Travels in Sri Lanka: Polonnaruwa's Ancient Civilization

The last of our visits to Sri Lanka's ancient sites took us to Polonnaruwa, a royal capital from the 10th to the 12th centuries which housed both a Buddhist Sinhalese dynasty and a South Indian Chola dynasty when the latter briefly conquered Sri Lanka.

Younger than Anuradhapura, Sigiriya, or Dambulla, Polonnaruwa has plenty of architectural details preserved which make it easier to imagine which this place would have looked like. There are moonstones--the name for stone thresholds decorated with animal figurines that show an Indian influence (bottom picture), great columned halls, shrines, and brick multistoried circular structures housing Buddha figures.

The most striking images, however, are of the Buddhas in what is called the Gal Vihara and is considered to be the height of Sinhalese sculpture in Sri Lanka. Shown here is the reclining Buddha entering into nirvana, his head leaving a charming, palpable indentation on his stone pillow, and imposing standing and sitting Buddhas wearing sorrowful expressions. All are cut from the same slab of granite, which enhances the impression of the group as a real ensemble, a Buddha family. And all leave one feeling as if their emotions are real--as if one, too, would like to comfort or fall asleep next to them. Such was the skill of the Sri Lankan artisans, as little known as they are in the wider world.