{"id":121510,"date":"2021-12-25T16:47:29","date_gmt":"2021-12-25T23:47:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=121510"},"modified":"2021-12-26T11:34:36","modified_gmt":"2021-12-26T18:34:36","slug":"buddhist-civilization-in-the-north-and-east-of-ancient-sri-lanka-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/12\/25\/buddhist-civilization-in-the-north-and-east-of-ancient-sri-lanka-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"BUDDHIST CIVILIZATION IN THE NORTH AND EAST OF ANCIENT SRI LANKA Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

revised 26.12.21<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nNorth and East was a part of the  \nBuddhist civilization of the Anuradhapura kingdom. It was part of the\nRajarata and came directly under the rule of the Sinhala king.   Inscriptions show that Abhayagiri had\nmonasteries outside Anuradhapura. Abhayagiri had monasteries at Kantarodai in\nJaffna, and at Nedunkerni and Ottimalai in Vanni.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the rise of the Tamil Separatist Movement, Buddhists feared\nfor the Buddhist ruins in the north and east. They wanted them listed and shown\non maps. Several persons then started to list the Buddhist sites in the north.  M. H. Sirisoma, Asst. Archaeological\nCommissioner prepared a map of Buddhist sites in 1963.<\/strong> This was much valued and greatly used. It is   still cited as a pioneer contribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1983,<\/strong> Cyril Mathew prepared a 167 page\ndocument, titled An appeal to UNESCO to safeguard and preserve the cultural\nproperty in Sri Lanka endangered by racial prejudice, unlawful occupation or\nwillful destruction.\u201d it is a privately published monograph, carrying the\naddress. Barnes Place, Colombo 7.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cyril\nMathew\u2019s book has a large map which shows the location of the Buddhist sides of\nthe north and east. Map lists 21 places  \nin Jaffna, 4 in Mannar, 105 in Vavuniya and Mullaitivu.\u2019 The book also contains\ninformation on 24 selected sites, with supporting documents, showing the\ndestruction of these Buddhist monuments. Among the monuments destroyed he lists\nKurundanmalai where in 1981 there was an attempt to turn the image house into a\nHindu kovil. A siripatula found there was used as a base to light camphor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further, the\nstupa at Nellikulam in Vavuniya had been leveled and cemented and a trident\nplaced there.  A Hindu kovil has been\nconstructed in the vihara premises at Mohantankulam in Vavuniya. The entire\narea, including ruins has been fenced in and turned into a large cattle shed,\nsaid Cyril Mathew.  A Hindu kovil was to\nbe set up at Samalankulam in Vavuniya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cyril\nMathew\u2019s book ends with a set of photographs showing the damage caused to\nseveral Buddhist monuments in the north and east. The photographs include a\nwantonly damaged Buddha image from Etambagaskada. Cyril Mathew acknowledged the\nsupport of several others in preparing this document. He speaks of the support\nand cooperation he received from colleagues, friends and well wishers. (See\nlast page)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ellawela\nMedhananda explored and wrote up his findings on the north and east starting in\n2003<\/strong> and continuing into 2013. He\nprovided maps of the sites he visited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2007<\/strong>, the periodical Buddhist Times”\nprovided a list of Buddhist sites in north and east. Jaffna had 21, Mannar had\n4, Vavuniya and Mullaitivu had 104, Trincomalee had 81, Batticaloa had 22, and\nAmpara had 41. A total of 274 sites, said Buddhist Times. Kantarodai in\nJaffna was a large area, now it is reduced to a small area, Buddhist Times\u201d added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In November 2010,<\/strong> Sri Lanka Archeological Society presented\na talk by Muditha Karunamuni on exploration and conservation of archaeology\nsites in north and eastern provinces. North and east is packed with Sinhala\nBuddhist monuments, he said and showed maps to indicate this.  .Muditha observed that some Buddhist remains\nwere deliberately destroyed. These included Etambagaskanda, and Kandikulam in\nVavuniya. Delft had Buddhist ruins including a chaitya. As long as navy was at\nDelft these ruins would be safe, Muditha observed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2010 <\/strong>the Department of Archaeology\ninitiated a survey of the Buddhist sites in the north. Vasana Premachandra of\nthe Department of Archaeology gave a talk before the Archaeological Society in\n2019 on the findings of this project. In July 2020,<\/strong> Vasana, together with Kalpa Asanga, who had led the team in Vavuniya,\ngave an expanded version of the talk to the Institute of Archaeology and\nHeritage Studies, Colombo. That talk can be viewed on https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zNeaiDsTBoY<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From these\ntwo talks, we learnt about the Buddhist monuments project carried out in 2010 by\nthe Department of Archaeology in the north. In 2010, the Department of Archeology\nsent a team to the North, to map out the Buddhist remains in Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi,\nVavuniya, Mannar and Jaffna. Their task was to find and list all the Buddhist\nmonuments they found    and bring those\nareas under the authority of the Department of Archaeology. The purpose was to protect\nthese archaeological sites from possible damage by the development projects planned\nfor the Northern Province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nDepartment   obtained a grant from UNDP\nand started work in 2010. <\/em>The UNDP\ngrant ended in 2014, but the\nproject continued to 2015.The team   paid 14 visits to\nthe Northern Province, staying   10 days per\nmonth. We were unable to walk the full area of a site, as we should, said\nVasana. The army did not allow us to do so. We were confined to the areas the army\npermitted us to go, but this included high security forested areas as well.\nHowever, they were able to cover 80% of Mullaitivu area and 60% of Vavuniya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We were the\nfirst civil unit to go into these areas after the war, Vasana said. It was very\ndifficult. There were no local informants. Also the Department of Archaeology\nhad not been active there for the last 30 years. Therefore, the team did not\nfollow the usual procedure of working with the administrators serving in that\ndistrict. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead,   they worked in consultation with the army,\nwho were firmly in control in the north.  The army had three regional commands at\nJaffna, Wanni and Mullaitivu. The archaeological team worked closely with the\nbrigades under these Commands. The brigades consisted mainly of infantry battalions.\nThe army had been very supportive. They made sure that the team was\ncomfortable. The army had given up their rooms to the archaeological team and\nhad built toilets for the female members. The navy and the civil arakshaka Balakaya had also helped.  .Vasana and Kalpa\nexpressed grateful thanks to the armed forces for their support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The army and\nthe archaeological team had worked together very harmoniously.  There was much dedication and cooperation on\nboth sides in executing the project. The army was also very helpful in the\nactual search. \u2019They would call us to come and look at the things they had\nfound.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the team\nhad identified a site as a Buddhist archaeological site, they erected an Archaeological\nDepartment column there. This concrete column was very heavy, but officers\ncarried it willingly. The team also set boundary stones and put up a board announcing\nin all three languages  that the place\nwas now an archaeological site. Back in Colombo, the team recorded their\nfindings in three \u2018district books\u2019.   They also had a large collection of photographs.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team\nprepared maps containing the location of these sites. These maps were given to\nthe other Departments to be included in their maps of the north. The locations were\nalso put on the Department   website https:\/\/archaeologysl.maps.arcgis.com\/home\/index.html.<\/a> Wont these\nruins disappear in ten years, now that they have been identified,\u201d asked the\naudience. Vasana replied \u2018that is why we have put them on the website, so now\nthey cannot do away with them\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team\nobtained   GPS positions for all the sites.  The team was asked, when you give GPS\nlocators won\u2019t that help people to destroy these places.  The team replied that most of these places\nare in  high security forests or high\nsecurity zones, also we have not publicized the GPS locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vasana said ,\nin answer to a question from the \naudience ,that the Department  did\nnot take  the Sangha along to inspect\nsites. If we took them that could have created problems\u201d. The only bhikkhu who\nhad explored the area  successfully was Ellawela\nMedhananda<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team\nfound various types of evidence in these Buddhist sites. The team found a\nketarama with brahmi script at Konagaharayan kulam   and Vedikumarimalai cave temple. They found\na karanduwa of a stupa at Marandankurni, a huge vihara complex, with stupa\nmound at Sonanochcha kulam, a siripatula at Periyamadu Muttumani Ambal kovil, a\npabbata vihara at Mutiyankattakulam and a guard stone at Kokilai.  In Mullaitivu, the ruins spread over  large areas. There were remains of stupa and\nmany image houses. The Buddhist sites found in Mullaitivu and Mannar were  mainly Anuradhapura period , some were early\nAnuradhapura, some  middle Anuradhapura .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/em>In Mullaitivu the team found 175\narchaeological sites, but not all were Buddhist, some were pre-Buddhist.  The team found 44 huge ( \u2018visala\u2019) monasteries\n, 34 sites where the Buddhist ruins could be identified and another 55 where\nthey could not identify what the function of the Buddhist   ruins was.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some\nof the findings at Mullaitivu. Ambakamun ruins had a standing Buddha statue,\nstupa mound and ruins of monastery. At Andankulam the team found Buddhist ruins\nin 4 places there was a stupa 6 meters tall circumference 20 meters, a Buddha statue\nand asanaya. There was a monastic complex at Janakapura.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Kachchidu had a large ruin complex, with\nBuddha statue and asana. Kalvilan was a monastery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Kalvilan,\nvillagers had built houses over the whole monastic site using material from the\nBuddhist ruins. Various religious objects were found in the houses such as siripatula\ngala for washing clothes near the well. The team spoke to the villagers and persuaded\nthem to part with these religious objects. Ruins were  found in a paddy field at Kalvilan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Kanyarkovil had Buddhist ruins. At  Kiribbanwewa there was a  seat \nand a cave with ketarama . The site also had two pre-brahmi\ninscriptions.   Koddiyamalai site held two caves with  ketarama . There has been a huge  monastery at Kokavil. A complete guardstone was\nfound .. Rupavahini is there now.  Komalamunai had a huge stupa mound; it has been\na monastic complex.Kumbakarna malai also appears to have been a huge monastic\ncomplex. There were lots of ruins.The team thought this was probably Kumbaselaka\nvihara. Kurundavashoka vihara in Komalamunai site had a moonstone and steps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mutiankattikulam  has been a huge monastery. The  team found a korawakgala and  asana there.  A stupa  had emerged \nin the wewa when the water went down. The Oddusuddan area had lots of\nBuddhist ruins spread about the area,  as\nat Keridamadu, Kachchilamadu, and Muniyan Kaddikulama. Materials from Buddhist\nruins were used for the Oddusuddan kovil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buddhist\npillars  were seen beside the Sivapuram Sri\nMalai Kovil also stone edict dated to 8 to 10 AD which has been published. .\u2018<\/em>Vannammaduva had a complete Buddhist statue\nin Samadhi, the army took it and it is now kept in the  army camp. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buddhist\nsites were found in several places in Mannar. Maligapitti had lots of ruins\nwith a  stupa mound. Place is surrounded\nby houses. A Buddha statue was  found\nnear Murungan,  also  a stupa in a banana plantation. Buddhist ruins\nwere found near Murungan hospital including siripatula, an inscription and\nstone columns. The inscription  and siripatula\nwere used for  patients to sit on.  There were \nBuddhist sites at Mardamadu  Pudalpitti,  Neeravi kulam and Pokkaravanni  .A. Buddha statue was found at Koviyamadu.\nThe army had placed it inside a hut and were looking after it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team found\n6  firmly established monasteries in\nMannar. They were monastic complexes. They belonged to the Anuradhapura period,  but the team \ndid not have the time  to accurately\nidentify which Anuradhapura period they belonged to. The large complexes were\nalways  near water.    The\nteam also found a vast number of inscriptions in Mannar which were not known\nearlier. The script  used in the northern\ninscriptions was the same as  the script\nfound in the southern inscriptions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0In 2016<\/strong>, 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Source https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/figure\/17-Archaeological-sites-in-the-Northern-Province-Based-on-data-provided-by-the_fig14_340451884<\/a> (2016) \u00a0CONCLUDED <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS revised 26.12.21 The North and East was a part of the   Buddhist civilization of the Anuradhapura kingdom. It was part of the Rajarata and came directly under the rule of the Sinhala king.   Inscriptions show that Abhayagiri had monasteries outside Anuradhapura. Abhayagiri had monasteries at Kantarodai in Jaffna, and at Nedunkerni and Ottimalai […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121510\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}