The Abhayagiri Monastery
Buddhist Temples, stupas, dagobas and temples in Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura is the most historical city on the island and dates back to the 2nd century BC. Anuradhapura is one of the UNESCO world heritage sites. Anuradhapura harbours many dozens of historical monuments and most of these monuments are many hundred years old. However, some of the monuments are more than 2,000 years old, such as Jetawanarama and Ruwanweli Dagoba. This blog post highlights one of the most historical and important Buddhist temple in Anuradhapura, namely Abhayagiri monastery.
Table of Contents
- Buddhist Temples, stupas, dagobas and temples in Anuradhapura
- Role of Anuradhapura in the past
- Abhayagiri temple
- History of Abhayagiri temple
- Developement of Abhayagiri temple
- Fall down of Abhayagiri monastery
Anuradhapura is an archaeological zoo with hundreds of stupas, dagobas, palaces, Buddhist temples, lakes, tanks and many many historical monuments, they are living testimony to the heyday of flourishing Sri Lankan civilization. Most of the monuments in Anuradhapura are dating back to the 3rd to 2nd century BC. Anuradhapura stands out from the other historical cities on the island due to its ancient temples and attracts a large number of travellers every day.
Role of Anuradhapura in the past
Anuradhapura was not only our ancient capital but it had also been a Buddhist teaching centre in Asia. Buddhist monasteries, such as Abhayagiriya, were believed to be places where a large number of Buddhist monks learned the teachings of Buddha. The monks had been gathering in those monasteries from all around the world.
Abhayagiri temple
Abhayagiri was a Buddhist temple complex located within the city of Anuradhapura and visited by a areg number of Buddhist pilgrims. The Buddhist monastery is believed to be a major seat of learning and a large number of scholarly monks lived in the temple. Abhayagiri temple is located at the heart of Anuradhapura ancient city next to the Jetawanarama temple complex. Therefore, when you venture on a Sri Lanka cultural triangle tour you are well on your way to visiting this magnificent Buddhist monastery.
This flourishing religious centre was not only a place to learn only the orthodox Mahavihara school of Buddhism but also various other principals of Buddhism. Today the past grandeur of Abhayagiri can be ascertained by studying the tumbled down carved pillars, gigantic Stupas, Image houses, and may other ruined buildings. Monasteries were consisting of buildings with many stories and they were decorated with exquisite wood carving, arts, sculptures and precious materials such as gems, gold and silver.
Abhayagiri was built at the centre of Anuradhapura. It was encircled by gigantic walls, bathing ponds that they were architectural marvels, exquisitely carved balustrade and moonstones.
History of Abhayagiri temple
Abhayagiri was founded by King Vattagamini Abhaya and he reigned from 89 BC to 77 BC. When Chinese monk Fa-Hsien visited Abhayagiri in 5th century AD to study Buddhism, Abhayagiri was a popular learning centre for Buddhism in the region.
Fa-Hsien lived in the monastery for 2 years and learnt Buddhism from scholar monks at Abhayagiri. He had taken the copies of Buddhist texts to China with him. Written documents of monk Fa-hsien gives valuable evidence about highly developed Abhayagiri monastery during his stay.
There had been monasteries, statues, the tooth relic of Buddha and there had been as much as 5000 monks in Abhayagiri. Fa-hsien has described Abhayagiri thus “Anuradhapura city is the residence of magistrate, grandees and many foreign merchants; the mansions beautiful and public buildings richly adorned, the streets and highway straight and level and houses for preaching built at every thoroughfare.”
Developement of Abhayagiri temple
Abhayagiri was rapidly developed as a seat of learning and has four fellowships by 7th century AD for religious teaching. Uttara-malu, Kapara-malu, Mahanetpa-malu and Vahady-malu are the four fellowships. Through the excavations, research and epigraphical evidence, archaeologists have been able to identify some of the buildings belongs to these fellowships. Abhayagiri monastery was in close contact with other Buddhist religious institution on the island as well as foreign countries such as China, Java and Kashmir.
Sri Lanka had a very close relationship with Java by the 8th century AD, through the Abhayagiri monastery. An inscription discovered on the Ratubak plateau in Java provides valuable information about it. According to the monks, who resided in Abhayagiri, they were trained in Java. Even though Abhayagiri was a seat of learning for many centuries, it had to face many hardships due to the repeated invasions of southern India.
Fall down of Abhayagiri monastery
The fall of Abhayagiri resulted in a Chola invasion and subsequent rule of Sena 1 of south India. The city and the monastery were abandoned during the rule of Sena 1. Both King Parakramabahu 1 and King Vijayabahu tried to revive the former glory of Abhayagiri in the 12th century, but none of them succeeded in the effort.