Star-struck stupas in ancient Anuradhapura 

By Dr. G.T.S. Gunawaradane

Fernando's discovery, as described in his 1997 book, "Alien Mysteries in Sri Lanka and Egypt", reveals the most baffling mystery in the history of Sri Lanka: there exists a perfect alignment of the three main stupas (Mirisavati, Ruvanweli and Jetavana) at Anuradhapura, with three stars in the constellation of Orion, namely Rigel, Al Nitak and Bellatrix. That means, that the three sides of the triangle in the ground layout of the three stupas, built between 161 B.C. and A.D. 331, are correlated precisely with the three sides of the triangle of three stars on the right-hand wing of the constellation of Orion. It is a kind of heaven-ground duplicity. 

'Heaven's Mirror', researched and written by two British scholars, Gramham Hancock and Santha Faiia, was published in 1998 by the Penguin Group in London. This was one year after the launching of Fernando's book in 1997, describing in detail how the phenomenon of sky-ground duality, similar to what Fernando discovered in the ground layout of the three main stupas of Anuradhapura, is also found in the ground layouts of the ancient monuments of Egypt, Cambodia and Mexico. And even the giant lines of the Nazca desert of Peru. 'Heaven's Mirror' has now been made into a TV documentary and serialized on BBC in Britain and the Discovery Channel in U.S.A. 

Fernando finds extraterrestrial influence as the cause for such phenomena. He says that our chronicles describe 'devas' or gods as having played a key role in the construction of the three stupas. Citing the Mahavamsa, he describes how the Mirisavati stupa came to be located on its present site, all because King Dutthagamini's spear, symbolising his regal authority, got stuck there under bizarre circumstances, when he went to a water sports festival, following his kingship festival or parasol-ceremony. Believing the strange incident to be the work of devas or gods, the king decided to build the Mirisavati stupa on the site, thus giving rise to the star-oriented, triangle of the three stupas, as discovered by Fernando 2000 years later. 

As a counterpoise to Fernando's findings on extraterrestrial influence, the co-authors of 'Heaven's Mirror' advance a postulation that the ancient monuments of Egypt, Cambodia, Peru and Mexico were made on the very sites, where there had been similar edifices previously built by man in advanced civilizations purported to have been in existence in those lands around 10,500 B.C. and vanished suddenly due to natural disasters. 

They reason that they are the vestiges of a lost science - a coded wisdom tradition with its own technical language - a 'great worldwide archaic construction' upon the remains of which 'the dust of centuries had settled when the Greeks came upon the scene'. They claim that a computer programme (SKYGLOBE) shows that certain stars associated with ancient, star-related cults of these countries would have been aligned perfectly with certain star-cult related points in the famous monuments seen today in those lands, had those structures (or similar ones) stood on their present sites only in or around 10,500 B.C. 

The constellations of stars that were aligned with such monuments, according to the British authors, offered always a celestial or star-oriented interpretation of a religious theme of special significance to the ancient cults in the respective lands, at the time the monuments were constructed. For instance, the three Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the giant lines on the Nazca desert of Peru and the pyramids of Mexico are oriented according to the three Belt Stars of Orion, thus reminding us of the ancient fertility cult associated with Orion, as practised by the ancients of those three lands. The renowned temples of Cambodia are aligned with the constellation of Draco, signifying the Naga cult of their ancients. 

Fernando questions whether it is a coincidence that the three stupas of Anuradhapura also show a religious theme in their ground layout. Those three edifices (161 B.C. - A.D. 331) associate themselves with the stars of Orion in representing two Buddhist symbols: numbers three and seven. According to Fernando the three stupas and the three stars of Orion (with which the three stupas are aligned) represent number three. 

The seven stars in the constellation of Orion represent number seven. Three signifies symbolically the Triple Gem, while seven represents likewise the seven steps taken by the Buddha in his infancy. We have many archaeological, epigraphical and Buddhist mythological references to the numbers three and seven. More astonishing information will be found in Fernando's mammoth publication, "Rituals, Folk Beliefs and Magical Arts of Sri Lanka" due to be released next month. 

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