The biggest pirivena of the Kotte period:

Buried in the sands of time

by Padma EDIRISINGHE

Tucked away a short distance from the Southern coastal road between Hikkaduwa and Ambalangoda, there looms the Thotagamu Rajamaha Vihara. Even the name board on the highway indicates only this status. But only the literati of Lanka know that here flourished the most famous of the many Pirivenas that made the Kotte period one of the most academically equipped periods of Lankan history. A tragic observation that the writer made on a recent visit to this Vihara is that visual evidence of this is limited to a few ruined buildings that dot a most picturesque landscape almost within sight of the Indian ocean which however led to a grisly devastation and depopulation of the area by the 2004 tsunami. What different destinies landscapes cum buildings become heir to, in the long trek of history!

The booklet on the temple informs that Mahavamsa attributes the name Thiththagaama to Thotagamuwa or the village of the Ford Theertha gama. It was where Molapu Oya met the Indian ocean. MV further informs that Vijayabahu the Great (Polonnaruwa period) was responsible for the grandiose monastic building of this Rajamaha Vihara who also had gone on to house the Pirivena. For its later additions Parakramabahu 1V is given credit. So though the connection of the 2nd capital is evident, certain architectural evidence is cited copiously to ascribe some structures to the Anuradhapura period taking the roots of the famous site to a time epoch further back. Yuvaraj Mahanaga sent by king Devanampiyatissa (3rd C BC) to colonise the South is said to be responsible for the initial beginnings.

Whatever the beginnings were it was these Pirivenas that kept the torch of learning burning during the ancient and medieval periods of the island but then came troubled times and dwindling of royal support that they gradually faded into oblivion so much so that Colebrooke who came to Lanka in 1833 during the British period heading a premier education Commission states that as seats of learning the Pirivenas are hardly worthy mentioning! But this narrative is not about all these Pirivenas born out of Buddhist Hela culture but about a single one. It had its vicissitudes peaks and falls.

The “Peakest” period was when it was headed by the most erudite scholar and brilliant poet of the time, Sri Rahula Thera. That was the 15th Century, a period dominated by the Chakravarthi rule of Parakramabahu V1 when literary efflorescence slowly grew into a crescendo. Sri Rahula was the brightest star. His relationship with the Chakravathi king is not much clear.

He is known to have been nurtured in the Palatial Complex, probably singled out due to his genius but his later connection with the Kotte kings seems to have been soured. He lived long enough to develop an issue with Bhuvanekabahu V1 alias Sapumal Bandara, conqueror of Jaffna. In the whirl of confusing facts presented in that booklet we see the monk now in an elderly stage of life fleeing to Thotagamuwa area in the South (The larger area is now known as Telwatte). That could be his native area for Vidagama thera had addressed him as Thotagamuwe Rahula in his Samanera days. It can be surmised however that as a lad the famous prelate had haunted the Vidagama area probably staying with relatives for the equally famous Vidagama thera seems according to legend, to accost him in typical adolescent activities as fishing and even along village bypaths trod by Vidagama paying compliments to pretty women via verse forgetting all about Samsaric tentacles.

Any advice the prelate gave the lad on these occasions the latter had responded with pithy and humorous verse. Vidagama thera impressed had introduced him to the Kotte royal court of Parakramabahu V1 where he became a top favourite and gained fame as a promising scholar and budding poet. Having settled later at Thotagamuwa he indulged in many a literary work.

Thus it can be safely surmised that the Thotagamuwa Vihara mastered by him as head of the Vihara zoomed to be the spawning ground of the most magnificent works in the arena of Sinhala literature produced during this period.

These include Kavyasekhera, Parevi Sandesha and Selalihini Sandesha all extremely mellifluous poetic works plus very significant academic works such asPanchika Pradeepa, Buddha Gadhya and Buddhippasadani.

The Vijayaba Pirivena he headed shed its intellectual lustre even in Asian countries owning a very wide curriculum spanning diverse subjects as the Buddhist doctrine, Grammar, the languages of Sanskrit, Magadha, Elu and Tamil and areas of higher study as the Vedas, Arthasasthra (Economics), astrology and medicine. One can visualise a vast complex brimming with academic activity.

That was the 15th century and inevitably followed the 16th century marked by the European voyages of discovery subsequent to the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution.

Arrived the Portuguese influenced by the Papal orders that all institutes that promoted non Christian values have to be wiped off the face of the earth. So in 1580 Thome de Souza directed his onslaught on the great pirivena decimating it to four granite columns. Asking for a resurrection of Thotagamuwa Vijayaba Pirivena is just asking too much. But its present neglect after such a long passage of time is almost unforgivable. The pictures articulate the sorry plight of this institution that attracted hundreds of overseas students. It is time to wade into action at least in memory of one of the greatest scholars and poets the country produced.