Travel: Asia: Sri Lanka: Stupas, Buddha, cave temples and fire dancers

February 22: Breakfast at 7 this morning. Many birds were greeting the dawn as we strolled on the grounds before heading to the open-air pavilion and an outstanding meal. Our ultimate destination today is Anaradapura, Sri Lanka’s first capital, founded about the 3^rd century BC. It is a World Heritage Site and undergoing restoration by UNESCO.

According to a Buddhist chronicle, the city was a model of planning. Precincts were set aside for huntsmen and scavengers and even heretics and foreigners. There were hostels and hospitals, separate cemeteries for high and low castes. A water supply was assured by the construction of reservoirs.

Anuradhapura was to continue for 600 years as the national capital. This sacred city was established around a cutting from the Bo tree, the famous fig tree under which Buddha found enlightenment. It is said that this tree has been guarded 24 hours a day for the last 2,000 years.

On the way to the ancient capital we stopped in a small town to buy copybooks, pens and balls because our first order of business was to visit a local school. We actually purchased all of the supplies available in the town and still didn’t have enough balls. Newton said this would be a red-letter day in the shop owners’ bookkeeping systems.

When we got to the school the younger children came out with their teacher, greeted us and quietly stood as we handed out the copybooks and pens. However, when we began to hand out the balls, a small riot ensued. The children were adorable in their white uniforms! How they manage to stay clean is amazing.

We traveled on to Anaradapura. Because of security reasons the coach was not allowed to drop us close to the temple so we had to hike on an asphalt road to the gates where two security checks took place. Once inside the gates we had to remove our shoes and head covers. It was quite hot in the midday sun bringing to mind the old Noel Coward song, “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” which we adapted to “Mad Dogs and Brevik Travelers go out in the noonday sun.” It was extremely hot and I felt sorry for those who had worn sandals without socks. At least my socks protected my feet from the blazing hot stone and sand walkways. We were accustomed to removing our shoes to go into temples but this was the first time we had to do so for an entire site.

In addition to seeing the revered Bo tree, we visited the Ruvanweli Seya stupa. Considered the greatest stupa in the ancient city it is 180 feet in height and snowy white. In the direct noonday sun it was brilliant! It is surrounded by a wall of carved elephants, which supports the terrace and the stupa. The resident languer monkeys were snacking on the lotus blossoms that had been brought by worshipers.

Reconstructive work was being done on the Jetavanarama Stupa, which is made of brick. It is massive and the scaffolding around it was prodigious, to say the least. The workers appeared to be mainly women who had formed a human chain on the stairs of the scaffolding and were passing up heavy buckets of cement to the workers high on the side of the stupa.

We stopped for lunch and around 4 p.m. returned to another part of the site to see the Moonstone, which is an important icon. We were told that this particular one is the best preserved of the ancient ones in the country. A steel fence surrounds it; therefore it was difficult to get a picture of it in the afternoon sun because of the shadows.

A Moonstone is flat and semicircular in shape and is used as an entry stone to certain important buildings and sites. It is carved in a definite stylized manner. The outermost semicircle contain a representation of fire; the next contains four different animals representing specific actions. They are: elephant (birth), horse (decay), lion (sickness) and bull (death). In the next semicircle greed and material wealth are represented by a repeating abstract pattern and this is followed by geese, who are believed to separate water and milk. The innermost semicircle contains a stylized lotus blossom representing tranquility.

Heading back to the lodge in the late afternoon, we stopped at a roadside stand to drink jack coconut juice. These coconuts are orange in color. The vendor slashed the tops off and inserted a straw. Jim and I shared one. It was good to have the experience, but I did not find it an outstanding “taste treat” as some people have indicated.

It took more than two hours to return to the lodge and I fell asleep in the coach while Newton was singing a Sri Lankan lullaby to us.

February 23: On the road at 8 a.m. this morning headed to Polonnaruwa, the 11^th century capital of the country, another World Heritage Site. Even during the Anuradhapura era, Polonnaruwa was an important city because it strategically commanded all the crossings over the Mahaweli River and acted as a buffer against invading armies from southern India. There was a very large reservoir, known locally as an irrigation tank, which has 11 channels directing water to feed a network of irrigation canals and smaller tanks. Newton often spoke of the Polonnaruwa period as being the “Hydraulic Era” of Sri Lankan history, referring to all of the man-made bodies of water in the area.

There was a small archaeological museum associated with the site with miniature reproductions of many of the major temples and palaces. It also included some excellent bronzes.

The site contains remains of palaces, audience halls, stupas and relic shrines. There is even a Hindu shrine that dates back to the 11^th century on the site and a Buddhist monastic university. The most impressive area there is known as Galvehera. One of the most famous sites in Sri Lanka, it consists of three figures of Lord Buddha carved out of a cliff of granite. The first figure is a sitting Buddha with an artificial cavern cut out of the rock behind it. The remaining two are a standing Buddha and a reclining Buddha. The reclining Buddha is 46 feet in length!

A wood-carving business was on the agenda after we finished at the historical site. It was quite interesting to hear about the different kinds of wood and tools they used as well as watch the men at work. I purchased a few small items as gifts. Many of our group are professional shoppers and a lot of wood left the shop that day.

We lunched at the Deer Park Hotel, which had a nice buffet; however the curry dishes were the spiciest we had encountered so far. On the dessert table was buffalo yogurt and treacle, which I had been advised to try. The yogurt was extremely tart but the treacle moderated it a bit.

By mid afternoon we were back at the Lodge. Most of the group were going on an optional jeep trip, but Jim and I decided we needed a bit of time away from people and we wanted to do some birding on our own around the grounds of the lodge. In addition to the already mentioned birds we've seen, we added the following during an hour on the grounds: green barbet, green bee-eater, rose-ringed parakeet, pheasant-tailed jacana, changeable hawk-eagle, little grebe, Indian cormorant, Indian pond heron, black-hooded oriole, small miniver, Asian paradise flycatcher, red-vented bulbul and yellow-billed babbler.

The evening meal was delightful and when we returned to our room, our beds were turned down and leaves and flower petals had been used to artistically decorate the coffee table which included spelling out “Good Luck.” What a lovely gesture! And what a great way to induce us to increase our tip! It worked.

February 24: On the road at 8 a.m. this morning with the city of Kandy being our destination for the next two nights. Our first stop on route was at Dambulla to see the most impressive cave temples in Sri Lanka, another World Heritage Site. Dating from the 1^st century BC, the caves were repaired and repainted in the 11^th, 12^th, and 18^th centuries. They contain a mixture of secular and religious paintings and sculpture. There are images of the Lord Buddha and bodhisattvas as well as gods and goddesses.

The next stop was at a Spice Garden. This place was very interesting but turned into a very high pressure business pitch before it was over. We were taken around the garden by a fellow who referred to himself as a practical medical doctor, but Jim and I felt the term “snake oil salesman” might have suited him better. I liked seeing the plants growing and hearing about the different spices and uses for them, but I felt that credibility was stretched a bit too thin when we were taken to the showroom where everything was for sale.

We arrived in Kandy in the early afternoon. Kandy is a reflection of the variety, harmony and diversity of the people and cultures that make Sri Lanka a great nation. The Kandyan Kingdom was the last independent state in Sri Lanka. It withstood the onslaught of three invading European armies (Portuguese, Dutch and British) for over two centuries. It fell to the British in 1815 sealing the fate of Sri Lanka’s long cherished independence. The entire area has been declared a World Heritage City!

Our hotel, the palatial Mahaweli Reach, is located right alongside the Mahaweli River, hence the name. A lovely place, but we were to find that the infrastructure did not work as it should. We had a few hours to rest before going to see the Kandy dancers.

The Kandy dancers are world famous. Using only drums for rhythm, they perform very athletic as well as very graceful dances. Acrobatics figure highly in their routines. The costumes are elaborate for both male and female dancers, consisting of beaded breastplates, elaborate belts, anklets and headdresses of silver which all jangle as they swirl and move to the rhythm of the drums. They performed in a small hall and then we were led outside to an open space where a bed of red-hot coals was waiting. Soon the drummers began again and three young men began the ritual of fire: eating fire, running flaming batons across their bare arms and finally walking on the fiery coals! It takes a special sort of mental preparation to manage to do this, I’m sure.

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