Sri Lanka – Anuradhapura

Another 8am start and we drove to Anuradhapura – a very scenic drive through paddy fields and small villages, with wattle and daub shacks built right next to some much nicer properties.

After all the recent heavy rains much of the flat landscape was flooded.

Our first stop was the ancient Isurumuni Rajamaha Vihara (2nd century BC) with its rock temple and square lotus pond in front of it.

There are carvings of elephants cavorting in the water on the rocks and

just above them is a carving of a man and a horse dating back to C6AD.

We went into the small museum here and I photographed the very famous sculpture of the lovers – he is upper caste and she is lower caste – as well as a couple of other sculptures.

In the reproduction of the cave temple there was a reclining Buddha statue, murals depicting scenes from the life of the Buddha and a fabulous painted ceiling.

Anuradhapura first became a capital in 380BC but was replaced by Polonnaruwa in the 11th century. It is now a Unesco world heritage site. It was and continues to be a major centre for Buddhism. The ruins are spread over a very large area so we only visited the most important ones.

We drove to the Mahavihara, the central part of the complex with relics dating from 3rd century BC to the 11th century AD, and where the Sri Maha Bodhi tree grows;

this sacred tree is the oldest historically authenticated tree in the world. It is in fact not one but several trees with golden supports to hold up some of its branches.

The day we were there was a poya (full moon) and therefore a day of public celebration. People had come from far and wide bringing picnics with them and all the women wore white.

prayer flags

making offerings of flowers

From there we walked along the avenue

passing a diorama depicting the story of how the first Bo tree was brought to Sri Lanka

and then the Lovamahapaya, the Brazen Temple so-called because it once had a bronze roof but today only a few columns remain.

The huge white Ruvanvelisaya dagoba was set amongst trees and grassland and we only viewed it from afar.

The Thuparama was the tallest dagoba in the Anagiri complex and is still being restored.

In the Anagiri monastery complex we saw some well preserved carvings and another moon stone. The moon stones in Anuradhapura differ from those in Polonnaruwa in that “A half lotus was carved in the centre, which was enclosed by several concentric bands. The first band from the half lotus is decorated with a procession of swans, followed by a band with an intricate foliage design known as liyavel. The third band has carvings of four animals; elephants, lions, horses, and bulls. These four animals follow each other in a procession symbolizing the four stages in life: growth, energy, power and forbearance. The fourth and outermost band contains a carving of flames.” (Wikipedia). The bands are clearly visible in this photo.

The last stop of the day was to see the 4th century Samadhi Buddha. It is said that when viewed from one side he appears to be smiling and from the other, he appears to have a sad expression on his face but I have to admit that I couldn’t see any difference in his expression.

monastery remains

Nearby are the twin ponds of Kuttam Pokuna, the finest bathing tanks in Anuradhapura.

I really like these metal votive candle holders

a cannon ball tree

a typical roadside fruit stall

roadside shrine

Daily Prompt: unconventional

Daily Post prompt for photographers: unconventional

It is quite common for girls to box in Thailand but it may seem unconventional in other parts of the world.

Girls boxing against each other in Thailand

Thailand has the highest number of “lady boys” in the world and you come across them in all walks of life. Lily works as a cabaret artiste as does her friend

Lily

Lily and friend

Polonnaruwa

Although he ancient city of Polonnaruwa is nearly 1000 years old it’s in better repair than the younger Anuradhapura which we also visited a couple of days later. It was declared a world heritage site by Unesco in 1982. I particularly wanted to visit Polonnaruwa because there are beautiful Buddha statues here. The complex covers quite a large area and is divided into 5 groups.

We started our visit in the archeological museum which described the history of the city and had interesting reconstructions of what some of the buildings are thought to have looked like as well as a large collection of Hindu bronze statues.

The southern group is approached via a road running along the edge of a huge man-made tank (reservoir) whose name in Sinhalese means sea (because of its size), where we saw many people taking their early morning bath or washing their clothes.

Inside this first group the Potgul Vihara is an unusual structure consisting of a rectangular shape with a dagoba (a Buddhist stupa) at each corner and one in the centre. The central dagoba is thought to have held sacred books.

Also in this area is a 4m tall statue of a male. Various suggestions have been made regarding who he is supposed to be – possibly King Parakramabahu I; one tongue-in-cheek suggestion is simply ‘man holding a slice of water melon’. The statue is unique in its lifelike representation as opposed to the more stylised representations usually found in Buddhist art.

Our guide reached up to pull some leaves off a curry tree and just missed being bitten by this snake. He hadn’t even seen it although we saw it move towards him.

Not much is left of the royal palace which measures 31m by 13m and is said to have had seven storeys.

Parakramabahu’s audience hall is notable for the frieze of elephants, each in a different position, with a frieze of lions at the top of the steps.

Vatadage, a circular relic house, has a moon stone at its northern entrance, which is reputed to be the finest in Polonnaruwa. The design of the sandakada pahana of the Polonnaruwa period differs largely from that of the Anuradhapura period. The single band that was used to depict the four animals was removed, and processions of the elephant, lion and horse were depicted in separate bands. The most significant change is the removal of the bull from the sandakada pahana. The Anuradhapura tradition of placing sandakada pahanas only at entrances to Buddhist temples also changed, and they are found at the entrances of other buildings belonging to the Polonnaruwa period as well. (Wikipedia)

The Gal Pota (stone book), nearly 9m long it’s a huge representation of an “ola” book (the page of ola books are made from palm leaves). Part of the inscription states that this stone, weighing 25 tonnes, was dragged to its current position from Mihintale, a mere 100km away.

standing at the entrance of the Hatadage you can see how beautifully symmetrical the building is

a typical bathing pool

the unusual ziggarat-style building of Satmahal Prasada

The 3 Buddha statues at the Gal Vihara

When this dagoba was discovered it still had some of its original outer layer of lime plaster in place

a headless Buddha statue

The Tivanka Image house contains a thrice-bent statue (this is what Tivanka means) of a Buddha; this form is usually reserved for female statues. There were some beautiful frescoes here, the only ones still extant in Polonnaruwa.

the lotus pond

the King’s council chamber

the lion throne

the royal baths

weekly travel theme: beaches

Ailsa’s challenge this week was BEACHES

My favourite beach

different views of the beach at Lynmouth, UK

view of distant Porlock bay, UK

Some beaches further afield

evening on the beach at Seminyak, Bali

a vendor of kites on the beach in Bali

a Balinese fishing boat

boats on the beach at Amed, Bali

children’s festival on the beach in Bali

weekly travel theme: dance

On our recent trip to Sri Lanka and India we were able to watch lots of dances.

With the exception of the fire dancers all the other dancers in Sri Lanka wore traditional masks

this dancer is one of the many demons in Sri Lanka’s pantheon

At the end of each Kolam performance, Gera Yakka comes to dispel all evil influences resulting from “evil eye” and “evil mouth”

Dancers in a cultural show in Kajuraho, India

Dancers in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

One dance involved balancing on the dancer’s head one pot, then two, then three, then four and

finally five pots as well as standing on two upturned metal beakers (which must have been very uncomfortable)

This theme was chosen by Ailsa. Why not tiptoe through the tulips (you’ll see why I say this) on Ailsa’s blog to see some other dances and dancers

Cee’s fun foto challenge: signs

Don’t you just love misspelled signs or wonder exactly what the sign was trying to say?

would you feel safe chartering a yacht in Thailand from these people?

contrary to what you might think this sign was in a car park at a temple in Sri Lanka, not a zoo. If only decent drivers can park here where are the indecent ones supposed to park?

this sign in India is trying to advertise the production of tie-dye fabrics

whale watching in Sri Lanka anyone?

One day we stopped for petrol at a garage in Rajasthan and saw a guy with “forecoat supervisor” embroidered on the back of his coat. I did take a photo of it but it’s somewhere in amongst 5000 photos and I haven’t found it again yet …..

Cee’s post has lots of links to other interesting signs

a word a week challenge: orange

This week Skinnywench’s dictionary fell open at the word ORANGE. Orange is the colour of the robes worn by monks in many Asian countries.

It is considered bad manners to talk directly to a monk, if you are a woman, unless you are addressed by one. The one on the left greeted me as I was looking around a temple in Luang Prabang, Laos. Although his English was a bit limited we managed to conduct a conversation for half an hour or so and, at the end, he agreed to my taking a photo of him and his friend. I don’t think his friend was quite so happy about this as you can see from the expression on his face.

young monks in Vat Sop Sickharam

every morning the monks stream out of their temples and walk along the main street in Luang Prabang to collect their daily food

Unfortunately the procession has become something of a tourist attraction with loads of tourists pitching up very early in the morning to photograph them, often going disrespectfully close to the monks in order to get the perfect photo

votive offering

orange sellers

predominantly orange coloured ethnic clothing on sale

orange flowers on a tree in the garden of our hotel

I’m also sharing this post with Jake’s Sunday Post, whose theme is “attraction” (tourist) and Mandarin Orange Mondayno. 40

Confessions of an ardent Temple Goer

Reblogged from Life is a Vacation:

23 April, 2013. Bangalore

Dear God,

It’s been a while since I have stopped visiting your home (temple) regularly. Years ago, I was there nearly every day sometimes with flowers, sometimes with fruits and sweets and sometimes with just myself. More often than not it was to seek a favor. I visited you when my pleas were not answered too since I had none to turn to who I believed could solve my problems.

Read more… 521 more words

What a wonderful credo as you get older and, hopefully, wiser

WordPress weekly photo challenge: up

This week’s photo challenge from the Daily Post is ‘up’


part of the ceiling in the mosque in the Taj Mahal complex

Jodhpur clock tower

Wells cathedral, UK

view over the rooftops of Siena, Italy

up in the mountains at St Ours, France

Vaduz castle in Leichtenstein

a couple prepare to send a balloon (aka inflatable condom) up into the sky above a beach in Thailand

banners in the grounds of a temple in Chiang Mai, Thailand

red umbrellas in Chiang Mai

a funeral procession in Bali

temple decorations in Bali

a word a week: worker

Once a week Skinnywench dips into the dictionary and picks a word that the page falls open at, the challenge is to post a picture or use whatever genre you prefer to share what your take on the word is.

Here are some of my workers from India, Thailand and Penang: