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| Sunday, 22 January 2006 |
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Portuguese plunder of a Buddhist vihara in Jaffna by Prof. Abaya Aryasinghe Vallipuram is a village in the sea coast in the Vadamarachchi division of the Jaffna peninsula. The area is practically covered with sea sand deposited during centuries. This area had been a populated townlet as the name Vallipuram indicates.
The first part of the name Valli means, in Sinhala, the Earth. The second part, pura is evidently town. At present there stands a kovil of recent origin, dedicated to God Vishnu. About fifty yards away from this site in the north-east direction a stone image of Lord Buddha and a gold coin was discovered in 1890. The legend on this coin reads Daraka in Sinhala script. The Buddha statue was at the old national park in Jaffna under a Bo tree. The then British Governor Henry Blake donated it to the King of Siam. Archaeological excavation of the coastal belt of Vallipuram provides bricks and pieces of ancient pottery. These finds are now exhibited in the Jaffna Archaeological Museum. In 1936, a gold plate was discovered while a foundation was excavated for the Vishnu Kovil. It was found buried in the old foundation. This discovery was brought to the notice of Ven. Walpola Rahula who was a teacher in Jaffna at that time. He in turn, showed it to Prof. S. Paranavitana who was the Commissioner of Archaeology. He deciphered the writing on it and contributed a learned article to Epigraphia Zeylanica, Vol. IV. The gold plate contains four lines of writing in the first century script. Its wording is as follows: 1. Sidha Maharajhaha Vahayaha rajehi amete 2. Isigiraya Nakadiva Bujameni 3. Badakara atanehi Piyaguka Tisa 4. Vihara karite (Vide-illustration) The English rendering of this writing could be: 'Success! In the reign of the great King Vasabha, and when the Minister Isigiraya was governing Nagadipa, Piyaguka Tisa Vihara was built at Badakara atana. It is almost certain that there had been a Buddhist Vihara in the vicinity where the Buddha image and the other finds were hidden. The Portuguese launched their ruthless pillage of destroying religious monuments along the maritime belt in Sri Lanka. Vallipuram did not escape their wrath. The vihara location was later utilised to put up a Hindu temple there. The gold plate in question and its reading cannot be disputed by any epigraphist, contrary to the above reading. The Govt. of Sri Lanka should request the Siamese Govt. to return that priceless Buddha image of the Sinhalese Buddhists. |
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