Touring the medieval citadel: Polonnaruwa

by Rosanne Koelmeyer Anderson

Hundred and thirty five miles from Colombo is one of the country's medieval capital city's, Polonnaruwa, established as the city of the land from the 11th century A.D. to the 13th century A.D. and today, this ancient city of Polonnaruwa remains one of the best planned archeological relic sites in the country, standing testimony to the greatness of our Kingdom's first rulers.

A much visited site by locals as well as foreigners throughout the year, it stands a marvel of our beautiful land's history and a lesson in social studies in our schools curriculum which adds to its importance and makes it compulsory for all students to visit and witness its glory for themselves.

Learning and recollecting lessons in history are after all are most effective if visited and revisited and meticulously explained by a tour guide I feel. Seeing is believing they say and children seem to remember even the minute details if exposed to the learning process in this manner. But doing the tour is certainly not an easy task in the scorching hot sun.

Apart from that, the distance one has to cover seems never ending and absolutely exhausting, so gear yourself adequately and take sufficient drinking water with you. Half way through you may savour some of our own herbal drinks like Belli mal, Ranavara and many others at a small way side boutique if you wish.

The exploration of the ancient city starts with a visit to the museum. Exhibits include a fine collection of bronzes and sculptures recovered from the site-the majority are elaborately carved images of Hindu deities. There are also some fascinating scale models showing how the city's buildings might have looked in their prime.

The city in its day we are told was fortified with three concentric walls, beautified with parks and gardens and sanctified by many a shrine and sacred place. The city itself, as well as the surrounding plain was watered by a unique irrigational complex known as the Sea of Parakrama or the Parakrama Samudra, a vast irrigation tank of 5,940 acres built as the name indicates by King Parakramabahu the Great.

It is one of the most striking features in Polonnaruwa, a great tourist attraction indeed . Among the other glorys of yesteryear are the large stone reclining Buddhas, intricate moonstone steps, and ruins of royal palaces, and the monkeys that use the tropical forest habitat and socialise, play, and observe the visitors as the walk along. It is interesting and takes your fatigue away to see these monkeys do their act. You may feed them if you like.

As you walk through the ruins you would notice that it was King Parakramabahu that actually raised Polonnaruwa to its heights. He erected huge buildings, drained swamps and planted vast areas with crops, planned beautiful parks, created wildlife sanctuaries, restored earlier monuments and even undertook military expeditions against Burma and India.

The elegance and beauty of the circular stupa, the Vatadage built by him as far back as the 12th century is a religious edifice which has four Buddha statues facing the cardinal points, four flights of steps flanked by guard stones and preceded by beautifully carved moonstones leading to the relic chamber, stands in good state. Children seem to enjoy climbing the flight of steps and walking around it while many a visitor stops by to capture a few pictures of this edifice.

Four Buddha statues facing the cardinal points and four flights of steps flanked by guard stones preceded by beautifully carved moonstones lead to the relic chamber while the most impressive sculptures at Polonnaruwa are the colossal Buddha images carved on the face of a granite boulder at the Gal Vihare.

The recumbent Buddha measures 46 ft. and the standing figure is said to be 23 ft. in height also a popular site for photos.

Of all the ancient buildings and sculptures at Polonnaruwa and the work which continued in the 12th century , none is more impressive than the sculptures at Gal Vihare. The four statues that date back to the mid-12th century, cut from a single granite wall, rank among the best of ancient Sri Lankan art I think and you are sure to agree.

It was King Parakramabahu who was responsible for the unification of the three orders of monks, the Maha vihara, Jetavana and Abhayagiri into one Sangha or 'Supreme Order of Monks'. The greatness of this achievement was to ensure the survival of Buddhism in the centuries ahead.What a rich history we could attribute to our culture after all. A tremendous sense of pride is the common feeling among most visitors to Polonnaruwa. Proud to be Sri Lankan, proud to be on Lankan soil?

Just like Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa was also said to be a centre of habitation in the pre-historic era, but unfortunately archaeological research on pre-historic Polonnaruwa has not been satisfactory. In the historical era beginning from the third century B.C. there were several settlements in and around Polonnaruwa as testified by the Brahmi inscriptions.

The proximity of Polonnaruwa to the Mahaveli river and to the east coast is said to have resulted in the development of settlements in the region throughout centuries while the region was agriculturally developed at least as early as the fourth century A. D. Five of twelve great reservoirs mentioned in the ninth and tenth century inscriptions, namely Padaviya, Vahalkada, Kantale, Kavudulu and Minneri and a large number of village irrigation works were located around the lower Mahaveli basin in the Dry Zone and the north eastern part of the Island.

The construction of irrigation works and the concomitant agricultural development created dense clusters of population in this area, resulting in the emergence of new economic and political forces and this speaks for Sri Lanka's self sufficiency in paddy cultivation to date.

Long before all this, do you know that Polonnaruwa had been an important military post due to its strategic location. It was from the sixth century A. D. onwards that Polonnaruwa had become increasingly important. It was after the sixth century that construction of shrine rooms in Polonnaruwa ,alternative residences for the Anuradhapura kings and hospitals at Polonnaruwa began.

Thus Polonnaruwa became a fortified city and today it is a citadel and the architectural remains of the royal palaces and other establishments are very imposing and occupy a prominent position among the excavated ruins.

One remarkable feature at Polonnaruwa. Walking along, observing the intricacies of the magnificent city it is nothing but a glorious walk into the past , a bygone era depicted in its splendour even to date.

The decline of Polonnaruwa came with King Nissankamalla (1187 - 96)who although claiming to be a great builder, was not. He squandered most of the country's wealth trying to match his predecessor's deeds and after King Nissankamall's death Polonnaruwa went into decline, civil war, lawlessness and constant invasions which virtually destroyed the social structure and religious order of the country the beginning of the 'Dark Ages' of Sri Lanka which led to the capital being shifted to Kurunegala, and Polonnaruwa returned to the jungle; it's great reservoirs survived as a series of swampy lakes, and its large brick buildings became lost under thick tropical forest.

The Portuguese are said to have raided and looted Polonnaruwa and by the early nineteenth century the site was completely lost.

Taking a note book and pen to make note of most of these observations and facts is important ,so keep that in mind especially if you are a student.

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