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| Sunday, 1 August 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Vanishing treasures by Shanika Sriyananda Custodians of our heritage hampered by ineffective laws and lack of manpower
It's not a pretty sight. Sacrilegious even. Statues of the Buddha, once sacred to millions of Buddhists, now lying in ungainly heaps, their arms and heads severed, their chests and stomach gouged out... ancient temples that once gave succour to the rural people, bulldozed.... Had their devastation occurred due to natural causes, perhaps the ravages of time, it would not be cause of much concern. But what's being seen as shameful is the fact that the statues and places of veneration, part of the country's cultural heritage, are being destroyed in the hunt for 'treasures' perceived to be hidden in these sites. Sapphires and rubies, gold and valuable artefacts hunted for in the hundreds of monasteries and rock caves, dagabos and statues. The quest for a fast buck is destroying Sri Lanka's cultural and religious heritage. Efforts by the Department of Archaeology (DA), the guardian of archaeological sites, reservations and monuments to conserve them have proved useless due to poor awareness about the importance of protecting the country's heritage, myths about hidden 'treasures' in ancient statues and weak legislature. The 700 year old Buddha statue in the ancient Gadaladeniya Vihara in Pilimatalawe, had been extensively damaged by treasure hunters. In their 'hunt' for the 'mythical treasures' in this historical and priceless statue, the vandals had gorged out the stomach, feet and even eyes of the statue.
"This is just one example of hundreds of such acts of vandalism where treasure hunters destroyed Buddha statues in their search for gems and gold jewellery. It is really a myth. No treasures are deposited in any of the statues in the country," stressed Dr. Senarath Dissanayake, DA Deputy Director General. The Department spends nearly Rs. 800,000 annually to educate the public on conservation of treasures. "But it is very difficult to overcome this myth," he said. However, according to DA sources, "Involvement of poor villagers in this crime is minimal." According to sources, a senior Police Officer was nabbed by the police on a tip off by the public a few months ago. The officer was among a gang of treasure hunters in the jungle of Batagoda. The highest number of cases of treasure hunting has been reported from the Wayamba province and the second highest from the Uva province. The notices on penalties for treasure hunting frequently published by the Department had resulted in a slight decline of looting of valuable artefacts and excavation of archaeological sites. But it had swelled to previous levels mainly due to loopholes in the existing laws that lets off the offenders from being prosecuted. On the other hand, compared to the actual number of cases of treasure hunting the cases reported to the DA is very minimal. "It is a crime," said Rohana Perera, Assistant Director who was of the view that tough penalties could bring down the destruction. Over 1000 monuments have been gazetted and it is an offence to construct a building, mine, or blast on any land within a distance of 400 yards of any ancient monuments or protected monument specified in the gazette," he pointed out. Over 325 new monument sites in the country, excluding the North and East will be gazetted soon, he said. The new 'mania' among Sri Lankans to collect ancient artefacts and the resultant high demand for these artefacts have also contributed towards the growing business. This has also resulted in illegal exports of the country's antiquities to the West. The Export Division of the Sri Lanka Customs has busted several massive hauls of old treasures ready to be 'freighted' abroad. Samantha Gunasekara, Director Customs, said that the new trend in smuggling was 'antiques'. " We prevented some valuable ancient artefacts from being sent abroad and did several detections during the past few months. Foreign involvement in smuggling of artefacts is high", he said adding that the items were most probably stolen from ancient temples. According to Gunasekara, genuine artefacts are exported with false declarations identifying them as reproductions. "Some are shipped concealed in cupboards and drawers," he said. The growing incidents of treasure hunting due to weak laws have been further exasperated by the fact that no authority can place a 'value' on these antique items. This has led to the smugglers not being fined in a manner appropriate to their crime. " The Cultural Heritage Act was introduced sometime back to deal with some of these problems like fines, but, regulations to deal with them are yet pending. So we are helpless as we can not charge a maximum fine. Now the charge depends on the declaration of the buyer," he pointed out. The Customs had busted two artefacts at exporting artifacts by an Australian and a Belgian. "The Australian was a former Consultant to the Ministry of Tertiary Education. The Belgian exporter had left the country after the goods, including 24 plates used during the Dutch period were shipped. We fined the company which undertook the export deal. The Company has only three young staffers and we do not think the proper fine can be recovered from such a small institute. It is time for these small companies that deal in the export business to be vigilant about smuggling," he warned. There is no regulatory system to monitor antique shops in the country. According to sources, some of these shops act as major conduits for stolen antiques from ancient temples, archaeological sites and other historical sites. Gunasekara stressed the urgent need for legislature that requires all antique shops in the country to register with the DA to prevent these invaluable items from being smuggled. "Some of the foreign smugglers had purchased the antiques from these shops that openly sell the invaluable treasures of the country," he pointed out adding that the Belgian smuggler had purchased the plates from a shop in Hikkaduwa. According to sources at the Department of Archaeology, some popular shops in the country are also selling original antiques under the label of 'reproduced items'. The sources also said that anyone can buy priceless antique artefacts at a cheap prices from antique shops in Hikkaduwe, Kotahena, Dharmapala Mawatha, Museum Road, Galle Polonnaruwa, Tissamaharamaya, Kirinda, Yala and Amparai. "Most of the treasure hunters are not aware of the real value of the items and just sell them to these shops for a cheap price," they said. Meanwhile, Gunasekara accused some officials in diplomatic missions of smuggling the country's valuable antiques. "Though no one is allowed to export any antique without a permit from the DA under No. 24 of Antiquities Ordinance of 1998, some officials of diplomatic missions, take the antiques when they return to their countries. But we do not have any authority to check their cargo," he claimed adding "This is not happening only in Sri Lanks but worldwide". Gunasekara said that no attention had yet been paid to the smuggling of ancient jewellery, with rare designs. Meanwhile, the prevention of treasure hunting and safeguarding of over 250,000 places of archaeological importance in the country has now become a near impossible task for the DA due to lack of man power, as well as financial resources. Keerthi Wishwanatha, DA Assistant Director General said that the Department needs more staff and that it was difficult to give full protection to these places with its present cadre. "Our cardre is 1803 but the Management Circular No. 16 of 1st October 2002, which suppressed all vacancies in government departments have severely affected the Department and today the Department functions without one-third of its full cardre," he said. "But we are doing our best to protect these heritage sites". According to Wishwanatha, the department also suffers from a lack of skilled officers. "The low salary structure has closed the doors of the DA to skilled youth and they get jobs with better salaries in other sectors," he said, claiming that the DA functions without five Directors - Director Excavation, Director Conservation (architect) Director Conservation (Chemical) Director Epigraphy and Director Maintenance, since 1998 due to poor budgetary allocations. Wishwanatha said that the 'brain drain' has also affected the Department badly. "The low salary structure has not been revised for years. We submitted Cabinet papers several times, but there has been no response," he said. The department has only 40 guards and watchers to cover the country's archaeological sites. 'Most of the incidences of treasure hunting goes unreported due to lack of watchers and guards. We need at least 250 to 300 guards to protect these places. On the other hand these guards do not have uniforms due to the financial constraints caused by poor budgetary allocations," he added. ###### Culprits go scot free The Archaeological Reserve in Somawathi Raja Maha Viharaya, in Polonnaruwa which contains relics of the Buddha, has been bulldozed to build 'two wells and two toilets' for the benefit of pilgrims, according to DA sources. Archaeological findings in this reserve, which was a Buddhist monastery, are over 2000 years old. Three wide 'cavities' have been made in close proximity of the ancient chithya. Some unique artefacts such as old foundations of dagabas have been destroyed. Pieces of rare ancient clay pots and bricks are among the artefacts that were destroyed by the excavators. According to archaeologists, the site is an 'archaeological treasure' full of historical evidences. Large pits 15 to 18 feet deep and 15 to 20 feet wide have been dug using heavy machinery. Under existing law no machinery can be used in any site with archaeological significance. To clear the site, a permit from the Director General of DA is necessary. But the site had been cleared without any permit from the DA Chief. Sources at the DA said that they had lodged a complaint with the Pulasthigama Police Station on July 19 and according to its officer's report the reserve has been seriously damaged. "Under the present law, the culprits will face a fine of Rs. 50,000 or two to five year imprisonment, but no action has yet been taken against the offenders by the police due to influence. We are helpless", they claimed. |
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