Travels in Sri Lanka: Anuradhapura, the City of Stupas

From Kandy, we went traipsing (or rather, driving along Sri Lanka's surprisingly clean and well-laid roads lined with Western supermarkets) to the "cultural triangle" comprising several of the country's ancient civilizations. The first was Anuradhapura, the capital of the country from the 4th to the 11th centuries and the site of a powerful and devout Buddhist community. It was both a ritual and an administrative center, but most of what seems to be left now is the ritual--above all its imposing stupas (Buddhist shrines which may contain relics). Since these stupas are not a site of prayer, their beauty is more in the sheer size of these structures, their tightly laid bricks a testimony to the labor of thousands.

Other highlights of this visit were a 4th-century statue of a meditating Samaddhi Buddha, said to have kept Jawaharlal Nehru cool and collected (via postcard image viewing) during his multiple jail visits.

And there was the original bodhi tree which grew from a cutting of the one in Bodhgaya--the place in India where the Buddha is said to have received his enlightenment. It's the oldest authenticated tree on the planet, dating back at least 2000 years, yes did not look a day older than any of the others to our untrained eyes. Strewn with multi-colored prayer flags, the leafy bodhi is attended by many monks peacefully strolling on the premises.

The hustle and bustle of India had left us completely by this point in our Buddhist induction--perhaps it is no surprise that this peaceful, serene religion died out in our adopted country almost entirely, despite originating here.

Yet, as elsewhere in Sri Lanka, due to its checkered Buddhist/sometimes Hindu history, Anuradhapura contains a rock temple with striking carvings from the 4th-5th centuries that are in typical Indian style--one of these was the man with the horse pictured here.