Unearthing an Inestimable Treasure – Samadhi Buddha of Divulwewa…

Hello everyone! Hope you have got a couple of hours with nothing urgent coz I would like to take you to a very special archeological site which is not so popular and known. Ok, let’s get down to business straight away.

I’ll begin with a feeble question. “Do you know the Samadhi Statue?” Well I know now you’re getting worked up coz if there was a dumb question, this is it. But before you close the computer and go away seething with rage, give me a few seconds to explain myself. Another question: “Where is the Samadhi Statue you know located?”. A little better but still silly, ain’t it? You would proudly say in Anuradhapura. Well most of the ancient great statues are in Anuradhapura & Polonnaruwa so even if you didn’t know, a wild guess would have been enough. You’re right absolutely. The great Samadhi Statue that emanates so much serenity, peace and compassion is in Anuradhapura and to be more precise at Mahamevuna Uyana.

I don’t think there is another greater statue that shows the noble qualities of the greatest philosopher to have walked on this earth, the Lord Buddha. I’m sure most of you have been to this amazing creation by our great ancestors. I keep saying that they couldn’t have been ordinary human beings but super humans who could do virtually anything. Well even nowadays we have supermen but all they do is destroy the wonderful things our ancestors created. One such example is the robbery of the National Museum when one superman called Kangatta managed all alone to lift a lorry load of things from the National Museum close to a High Security Zone. His spiritual powers were such he knew exactly when the CCTV cameras would be out of order. Maybe he even managed to make them redundant with his powers. The superman we knew as kids would have committed suicide feeling ashamed of himself after our superman’s work. Ok, I admit that I’m feeling bitter about the brutal way they robbed our National Museum but who wouldn’t?

Leaving it aside for the time being (you can bet your last penny you would hear my bitterness in the future) let’s move on. The Samadhi Buddha we know or popular among the majority of the crowd is simply an artwork with impeccable precision. What would you say if I told you that there is a similar or even a twin statue in Anuradhapura but more than 50km to the northeast in a small village known as Divulwewa? There could be a few people who may have heard about this or even visited the site but majority of you wouldn’t have thought about a twin Samadhi Statue, would you? Well lemme tell you there is one and you are coming with me. I was at Aukana after visiting the Res Vehera with Niroshan. Simple click on the link will take you to that report. Then I called Daya and told him that I was leaving. The time was past 1.30pm and I had more than 50km to go see this wonderful creation.

I took a Kekirawa bus (don’t expect me to tell or show you the pics of Kala Wewa once again) and got there sooner than expected. Daya had gone home having waited for me the whole morning so I had to take another bus and meet him halfway through. Getting into a Galenbindunuwewa bus, i bought a ticket for Rs. 38/- to Moragoda Junction. Surprisingly I was given the 2-rupee balance without a mega teledrama. By the way, have you noticed the number of villages in the North Central which has “Wewa” to the end of their name? It almost acts like a suffix. You know suffixes, don’t you? If you don’t, just type the word “suffix” on Google and press enter. You’ll be in safe hands.

It’s 19km from Kekirawa to Moragoda (Rs. 2/- per km). I won’t bother describing how gorgeous Ritigala looked in the distance. Daya was waiting when I arrived with a friend of him, Tissa (not the one who went hiking with me). Even in my last visit I had told Daya about the Divulwewa Samadhi Buddha but we couldn’t do anything due to the heavy rains. Therefore I was determined to make it happen this time come rain or shine. We drove on along the Galenbindunuwewa-Hamillewa (gosh, the length of their names) B133 road. Still even Daya had no clue about what we were going to see however he knew someone working at the archeological site there. We were going to meet him and get the details. We drove past Hurulu Wewa and then Yakalla to Galenbindunuwewa (thanks for the ctrl+C option). Then continued towards Hamillewa until we arrived at that person’s place.

Daya went to check if he was there and our luck held. He was at home and we got the directions and continued but not before his stern piece of advice, “you can’t take pictures there, ok?”. I just kept quiet and looked at him passively. We passed 21st Colony and asked for directions but nobody knew about a Samadhi statue but thankfully they knew there was an archeological site in Divulwewa. Passing Punchi Halmillewa we checked the directions once again but they still didn’t know about a Samadhi statue yet informed us that there’s a typical archeological sign on the main road. Feeling depressed we kept a look out for this archeological sign as it was the only thing we had. In the distance I saw the signature black sign on the right hand bank of the road but pointing to our left and it that stated “Divulwewa Archeological Site” – 250m.

I was so happy and when we checked with a group of people having a chat at a shop, they said this was the Komarikawala Junction. This is just after the 35th km post, about 400m passing it. We turned to the left and alas, as stated we could see an archeological site within a very short distance. Well done folks for getting the distance correct. It’s 27km from Moragoda junction to Divulwewa. All in all, there’s roughly 44-46km from Kekirawa.  There are a couple of villages called Divulwewa so be careful when you travel. The most misleading on is the Aluth Divulwewa in the vicinity of Galenbindunuwewa. There are a couple more in Medawachchiya as well. There is a gate to the archeological site but was closed and my heart skipped a beat. Further down next to the site is a temple and we went into that. There was someone coming out of the temple and we told him our purpose. He turned out to be an official of the archeological office and happily agreed to show us the place. He is one of those sensible type of officials who doesn’t stick to the rules like some holy book and not ready to be flexible. I’ve met similar practical people in places such as Nalanda Gedige, Jaffna Museum, Berandi Kovil etc. Even the air force officer who was at the Piduruthalagala summit was one such guy.

The structure that houses the Samadhi Buddha was nearby and from the distance we could see the resemblance. There was another archeological officer mowing the courtyard with a hoe. I ran to the front of the building and stopped in midair when I saw this majestic thing. The most notable thing being the broken nose from the bridge towards the nostrils. Except that this resembled the Samadhi Buddha we know at Mahamewna Uyana. I forgot all about the warning that was given by the other officer not taking any pictures and started shooting away. The one cleaning the garden came and stood watching us but didn’t say a word. I then remembered the warning and looked at the officers sheepishly hoping they wouldn’t fly off the handle coz there were many incidents like that as well in the past. They didn’t utter a word, instead looked at me, rather us, surprisingly as if they couldn’t believe our presence.

Finally, when I had completed my photo taking all around the statue and did my worships, the older one said: “I’d never have allowed anyone to take pictures but the moment I saw you, I knew you were genuinely interested in this. So I kept quiet.” Well, I don’t think I could have had a better compliment. Then he asked the younger officer to show us around. The complex is more than an acre in size (well it could be more but the area we could see was something like that) with remains of  more than half a dozen prominent foundations of ancient buildings such as Preaching Hall, Meditation Chambers, Monks’ Dwellings and a well-planned Kitchen. In addition to them, one striking feature among the ruins is what is believed to have been a library on stone pillars (Tam Pita).

Well turning back to the statue, to be honest I really don’t have recollections of visiting the original Samadhi Buddha in A’Pura Mahamevuna Uyana. I’ve been there in my school days but we had other things in our minds than admiring the craftsmanship of our great grandfathers. It’s vital for a country’s survival, especially to safeguard a country’s heritage, to educate the younger generation properly. They must be taught the history, not as a subject that they have to pass in the exams, but as a part of their lives. Most kids get bored coz they think it’s an additional strain on their already overloaded subjects and hardly take a genuine interest. You gotta make it interesting and enjoyable so that they will love learning more and visiting even more. I’m sure all the parents who read me and Lakdasun will try to get their kids interested in things like this than John Cena, Ben 10 or any superficial characters. Teach them that our ancestors would have had John Cena for breakfast and Ben 10 for dessert. No ordinary folks could have built things like these so tell them that the USA or the rest of the world has only one superman but we’d had many thousands.

However from what I’ve seen and heard from the officials on site, this Samadhi Buddha is more prominent in shape than the original one. I’m referring to the A’Pura one as the original coz it’s the most popular but this one could well be the original as the age is not properly measured. That is one but a major weakness of our archeologists and the department. Not being able to do a thorough analysis and get the details like these spot on. Maybe we have too many to check but we must do them as much as possible and as soon as we can. This Samadhi Buddha looks more muscular than the original version. Other than that, this could be a bit bigger but I couldn’t be sure. The broken nose somewhat made this less appealing than the other but the noble qualities of the Lord Buddha portrayed just the same.

Click image to enlarge

Here we are

The structure reconstructed by the archaeological officers

Where the Samadhi Buddha resides

Amazing, let’s go in

What do you think?

If if wasn’t for the broken nose, almost a carbon copy of the A’Pura one

Such impeccable craftsmanship

From the side, broken nose is more prominent

Carved out of Chandrakanthi Stone

This is newly put together by those officers

Serene looking

Closer, pity the nose is broken

The structure

Other side

The Legend

Lemme tell you how this statue was located and it’s a folklore. The folklores are ok so long as they don’t contradict the real thing. As we know very little about this statue, we have to depend on things like that.

“This statue had been covered by a huge molehill when it was found by a group of people roaming the area which used to have been a thick forest. They had seen the head popping out of the top of the hill and found this after breaking the hard earth crust surrounding it. To make matters worse, there had been a Nuga Tree which the statue was leaned on. To get the statue and keep it somewhere safe they had to cut the tree.

Usually it’s believed that there are spirits or the way the villagers put it, gods living on trees like Nuga. So they decided to first ask whoever living (if there was) on the tree to leave so that they could cut it. Having done the rituals and promising to come back the following day to cut it and clear the statue, they had left. When they came prepared the following day, they had found a herd of elephants in the vicinity. They went to cut the tree after they had left and what they saw amazed them to no end.

The Nuga tree had been uprooted and thrown away by the elephants making their job easier. They had then cleaned the statue and started worshipping it.”

Well I asked how the nose was broken but the officer informed it was just like that when they came to the possession of it. It might have been broken when this was being unearthed or even after. A real pity. Ok, enough of my descriptions now go enjoy the pictures.

Rest of the Site

The Divulwewa Monastery is believed to have housed hundreds of monks within its environs during Anuradhapura period. There is a small complex of at least three structures but only the red brick foundations are visible. There were a few stone pillars in one of them. Beyond that towards the entrance was the biggest of the foundations. It is easily 40’X20′ and believed to be a preaching hall. The rest of the land is covered in many trees. However we saw another two more separate foundations further away from the Samadhi statue. They had stone steps leading up to the base and a few stone pillars as well. The officer then took us what believed to be the kitchen. The most distinguished feature is the large stone sink. There was the bottom of it was there but the cylindrical hole that lets water out was clearly visible. Not only that, the carved stone drain leading away from it sealed the fact.

It’d been unearthed by the archeological department and now preserved as best as their poor budget allows. Well this is the whole thing you can see at a glance. Our guide cum archeology officer then said that there’s a theory this statue was built somewhere else and brought here. However there is one thing that can contradict the theory. It’s nothing much but a rocky basin like thing which was believed to have been used to sharpen the tools that used to carve the statue. Well, you might remember the stone slab (Kadu Ge Gala) at Vijithapura temple that was apparently used by the King Dutugemunu’s army to sharpen their swords. It looks well worn out having used excessively. The stone basin like thing could be something like that but used to create a magnificent statue.

Archeological officers further revealed that there is a burial ground of the monks who lived here. It is located next to the monastery grounds where ashes of dead monks have been interred and covered with a stone slab. I wanted to go see it but due to the rains, it’d turned into a small tank leaving nothing much to see so we had to perish the thought. If you happen to visit during the dry season, do take a look and I’m planning to go see it if the time permits and the opportunity arises. It was getting late and we had to leave coz there were close to 30km for us to travel to reach Daya’s place. Tissa and Daya were very pleased with what we saw and kept repeating this was worth seeing again and again. They even felt a bit ashamed for being unaware of this great statue. As we were talking about protecting these kinda things from treasure hunters and vandals, our friendly officer invited us to see something heart breaking. Let’s go see what it is, shall we?

Surrounding remains of many buildings

Can see a bottom of a Pun Kalasa below

Urinal

The main complex

Very big

Many more like this

We walked around

Entering one complex

Here it is

And another

Shady paths leading to many other structures

Here we go

Tampita Viharaya

There’s another at the end

Oh here it is

Moonstone is almost gone

Full pic

Going back

Buddha housing building

Here’s the believed kitchen

The floor dug out of the earth

The zinc I told you about

This is similar to Kadu Ge Gala at Vijithapura but here it’s the tools that were sharpened which they believe used to create the statue

The main building once again

Time to go but something else to show you

Ignorance Causes Disasters

He showed us an ancient stone which had used as a flower stand. It is about 15’X4′ and had a white sticker pasted on the face which had been torn in places. Looking at closer we could see the black letters which read as “Eethalwetunuwewa Muslim School”. This Eethalwetunuwewa Muslim Village is located about 15km from the Divulwewa Monastery. How they came about this is still a mystery but initially they had carved the name on the face but apparently realizing that it was a wrong thing, had tried to cover the stone face with a sticker with their name, probably hoping to cover the stony surface. What kinda ignorant and heartless devils those buggers have been?

Thankfully but rather late, someone had run 119 and the police had found the flower stand destroyed beyond any restoration. I’m sure people like these will rot in hell.

Here the sheer stupidity and ignorance

We heard the same story when we visited Muhudu Maha Viharaya in 2011. The monk said that he was under threat by the Muslim villagers around the temple and claimed most of the land belonging to the temple had been taken over by them by force while our authorities looked the other way. He said that a few Muslim politicians had encouraged the people to take them over while using their power to keep police at bay. A very much similar thing happening in Wilpattu these days as we all know. He had received many death threats asking to leave the temple but stayed nevertheless. There was a police officer based at the temple 24/7 but nothing else had been done to reclaim the archaeological site or safeguard the ruins.

Apparently most of the rocky pillars and slabs were in the nearby houses being used for various things such as stepping stones. We in fact saw two such houses with at least four such items (one had two slabs whereas the other had two large pillars). They even had blocked the road by covering it completely with mats full of paddy and when asked the way, simply said that there was no such place in the area and asked us not to go beyond the mats. We then turned around to the town and got the directions from a cop who said that it was a common issue which they could do very little. Guess what, we went back and drove over the mats full of grains and arrived at the temple.

A similar thing has happened in Kadurugoda and the army has been posted to protect the place. Even that archaeological site had lost around half of its original landmass. How many more places like those are under threat and being destroyed as we speak. It’s a real pity that we can’t protect our heritage from extremists like these. They need to be punished regardless of the political influence, race or religion before it’s too late. Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and all the others have a duty to help protect our heritage coz they all are Sri Lankans. I guess the archaeological department needs to be given more manpower, equipment, authority and the security forces’ assistance to protect these kinda sites.

A Sincere Apology and Heartfelt Gratitude for the Dedicated Archeology Officers

Well, I admit that I had a very low opinion on the archeology department. Especially their inability to protect the archeological sites in the country. However recently, I’ve seen, met and talked to quite a few officials who are really dedicated to their duty. It’s a real sad thing to see how much they have to do with the bare minimum support. I guess it’s a miracle we have these archeological sites to go see considering how understaffed and poorly equipped they really are. So guys, I apologize to those who take their job seriously and give 100% to protect our heritage, sincerely for criticizing you. Hats off to the hard work you put in which goes unnoticed and unheard. Thanks a lot for every good thing you’ve done so far and hope you will continue the good work to the future.

Hopefully you’ll get recognized and be given substantially support, both financially and structurally, to strengthen your efforts. It’s the responsibility of the government to provide you with all you need and wonder if it ever happens though.

On our way back

Looking majestic

See the royal pose

Well, see you again

Well, folks, I know it’s turned out to be a very long article in the end and I poured my heart out.

Hope, you learned something from this and will visit this place at the first opportunity.

This is Sri signing off with a bow.

P.S. If you go there in the future, you might be able to pick up a leaflet with the details (given in the first picture) and a picture of the Samadhi Buddha from the archaeological office. I thought it’d be useful for the travelers, especially the school kids, to have something like that as a souvenir.

You’ll find the motto below printed at the bottom of the leaflet and I think we must teach children just that so that they’ll safeguard things like these which have been left by our proud ancestors.

“This is Our Heritage.

Let’s Protect it as Eyes & Cherish as Life”