Kudumbigala forest hermitage:

Towering in silent splendour

By Mahil Wijesinghe

Kudumbigala lies majestically on top of a rocky outcrop in newly acquired Kudumbigala forest reserve in part of the Kumana National Park.

I saw the isolated Kudumbigala rock in the distance, before I entered the gravel road which led to the Kumana National Park or Yala East National Park, 20 kilometres away from Panama in Selawa Eliya, the last township from the eastern part of Pottuvil.

I made my first visit to this ancient hermitage in 2002 when the peace accord was signed by then government and the LTTE. I saw hundreds of Tamil worshippers from the North had travelled by bus to visit the famous Okanda Hindu Devale at the entrance to the Kumana wildlife sanctuary. My second visit to Kudumbigala hermitage was in the first part of 2013 with a group of friends. Many changes have taken place in and around the Kudumbigala hermitage.

There is a shrub jungle covering thousands of acres. No proper road runs through it.

Kudumbigala is a sacred Buddhist hermitage surrounded by elephants, leopards and wild bear, but none of these animals trouble the monastic monks who meditate in the natural rock caves in the jungle.

Perhaps this may be one reason why monastic monks of a bygone era chose this quiet place to reflect and meditate on eternity. This sylvan Buddhist hermitage comprises over 200 natural drip-ledge caves, which are used by meditating monks as their abodes in the jungle in the past and continuing to the present. There are a number of ancient rock inscriptions and ruins such as stone pillars, brick stupas and remnants of buildings scattered around the Kudumbigala site, some of them have collapsed. The inscriptions in Brahmi script and other evidence in the recently discovered cave in the hermitage, Maha Sudharshana Lena , show that Kudumbigala was established as a forest hermitage in the pre-Christian era. A stone inscription at the hermitage has it that the Maha Sudharshana Lena was built and presented to the monastic monks by Nandhimitra Yodaya, one of King Dutugemunu's Dasa Maha Yodhayas.

When you climb the top of the rock you can see a wonderful scenery such as the Kumana National Park, the Bagura lagoon and the entire east coast that is a sight to behold.

Kudumbigala was first established as a refuge for meditative monks during the time of King Devanampiyatissa. In recent times, it was re-discovered in 1954 by Ven. Thambugala Anandasiri Thera and Upasaka named Maithree who made Kudumbigala their home and initiated its rehabilitation. When they came to Kudumbigala , it was a dangerous place for humans, as it was overrun by wild animals. However, they were never harassed.

Today, there is no human habitation around this hermitage. Kudumbigala stands towering in silent splendour. When I visited this sacred place in 2002, I couldn't even find the way to the chief monk's abode. After a painful process, I reached the top of the rock and met the late chief monk Ven. Sivrumulle Dhammasiri Thera, then he was 55, in his cave which was scattered with skulls and bones of wild animals. The Thera's seat was made of a skull of an elephant.

I could photograph the monk in front of his abode on top of the Kudumbigala rock. This was a rare opportunity as he rarely poses for photographs.

When Kundumbigala was lying in isolation it turned out that Kudumbigala was once a haven for treasure hunters. All the stupas have been destroyed by these treasure hunters.

Even today though peacetimes have dawned Kudumbigala and its environs could not be safeguarded. Treasure hunters keep looking for abandoned temples, wild animals are being hunted by poachers and timber racketeers are destroying precious jungles for timber. In 1994, darkness enveloped Kudumbigala.

The LTTE had hacked to death 17 civilians in Panama.

Kudumbigala was abandoned and some of the meditative monks moved to Tharulengala forest hermitage , a branch of the Kudumbigala hermitage that lies in Hulan Nuge about 50 kilometers west of Kudumbigala.

The only visitor to the Kudumbigala hermitage was Ven. Sivrumulle Dharmasiri Thera, as chief monk, who made it a point to go there every now and again. A few years ago, before he passed away, a group of LTTE terrorists abducted the Thera and severely attacked him before he was released in the Kudumbigala forest and succumbed due to these injuries.

The present hermitage possesses new constructions of several buildings and a Buddha statue sculpted out of cement on a rock.

All these new additions have destroyed the ancient grandeur of the hermitage. In my recent visit I saw numerous new constructions in different spots in the forest.

These constructions are not in keeping with this age-old forest hermitage. The authorities in charge of the hermitage at present must think of the ancient value of the place and avoid modernisation of the site showing the antiquity of the ancient site.

Today, Kudumbigala forest hermitage is a popular Buddhist hermitage in the East and a large number of devotees from distance places come to offer Dana to meditative monks who reside in the caves.