Maha Seya: The mightiest dagoba
The story of the Maha Seya (also known as the Ruwanveli Seya, the Swarnamali Cheittya or the Hemamali Cheittya), the most venerated and mighty dagoba (stupa) at Anuradhapura which is said to be larger than the largest pyramid in Giza, Egypt, is associated with the Mahavamsa’s great king and hero of the Sinhalese- King Dutugemunu.
The Maha Seya (also known as the Ruwanveli Seya, the Swarnamali Cheittya or the Hemamali Cheittya), is the most venerated dagoba (stupa) in Anuradhapura and is said to be larger than the third pyramid in Giza, Egypt
History records that Arahat Mahinda had informed King Devanampiyatissa that at Anuradhapura there was a spot consecrated by four previous Buddhas and in time to come, a large dagoba would be built, 120 cubits high, to enshrine several relics of Sakyamuni Gotama Buddha. The king hearing of this was anxious to proceed with the construction himself but the Arahat had stayed him and foretold that one of his descendants, a mighty king, loved by his people, named Dutthagamini Abhaya
(161-137 BC) would be the destined one to construct the dagoba. Therefore King Devanampiyatissa caused the prophecy to be engraved on a stone which exists today on the north side of the great dagoba, but the inscriptions are badly worn out.
The Mahavamsa and the Thupavamsa, the two Pali chronicles of ancient times, state that King Dutugemunu mustered support from over a 1,000 villagers of his kingdom to build this enormous dagoba in honour of the Buddha. In the Pali chronicles it is recorded that the King ordered that all his subjects who performed numerous deeds in regard to the construction work be paid. They performed their tasks in accordance with their caste.
At the building of the Maha Seya, the king supplied barbers free of charge and 1300 wagonloads of clothes rolled in bundles, honey, clarified butter and sugar.
The soldiers were ordered to bring rounded stones whilst the samanera monks brought clay.
As revealed in the Dipavamsa (Oldenburg’s translation) Dutthagamini built the stupa (at the foundation of which the following materials were used. Chunnam work, clay bricks, pure earth, a plate of iron, gravel, eight layers of rock stones, crystal, copper and silver. Skilled artisans to attend on the chunam were brought from India.
Present at the time of the laying of the foundation were the clever Indagutta Maha Thera, Dharmasena Maha Thera, the great preacher, Mahadeva, Uttara Thera and the learned Dharamarakkhitha Thera who had all come from Jambudeepa.
The king with great joy had enshrined in all four corners of the Maha Seya where wahalkadas were built, valuable treasures including gold and silver found in two villages, Archaragama in the north east and at a cave in Amtota in the south. Amtota is now known as Ridigama where the Ridi Vihare now stands (12 miles east of Kurunegala).
The Thupavamsa states that two traders who arrived at Amtota were attracted to a ripe jak fruit that looked too luscious to consume. They felt it should be offered to the Maha Sangha. At that moment, seven Arahants had arrived and after they had accepted the offering into bowls, the ripe jak had turned to treacle. One of the seven Arahants was Indagupta who showed a path to a cave where a large quantity of silver was found. The travellers were overjoyed and went with the silver in their cart to King Dutugemunu, who gladly accepted the gift which was used to complete the Maha Seya.
Although King Dutugemunu started to build this Maha Seya, he did not live to see its completion. The Mahavamsa vividly portrays the great King’s dying moments: “Lying on a palanquin, the king went thither and passed round the great chetiya (stupa) paying homage and was surrounded by the brotherhood of monks.” At that moment the king had a conversation with one of his renowned generals Theraputtabhaya, who said “O Great King, fear not this moment of death. Without conquering the foe, death is unconquerable. All that has come into this transitory existence must necessarily perish, also perishable is all that exists-thus did the Great Master (Buddha) teach. Mortality overcomes even the Buddhas, untouched by shame or fear.” The work was completed by his younger brother King Saddhatissa.
Several other kings who also ruled Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa and had maintained the greatest dagoba had been mentioned in the Pali Chronicle King Aggabodhi1 fixed a stone Chattya ( umbrella) to the crown of the |Maha Seya; King Dhatusena (of Kalaweva fame) (AC 459-477) had also gifted another chattya to the Maha Seya. Two other well-known kings Parakrama Bahu 1 and Nissanka Malla, a Kshatriya king who ruled Polonnaruwa repaired the Maha Seya and showered veneration.
When the South Indian marauder Maggha invaded the northern territory of the island, he plundered the treasures enshrined and destroyed places of Buddhist worship. Thereafter with the spread of malaria the population drifted to other areas. The Maha Seya became neglected and gradually crumbled to remain as a 189-foot tall large heap of bricks and stone overrun with jungle and brushwood.
It was in this background that Ven. Naranvita Sumanasara Thera appeared, having travelled from his temple at Ududumbara in Kandy accompanied by devotees who travelled in a train of bullock carts on pilgrimage to the sacred city. With great piety and determination he resolved in 1873 to commence restoration work all by himself.
Recalling the glory in the time of the Sinhalese kings, he was deeply moved and Naranvita Sumanasara ‘Unnanse’ as he was popularly known, thereafter lived like a gypsy under a huge Na tree within 50 yards of the Maha Seya and slept in an abandoned bullock cart with a lantern and a fierce mongrel dog for company. The dense jungle was the home of bear, wild boar, monkeys, poisonous snakes, scorpions and the malarial mosquito. Yet he braved it all. There were no mechanised earth movers and electric saws to do the work. On full moon poya days when there arrived by cart, small groups of pilgrims, the monk would solicit their help to perform shramadana.
The Government Agent at the time, Mr. Dickson had seen for himself the restoration work and in an official dispatch to the Governor Sir William Henry Gregory he said,
“ The Maha Seya looked a beauty in purdah. As guardian of this damsel, we need give support to unveil the beauty there is.” Sir William visited the indefatigable monk and encouraged him with a personal donation of Rs. 1000 ( then a princely sum). He also brought his efforts to the notice of Lord Carnavon, Secretary of State. This led to the appointment of H.C.P. Bell ( 1893- 1912) though not a trained archaeologist to frequently visit the site. He functioned as the country’s first Archaeological Commissioner and was assisted by S. Montague Burrows.
At that time John Still in his writings spotlighted the buried cities in the jungle. H.W. Cave brought out the Handbook for Ceylon and Hocart and Longhurst, both later Archaeological Commissioners took an abiding interest in the restoration and provided much-needed funds.
Prof Senarath Paranavitana ( later Commissioner of Archaeology) was a junior in the department and had been set to Barg in India to study epigraphy and archaeology under Sir John Marshall ( who along with Sir Alexander Cunningham excavated and restored the beautiful Sanchi at Bhopal State).
The Ruwanveli Maha Chetiya Wardana Samitiya ( The Ruwanveli Seya Restoration Society ) was founded by the Ven. Naranvita Sumanasara Thera in August 1902, with no newspaper publicity. The pioneer monk had by then won the hearts of the colonial administrators.
It is not known when the pioneer monk Ven. Sumanasara Unnanse died but restoration work continued unabated throughout the 1920s and 1930s . Enshrinement of Buddha relics in the ‘Satareskotuwa’ took place in December 1932 and eight years later, the pinnacle laying (crowning) with the installation of the Chuda Manikkya (Seinbu crystal) gifted by the Burmese Buddhists took place on June 17, 1940.
The large crystal was cut and polished at Chuda, a small township in Burma and was their offering to the Buddha Sasana. The Ven.Vinyalankara, Sangha Nayake of Burma arrived at the Mahamega Uyana along with a large group of Burmese monks. Amidst cries of Sadhu, Sadhu, the Seinbu chrystal was laid into position to crown the Maha Seya.
At the auspicious time, a twin seater aeroplane circled above the Maha Seya pinnacle and dropped jasmine flowers while a squadron of swallows dived low in salutation and circled around the Maha Seya thrice. This certainly was an unusual happening.
Sadly several of those who had conceived and contributed to the restoration were not amongst the living to witness the accomplishment of this great task.
On that starry night, thousands of devotees moved around the Maha Seya maluwa for many hours reciting the Maha Mangala, Ratana and the Karaniya Metta sutra, each one of the devotees carrying a lighted torch. Over 10,000 oil lamps had been lit. The sweet smell of incense filled the air. The Ruwanveli Maha Seya was electrically floodlit. Buddhist flags and illuminations were seen all over. Religious devotions with bakthi were taking place and reverberating deep into the stillness of the night was the sound of over 200 drums. It was a spectacular scenario, never witnessed before and lifted high the hearts of Buddhists who gathered there in their thousands.
(Vesak Lipi: Buddhist Digest 2015)