
often took refuge from wild elephants on the top of rocks. Some rocks
were flat on top like platforms. They once watched a fight between two
elephants, in that way. At Toppigala they spent the night on boulders as the
jungle was full of elephants.
Medhananda had many brushes with bears. At Bambaragastalawa, he was intent on
copying an inscription, oblivious of the fact that there were two bear cubs
close by in a cave. The mother bear would attack if she saw him. The mother bear did return but only after
Medhananda had moved away.
When Medhananda went to take a photo of the
ruined Buddha image at Bambaragastalawa, a bear jumped out, from behind the image,
leapt over Medhananda‘s head and ran. Medhananda fell down on to a bush, but took his photo after that.
At Bovattegala they met a cluster of bears
face to face but were not harmed. At
Sastravela Medhananda went to explore and found a huge bear seated on the spot
he wished to examine.’ We hid under a ledge and moved away before he could see
us, said Medhananda.
Medhananda
encountered a leopard at Bowattegala
vihara. The team had lit a bonfire on another
trip and found a leopard sleeping
contentedly on a tree just above the
bonfire, later on. At Kotaveheragala
the team went into a tunnel and found
that there was a leopard inside it, far away. Medhananda opened his umbrella,
placed it on the ground, to block the view and the team crept backwards and out
of the tunnel.
On another occasion, a bird arrived and started calling. He is speaking to
us, said the monk accompanying Medhananda . They tested this by moving away. The
bird stopped calling. When they returned, the bird started again. The two monks
looked up and found a large leopard
coming toward them.
At Malayadikanda Medhananda had leaned against a tree and later felt
something feeling around his head, he moved away and found a cobra descending
down the tree. At Budu patum kande he
leaned against another tree, heard a
hissing sound, and looked. It was a
mapilla. Medhananda once woke from his sleep in a cave and found a mapilla
about to fall on two of the sleepers. He
Shouted to scare the mapilla off and dragged the two to safety.
Medhananda and another monk were at a villu
when a water buffalo saw them and came up, ready to attack. The monk who was with
Medhananda thrust his umbrella at
the buffalo, and yelled at it. Buffalo ran away.
When climbing up a hill, Medhananda had put
his hand into a convenient hole in the rock and hauled himself up. On examining
the hole they found that it contained a family of divi makuluvo ( tarantula).
Medhananda and his team occasionally met settlers who had come into the jungles to
do chena farming. Where possible these settlers gave lunch ( dane) to
Medhananda and his team. At
Diyahinna, Medhananda was given a dane of rice and mukunuvenna sambol by a chena farmer. Chena farmers at Namalu chetiya served food to
Medhananda and his team on lotus leaves. Instead
of umbalakada they had used gona karavala.
Chena farmers also assisted in other ways. Medhananda
and his team were helped to find the ruins
by a family from Kegalle living at Maragala
kanda. The man had brought along a bottle of water as well. On the Velellugoda kanda exploration , they met a farmer who provided a kalagedi of water and a boy with a ketta to show the way to a
lena to stay the night. Later the boy came with some boiled maize for dinner.
These settlers knew the rock inscriptions in the area and respected
them. At Diyahinna a villager had told them, when asked, that there
were more inscriptions elsewhere. Medhananda
and team wanted to see an inscription which was already on record, at
Mahagirilla Savaran keligala,. (Nikaweratiya- Dalada gama- Halambagala
vihara- Mahagirilla savarankeligala) He
asked a group of children whether they knew the place. They led him straight to it.
Medhananda
wanted to see the Tonigala inscription again, but could not recall the route.
They went into a house to ask for directions. There was a girl alone in the house. She knew where the inscription was and
said, I will take you. Also when you go along the wewa a little further,
there is another inscription. I will take you there as well as you cannot find it otherwise. When
they were at Tonigala, the girl’s mother arrived , having heard the news, with
orange juice in a bottle as gilanpasa.
At Danagirigala exploration the team could not find the
inscription they were looking for, in the forest. They met an 18 year old girl
with three small boys, going to their chena. She knew where the inscription was and led them to it. The group stayed till the job was completed.
We were all young at the time, but this
girl was safe with us, commented Medhananda .
Medhananda got
some degree of help and support, on these explorations, from a variety of persons.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa when Defence
Secretary gave me much encouragement and
helped in my investigations in north and east, said Medhananda . I was assisted by the armed forces and
police for two years. They protected me on my difficult explorations. Army helped him to climb up Pachchanur hill by sending down a rope for
him.
Medhananda
could not explore Kudimbigala
in 1965 or 1970, but in 1979 the Government Agent of Ampara, Y.W.
Gunawardene helped him to explore the place. At Bambaragastalawa
Medhananda was assisted by the police
chief there.
He got considerable support from the temples
in the exploration areas. The team were often able to stay the night at these
temples. The monks at Malagiyakanda received us very kindly and
looked after us for several days, said Medhananda . The monks at
Mahakalugolla vihara gave provision and provided assistants for an
exploration. Ven. Atawekwela
Bodhiseeha was very helpful in another
exploration.
The chief priest of Piyangala and another
adult joined Medhananda on the Pulukunava exploration. it was Piyangala priest who had told him there
were archaeological remains at
Pulukunava. Uhana police provided 3 police men
as escort. Medhananda went alone to Galpiyuma aranaya but met there a bhikkhu, who had worked in the Health
Department and took robes on retirement. He was from Anguruwella area.
However, there was animosity from some monks.
At a temple in Hingurana area, the monk
did not allow us to even eat our food in the bana maduwa. Instead he had
scolded us, recalled Medhananda . You have come to grab the temple haven’t you,
he said. Go away there are enough monks here and there are no
archaeological remains. ( CONTINUED)
ADDITIONS
- Neelagiri
pilima lena at Lahugala was a very important site. Medhananda had gone there in
1965 and again in 1981. There is no clear road to Neelagiri. This is in the forest, and from Moneragala to
Pottuvil this forest is wild animal infested.
I will never forget my 1981 journey there, said Medhananda. it was a
difficult exploration . We had to use the
paths used by wild animals. It was muddy and rainy and crossing Heda oya
was extremely difficult. Neelagiri was
very difficult and dangerous climb, very steep, nothing to hold on to. We climbed holding on to bushes and such like, getting scraped. We built a
sort of bridge from tree to the rock, I
removed my outer robes and we crept along on our stomachs. If we slipped we fell to our death.
- There
were about 30 Buddhist sites near
Udagala Dagoba, also ancient irrigation channels. I explored this area, taking 6 7 days at a time, under great
difficulty ( duk geheta) I went by foot
for hundreds of miles. I had Some
frightening experiences and some hilarious ones too on this exploration.
- Medhananda had gone to
look at the ruins in Nanthikadal lagoon, Mullaitivu . He nearly fell
into the sea from this hill while inspecting its ruins. Those above caught him
by his robes and pulled him up. Medhananda observed that there were no records
of this place in the Department of
Archaeology. The LTTE was ruling there at the time.
- The
journey to Niyaguna kanda vihara, Ampara,
was very difficult and we needed
a guide. We were scraped by thorn bushes and had slight wounds. We took with us buns, tea and plantains bought from a nearby boutique.
- Exploring
Valmandiyagala was a frightening, terrifying experience. At one point they had no water to drink.
Slept on a rock, it rained, they got wet.
- Vedikkinarmalai
rock temple was explored in 1964 and 1973 amidst great difficulty.( duskarata).
- Mutugalle
in Ampara was very difficult,
inaccessible.
- On
one of our trips, we were able to watch two elephants fighting , but we had to
take a roundabout route adding about 2 miles to our journey. we found a cave but were too scared to sleep because we could hear the animals.
- Vehera
wewa ruins had in inscription dated to
9-11 AD. While I was getting ready to copy this army asked us to come down,
an elephant herd had arrived.
- At
Padikemgala we found that our way out
was blocked by a sleeping wild elephant
