I had to keep moving around in the vehicle
to diminish my urge to sleep after the quick swim in the lake and the
satisfying lunch because we had a lot more sites to visit before the end of the
day. If you’re wondering what I’m going on about, you should probably read my
previous post which takes you through the first part of my day in the ancient
city of Polonnaruwa.
Our next stop was the Vatadage, not to be confused with the Hatadage and the Atadage!
The Vatadage is a circular relic
chamber built enclosing a dagoba. There are stairways on four corners of it
that lead up to a seated statue of Lord Buddha. There are intricately carved
guard stones on either and a moonstone at the foot of each stairway.
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| The stairway at one of the four entrances to the Vatadage |
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| The beautifully carved guardstone and moonstone |
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| A side view of the stone carvings on the stairway |
We then visited the Atadage and the Hatadage
which were relic chambers built to house the Sacred Tooth Relic [a tooth of
Lord Buddha]. The Atadage, with fine
stone carvings was built by King Vijayabahu in the 11th century and
the Hatadage was built by King Nissankamalla
in the 12th century. You need to remove your hats and shoes when
entering these chambers and the other temple ruins, so a word of warning: if it’s
a hot day - wear a pair of socks to avoid hopping around the hot stone floor.
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| The Atadage Relic Chamber |
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| A close up of the stand Buddha statue inside the Atadage |
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| The standing Buddha Statue inside the Hatadage |
The Satmahal
Prasadaya, which looks a lot like a seven storied Egyptian Pyramid was what
we visited next. Like the Siva Devalaya,
it was a different type of building structure compared to the others in the
area and is believed to be a stupa built for Cambodian Soldiers who were
working under the King. Right beside it is the Gal Potha which translates to ‘stone book’ which literally is a
stone book! The 26 foot stone slab has inscriptions that tell us about King
Nissankamalla’s reign including his genealogy and the wars that he fought
against invaders from South India.
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| The Sathmahal Prasadaya |
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| The inscriptions on the Gal Potha |
Next, we walked up to the Gal Viharaya [stone temple] which is the
most popular site in Polonnaruwa because it shows the peak of artistic
achievement in that era. It is a Buddhist shrine that dates back to the 12th
century and has large statues carved out of streaked granite stone of the
seated Buddha, the standing Buddha and the reclining Buddha. I was a little disappointed
when I saw them though, because they seemed a lot smaller than I remembered. It
was probably because I was a lot smaller the last time I visited!
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| The seated Buddha statue |
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| The standing Buddha statue |
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| The reclining Buddha statue |
The sun was starting to set and we were
running out of time to see all of the things that we had planned to during that
day so we decided to finish our day in Polonnaruwa by visiting the Kiri Vehera and the Lankathilake shrine. The Kiri Vehera [Milk Stupa] is a milky
white dagoba that is the best
preserved out of all of Sri Lanka’s unrestored dagobas. Built by King Parakramabahu’s consort, Queen Subhadra, the
dagoba is known for its perfect
proportions.
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| The Kiri Vehera |
Close to the Kiri Vehera is the Lankathilake Shrine. This 55 foot high structure with brick walls and a colossal
standing statue of Lord Buddha is one of the most breath taking Buddhist
shrines in Asia. Although only the ruins remain and the head of the Buddha
statue isn’t there, you could can’t help but feel enchanted by it. Even the
80’s pop group Duran Duran was impressed as they featured the shrine and a few
other parts of Polonnaruwa in their music video ‘Save a Prayer’.
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| The grand Lankathilake Shrine |
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| The standing Buddha statue sans the head inside the Lankathilake Shrine |
