|
|
 |
  |
| Sunday, 19 September 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Junior Observer |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Glory of Polonnaruwa Once the medieval capital of Sri Lanka, the ancient city is one of the most beautiful centres of the island's cultural heritage. It is located 216 kilometres away from Colombo in the middle of a wide plain in the Dry Zone. Even though Polonnaruwa, then called Pulatthinagara, became a place of some importance only towards the beginning of the sixth century AD, an inscription found in a cave indicates human occupation as early as the second century BC. The name Pulatthinagara means 'City of Pulasti', after Pulasti, a famous sage. Although Sri Lanka was a predominantly Buddhist country, sages, who were Hindu holy men, were respected and had an advisory and ceremonial role in the Sinhalese Royal Court. According to the Chulvamsa (also known as the Lesser Chronicle), the first Sri Lankan king who lived in Polonnaruwa is Aggabodhi IV (667-685 A.D. Anuradhapura, the formal and administrative capital, was already a thousand years old, but kings increasingly favoured the new city of Polonnaruwa and developed it. Gradually, it became a 'country residence' of royalty. In world history, this earlier period of Polonnaruwa stretches from the birth of the Prophet Mohammed in Arabia, through the 'Dark Ages' of Europe, and the T'ang Dynasty of China. |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Politics | Produced by Lake House |
