{"id":73929,"date":"2018-01-21T10:31:47","date_gmt":"2018-01-21T17:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=73929"},"modified":"2018-01-21T10:31:47","modified_gmt":"2018-01-21T17:31:47","slug":"buddhism-in-ancient-jaffna-revised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2018\/01\/21\/buddhism-in-ancient-jaffna-revised\/","title":{"rendered":"BUDDHISM IN ANCIENT JAFFNA (revised)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

(Revised January 2018).<\/p>\n

According to the Mahavamsa, the Buddha\u2019s second visit was to \u2018Nagadipa\u2019 to settle a quarrel between Chulodara and Mahodara over the possession of a gem-studded throne.\u00a0 Mahavamsa records many Buddhist shrines at \u2018Nagadipa.\u2019 \u2018Nagadipa\u2019 is one of the Solosmastana, the 16 places of worship to which Buddhists go on pilgrimage.<\/p>\n

Paul. E. Pieris researched into the location of \u2018Nagadipa\u2019. He found that the main embarkation point to north India in ancient times was \u2018Jambukola\u2019 in \u2018Nagadipa\u2019. From Jambukola it took seven days to get to Tamralipti, a port at the mouth of the Ganges. Jambukola therefore had to be in the Jaffna peninsula. \u00a0\u00a0Up to the end of the 17th century, Jaffna was an island separated from the mainland by a narrow strip of water. It was known as Nagadipa. It was linked to the mainland only in the 18 century, said Vinnie Vitarana.<\/p>\n

Pieris read a paper before the Royal Asiatic Society, Ceylon Branch, saying that \u2018Nagadipa\u2019 was the name given to the Jaffna peninsula and its islands. John M Senaveratne who was present at the talk said that Pieris has \u2018confirmed for us what was for long suspected and indicated\u2019 by B. Horsburgh and J.P.Lewis, that Jaffna was a part of the ancient Sinhala Buddhist civilization.\u00a0 The paper was published as \u2018Nagadipa and Buddhist remains in Jaffna\u2019 (1917). The Vallipuram gold plate, found around 1936, settled the matter. It confirmed that \u2018Nakadiva\u2019 was the ancient name for Jaffna.<\/p>\n

Jaffna was a part of the Sinhala Buddhist civilization.\u00a0 Devanampiyatissa had built several viharas at Jambukola. Mallaka naga had founded Sali pabbata vihara and Aggabodhi I built the relic house, Rajayatana.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mahavamsa also records that Mangala vihara was restored by Dhatusena, Vijayabahu I repaired Jambukola vihara and Voharaka tissa built walls around the vihara named Tissa.\u00a0 Kanitta tissa\u00a0\u00a0 had repaired a temple at Nagadipa<\/p>\n

Evidence of this Buddhist civilization emerged during British rule. A stone image of the Buddha about 8 feet in height was unearthed near Vishnu temple in Vallipuram, in 1903, together with ruins of buildings, pottery and coins.\u00a0 The statue was kept in the lumber room of the temple.\u00a0 J.P.Lewis, then Government Agent, Jaffna, placed it in the Old Park at Jaffna.\u00a0 Another image of the Buddha found at Chunnakam was also placed there. In 1906, the Vallipuram Buddha was presented by Governor, Sir Henry Blake, to the King of Siam who was particularly anxious to have it, owing to its antiquity. It is now in Bangkok.<\/p>\n

Paul. E. Pieris\u00a0\u00a0 traveling by train to Jaffna in 1913 had spotted an interesting mound at Chunnakam. He investigated it and found it to be a dagoba. It was the first dagoba to be found in Jaffna. Then he excavated at Kantarodai (Kadurugoda), six miles southwest of Kankesanturai, adjoining Uduvil.<\/p>\n

At Kantarodai, he found a vast area containing mounds of dagobas and several badly destroyed Buddha images. A Buddha image of \u2018heroic size\u2019 was found abandoned, in sections, in a field.\u00a0\u00a0 Another large\u00a0\u00a0 Buddha statue measured nearly five and a half feet across the shoulders and weighed nearly three quarters of a ton.\u00a0 The size indicated \u2018the high degree of sanctity once attached to this place\u2019. There was evidence of a huge building complex. One building had a floor area of fifty six feet by thirty six. A religious establishment of great importance had been established here, said Pieris. It had extended on to the adjoining lands as well. The complex was within a shout\u2019s distance of Uduppili tank.<\/p>\n

Kantarodai appeared to be a miniature Anuradhapura buried in Tamil country\u201d, said Pieris. No attention had been paid to this complex and instead it was getting systematically erased. The villagers were regularly removing stones from the site to use for other purposes. The materials and images were used as doorsteps, stepping stones, aids for washing at wells and for Hindu worship. Pieris found a large fragment of the torso of what must have been at one time a gigantic stone statue, being used at a well for washing clothes. Pieris renovated some of the dagobas . Total cost was Rs 100.<\/p>\n

Pieris (1917) noted that Kantarodai, Uduvil and Chunnakam are in the centre of an extensive Buddhist \u2018chunk\u2019 located in the Valikamam division. Valikamam is \u2018Weligama\u201d. A chain of other Sinhala place names, like Tellipalam, Vimankam, Chunnakam and Kokuvil can be seen in the division, going up to Kankesanturai, said Pieris .<\/p>\n

John M Senaveratne (1917) said that Vallipuram should also be investigated. There seems to be another centre of Buddhism there. Vallipuram had sand heaps with masses of broken blocks extending 3 miles in length.\u00a0 Ceylon Observer<\/em> (14.October 1949) noted that Buddhist remains were found at Delft \u00a0and that Pieris had\u00a0 discovered a remarkably fine image of the Buddha at Makayappiddi, in the courtyard of the Meenachchi Amman Temple.<\/p>\n

In 1982 M. H. Sirisoma, Asst. Commissioner of Archaeology,\u00a0\u00a0 compiled a map of places of archaeological interest in the north and east. The following places in the Jaffna peninsula were listed.\u00a0 It could be safely assumed, I think, that these were a part of the Buddhist civilization of the ancient period. The places shown on the map are Allaipitti,\u00a0\u00a0 Chummakam, Delft, Gotamaluwawatta (\u00a0 Kattupulam) Kadurugoda, Kilinochchi.\u00a0 Oddiyawattai, Mahaiyapitti,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mallakam,\u00a0 Nagadeepaya,\u00a0 Nagaviharaya, Nilavarai, Puloli,\u00a0 Puttur\u00a0 , Sambiliturai ( Jambukolapatuna) Uduvil,\u00a0\u00a0 Urutiruputam,\u00a0 Vallipuram,\u00a0 Vavunikulam,\u00a0\u00a0 Viralai, and\u00a0\u00a0 Waddumakaddu,<\/p>\n

E.T. Kannangara in his book Jaffna and the Sinhala heritage<\/em> (1984) has provided a list of the places in the Jaffna peninsula where Buddhist remains have been found in modern times. Several Buddha images were found at Puttur. Some were in Dhiyana mudra, one was 8 ft tall.\u00a0 Remains of a dagoba and Buddha statue were found at Mahiyapiti.\u00a0 Buddha images, shrine and yantra gala were found at Mallakam.\u00a0 Buddha image, moonstone, door frame, pillars and three mounds of earth were found at Vavunikulam.<\/p>\n

A Buddha image and dagoba was found at Koddiyawattai, a hamlet in Chunnakam. Buddha image was found in the village of Navakiri at Nilavarai. A Buddha footprint\u00a0\u00a0 was found at Puloli, two miles from Point Pedro.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Remains of dagobas have been found at Nilavari,\u00a0\u00a0 Tellipali\u00a0 Uduvil\u00a0 and Uruthirupuram. There is evidence of a Buddhist vihara in Keerimalai.\u00a0 Buddhist ruins were also found at Anakottai,\u00a0 Chulipuram\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and Uruthirupuram. Vallipuram contained old bricks, foundations of buildings, damaged Buddha images, ruins of a Buddhist vihara and a place named \u2018sakkawattai\u2019, said Kannangara.<\/p>\n

Kannangara stated that place names also showed that Jaffna had been Buddhist. Places named Sakkavattai (sangha watta) are found at Kankesanturai, Mawatapuram and the adjacent villages. Until the 1980s a hamlet close to Tellippalai was known as \u2018Buddha Walauwwa\u2019. Puttur is \u2018Budugama\u2019. \u2018Ur\u2019 means village in Tamil . .There is \u2018Gothamaluwawatta\u2019 about a quarter mile from Ponnalai.\u00a0 There is \u2018Pinwatte\u2019 \u00a0and also \u2018Buddhawattai\u2019 close to Kantarodai.<\/p>\n

Kannangara says that there were Buddhist temples on the sites of some present day kovils.\u00a0 Kandasamy kovil at Nallur was earlier a Buddhist shrine with an altar for Skanda.\u00a0 Buddha images were found quarter mile from this kovil. The Hindu kovil at Mawatupuram, a village near Kankesanturai, was earlier Mawatupura vihara. An ancient Buddhist vihara near the 9th mile post along Jaffna-Karaingar road across Manipay is now a Hindu kovil.<\/p>\n

Ven. Ellawela Medhananda\u00a0 explored the Buddhist monuments of Jaffna Peninsula, starting in 1978. He\u00a0\u00a0 said that Valipuram,\u00a0 known earlier\u00a0 as Valipura, had been a flourishing town. The evidence is in the massive wall encircling the whole area of the ruins, running more than a mile towards the North east. Most of the Buddhist ruins are now buried under the Vishnu kovil that has been built on top of these Buddhist ruins.<\/p>\n

Ven.\u00a0 Medhananda\u00a0\u00a0 found that the following places contained Buddhist ruins: Accuveli, Analutivu,\u00a0 Anei kottai,Ariyalei,\u00a0 Buddha valavva, Buddhatotttm, Culipuram,\u00a0 Cunnakam, Delft, Elvativu,\u00a0\u00a0 Gotamaluva watta,\u00a0 Araitivu,\u00a0 Kodiyavatta, Mahiyapiddi, Mallakam ,Manipai, Aratamadam ,Mavaddiputam, Nagacca kovil\u00a0 area,\u00a0 Nagarkovil,\u00a0 Nainativu, Nallur , Nilavarai, Pinvatta, Ponnalai, Puloli, Punarin,\u00a0 Punkudutivu, Puttur, Sambiliturai,\u00a0 Telippali, Tenavali, Tiruadiniilei, Tisamalei, Tondamannar, Tunukai,\u00a0 Uduppidi, Uduvil, Uratota, Vadukkode, Vakaveli, Valikanam, Valvetiturai and \u00a0Vangane.<\/p>\n

Kantarodai, known earlier as Kadurugoda has received much attention. Three acres of the Kantarodai complex were\u00a0 declared an archaeological reserve and excavated further. Some stupas had been renovated in 1975 and 1976. D.G.B de Silva (2002) stated that the complex would have extended well beyond the three acres recovered. . The available stupas, which have not been precisely recorded, are clearly only a part of the total number of stupas in the original complex.\u00a0\u00a0 The stupas are different to the usual stupas and merit closer examination He saw some similarity between Kantarodai and Borobudur and asked could Kantarodai have been a centre for Tantric (Vajrayana) Buddhism?<\/p>\n

Ven. Medhananda had\u00a0 visited Kadurugoda in 1977. The site was bisected, he said. The Uduvil Kantarodai main road runs in between. There are more ruins\u00a0 outside these boundaries too,\u00a0 in coconut and talipot palm groves.\u00a0 An area of about\u00a0 50 acres can be said to contain ancient Buddhist\u00a0\u00a0 ruins, he said. Ven. Medhananda looked at the\u00a0 literary\u00a0 evidence\u00a0 and decided that Kadurugoda was a part of a religious complex known as Nagavehera. He thinks that all these stupas were\u00a0 around one important central monument. He was told by his informant that this site had earlier been known as\u00a0 \u2018Rajayatana cetiya\u2019<\/p>\n

Ven. S. Dhammika (2007) observed that the pinnacles found at Kantarodai indicate that there would have been many more stupas than the ones seen today. Today, there are\u00a0\u00a0 only 20 complete stupas. The largest stupa is about 23 feet in diameter and the smallest about 6 feet. The base of each stupa is made of coral stone moulded into four bands and the domes are made of coral rubble coated with plaster fashioned to look like blocks of stone. The hamikas and spires are made of stone, with the pinnacle fitting into a hole in the hamika. The site had been in use from about the 2nd century BC to about the 13th century AD.<\/p>\n

Historians see a bleak future for the Buddhist ruins of Jaffna. Nearly all the Buddhist remains in the Jaffna peninsula have now disappeared, due to neglect, pilfering or deliberate destruction, said Ven.\u00a0 Dhammika.\u00a0 The extensive ruins at Chunnakam, with stupa, monastery and several large Buddha images were not there now.,\u00a0 Most of the Buddhist religious sites have vanished\u00a0\u00a0 from Jaffna, said Ven. Medhananda in 2005.<\/p>\n

D.G.B. de Silva (2002) said that even after Kantarodai was declared an archeological reserve, some stupas disappeared and others are in ruins. Ven. S Dhammika (2007) pointed out that there were only 20 complete stupas now at Kantarodai. Ven. Medhananda re-visited Kandarodai in 2001. It was much changed, he said.\u00a0 The site had been encroached on all sides, new houses had been built.<\/p>\n

Today, Jaffna is not known as \u2018Nagadipa\u2019 but as \u2018Yalpanam\u2019. The name \u2018Nagadipa\u2019, tamilised to \u2018Nainativu\u2019,\u00a0\u00a0 is now given to a small islet, 2 by 1 \u00bd miles wide, adjoining the Jaffna peninsula.\u00a0\u00a0 This islet is smaller than Delft, Karaitivu or Kayts. Buddhist pilgrims are today, worshipping happily in this small, insignificant island, away from the mainland, accessible only by boat. \u00a0E.T .Kannangara (1984) observed that the meeting between Chulodara and Mahodara would not have been on such a small islet when the Jaffna peninsula was within easy reach. Jaffna is the largest of the islands and the one closest to the mainland.<\/p>\n

Nainativu had no historical buildings whatsoever when I, then a schoolgirl, visited in the 1950s with my parents.\u00a0\u00a0 It only had a small temple which definitely was not ancient.\u00a0 There was\u00a0 nothing of archaeological interest there either. There was just one priest. No worshippers either on that day. The deliberate transfer of the \u2018solosmastana\u2019 location to a remote island may have taken place during British rule, since the British wanted to turn Jaffna into a Tamil settlement. On the other hand the transfer may have taken place during Pandya rule in Jaffna. That would will tally with the date of 13th century given to Kandarodai.<\/p>\n

Buddhists must insist, without delay, that Jaffna be given back its original name \u2018Nagadipa\u2019. Jaffna must now replace Nainativu in the list of\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018solosmastana\u2019 and facilities must be provided for Buddhists to worship in Jaffna on a \u2018solosmastana\u2019 pilgrimage. The Nainativu temple should be relocated to Jaffna and the worship conducted there. Buddhists should have asked for this long ago.\u00a0 They must not delay any longer. \u00a0The Maha sangha, particularly he Mahanayakes of Malwatte and Asgiriya, must take this matter immediately.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS (Revised January 2018). According to the Mahavamsa, the Buddha\u2019s second visit was to \u2018Nagadipa\u2019 to settle a quarrel between Chulodara and Mahodara over the possession of a gem-studded throne.\u00a0 Mahavamsa records many Buddhist shrines at \u2018Nagadipa.\u2019 \u2018Nagadipa\u2019 is one of the Solosmastana, the 16 places of worship to which Buddhists go on pilgrimage. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73929","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\/73929","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=73929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73929\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}