Dedigama

The ancient Sinhalese chronicle, the Culavamasa tells us that the consort of Manabharana, the crown prince of Sri Lanka,

... bore a son at a moment marked by a lucky constellation. Clear at this moment were all the quarters of the heavens and cool, fragrant, gentle breezes blew. With the trumpeting of the elephants and the neighing of the horses the royal courtyard was filled with resounding din.

This heavenly event took place in a city known as Punkhagama, the capital of the principality of Dakkhinadesa, of which Manabharana was the sub-king (yuvaraja).

The child was named Parakramabahu (Parakkamabahu in Pali). Many years later, about 1153 AD he became king of the whole island as Parakramabahu I (the Great). He then constructed a shrine at the place of his birth, the Suthigara Cetiya (the Chaitya of the house of birth).

Interestingly, when Wilhelm Geiger (the father of Hans, the inventor of the Geiger Counter) was translating the Culawamsa, the location of Punkhagama had not yet been discovered. Geiger Snr tells us in a footnote that 'Parakkamabahu 1 erected a tope there 120 cubits high of which there ought still to be traces'.

Archaeological department board at the Kotavehera

This tope was identified later as the Kotavehera, in the modern village of Dedigama (pronounced tha-thee-gah-muh), and excavations were carried out there in the 1960s. So Punkhagama is most likely Dedigama. Apparently the place-name is derived from Jatigama, an alternative ancient name for the place.

The dagoba is the largest in the Wet Zone of Sri Lanka. Parakramabahu I was a great lover of monumental architecture and bigness generally. He made tanks in the Wet Zone (where they were not really necessary) in order to show off his prowess and in order to recreate the 'Milk Ocean' in a large-scale Mandala, a representation of the Indic Cosmos .

Obviously I am not a great fan of Parakramabahu's - his reputation was as much due to his panegyrist in the Culawamsa as anything he did; although it was possibly his unification of the Mahayana and Theravada Buddhist clergy in a single, state-controlled body which ensured for him a sympathetic press.

Sutighara cetiya from the north-east

Be that as it may, the dagoba is truly impressive. It is 78 metres (256 feet) in diameter and 14.3 metres (47 feet) high. I couldn't get the whole thing onto a single frame, so I had to do a stitch-up of two photos - a bit of a botch-up actually.

The size of the structure is illustrated by this photo of a senior citizen walking around it in the prescribed clock-wise manner. Note the multi-coloured branches of Na (Ironwood) trees in the foreground and the concentric perimeter rings (pesa walalu) at the base of the stupa.

Elderly man circling the dagoba

Not withstanding the size of the dagoba, it is referred to as the Kotavehera (short stupa) , not because of any deficiency in its height, but because it was built without the usual upper structure, the traditional cube-shaped enclosure (hatharæs kotuwa) and pinnacle (koth kærælla). Rather like calling a tall person short because they do not wear a hat.

On the eastern side of the dagoba, just above the second of the pesa walalu at the foot of the dagoba, is a smaller stupa, about 11 metres (36 feet) in diameter. It is said to mark the exact place of Parakramabahu's birth. It is that little pimple on the side of the dagoba, in my stitch-up shot above. The photo below shows it in close-up:

Smaller dagoba

The larger dagoba appears to have been anchored on the lesser. Here is an even closer shot:

Smaller dagoba

Excavations found a koraha (a pot for washing rice in) beneath the smaller dagoba. Not surprisingly, however, it was the larger which yielded the greater treasure. The main reliquary chamber, guarded by multi-headed cobras (like the one at Oorusitano tank), was complemented by 8 others arranged geometrically around it. The artefacts found there were housed in a museum built close by.

The way to the archaeological museum

A break-in occurred there not too many years ago, and the thieves got away with a large number of artefacts, especially some exquisite Buddha statues covered in gold foil. However, less monetarily valuable but priceless historically, the main prize of the collection was left behind. This was the elephant lamp.

Elephant lamp

This elegant oil lamp is one of a pair taken from the heart of the dagoba - the other being at the Colombo Museum. The identical lamps are of the hanging type and each consists an oil receptacle surmounted by an elephant and its mahout. The whole is suspended by the apex of a torana above the elephant, which is affixed to a chain.

Detailed drawing of elephant lamp

The elephant figure stands in the middle of the oil receptacle, which can be filled with oil. There is also a reservoir for the oil in the elephant's belly (marked in white on black in the central figure above). Oil is poured in using the hollow of one of the forelegs as a funnel.

After the lamp is lit, the level of oil in the receptacle goes down. When it goes below the level of the hole in the funnel-foreleg, an ingenious hydrostatic arrangement makes the pachyderm 'urinate' oil until the level of oil returns above the beast's feet. Obviously, the creator of this marvel of physics was something of a piss-artist.

Despite the burglary, many valuable artefacts remain in the museum, not just from Dedigama but from archaeological sites in the Kegalle area generally, including some interesting inscriptions. There is also a representation of the nine reliquary chambers of the Kotavehera, showing what was found where, and photographs of the dig.

You can get to Dedigama by turning to the right off the Colombo-Kandy road at Nelundeniya and driving about 3 kilometres (2 miles).

Dedigama is within easy driving distance of the rest houses at Ambepussa, Hanwella and Kitulgala, as well as the Ambalama hotel in Hanwella.

Pethangoda Grove

A popular verse of Sinhala poetry runs as follows:

Rusiru pethangoda uyanata wædiyaaya
Napuru unakatuwak pathulehi ænunaaya
Sitiya sævoma vatakara mathulaaya
Raajasingha devi naamen mækunaaya

In English, this means:

He betook himself to the beautiful Pethangoda park
A wicked bamboo thorn pierced his foot
All those there surrounded him and chanted spells
Rajasinghe was erased from the names of the gods

This refers to king Rajasinghe I of Sitawaka, who fought an unrelenting war against the Portuguese. Apparently, he was known by his given name, Tikiri Bandara (still a popular name among the Kandyan Sinhalese) until 1555, when he captured the town of Alutnuwara from the Royal pretender, Vidiya Bandara, while still a prince. Thereafter he was popularly known as Raja Singhe ('regal lion'), later taking this moniker as his regnal name on mounting the throne.

Rajasinghe I witnessing an execution

Rajasinghe was quite a colourful character, who was reputed to have murdered his father king Mayadunne of Sitawaka, the son of Vijayabahu VII (the king mentioned in the post on Menikkadawara). He was rejected by the Buddhist clergy as a parricide and therefore become a devotee of the Hindu god Shiva.

In 1593, having been defeated in battle at Kadugannawa, he retired to Ruwanwella and went to his pleasaunce at Pethangoda (pronounced peth-un-go-duh and meaning 'hill of bauhinia tomentosa'). There, he had the accident with the bamboo thorn mentioned in the poem.

He was brought by royal barge down the Kelani river, but died of septicaemia at a place with the mellifluous - if unlikely - name of Kukulubittarawella (Cock's egg sandbank). An alternative name for the village is the slightly more rational Kikily Bittara Welaloo Wella (Sandbank in which the hen's eggs were buried) - no, I don't know the significance of this place-name.

Bamboo thorns, Pethangoda

But was it an accident? The mediaeval chronicle, the Rajavaliya tells us that Rajasinghe was succeeded by his grandson prince Raja Surya 'who', it says 'had caused the death of king Raja Sinha'. Apparently, Raja Surya had a dalliance with a damsel, the daughter of an astrologer called Dodampe Ganitaya. The latter had practised witchcraft to prevent the removal of the poison in Rajasinghe's wound. The inference is that there had been a trap set for the king.

Some say (darkly) that the bamboo thorn had been coated with poison. Still others say he was killed by a cobra's bite - indicative of divine retribution for his dual crime of killing his father and turning his back on Buddhism.

Thorny bamboo, Pethangoda

Be that as it may, the thorns at the Pethangoda park are pretty wicked. Some of them are about a metre (3 feet) long. Alas the photographs I took do not do them justice. These are Indian thorny bamboos, reputedly obtained from the subcontinent and different from the bamboos found in Sri Lanka. They have dark green shoots, not yellow as is the norm in this godly isle.

Looking towards the entrance and the lower clump

All that is left of the pleasaunce is a grove of two clumps of bamboo, on two levels, surrounded by a barbed wire fence. The clumps of bamboo themselves are enclosed behind wire mesh in order to prevent vandals from destroying them - they are already in a bad state due to vandalism (one wonders why there is no divine retribution on these hooligans).

The upper level of the grove

Nevertheless it is a pleasant spot, with a rubber plantation on three sides and a paddy field on the other. One can imagine how the king might have found solace from his eternal worries by sitting and gazing at the bamboo branches, especially the lovely pattern made by the bamboo against the sky.

Looking towards paddy field (A larger-size picture can be seen here.)

Incidentally, Raja Surya didn't get to reign long. He used to sneak off at night to be with Dodampe Ganitaya's daughter and on one such romantic tryst was done to death by his relatives. Soon after the kingdom of Sitawaka fell to the Portuguese.

After his death Rajasinghe was worshipped as Ganegoda Deviyo (God of Ganegoda). Incidently, Sri Lankan kings were considered divine while they lived, being addressed as 'Deviyanwahanse Budhuwewa' - 'may your godship become a Buddha'. So the transition couldn't have been too difficult.

Pethangoda marked with blue pin

Click here to see detailed google map of Pethangoda

Pethangoda is situated on the Anguruwella-Warakapola road, next to a stream known as the Gurugoda Oya. It is within easy driving distance of the rest houses at Ambepussa, Hanwella and Kitulgala, and the Ambalama hotel in Hanwella.

Menikkadawara

In 2004 I was scouting out the terrain around the lower watershed of the Kelani river, when I (serendipitously) stumbled upon the village of Menikkadawara. To get there one has to drive up the Kandy road and turn left at Nelundeniya and drive for about 10 kilometres (6 miles) - not something a normal person would do too often without purpose. But there is a point to it.

Now a sleepy backwater, too unimportant to be marked on the map, Menikkadawara (pronounced man-ik-udder-were-r-er) was once a very important and strategic place situated in the foothills of the Four Korales (counties). The (not exactly accurate) mediaeval Sinhalese chronicle, the Rajavaliya tells us that two of the sons of the King of Ambulugala (Dharma Parakramabahu IX),

Prince Vijaya Bahu and Prince Raja Sinha built the city of Menikkadawara, and whilst young men, lived in one place and cohabited with one woman...

The first of these princes went on to become King Vijayabahu VII, while the second apparently died in Menikkadawara.

Menikkadawara marked with blue pin

Click here for detailed google satellite map of Menikkadawara

During the latter part of the Portuguese era, the bulk of the colonial forces were encamped here. A rather long-winded Jesuit historian, Rev Fernaõ de Queyroz (Conquista temporal, e espiritual de Ceylao, translated by Father SG Perera, SJ) wrote in about 1688 that

... in the county Beligal, in the village of Manicrauare, 9 leagues from Columbo to the interior, we generally had our arrayal encampment, surrounded by very high mountains, in which one can hardly see an entrance or outlet, and because of its site and other conveniences it was the best that could be chosen, for it is 6 leagues from Candea and lies between the Four and Seven Corlas...

Just to prove that it was not just the English who mispronounced foreign names, the Portuguese called the place Manicravaré or Manicavarê. Queyroz informs us that

Mani-cauarê, and not Manicrauarê as they call it, means 'Come here my precious stone', words with which, they say, the Father or Rajú called to his son.

The Rajú referred to by Queyroz may be Raja Sinha, the second of the two princes with the racy lifestyle referred to in the Rajavaliya above, who died at Menikkadawara.

The embittered Captain Joaõ Ribeiro tells us in 1685 (Fatalidade historica da ilha de Ceilao, translated by PE Peiris) that:

In the Four Corlas, five leagues from Balane and eleven from Columbo, there was a position in the midst of the villages, known as Manicravare; here was stationed our chief army for opposing the King of Candia and for defending the Seven Corlas. It consisted of twelve companies of three hundred and fifty Portuguese Soldados under the command of the Captain Major of the field, and there were also a Sergeant-Major, two adjutants, a Captain of Munitions and a Franciscan monk as chaplain. It was further the residence of the Dissava, an officer corresponding to a military Governor of a province over the natives, who always had in hand three or four thousand Lascarins with their officers, which number could be greatly increased in the event of war.

In 1599 the Portuguese constructed a tranqueira, a wooden stockade. In 1626, this was upgraded. The rectangular fortification was known as the Forte Santa Fe and the Cidadela (Citadel) of Forte Cruz, with the four bastions on each corner being named Saõ Iago, Saõ Boa Ventura, Saõ Jorge and Saõ Pedro by the religion-obsessed Lusitanians.

On the right side of the road is a sign put up by the Department of Archaeology, indicating the fortifications of the Portuguese. HCP Bell, the first Archaeological Commissioner reported that a stone slab bearing the Royal Arms of Portugal was found here. However, all that is left of the fortifications are massive earthwork ramparts, grown over with grass and weeds.

Portuguese earthwork rampart

Ribeiro also mentions that Manicavare (sic) was not entitled to be called by the name fortress, since it was made of a little earth. However the ramparts look quite formidable enough.

Looking along the earthwork rampart (larger photo here)

After the defeat of the Portuguese in 1658, the area was re-occupied by the forces of the King of Kandy. The Lusitanian crusade had targeted Buddhist temples and the Monastery that now exists in the village was built after the re-occupation.

The sermon hall (Dharmasalawa) has had the interstices between the stone columns filled with cement breeze blocks - obviously recent. But how light and utilitarian the structure looks in comparison with the behemoths that are more modern Buddhist temples!

Sermon hall, Menikkadawara Purana Vihara (larger photo here)

The brown strip at the bottom of the outer wall is caused by back-splash from rain pouring off the roof (notice the absence of roof gutters). As you can imagine, rain is quite a factor in the valley of the river Kelani. Queyroz informs us that

... though it rains in the island of Ceylon almost the whole year and sometimes for eight and ten days running, when the rain ceases there is no mud seen in that place because of a kind of stony soil and because the barracks (estancas) are on a height whence the water drains easily making for the fields which surround it.

Evidently it was the consideration of floods which caused the image house of the monastery to be built on a wooden platform mounted on short stone stilts. A temple building built in this architectural form is referred to as a tampita vihara. This one appears originally to have been built with an open verandah all round, which has been filled in with brick.

Image house (buduge), Menikkadawara Purana Vihara (larger photo here)

The image house is illustrated with frescoes of the Buddha and of the Cula Dhammapala Jataka. These probably date from the 18th or 19th centuries.

Image house door and doorway fresco

The ceiling has a beautiful floral design, marred somewhat by the 1930s-style electrical light fittings:

Image house ceiling design

Menikkadawara can be taken in while en route to Kandy from Colombo. Alternatively, for those who want to explore the whole area, there is a rest house at Ambepussa which provides accomodation. Also within easy driving distance of the rest houses at Hanwella and Kitulgala, and the Ambalama hotel in Hanwella.