Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery, Anuradhapura, 7 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Sri Lanka, HISTORICAL PLACES IN SRI LANKA

Abhayagiri Buddhist monastery

Sanjeewa Padmal (Seerendipity)

According to the chronicle, when a young Brahmin named Tiya (Tissa) engaged in combat with him during his second reign, between 89 and 77 B.C.E., King Valagamba founded Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery and Dagaba.

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Abhayagiri Buddhist monastery

The Abhayagiri Buddhist monastery in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, was an important centre of Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana Buddhism. It’s a major Buddhist pilgrimage site and home to some of the world’s largest ruins. It was also the royal capital at one point in history, and it is known for the beautiful monasteries that rose to many stories and were covered in golden bronze or tiles of burnt clay coated in brilliant colours.

Anuradhapura

Anuradhapura is a prominent city in Sri Lanka’s cultural triangle in the north-central province. Both the North Central Province and the Anuradhapura District have their capitals there. Located in the North Central Province, 205 kilometres (127 miles) north of Colombo, the city is situated on the banks of the ancient Malwathu River. The city’s well-preserved relics of the ancient Sinhalese civilisation have earned it recognition as a World Heritage Site.

This UNESCO world heritage site is home to many dozens f ancient temples as well as many other historical construction. Due to its archaeological and historical as well as religious importance, Anuradhapura is visited by thousands of travellers every day. Anuradhapura is included in most cultural triangle tours in Sri Lanka. The travellers can book the Anuradhapura city tour as a standalone activity from Colombo or as a part of the multi-day Sri Lanka trip such as 7 days Sri Lanka tour and 10 days Sri Lanka trip.

While Mahvaasa dates the city’s origin to 437 BCE, the site has actually been populated for far longer, making it one of the oldest continually occupied towns in the world. It is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Sri Lanka and the birthplace of the ancient Sinhalese and Theravada Buddhist cultures. The Sinhala Kingdom of Rajarata established its first capital there, succeeding Tambapanni and Upatissa Nuwara.
The ruins of many ancient Buddhist temples can be found in Anuradhapura, making it a popular destination for Buddhist pilgrims. These include the Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya, the world’s oldest known planted tree, and a branch of the sacred fig tree in Bodh Gaya (Bihar, India), under which the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment. These old religious buildings have expanded to occupy more than 100 square kilometres (40 square miles) of the city.

After the Cholar invasion from South India in 993 CE, the city was substantially devastated and mostly deserted. Anuradhapura was a prominent population hub of the island before the 10th century AD, despite repeated attempts by subsequent Sinhalese monarchs to reinstall the capital there, it fell into the hands of nature and was covered with trees and plants. In the 1870s, the city began its long and steady climb back to prominence. The modern city, much of which was relocated in the middle of the twentieth century to protect the location of the ancient capital, now serves as an important traffic junction and railway hub in northern Sri Lanka. The city is a major tourist destination and home to Sri Lanka’s archaeological survey.

Where is Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery?

Located in the northern part of Anuradhapura, “Abhayagiri” was the largest of Anuradhapura’s five major viharas and one of seventeen such religious complexes. It had exquisite bathing pools, carved balustrades, and moonstones. A historic stupa known as the Abhayagiri Dagaba serves as one of the complex’s primary attractions. Abhayagiri Vihara, which surrounds the humped Dagaba, was the original keeper of the Tooth relic on the island and a seat of the Northern Monastery, or Uttara Vihara.

Origin of Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery

“Abhayagiri Vihara” is the name of both the physical monastery and the Buddhist monks who lived and worked there, known as the “Sangha.” They kept their own archives, rituals, and customs. Established in the 2nd century BC, by the 1st century AD it had become a global institution, drawing scholars from far and wide and covering every nuance of Buddhist thought. It has spread its impact to other parts of the world through the establishment of satellite offices. In Anuradhapura, the historic capital of Sri Lanka, the Abhayagiri Vihara rose to prominence as a rival to the Mahavihara and Jetavanavihara Buddhist monastic sects.

Abhayagiri and the King of Valagamba

Abhayagiri Monastery and Dagaba were founded by King Valagamba during his second reign, between 89 and 77 B.C.E., when a young Brahmin named Tiya (Tissa) went to battle against him, as reported in the chronicle. The prediction of another Brahmin’s ascension to the throne led Tiya astray. Brahmins were at the pinnacle of civilization on the island before the advent of Bhikkhu Mahinda, who introduced Buddhism there. However, as the Buddhist sangha was established on the island, they gradually lost power. While some Brahmins embraced Buddhism, others rose up in rebellion. Tiya, who had the backing of his people and could be found in both Sri Lanka and abroad, wielded considerable influence.

Simultaneously, seven Tamil chiefs arrived in Mahatittha with a large force. Valagamba, ever the skilled negotiator, saw that his armies were too little to take on both of these foes, so he set them against one other in an effort to rid himself of them. If he could fight the foreign invaders, he could have the kingdom, he told Tiya. After agreeing, Tiya led his troops into battle against the Tamils, only to be defeated. The triumphant Tamils marched on Anuradhapura and eventually defeated the king, forcing him to flee to the mountains. A Jain monk (“nigantha” in Pali) named Giri led the arama constructed by King Pandukabhaya near the northern gate of Anuradhapura, and he cried out, “The great Sinhala is fleeing.” The king, defeated in battle, vowed, “If my wish (of regaining the kingdom) is fulfilled, I will build a vihara here.”

Vattagamani Abhaya fled to the mountains during the Beminitiya Seya, a period of famine and south Indian tyranny, where he gathered an army and eventually returned to Anuradhapura in 89 BC, when he overthrew the last Tamil monarch, Bhatiya. In order to make good on the commitment he made on the day of his loss, one of his first activities was to construct the Abhayagiri Vihara on the former grounds of the Giri monastery. To show our appreciation for Mahatissa Thera’s help during the resistance’s fight against the invaders, we have named him the Chief Incumbent of Kupikkala. Since this event marked the end of Brahmin and Jain influence in the land, Abhayagiri came to symbolize not just religious but also national resurgence.

According to the Mahavamsa, the name Abhayagiri Vihara comes from the names of King Vattagamani Abhaya and the Jain monk Giri who lived there previously. However, since most ancient monasteries were built around a hillock, or giri in Sinhala (for example, the Vessagiri, Meghagiri, or Chetiyagiri monasteries), the name Abhayagiri may represent the monastery created

Government support

Abhayagiri gained power and respect under Gajabahu I,  but the Mahavihara monks were persecuted once King Mahasena came to power in the third century AD. The monarch forbade the distribution of charity to them and even destroyed the Mahavihara in order to reuse its materials in the construction of the Abhayagiri. Abhayagiri’s golden age began with Mahasena’s reign. When the Buddha’s tooth relic was finally delivered to Sri Lanka in the fourth century, it was placed in Abhayagiri for public worship.

In ten days, monks will remove Buddha’s tooth (Today Buddha’s tooth relic is deposited in Kandy temple) and bring it to the Abhayagiri Monastery. On either side of the street, the king places statues depicting the Buddha in his Five Hundred Forms from his past lives.’

By the time the Buddhist pilgrim Faxian arrived in Sri Lanka in 412 AD, Abhayagiri had become the island’s most important Buddhist centre. Abhayagiri Vihara had grown to include four miles (literally “families”, fraternities, or organized religious teaching organizations) by the 7th century:

  • Uttara‑mula
  • Kapara‑mula
  • Mahanethpa‑mula
  • Vahadu‑mula

Archaeological digs, studies, and epigraphic proof all led to their discovery and identification.

It was the Abhayagiri Theravdins who were seen as the primary Buddhist tradition in Sri Lanka by travellers like Faxian, who visited the island before the 12th century CE.

The World at Large

By the 5th and 6th centuries CE, Abhayagiri had grown into a thriving religious and educational centre with strong ties to China, Java, and Kashmir.

Biqiuni Zhuan, a biography of the bhikkhuni written by Shi Baochang in 526 AD, as well as the biographies of Gunavarnam and Sanghavarnam, states that Sinhalese nuns conferred the second Upasampada, or higher ordination, upon their Chinese counterparts. Another Chinese account claims that in 426 AD, eight Sinhala nuns travelled on a commercial ship owned by a man named Nandi to the capital of the Liu Song dynasty (420-77 AD), Nanjing. So, Tissara led a group of three nuns to Nanjing. As a result, in the year 434, more than three thousand nuns in the presence of more than ten Sinhala nuns led by Tissara at the Nanjing Temple in China got their second higher ordination.

Towards the end of the eighth century, at the latest, a fragmentary inscription from the Ratubaka plateau in central Java describes religious contacts between Sri Lanka and Java through the Abayagiri Vihara. The Abhayagiri Vihara of Sinhalese ascetics schooled in the sayings of jinas (Buddhist scriptures) was founded according to this inscription, as explained by J.G. According to de Casparis, “the most significant fact is the foundation’s name, the Abhayagiri Vihara.”

Mahyna and Vajrayna

Abhayagiri Vihara appears to have been a centre for Mahyna and Vajrayana teachings; as such, it was seen as heretical by more conservative Mahavihara monks.[9] Xuanzang describes the simultaneous existence of both monasteries in Sri Lanka in the 7th century CE, referring to the monks of the Mahavihara as the “Hnayna Sthaviras” (Pali: Ther

Abhayagirivihravsins study both the Hnayna and Mahyna teachings and spread the Tripiaka, while Mahvihravsins reject the Mahyna and practice the Hnayna.

Abhayagiri was the home of many prominent Buddhist scholars who wrote in Sanskrit and Pali because it was a renowned institution and centre of study. Upatissa (author of the Vimuttimagga), Kavicakravarti Ananda (Saddhammopyana), Aryadeva, Aryasura, and the tantric gurus Jayabhadra and Candramli are only a few of these.

In the eighth century CE, Indian monks Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra, who were instrumental in spreading Esoteric Buddhism throughout China, travelled to Sri Lanka, where they encountered practitioners of both the mainstream Mahyanga school and the more esoteric Vajrayana school.

Destruction and repression

In the 12th century CE, the Mahvihra obtained governmental support from King Parakkamabhu I (1153-1186 CE) and totally eradicated the Abhayagiri and Jetavana lineages, reversing the previous trend of Abhayagiri Vihara being the major Buddhist sect.

According to the Culavamsa (ch 78:1-27), King Parakramabahu I united the Mahavihara with the Abhayagiri and Jethawana orders after purifying the Mahavihara.

According to Richard Gombrich, who writes:[16] the monks of these two traditions were defrocked and given the option of permanently retiring to the laity or trying re-ordination under the Mahvihra tradition as “novices” (smanera).

While it is true that he did eliminate the Abhayagiri and Jetavana Nikyas, the phrase “he reunited the Sangha” obscures this truth. He excommunicated many monks from the Mah Vihra Nikya and all the monks in the other two, allowing the better ones to become novices in the now “unified” Sangha, into which they would have to be reordained in due order.

King Parakkamabhu also selected a Sangharaja, or “King of the Sangha,” a monk to oversee ordinations and the Sangha in Sri Lanka. He was given two assistants.

Abhayagiri Vihara fell apart due to repeated attacks from the South Indian state of Chola, the loss of the capital city of Anuradhapura, and Sena I’s reign in the 9th century. After the final relocation of the capital from Polonnaruwa in the Rajarata, or King’s Country, to a new location in 1215 due to repeated Maga invasions, the temple gradually fell into disrepair despite efforts by Vijayabahu I and Parakramabahu I in the 13th century to renovate and resurrect it.

Abhayagiri Vihara was forgotten for 800 years until its rediscovery in the 1880s sparked academic and scientific interest in the ruined temple. In the late 19th century, experts photographed and drew the structures, mistaking them for Jetavana Vihara; in the early 20th century, the Department of Archaeology, founded around the same time, excavated and conserved some of the buildings.

Legacy

The devotion of Avalokitevara Bodhisattva, also known as Natha in Sri Lanka, is a central tenet of Mahayana, while the Maitreya Bodhisatta (Santhusitha) is revered by Theravadins. Natha has, more recently, been mistaken for the Bodhisattva Maitreya. However, Andrew Skilton argues that Natha is actually Avalokitevara according to tradition and basic iconography (such as an image of Amitbha Buddha on his crown).

… Even though the current version of the history of Buddhism on the island shows an unbroken and pure lineage of Theravada, it is obvious from sculptural evidence alone that the Mahyna was practised in some parts of the island. Evidence of a once widespread cult of Avalokitevara can be found in the modern-day figure of Natha (and, by extension, in other Southeast Asian countries where Sri Lankan ordination lineages are practised).

Architecture

Abhayagiri Vihara’s architectural remnants reveal a wealth of information about the cultural norms and religious practices of its time. While Buddhism was the official state religion and the most widely practised religious belief, other indigenous religions, especially Hinduism, had a significant impact on the development of the region’s architecture. The habit of entrusting buildings to a guardian deity is reflected, for instance, in the architecture of doorways.

Guard stones (Muragala) are two slabs placed at the base of a set of stairs leading into a building. Although guard stones are typically engraved, plain guard stones have been discovered on occasion. The Nagaraja, or anthropomorphic King Cobra, is the most frequently seen emblem on these stones, alongside the Pot of Abundance and Kalpavrksa. An outstanding example of these is the guard stone at the Ratnaprasada in Abhayagiriya, which is also one of the finest guard stones ever discovered and exemplifies the level of excellence achieved by the sculptors of Abhayagiri. The abundance is symbolized by lotuses and punkalas. Particularly significant are depictions of the lotus in agricultural communities, as the lotus represents the daughters of the guardian deity of rain. The Eth Pokuna elephant statue represents the element of water as well.

The animal vehicles of the individual Buddhist guardian deities are often depicted, especially on the guard stones. Abhayagiri Stupa’s magnificent statues on either side of its entryway serve as an excellent illustration. One of the statues wears a lotus flower on its head, while the other wears a conch. It is thought that they were built to protect the stupa and its environs by symbolically representing Sanka and Padma, the two main treasure homes of Kuvera. Even today, courts in Anuradhapura consider oaths taken in front of the statues as evidence in the resolution of small disputes between litigants because of the widespread belief that they are gifted with mysterious abilities.

At the bottom of the stairs going up to the Pancavasa, also known as Mahasena’s palace is the finest specimen of a moonstone, a one-of-a-kind masterpiece of Sri Lankan sculptors. Nearby in the Queen’s Pavilion was a smaller version with the same high-quality carving. All are wonderful works of art, even though they range in size and shape and are fashioned from various types of stones. Prof. Paranavitana explains that the moonstone represents samsara, the endless cycle of reincarnation, and the way out of samsara into nirvana. He sees the outermost ring’s pattern as fire, and each of the concentric circles depicting different animals as a stage in man’s journey through samsara.

Present situation

The Sri Lankan Central Cultural Fund spent 15 years and Rs519.5 million (about US$3.9 million) on a UNESCO-funded restoration and renovation of the Abhayagiri Stupa. President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe were on hand for its unveiling in June 2015.

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