Sri Lanka: Anuradhapura

Founded in the fourth century BCE, Anuradhapura was the first Sri Lankan capital. Today there are still a dozen giant stupas, some dating back to BCE, drawing many tourists, and Buddhist pilgrims. In addition there is also the original descendant of the Bodhi tree under which Lord Buddha became enlightened.

We happened to be in town over the weekend. The place was bustling with white-clad pilgrims. It was rather festive in the evenings. Not just at the bodhi tree, but also at the nearby Ruwanweli Stupa, part of the Mahavihara Monastery Complex. First below is a 50-second video of a procession into the Bodhi Tree Shrine.











Our interest was mainly in the archeological remains of three huge Buddhist monasteries that sheltered thousands of monks in the 9th century. These were like universities in their day. While marveling at the ancient wonders, I was getting depressed. Ancient Sri Lanka had such levels of production and was able to support this many monks, today Sri Lanka is counting foreign tourists to make up the budget shortfall. Maybe more Sri Lankas should subscribe to Marxist materialism rather than idealism.

Jetavana Monastery Complex











Abhayagiri Monastery Complex. First, the so-called Twin Pond reservoirs, guarded by a five-headed cobra sculpture (2nd below at left).











The Great Ruwanweli Stupa at the Mahavihara Monastery Complex sits on a rectangular terrace whose walls have 338 life-sized elephant statues. Amazing!











There are several large wewa (reservoirs) near Anuradhapura. We walked by Thisa Wewa at sunset and a man was fishing from an innertube. Thirty minutes later we crossed a bridge where a lady was washing clothes in a small river.




Lankaramaya Stupa wrapped in a bright ribbon.


Elephant Pond


Notes to fellow travellers: Everything we read indicated Anuradhapura is a big site, and takes more than the one day the site ticket affords. We spent parts of the previous days checking out a few sites not covered by the ticket. On the "ticket day" we rented bicycles from our guesthouse and had a leisurely pace. Since it was 100 degrees when we finished around 4:30, we were happy to be done. So Anuradhapura is doable in a long day. The ticket was checked half a dozen times. The $30 ticket is only worthwhile if one is a fan of archeology.