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| Sunday, 19 June 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Mihintala: Mountain carved into a temple by Sumana Saparamadu
"Mihintala is undoubtedly the most ancient scene of mountain worship in Ceylon.... It's highest point was known in the sacred legends as the cliff of Ambatthalo on which Mahinda alighted when arriving in Ceylon to establish the religion of the Buddha. He went to a spot near the summit that the king was allured, while following a deva in the form of an elk, when he encountered the great apostle and became his first convert; here it was that Mahinda died, and on this holy hill, his disciples in remembrance of his virtues, bestowed the name of their teacher ... "The ascent is on the northern side, and the southern face, which is almost precipitous commands a magnificent view which reaches across the island from sea to sea. A flight of steps more than a thousand in number partly hewn out of the rock, but generally formed of slabs of granite fifteen feet wide, leads from the base to the highest peak of the mountain. The priests told me the steps numbered eighteen hundred and forty and that they had been formed by King Maha Dailiya Mana who reigned in AD8. "On a small plateau near the top the dwellings of the priests and the principal buildings are grouped round the Ambustella dagoba which marks the spot where occurred the interview between Mahinda and his royal convert, Devanampiatissa. Ambustella is built of stone instead of bricks, on a terrace encircled by octagonal pillars. Close beside it is a broken statue of the pious monarch. The cells are still remaining which according to the Mahavanso Devanampiatissa caused to be hallowed in the rock and near them is the Nagasandhi tank made for the priesthood by king Aggrabodhi AD 589. Thence the last flight of steps leads to the summit of Ambatthalo crowned by the Etwihara dagoba, a semicircular pile of brick work one hundred feet high, which enshrines a single hair from the forehead of the Buddha. This remarkable structure has stood for upwards of eighteen centuries. He was built by Bhatiya Raja about the first year of the Christian Era". About 40 years later, H.W. Tevers, GA of the NCP wrote in the Manual of the North Central Province. "Mihintala being a signalling station we telegraphed to Colombo for the 'time', by way of testing the system and were enabled to correct by the 12 o'clock gun the errors of six weeks. The temple with its flight of 1064 steps and its rock commanding one of the most extensive views in the island is certainly a very striking object and we will repay a second visit. "The Hill of Mihintala covered with viharas, dagobas and structures acquired a peculiar sanctity from possessing the ashes of Mahinda." When did this hill, one of a group of hills which thrust themselves out of the plain about 7 or 8 miles to the east of Anuradhapura acquire the name Mihintale 'the plain of Mahinda'? Could the Editor of the Buddhist Encyclopedia or of the Sinhala Encyclopedia enlighten readers ? It was on Missaka hill that King Devanampiyatissa met Mahinda thera. Later the hill came to be known as Cetiyapabbata or Cetiyagiri on account of the many shrines built there. Mahinda thera spent his long life in Lanka at Cetiyagiri and the cave known as Mihinduguha is said to be the one he occupied. Many erudite bhikkhus lived there and crowds came to listen to well-known preachers, such as Maliya Deva Thero, the last arahant in Lanka. Fa Hsien who visited Lanka in the 5th century wrote that there were 5,000 monks residing at Cetiyagiri. Missakapabbata or Mihintale hill has three peaks and each peak has a dagoba. The most impressive is Kanthaka Cetiya to the west of the main flight of steps.Poson is the season of pilgrimage to Anuradhapura, and this includes Mihintale the site associated with the hallowed by Mahinda Thera. A'pura was never abandoned. Dr. Paranavitane has said that even after the jungle tide swept across Raja Rata, pilgrims came there in trickles. With the clearing of the jungles and better modes of transport, more and more devotees converged on A'pura and Mihintale, at Poson. The visit to Mihintale was in the morning or early afternoon and concluded long before darkness set in. It was only after ANCL started to light up the hill and the environs for Poson in 1962 that devotees were able to do their devotions leisurely with no thought of getting back to the pilgrim rest before dark. I have been there on a few occasions in the late sixties, mingled with the crowds and seen the moon rise behind the hill. There was an air of piety as well as gaiety, and people were going up and down far into the night. Many a pilgrim must have thanked - "pin dunna" ANCL for this privilege. As I watched the young and old and not so old I remember being reminded of the Giribanda pooja I had read about in my undergraduate days. Organized by King Mahadatika Maha Naga (AD 67-79) this was one of the best known festivals. It is this same king who is referred to as Maha Daileya Mana by Tennent, the king who built the flight of steps of Ambasthale. |
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"Sigiri is a hill scarped into a fortress; Mihintala a mountain carved
into a temple". That was what Mihintala seemed to Sir James Emmerson Tennent
when he first saw this hillock in the 1850s. In his two volume book Ceylon
he has recorded what he saw and was told. 
