Polonnaruwa

A King or a Sage ?

"Not even a drop of water must flow into the ocean without being useful to man." declared the Great King Parakramabahu in the 12th century.

This 3.5-meter (11 1/2-ft) rock sculpture of a barefoot man clad only what appears to be a sarong is believed to that of the Great King. The statue is situated just north of the town of Polonnaruwa, near the eastern bank of his greatest achievement the Parakrama Samudra, (The Sea of Parakrama). This man-made tank covers an area of 6,000 acres (2,430 hectares) and supplies water to a vast area through 11 irrigation canals and minor tanks.

But there is another school of thought that believe this statue to be that of a Buddhist sage holding a stack of manuscripts written on ola (cured palm) leaves.

Vejayanta Pasada - The Royal Palace at Polonnaruwa. The road along the banks of Parakrama Samudra takes the visitor to "the old city" area and many old buildings, sculptures and stupas. Situated close to the ticket office and the Polonnaruwa rest house, the Royal Palace of Parakramabahu is still impressive.

In the center of the Polonnaruwa capital complex stood the Royal Palace, built by Parakramabahu I. According to historical records the King's Palace had originally been a massive wood and stone structure seven stories high with a thousand chambers.

The massive brick walls of the main hall stand in the midst of some 40 interconnecting rooms. For further protection the palace had two outer walls, remains of these are still visible today.

The remains of three stories survive, the massive, 3m (10ft) thick lower wall, and a few of the lower living chambers.

A superbly planned and executed 12th century masterpiece attributed to Naissankamalla (1187-1196), the Vatadage was originally intended to house the Tooth Relic.

There are impressive guard stones (see right) at the entrance of the second terrace and wing stones with makaras enclosing lion figures; the moonstone to the north entrance of the top terrace is superb. The dagaba at the center has four Buddha's (some damaged) with later stone screen.

Guardstones are always found in pairs, guarding the entrances to temples, dagobas, palaces or other important buildings.

Moonstones are found at the entrances or at the bottom of stairways to temples, shrines, dagobas, and other important buildings. These are considered to be the most characteristic forms of classical Sinhala sculpture. The moonstone is a semi-circular slab of stone with richly carved bands of creepers, flowers, and animals. It usually follows a pattern of seven bands of carvings before reaching the center..

S. Paranawithana in his article, "Significance of the Sinhalese Moonstone," explained as follows the significance of each carved panel which according to him represents a spiritual stage in a human’s ascent to Nirvana.

"i. the arc of flower petals (palapethi) motif; the fires of worldly existence.

ii. the arc of four beasts - elephant, lion, horse and bull: the four mortal perils birth disease, decay and death

iii. the arc of undulating scrolls of leaves and flowers forming the liyavela motif: desire or craving (tanha)

iv. the arc of swans or geese (hansa): the thoughtful ones who have left their worldly abodes

v. the arc containing a second liyavela motif: the heavenly worlds.

vi. the arc of lotus petals turned outwards, the arc of lotus petals turned inwards and seed-cup in the centre forming together half a lotus: Nirvana."

All moonstones do not follow this decorative arrangement as some have a panel or two more indicating that the ancient sculptors enjoyed a great deal of freedom in the expression of their art. Some are even more than a semi circle in shape while in others the innermost panels with the lotus flower are raised and are at a higher level than the other panels. Some moonstones of the latter part of the Polonnaruwa period are devoid of the bull as in those times the influence of Hinduism was significant and stepping on a figure of the bull was considered sacrilegious as the cow is sacred to Hindus.

South-west of the Vatadage is the image house Thuparamaya. The Building is built out of brick and has thick walls, and a domed roof also of brick. This combination resolutely stood the furies of various conquerors and many centuries of hot sun, torrential rains and the ravages of the jungle. Today one can still see some of the ancient paintings on the stuccoed walls and several images are still in place inside the building.

. The reclining Buddha is the largest of the four statues at 46 feet (14-meters) in length. The Buddha is lying down, at the final moment of his earthly life, entering Nirvana, the state of supreme enlightenment.

Throughout our travels in Sri Lanka we noticed that all the Buddha's were amazingly similar. Upon my return I began to research why this would be and found a text that described precise rules that were developed to govern not only the methods of fashioning the images, but also the manner in which the enlightened one could be portrayed. Rendering of his special physical characteristics, monastic attire, and postures and gestures: all became codified as 32 specific characteristics.

The following is given in the Digha Nikaya, a Pali text known as ‘The Dialogues of the Buddha’:

1. Feet with level tread (flat footed);
2. A thousand-spoke wheel with a hub and rim on the sole of each foot;
3. Projecting heels;
4. Long and slender fingers and toes (a Pali commentary specifies that the four fingers of both hands are of equal length and all five toes of each foot are of the same length);
5. Both hands and feet are soft and tender;
6. Webbed toes and fingers;
7. Ankles like rounded shells;
8. Legs like and antelope’s;
9. Arms long enough to touch and rub the knees without bending over;
10. Male organs concealed in a sheath;
11. Golden complexion;
12. Smooth skin which permits no dust or water to cling to it;
13. Down on the smooth skin which grows as single hairs, one to each pore;
14. Down on the body turning upwards; very hair blue-black in color (like eye-paint), and the little curls turning to the right (source of the spiral curls, sometimes called snail-snail-shelled curls, on the head);
15. Straight frame or stature;
16. Seven convex surfaces;
17. The front half of the body like a lion’s (full chest);
18. No furrow between the shoulders;
19. Symmetrical proportions (like a banyan tree): the length of the body being equals to the compass of the arms, which in turn equals the body height;
20. The chest rounded (in a symmetrical fashion);
21. Acute taste;
22. Jaws as a lion’s;
23. Forty teeth;
24. Regular teeth;
25. Continuous teeth;
26. Very lustrous eyeteeth;
27. Long tongue;
28. A divine voice like that of the karavika bird;
29. Intensely blue eyes;
30. Long eyelashes like a cow’s;
31. Between the eyebrows, in the middle of the forehead, a tuft of hair like a mole, white and soft like cotton down (Sanskrit, urna; Pali, urna);
32. Head likes a royal turban (or, the head crowned with a protuberance on top of the skull; the usnisa or unhisa).

Distended ear lobes are not cited on the list of thirty-two characteristics although we saw them on almost every Buddha statue we encountered. Evidently, royalty (from whence the Buddha came) was obliged to wear heavy earrings whose weight altered the shape of his ears. When he renounced the world to become an ascetic, he discarded the heavy earrings, but too late, his ears were already unnaturally long. (Contrary to popular belief at the time, long ear lobes did not connote longevity.)

A little north of Polonnaruwa Gal Vihare complex, is the late 12th century Lotus Bath. This unique stone bath is built to represent an eight petaled lotus with four tiers. It is believed to be a part of the Jetavana Monastary complex, which consisted of some five hundred buildings at its peak.