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Cave temples, palindromes and hot wells By Sirancee
Gunawardana All of us were anxious to make an early start. After a while the special bus came rattling along. The organizer was aghast. She had expected a special bus to be 'special' but this was not. As it was already one hour behind schedule, we scrambled in and unloaded our things. It was relatively clean and we decided not to notice the gaps in the seats and the torn upholstery. Before long, we were merrily on our way. There were 20
of us going to Embilipitiya for the night to a small but comfortable
house with a huge mango tree in the garden. Most hadn't a clue where
Embilipitiya was except that they had read snippets of kidnappings
of school children in the local newspapers. Our destination
was the Sankapala Temple located in Palabadde on the Nonagama Road
in the Ratnapura District about twenty miles before Embilipitiya.
This old temple, which dates back to the 2nd century BC, has an
interesting history. The temple is on top of a mountain in a craggy
outcrop of huge rocks and deep caves. The Palabadde
village area is flat land and the Sankapala mountain towers above
in striking contrast. The Sankapala
cave complex and Palabadde village are said to have been given to
Pussadeva, the warrior and conch blower in King Dutugemunu's army,
for services rendered in the Elara-Dutugemunu war. The motif of
a conch is engraved in the rock 20 ft. above the cave and is still
visible. It is significant that the name Sankapala - Sanka means
conch and Pala - the administrator refers to the conch blower in
the King's Army. There was also
another Sankapala in the King's Army who later became a monk and
the engraving could refer to him. He is said to have built the temple
on this spot and the numerous caves that are found in this gneiss
outcrop were converted into abodes for monks. There are several
Brahmin inscriptions close to the drip ledges of these caves, which
in traditional style give the name of the donor. One states "Puha
Pusa Thevas' Lena Sangaya" in Brahmin script meaning Pussadeva
donated this to the Sangha. The other inscription states that the
cave belonging to Pussadeva and the householder Gupta is gifted
to the Sangha. There are several
caves. It is said that a large number of monks once inhabited this
monastery and that it was one of the largest in the southern region.
Pussadeva who lived in the Kappitiya village was a good archer and
could wield the bow and arrow with great skill. He was an asset
to Dutugemunu's army and his bow and arrow are said to be preserved
in a cave though not seen. The Sankapala
temple and monastic complex flourished in the time of Walagamba
till the great famine, which forced monks to flee to other areas.
The temple then fell into disuse and became part of the jungle.
It is believed that Pussadeva's conch is hidden in one of the caves.
At the summit of the rock is a rock slab. There is a small, modern
stupa now. Huge boulders are seen around it. It was interesting
to see the folk ritual where people leave tender sticks below the
huge precarious rock boulder ostensibly to prevent it rolling over.
There are hundreds of these little sticks left behind by pilgrims.
From the top of the mountain you have a panoramic view of Deniyaya,
Suriyakanda, Ratnapura and the Balangoda mountain range and in the
distance you can see the Samanalawewa. The cave shrine
is at the foot of the mountain. When the temple complex was overtaken
by forest growth and there were no visible signs of the once flourishing
monastery it is said that during the time of King Rajadhi Rajasingha
who ruled in Kandy, he was warned that a learned Southern Province
monk Karatota Dharmarama had conspired with the Dutch. Without more
ado Ven. Karatota Dharmarama was imprisoned. Being an erudite scholar
Karatota Dharmarama Thero while imprisoned wrote a scholarly petition
to the King eulogizing the Buddha and pleaded his innocence. The King and
his nobles were not able to decipher the meaning of the petition
as it had been written with scholarly skill as a palindrome and
could be read from left to right and right to left and up and downwards.
The monk was summoned and asked to read it. The King was impressed
and in contrition endowed the Palabadde lands and the Sankapala
temple to the monk. We were struck
when we saw the door leading to the cave which has the petition
in palindrome form written on it. The guide who took us round sang
it in verse. He had memorized it. I was especially interested in
it as when I was doing ola research, I came across a palm leaf manuscript
in the National Museum, which has a palindrome. It is a special
art and poetic form. It is also
an interesting fact that the monk who composed the temple palindrome
was the teacher of Gajaman Nona, the famous Southern Province poetess.
We walked around the monastic complex. The caves are dark and unbelievably
cool. It takes awhile for the eyes to get used to the darkness within
the cave when you come in from the glare of the noonday sun. In one of the
caves, there was a reclining Buddha statue of more recent vintage
and a statue of the Kataragama God. The ceiling of the cave was
ornamented, and soft lighting and incense gave it a reverential
atmosphere. In another cave there were three statues, though the
original Buddha statue in the shrine room has been destroyed. The
rock boulders, caves and the beautiful scenic setting of the temple
made it a peaceful place to be in. We had a late
lunch and then headed for the hot wells at Mahapalessa. Getting
off the bus, we had to walk about half a mile with mud squelching
between our toes. The rough gravel road was slippery and there were
squeals of laughter as every now and then someone's slippers got
stuck in the mud. We passed an interesting brown mud hut with a
bright turquoise blue wooden door and thatched roof, plonk in the
middle of a paddy field. It made a pretty picture, the different
browns and bright turquoise and vivid green of paddy and the blue
sky. We walked on
across a marsh, passing thatched sheds selling boiled corn, kurakkan,
packets of lotus seeds and bottles of fresh bees' honey, escorted
by a bunch of young urchins, bare-bodied and brazen with uncombed
hair and dirty clothes. They ran hither and thither collecting bulrushes,
which they sold to us at Rs. 10/- a bunch. We could hardly concentrate
on anything other than where to tread. The slightest distraction
and you found yourself slithering in the mud, your feet in different
directions. The children laughed at our antics. They had no problems running barefoot, splashing mud all over themselves. We got to the hot wells and draped in cloths, multi-coloured and half transparent, without a care, dipped into the hot water with buckets and bowls. The first splash made you gasp as the water was very hot but gradually you got used to it and it was delightful bathing in hot water in the open air with the rain clouds above you and no one in sight for miles around except of course, the little urchins who were busy bulrush picking. There were loud peals of laughter as clothes threatened to float away. Away went aches and pains and woebegone faces. Bodies glistened with drops of water. Curly hair got straightened or so we thought. But who cared. It was fun. By Marjorie
Wheatcroft He was then
transferred to Matara, where his primary job was constructing new
buildings, including the Residency on top of the hill, and looking
after the network of roads and bridges. They lived at Star Fort
and their first child, my sister Gillian, was born there in 1927. When they returned
after a spell of leave in England, he was posted to Dimbulla/Dickoya
and lived in the District Engineer's bungalow overlooking the beautiful
Devon Falls. It was during this time that I was born at the Hatton
Nursing Home. We lived at Diyatalawa from 1935 to 1937 and then
moved to Jaffna. My sister was boarded at Haddon Hill School in
Nuwara Eliya, so only I went with my parents to Jaffna and still
remember going to a day- school in a rickshaw. We were all in England
on holiday when the war broke out and my parents were advised not
to bring us back to Ceylon. The two of us were boarded in school
in the southwest of England and did not see our parents again for
another five years. My father's
last period in Sri Lanka was in Kegalle. In 1942 after the fall
of Singapore, the Government advised the evacuation of foreign wives
and my mother opted to go to South Africa to do war work. It was
only after the war that we, whom they could hardly recognize, were
reunited in England. Two years ago,
my husband, Retired Brigadier Alan Wheatcroft, (ex-Sandhurst and
one-time British Defence Attache in Washington) and I, (we now live
in Dorset, England) came on holiday to Sri Lanka. Thanks to our
good friends Edgar and Madonna Cooray who introduced us to Airwing
Tours and their best driver Mithra, we re-visited most of the places
above. We were amazed how little the D.E's bungalow in Dimbulla
had changed. Mr R.M.A Wijayaratna, the present occupant readily
showed us around. The Hatton
Nursing Home where I was born is the Police Superintendent's office,
and the kind gentleman and his officers gave us a conducted tour.
We stayed a few days at the Light House Hotel in Galle and made
daily excursions further south, visiting the Matara Fort and the
Residency. I count myself lucky to have sprung from three beautiful islands. My father was born in Jamaica, my mother in the British Isles and my sister and I in Ceylon. We will definitely come again, for a very much longer stay the next time. |
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