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Spiritual landscape
Emerging from the mass of material dressed in faded black jeans and a black T-shirt, a pony-tailed Ajith Asoka appeared calm despite his struggle against time. An unusually talented man, Asoka was transforming a 75 perch block into a palace depicting the teachings of Lord Buddha on love, lust, samsara, ahimsa and maithri through sculpture, carvings and art. The project is special because this is the first time that a spiritual landscape is being done in Sri Lanka. "I have expressed Lord Buddha's teachings the way I understand them or have grasped them," said Asoka turning towards a large pot with deep roots clinging onto the pot. "This indicates that lust for worldly pleasures leads one towards misery. The roots are symbolic of our manifold cravings that expand, once one or two cravings are satisfied." The pot, made of cement is painted in earthy shades of black and purple to create a mysterious aura while lines of white enhance its miserable appearance. Like the pot, all art utilised for the project has been done by Asoka, who is an extremely versatile artist capable of transforming wood, mud or cement into the most beautiful objects. "Human failure to achieve worldly pleasures end in misery and the whole palace will render insights into various human failings and the outcome of such failure," he said. An artist by profession, having worked as art director of films like Uthura Dakuna, Salambak Handai and Sinharaja, Asoka has seen young Buddhist monks leading a life of chastity at Salgala and decided to do something special for Vesak. He also does landscaping, sculpture, vegetable and ice carvings and wedding decorations when he is not busy with big projects. Asoka weaves his story around a hypothetical king, Sandun, who indulges in worldly pleasure, but later transforms his valued palace into a place of worship realising the futility of such pleasures. "There is no other religion that teaches along the lines of Buddhism and my attempt is to tell the world how important the teachings of Buddhism are." The cave will include a Budhu geya depicting the chathurarya sathya, ponds used by the king, bridges connecting other caves etc despite the entire setting for the story being imaginary. The massive cave contains damaged portions of the palace and the place of worship established by the king while at the centre of the cave is a big pond filled with the waters brought by a waterfall named Sandun Ella. The pond area is surrounded by foliage. Massive Kottan, Puvak and Siyambala trees that have withstood the test of time have roots made of cardboard 50ft from ground level. "This area depicts samsara," said Asoka who has constructed 20 compartments to depict separate stories on love, lust and cruelty. "The very first compartment will deal with a mother's love and will be dedicated to all mothers." Work on the
project was started an year ago by Asoka having demolished the first
of its kind done last year. Over 25 regular workers and 150 others
have worked on the project ever since, pasting the cardboard, cutting
wood and building various ornaments. Sarath Subasinghe and the Madiwela
youth have given tremendous support for the project. |
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