Aug 19th, 2009 - Today I explored the ancient city of Anuradhapura. It became the capital of Sri Lanka in 380 BC under the rule of King Pandukabhaya but reached its height under Devanampyia Tissa (247-207 BC). It was to serve as the capital of Sri Lanka for over 1000 years. I began at the Ruvanvelisaya Dagoba. What the hell is a dagoba? A dagoba is a dome-shaped memorial alleged to contain relics of Buddha or a Buddhist saint; also referred to as a stupa or chaitya. This one was built by Devanampyia and was his crowning achievement. It is an impressive sight and extremely sacred to Buddhist followers. People come to make offerings, pray, meditate, and the like. In fact most of the people there were pilgrims and worshipers, not tourists per se.
Much
of the sacred city is nestled in a light forest that simply emanates
serenity. As you make your way through a sense of calm and well being
slowly overtakes you. It is all you can do not to curl up on a patch
of grass near a ruin or under tree and drift off to sleep. Oh what a
sight this must have been in its heyday. I made stops at Elephant
Pond, the Moonstone, Samadhi
Buddha (statue), Twin
Ponds, and a host of other sites that formed part of the thriving
ancient city. Wowie.
I
ended my tour at the massive brick Jetavanarama Dagoba
built in the third century. It originally stood at a 100m but now
reaches only 70m. The area around this dagoba contains the ruins of a
monastery and, like other parts of the city, is situated in a
beautiful area of green patchwork interspersed between trees and the
remains of ancient structures.
