The Anuradhapura Kingdom - XVII

The Anuradhapura Kingdom - XVII

Contiued with part sixteen   here to go previous one

Thus Sri Lanka's Theravada Buddhism accommodated a variety of religious influences pre Buddhistic cults and practices, Mahayanism, Tantric Buddhism and Hinduism but was not overwhelmed by any or all of them. One last theme needs to be reviewed in this first part of the present chapter Buddhism as a link with other parts of Buddhist Asia. The closest and most intimate ties were with the Buddhist kingdoms of South East Asia, especially with lands where the prevalent form of Buddhism was Theravadin. Thus there were frequent exchanges of pilgrims and scriptural knowledge with Ramanna in Burma. These links became stronger after the tenth century. The resuscitation of the Sinhalese sangha after the destructive effects of the Cola conquests owed a great deal to bhikkhus from upper Burma sent over for this purpose by its king at the request of Vijayabahu I (1055-1110). Relations with Cambodian Buddhism hinted at in the chronicles were very probably more tenuous than those with Burmese Buddhism. Whether this was because of Cambodian Buddhism, unlike its Ramanna counterpart, was Mahayanist we are in no position to say. There is evidence too that Sinhalese nuns went to China in the fifth century AD and helped in the ordination of women there. In 411 the famous Chinese Buddhist traveler Fa Hsein visited the island and stayed here for two years. But contacts with Chinese Buddhism were occasional and tenuous.

Architecture and sculpture

The concept of Buddhism as state religion had as one of its essential features the obligation assumed by the ruler to divert some of the agricultural surpluses at his command for the construction of religious edifices, which became in time more magnificent in scale and visual impact. The earliest Buddhist shrines in Sri Lanka were based on Indian models, and in the wake of the Mauryan Buddhist mission to the island came the arts and crafts of India as well. But after an initial period of Indianisation, which tended to imitate the parent culture, a distinctive Sri Lankan style in art and architecture was evolved, bearing the stamp of its Indian origin no doubt, but not identical with that of any particular region of India. The most constant feature of Buddhist Sri Lanka is the stupa or cetiya which came to the island from Northern India.

These stupas generally enshrined relics of the Buddha and the more celebrated Illuminati of early Buddhism and were on that account objects of veneration. They dominated the city of Anuradhapura and the landscape of Rajarata by their imposing size, awe-inspiring testimony to the state's commitment to Buddhism and to the wealth at its command. The stupa, generally a solid hemispherical dome, gave a subdued but effective expression to the quintessence of Buddhism simplicity and serenity. There were five important stupas at Anuradhapura. The first to be built was the small but elegant Thuparama. Dutthagamani built two, the Mirisavati and the Ruvanvalisaya or the Mahastupa. Two stupas subsequently surpassed the Mahastupa in size, the Abhayagiri and the largest of them all, the Jetavana. The scale of comparison was with the In this section of the present section I have relied on the following authorities: A. K. Coomaraswamy, History of Indian and Indonesian Art (London, 1965); E. F. G. Ludowyk, Footprint of the Buddha (London, 1958), S. Paranavitana, Sinhalayo (Colombo, 1967) and his contributions to religion and art in UCHC, I, pp. 241-67 and 378-409; B. Rowland, The Art and Architecture of India (3rd revised edn, Harmonds worth, 1967).

There is no evidence of stupas in Sri Lanka before the introduction of Buddhism. No stupa built in this period is preserved today without alteration in shape or addition. The form of the oldest stupas was the same as that of the monument at Sanchi, the oldest preserved example of the type in India. There are six types of the stupa in Sri Lanka, all described by reference to their shape: a bell, a pot, a bubble, a heap of paddy, a lotus and an amalaka fruit. largest similar monuments in other parts of the ancient world. At the time the Ruvanvalisaya was built it was probably the largest monument of its class anywhere in the world. The Abhayagiri was enlarged by Gajabahu I in the second century AD to a height of 280 feet or more, while the Jetavana rose to over 400 feet. Both were taller than the third pyramid at Gizeh, and were the wonders of their time, with the Jetavana probably being the largest stupa in the whole Buddhist world. Smaller stupas were also built in the early Anuradhapura period at Mihintale, Dighavapi and Mahagama.

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