Somawathiya–the Stupa that gets flooded annually?

Sri Lanka, this thrice blessed land by the Buddha, is said to have changed spiritually, culturally and politically with the arrival of Arahat Mahinda in the 2nd century BC during King Dewnapiyatissa’s reign. It is this cultural change that created the magnificent stone architecture of Samadhi and Auwkana Buddha statues of Anuradhapura and the immaculate Gal Vihara of Pollonnaruwa 

The immaculate Gal Vihara in Pollonnaruwa

However one needs to be mindful that the engineering ingenuity of the Sri Lankan Hydraulic Civilisation and their knowhow of soil mechanics and soil engineering which created wondrous reservoirs and aqueducts was a unique speciality of this land long before the social transition that came with Arahath Mahinda. 

The most universal Buddhist architectural symbol the Stupa was first built in Sri Lanka in the 5th Century BC. It was the Buddha himself giving its design to Thapassu and Balluka the merchant friends who wanted to build a memorial to honour him. Buddha is said to have folded one of his robes into a square and placed his upturned begging bowl and the umbrella on top of it, thus outlining the basic shape of the dagoba or stupa. Upon the request of the merchant friends for an object for veneration, Buddha offered them the Sacred Kesha Datu, [a lock of hair]. It is by enshrining this sacred Kesha Datu that the Girihandu Seya was built by Tappassu and Balluka in Tiriyaya a northerly location beyond Trincomalee in Sri Lanka. Numerous are the stupas that were to be built on this land ever since. 

Somawathiya is one such stupa that came up in the 2^nd century BC. It was built by Prince Giri Aba on the request of his wife Somawathie [the sister of King Kavantissa of Ruhuna, aunt of Dutugemunu]. It was built in Somapura on the banks of the Mahaveli enshrining the sacred right tooth relic of the Buddha gifted to the prince by Arahath Mahinda. The site was maintained by royal decree until the 4th century AD. The sacred Somawathiya is said to have been renovated by King Kannitta Tissa, King Kurtakanna Tissa, King Gamini Abhaya and King Amanda Gamini according to the chronicles. 

 

 

 

 

 

 Renovated Somawathiya today

Today it is in the remotest location away from habitation hidden in the left bank jungles of the Mahaweli floodplain beyond Pollonnaruwa threatened by the annual flooding of the Mahaweli. 

The Vesak full moon day in the month of May is a holiday in Sri Lanka; commemorating the birth, enlightenment and the passing away or the Buddha. This year [2013] it occurred on a Friday providing a three day weekend. Making the best use of the three days we planned to celebrate Vesak by making a pilgrimage to this remote location in Somawathiya. The journey was planned by the young cousins of our second generation, we older folk had only to make the financial contribution and enjoy a comfortable trip in luxury. 

On Friday 24^th May 2013, 18 of us, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, uncles and aunts, brothers and sisters, were off to Giritalle via Dambulla en-route to Somawathiya. We would spend the night at the Giritalle Hotel and leave for Somawathiya on Saturday the 25^th.

Leaving Colombo as dawn was breaking everyone was in a quiet doze all the way to Kurunegala for a general wakeup about breakfast time. We were carrying packed breakfast intending to have it on the way at the Badagamuwa forest patch; there was hardly a location to park the bus at Badagamuwa, there was so many travelling out on pilgrimages just as us……. We proceed further to the Melsiripura forest patch instead. Breakfasted we head to the Dambulla cave temple to take part in the Vesak veneration with the masses. Dambulla is the largest and the best preserved rock cave Buddhist temple in the country.

 

 

 

 

  

Dambulla the largest cave temple in Sri Lanka

Around two hours spent in Dambulla we leave for Giritalle just before noon to our retiring location for the night. The forest foliage was in lush green after the bountiful rains that fell on this land this year bringing a flood after flood to the otherwise dry parched land. All the large reservoirs and the village irrigation tanks are full to the brim showing signs of a bumper paddy harvests in the coming season.

Passing Habarana the right side windows of the bus is filled with one panoramic vista of a sheet of water spreading as far as the eye could see to a distant horizon. It is the Minneriya tank in its full capacity… distributing the waters to the paddies and other ancillary tanks in Hingurakgoda, Kaudulla and Giritalle. 

Minneriya Tank a continuous sheet of water

 We stop at the Minneriya Army Gunners Club for refreshments and lunch. The thirty year war in the country that ended in May 2009 had brought up various army cantonments that came up for defence and vigilance in this part of the country connecting the North and the East of Sri Lanka. These units are now blending with the civil society providing vital travel needs of the people who are scaling the length and breadth of this land since peace set in. The series of washrooms in this location is worth  mention of its spotless cleanliness serving the traveller for just a mere Rupees 10/=. 

Picturesque Giritalle Tank

 

Giritalle Hotel Lounge

Its check-in time at the Giritalle Hotel, located on a high ground overlooking the picturesque Giritalle irrigation tank. We have extra time and decide to make a visit to the Minneriya National Park, a famous location to view elephants in their numbers. However it was to be a mere flop as it was the wrong time of the year when the tank is full and the gracing grounds inundated. The park officials need to be more responsible in educating the public of what is available within the park seasonally. Three jeeps hired for about an hour and half we just see a bumble bee, a few birds and of course the different vegetation within the park for a fee of Rupees 15,000.00. Three elephants were seen outside the park scavenging on the roadside stalls selling boiled Indian corn. 

The Team

Minneriya Park birds and scavenging elephants

Night falls…and we are back in the hotel, a swim in the pool and to a sumptuous dinner with the bar saying it’s closed today in keeping with the law of the land, we retire for the day. [Liquor and meat stalls don’t sever on full moon days in Sri Lanka] 

It’s a sunny morning in Giritalle; we are at breakfast clad in white for the pilgrimage. Bags packed and loaded, by 8.00 a.m. we leave for Somawathiya. The driver inquires of the best motor-able road from a passer-by and someone from within the bus says the Google Navigation says to take a left turn at the next intersection. It is the Smart Phone Era. We keep navigating until we come to a difficult road. No matter… a de-tour is taken and we are at Somawathiya, already crowded and busy. 

All religious festivities the world over is a mere cultural and spiritual gathering. Somawathiya on Vesak was a hive of activity. There were souvenir sellers, food vendors, and soothsayers. Flowers for offering and oils for the lamps that burn continuously year round is for sale to the unplanned visitor. There is the different type as well; if you need a tattoo done to remember your visit, it is available in the most unhygienic way. The man under the tree is at your service. No guarantees, no after sales service. 

Food stalls

Souvenirs to be taken away

 

Your future in the palm?

A busy day for soothsayers

A tattoo to remember your visit .....

Norman Maama [Uncle] crushing ice for orange juice..
..... ice is stored in gunny sack under the table

We were just in time to the Buddha Pooja [offerings to the Buddha] activity at Somawathiya which commenced with the procession carrying a long fabric in the form of the Buddhist ensign long enough to wrap-round the base of the stupa. This was followed by the offerings passed round the masses who thronged about to touch them wishing for merit; your ears are filled with Saduh…..Saduh…..Saaaaaa….., the drumming and the conch blowing. With these activities the morning ceremonies at Somawathiya for the Vesak celebrations came to an end. 

 

A Buddhist ensign long enough to go round

Collective effort

Layers of bricks showing the renovations with time

Your ears filled with the drums and brass

  

 

 

 

 

 

The touch of merit

Somawathiya Stupa was inaccessible for the last 30 years due to the civil war that prevailed in the country but the Sri Lanka Navy and the Army mobilized in the flood pain to check the terrorist transition from the North to the East attended to the needs and rituals of the stupa. Somawathiya being in this remote location is shrouded with many superstition of supernatural lighting seen around the stupa and many other mysterious encounters witnessed by devotees. Some could be explained scientifically while some are mysteries to this day. 

[Refer similarities seen by author in Sri Pada or Adams peak.]

http://udithawijesena.blogspot.com/2011/08/sky-smiled-in-gibe-atop-mt-adams-peak.html

 

A modern day Samadhi statue 

However people in the dry zone of Sri Lanka are still in the habit of offering rituals and venerating the mythical elephant headed Hindu God Ganapathy known as Aiyanayake Deviyo, the guardian god of the dry zone of Sri Lanka. Somawathiya today is under state patronage and much is the development in the upgrading of the road network, making it accessible from many directions. It would no longer be remote but still be affected by the annual flooding of the Mahaweli. 

Ganapathy or Aiyanayake is still the guardian

 

 

 

Way back to Pollonnaruwa, I am a curious man, thinking why did the ingenious Sri Lankan engineer go land a stupa in a most unsuitable location in the flood plain of the largest river that overflowed every year marooning man and beast? It was then that I found that there had been others researching on the subject and it is seen that the river has changed course during the 2500 years it flowed by. There is evidence to say that Somawathiya now on the left bank of the Mahaweli was originally located on the right bank. The change of the river course is related to the flooding and there is speculation to say that it was this reason that contributed to the collapse of the hydraulic civilization of the Raja Rata making the exodus of the masses to the central hills and created the Kandian Kingdom in the Malaya Region. 

http://www.mysrilankaholidays.com/ancient-sinhalese-irrigation.html#Decline_of_the_ancient_Hydraulic_civilization_of_Sri_Lanka

 

The Mahaweli Floodplain.

The Mahaveli flood plains itself is of much interest. Today it is a sanctuary among many forested areas declared as National Parks or Sanctuaries protecting the catchment areas of the reservoirs built for irrigation and power generation under the accelerated Mahaweli Development Scheme. 

Before the Mahaweli Scheme the area beyond Pollonnaruwa, the said flood plain was a very busy cattle grazing ground of the nomadic Moorish herdsman [colloquially called Mattayar / man from Mattakalappu or Batticaloa] of the eastern province. This was the time when the beef eating habit of the Sri Lankan Sinhalese was at its peak. The cattle breed named the ‘Thamankaduwa White’ was a breed confined to the eastern province of Sri Lanka and was the primary source of beef in the country.

Thamankaduwa Whites in the floodplain

The nomadic eastern herdsman used to grace their cattle in the paddy lands of Batticaloa and Samanthurai during the non-cropping season, while during the cropping season the cattle was herded up north into the Mahaweli flood plain which was full with vegetation after the recession of the floodwaters. The cattle were fattened in these plains, and when the time was right for the southward journey the excess animals were sold for meat and they were transported by train to Colombo for slaughter. The calves and cows were now herded back southward to Batticaloa leaving the plains to re-generate with the flooding. This was a seasonal occurrence until the majority Sinhalese did away with the habit of beef eating. Sungawila the last township on high ground is predominantly Moorish. It was here that the herdsmen put up camp and the sale of cattle took place. Today the Sungawila Moor is a paddy farmer and the herding practice no more. It’s discouraged for it brings destruction to the environment from over grazing and excessive hoof traffic contributing to erosion and damage to the undergrowth. 

It is this phenomenon that I suppose was the basis for the popular song by the late lyricist Premakirthi de Alwis and sung by Sunil Edirisinghe narrating the torturous journey of the cattle coming into Colombo for slaughter by train. 

“Banen benda rajarata pedesinne…………..”

http://www.sinhalajukebox.org/cgi-bin/songs.cgi?action=Lyrics&s=A0120016C01

A Hummingbird to my Life List

It was my third trip to Miami Florida. A trip undertaken with much financial constrains; to witness my son being conferred  a Ph.D. 

I had been to Miami twice before and seen much of its wildlife, camped many a times in the Everglades and been out birding in the parks. However it was this time that I had been there in the month of December [2012] when the winter was setting in, more realistic to say the cold weather setting in as Florida has a tropical climate with no snow.

Naveen had moved to a different location this time. The lower floor apartment opened into the car park, and in the car park was a very old ‘Butterfly Tree’ Bauhinia purpurea or “Koboneela” in Sinhala, Nilattiruvatti in Tamil. Basically a tree of the tropics known to flower in the month of September through November in Sri Lanka; was in full bloom here in the cold month of December for it's a non-deciduous tree.

The sweet scented aroma of the flowers attracted swamps of bees and their numbers being so much, sitting under the tree one got the feeling that it was whispering  to you in a low hum. It was by chance that I noted it was not only the bees that were attracted to the flowers but  others too.

I knew that the Americas’ did not have Sunbirds but through curiosity inquired if there were Sunbirds around here. No was the reply and probably it was a Humming bird that I was seeing. The bird was too fast for the binoculars, but I was lucky as it  used to perch in the same location over and over again..........It was identified to be a “Ruby-throated Hummingbird".

Lucky me  I had seen my first Hummingbird………a new addition to my life list.

The Ruby-throated Hummingbird is 7–9 cm  long with a wingspan of 8–11 cm, weighing anything from 2 to 6 grams. The species is sexually dimorphic and the females are slightly larger than the males. As in all hummingbirds, the toes and feet of this species are also quite small. The middle toe is around 0.6 cm  and the  tarsus approximately 0.4 cm. The size comparison as shown below against a human hand is noteworthy when comparing the smallest living bird the Bee Hummingbird that is only 5–6 cm and weighs about 1.6–2 grams 

Curtsey; www.2greenthumbsup

Curtsey; www.tumblr.com

Curtsey; www.a-home-for-wild-birds.com

The Ruby- throated Hummingbird has a migration pattern from it’s breeding grounds in the Eastern North America and Canada to lower locations as Mexico in the winter.

My third trip to Miami with much difficulty did pay off after all; sighting a Ruby-throated Hummingbird  

  

Identifying Silhouettes

Bird Watching too is not free from assertion ….it is noted that certain birds are only identified by their silhouetted flight profile and one may not see them rested on a branch or sitting on a nest in one's lifetime.

Two such birds have lingered my memory until recent. The Indian Swiftlet [Collocalia uniclor] and the Brown-backed Needle Tail [Hirundapus giganteus] seen just once in September 2, 2002 in the Sinharaja Forest Reserve Sri  Lanka ; just five birds wheeling overhead, silhouetted against a gloomy sky. Never to have seen them anywhere since.

Unlike the Needle Tail; the Indian Swiftlet is a common occurrence all over Sri Lanka and more commoner in the hills. It was also known as the Indian Edible Nest Swift, until the species was split taxonomically. The species occurring in the Andamans and the Nicobars are now named the Edible-nest Swiftlet [Collocalia fuciphaga] while those occurring in the Western Ghats, the Islets on the Malabar coast and Sri Lanka the Indian Swiftlet.

It should be noted that the name change does not indicate the Indian Swiftlet is free from its nest being harvested by man. However it is the East Asian species that is vulnerable and declared endangered as its nest is harvested by man through superstition for its aphrodisiac properties. The refined and processed nest fibers turned into a soup fetches high price and is in high demand.

There has been instances where the Sri Lankan customs detecting nest fibers from Sri Lanka being exported to East Asia, but it is said to be of poor quality  to those of East Asia.

I was lucky  way back in May 2012, to have run into a nesting colony of the resident Indian Swiftlet while hiking in the hill country and was able to photograph a few birds sitting on their nests. They are said to re-use the nests which compensate with time taken to make them anew to the time spent sitting on them, as their feeding and drinking habit is always while on the wing. 

It is for this reason that the Sri Lankan folklore suggest that seeing swifts in large numbers in a cloud laden sky predicts on coming rain. Many swift species drink on the wing and is said to survive prolonged drought. 

On the other hand identifying Needle Tails has its difficulties as well. The needles or extended spines on the tail feathers are seen only when the bird turns in flight and the bird being at close range; so identifying silhouettes is as difficult as identifying persons by shadows. 

Paradise At The Doorstep

Paradise in a religious sense is a place with positive existence where life is harmonious and eternal. Generally, a place of contentment where peace and prosperity prevail. In a practical sense, a land of satisfaction but not necessarily a land of luxury and idleness. A tropical island where one feels as though everything is perfect and wonderful is also defined a paradise. 

Sri Lanka’s misty untouched mountains, the sun drenched sandy beaches bordering gyrating coconut palms; its National Parks in the lowland shrubs where elephant, deer and leopard roam; was once a specimen for paradise. This may sound an exaggeration today with the development taking place in the countryside not heeding to norms of nature. Yet though, there still exists places which qualify the criteria. 

Laxapana, in the central hills of Sri Lanka is a village, still remote in terms of accessibility. Located in the foothills of the magnificent Seven Virgins Range is famous for a water-fall…. and as a place of Sri Lanka’s hydro-power generation.

Waterfalls are a fascination to watch; a pure white thick strip of silk like liquid descending vertically to crash on the rocks below to dissipate the enormous kinetic energy.

 Result… a continuous spray of water vapour which turn the immediate atmosphere into a mild and wholesome one; while the sunlight changing its angle in the vapour create multiple rainbows throughout the day.

This is the typical picture that man tried to create through his imagination of paradise. 

Laxapana - Falls in the bygone days was a view from far; being inaccessible in a forest. Today one could get to its toe, a 300 m descend by foot from the motor road. Its immediate being opened for tea cultivation by small time farmers; some have their abodes in the midst of the tea. The surround may be different from what it may have looked then but the tea and the housing is not much of an eyesore as such spoiling nature.

The people living here are swayed to slumber every night to the continuous harmony of the falling water, and they open their doors every morning to a vista of a falling veil of water………..

 

Living off the three leaves and the bud; [the harvest of the tea leaves] which supplement their bare necessities are ignorant of the luxury of the location they dwell.

I was here recently……. and weren’t we in paradise lying on the rocks below gazing at the passing clouds above………. with the tingle of the water spray on your face with rainbows all around.

For a moment yes we were in paradise until we decided to ascend up to the road? Being so unfit lacking exercise……. our exhausted lungs in the rib cages giving out crippling pain while one could only hear your own heart beating so loud and fast from within in your ears.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Seven Virgin Hills a uniquely formed seven peaks on a continuous wall of granite act as a barrier to this enchanting vista….. as if blocking the evil eye of its spells on paradise as narrated in Greek Mythology.

 

It was onto this massif the ill-fated Martinair airline chartered by Garuda Indonesian Airways crashed killing all 262 passengers and crew en-route to Mecca on December 4, 1974, marking Sri Lanka's worst ever air tragedy.

A wheel of the airline from the crash site is displayed at the Norton-bridge Town as a monument to those who perished.