I walk through the ruins, as the path beckons me… As I feel the heartbeat of the ruins, and hear the riddles they whisper, I witness the story of a long lost civilization…. This is the story of Mihintale or Chethiya pabbatha; A place that bears an uncountable number of secrets, Only revealed to those … Continue reading A Walk Among the Ruins at Mihintale →

Antiquities of the Buddhist stupa: Part 2 A Buddhist stupa is a pleasant and common sight in every Buddhist country. A complex tangible and intangible culture has been woven around Buddhist stupas making the stupa the ultimate symbol of veneration among Buddhists. Eminent scholar A.H. Longhust in his much acclaimed scholarly work The Story of … Continue reading Sri Lanka’s first Stupa, Girihandu seya →

Part 1 A stupa is a common and delightful sight in almost every town and village in Sri Lanka. It is an architectural wonder as well as a pious and sacred object to the Buddhist. Over many centuries’ stupas has been the centre of various prayers, offerings and rituals. According to legend, the first known … Continue reading Antiquities of the Buddhist stupa: a study on rare and lesser known stupas of Sri Lanka. →

“O, Brother, do not fear or hide. Let me show you how to face death fearlessly.” His tender yet fearless voice echoed in the hearts of everyone. As the young child moved towards the dangediya he was beheaded in seconds. Then it was his brother’s turn followed by his siblings, mother and other relatives. It … Continue reading Commemorating the legendary child hero, Madduma Bandara. →

Vesak is no doubt the most glorious and colourful festival of the Buddhist world. During Vesak Buddhist devotees all over the world try their best to pay tribute to their master by decorating their surroundings with colourful lanterns, flags and various paintings. As the sun sets, the night is illuminated by thousands of lamps, candles … Continue reading The Historical Significance of Vesak for Sri Lanka →

අන්දිස් කඳුවැටියේ එක්තරා ප්‍රාග් ඓතිහාසික සුසාන භූමියකින් සොයා ගත් ගැහැණු ළමයාගේ මමිය දුටු විට සහ ඒ ගැන තොරතුරු දැනගත් විට මාගේ සිත අතිශයින්ම සසල විය. මිත්‍යා විශ්වාස වලින් අන්ධ වූ වැඩිහිටියන් විසින් මිලින කරන ලද ඒ අහිංසක ළපටි ජීවිතය ගැන මට විශාල කම්පාවක් ඇති විය. නව යොවුන් වියේ පසු වූ ඇයගේ සිත තුළ කෙතරම් නම් … Continue reading හිම කන්දේ දියණිය →

A fading veneration shielded with unsolved mysteries In 1909, Henry Parker states in his book Ancient Ceylon that, “the four Guardian Gods (Hatara Waram Deviyo) of Ceylon are, Saman ‘Divya Raja’, in the east; Skanda, in the south; Vishnu, in the west – he is said to have delegated his powers to Vibhishana, the Rakshasa … Continue reading Vibhishana, the Rakshasa king of Western Province →

Tracing back the history of Vesak festival Vesak or the month of May is a time of celebrations for Buddhists all over the world. This month is known in Pali as Vesaakha and in Sanskrit as Vaisaakha. The Vesak full moon day is celebrated as the birth day of prince Siddhartha, the day of enlightenment … Continue reading Vesak celebrations; A Traditional Custom of the State →

Kiribath vehera is an archaeological site situated in Anuradhapura, the once glorious capital city of Sri Lanka. Situated in the far North of the Ancient city, out of the citadel, Kiribath vehera is in a sad state. To reach the site, one must pass the sacred city, traveling towards the North, taking the Sangamitta road, … Continue reading Ruins at Kiribath Vehera, Anuradhapura →

සුන්දර, ගුප්ත සීගිරිය.. දුරක සිට දුටු විට පවා මා දෙනෙත් පිනවන, සිත තුළ ආනන්දයක් ජනිත කරවන ඒ හුදෙකලා පර්වතය, සීගිරිය. මා මෙතරම් ආකර්ෂණය වී ඇති ඒ රමණීය ස්ථානය. මේ හුදෙකලා පර්වතය සියවස් දහස් ගණනක් තිස්සේ නිහඬව සඟවා සිටින රහස් කොපමණ ඇත්ද? සීගිරිය වටා පැතිර පවත්නා ශෝකී ගුප්ත සුන්දරත්වය කුඩා කල සිට මා වශී කොට ඇත. … Continue reading සුන්දර, ගුප්ත සීගිරිය. →

මේ කෙටි සටහන තබන්නට සිතුනේ වර්තමානයේ සිදු වන ‘බස මැරීම’ පිළිබඳ ව උපන් සංවේගයෙන් යුතුවය. මම බස සම්බන්ධයෙන් විද්වතෙක් නොවෙමි. නමුත් සිංහලයෙක්මි. එසේම ලේඛකයෙකි. එනිසා මවු බස සුරැකීම කෙරෙහි මාගේ අවධානය නිතැතින් යොමු වන්නේය. සිංහල බස විකෘති කිරීම, වැනසීම පිළිබඳව මා තුළ සංවේගයක් හට ගැනීම වැළක්විය නොහැක. සිංහල බස, එනම් සිංහල අපේ මවු බස, ලෝකයේ … Continue reading බස රැකීමද බස මැරීමද? →

Meeting Ganapati at Mihintale I walk through the ruins, as the path beckons me… I was standing in front of the ruined stupa which is known as one of the earliest Buddhist monuments of Sri Lanka, situated in Mihintale. Only the ruined brick dome of the stupa is visible as the upper part has been … Continue reading The forgotten tale of the elephant-headed god of the Sinhalese. →