අනුරාධපුර, තිසාවැව තදාශ‍්‍රිත කලාපයේ ඓතිහාසික භූ දර්ශනය (වෙස්සගිරි පුරාවිද්‍යා ක්‍ෂෙත‍්‍රය පිළිබඳ විශේෂ අවධානයක් සහිතව සිදුකරන අධ්‍යයනයකි) *

චන්දිම බණ්ඩාර අඹන්වල
පී. විදානපතිරණ

අධ්‍යයන සංක්‍ෂිප්තය
ශ‍්‍රි ලංකාවේ උතුරුමැද පළාතේ අනුරාධපුර දිසත‍්‍රික්කයට අයත් මධ්‍යම නුවරගම් පළාතේ වෙස්සගිරි ග‍්‍රාමනිළධාරි වසමේ වර්තමාන වෙස්සගිරි පුරාවිද්‍යා ක්‍ෂෙත‍්‍රය ස්ථානගත වෙයි. (8 19’ 44.9”N 80 23’ 16.6”E) පැරණි අනුරාධපුර නගරයට දකුණින් පිහිටි වෙස්සගිරිය, තිසාවැව හා තදාශ‍්‍රිත මහින්දාගමනයට සමගාමීව බෞද්ධ භික්‍ෂූ ආරාමයක් බවට පත් වූ ස්ථාන අතුරින් එකකි. වෙස්සගිරියේ ස්ථානනාමය සම්බන්ධයෙන් අදහස් දැක් වූ විද්වතුන් කීපදෙනෙකුම එය ඉස්සරසමණ විහාරය යනුවෙන් නිවැරදි වියයුතු බව පෙන්වා දී ඇත. වෙස්සගිරියෙන් හමුවන අභිලේඛන අනුව උක්ත අදහස සනාථ වේ.

පර්වත සංකීර්ණ ත‍්‍රිත්වයක් ඇසුරු කරමින් මෙන්ම ඒවායින් ස්වායක්තව නිර්මාණය වූ වාස්තුවිද්‍යා අංග ගණනාවකින් සමන්විත මෙම ක්‍ෂෙත‍්‍රය ලක්දිව ඓන්ද්‍රීය වාස්තුවිද්‍යාව අරඹයා කදිම නිදසුනකි. ක‍්‍රි.පූ. 3 සියවසේ සිට ක‍්‍රි.ව. 10 සියවස දක්වා කාලයට අයත් අභිලේඛන රැසකින් ද සමන්විත මෙම ක්‍ෂෙත‍්‍රය ලංකාවේ පැරණිම චිත‍්‍ර නිදර්ශක සහිත ස්ථානයකි. අදින් වසර 5,000 ඉක්මවා යන ප‍්‍රාග්ඓතිහාසික සාධක සපයන මෙම ක්‍ෂෙත‍්‍රය පූර්ව ඓතිහාසික යකඩ (ක‍්‍රි.පූ. 1,000-500) හා මූල ඓතිහාසික අවධි (ක‍්‍රි.පූ. 500-300) නියෝජනය කරන සාධකයන්ගෙන් ද සමන්විත වේ. ඒ අනුව අනුරාධපුර ඇතුළුනගරයට පරිබාහිරව එහෙත් ඊට සමාන්තරව මෙම ස්ථානයේ අඛණ්ඩ මානව ජනාවාසකරණයක් සිදු වී ඇත.

ඓතිහාසික මූලාශ‍්‍ර අනුව වෙස්සගිරියේ භූ දර්ශනයේ ප‍්‍රධාන අවස්ථා හයක් හඳුනාගත හැකිය. දේවානම්පියතිස්ස රජසමයේ ගල්ලෙන් ඇසුරු කරමින් භික්‍ෂු වාසස්ථාන බිහිවීම එයින් පළමු අවස්ථාවයි. ක‍්‍රි.ව. 5 සියවසේ හතරවන කස්සප රජසමයේ වෙස්සගිරිය ඉමහත් වර්ධනයක් අත්කර ගන්නා අතර ඓතිහාසික භූ දර්ශනයේ දෙවන අවස්ථාව වශයෙන් එම කාලය හඳුනාගත හැකිය. මේ කාලයේ වෙස්සගිරියේ නම බො-උපුල්වන්-කස්සපගිරි-විහාරය යනුවෙන් වෙනස් වූ බවට සාධක පවතී. එතැන් පටන් ක‍්‍රි.ව. 10 සියවස දක්වා කාලය මෙම ස්ථානයේ භූ දර්ශනයේ තෙවන අවස්ථාව වශයෙන් හඳුනාගත හැකි ය. 19 සියවසේ යටත්විජිත පරිපාලකයන් මෙම ස්ථානයේ කැනීම් හා තහවුරු කිරීම් සිදුකරන අවධිය මෙම ස්ථානයේ භූ දර්ශනයේ පස්වන අවස්ථාව වශයෙන් හඳුනාගත හැකි අතර වර්තමානයේ දැකගත හැකි භූ දර්ශනය මෙහි භූ දර්ශනයේ හයවන අවස්ථාව වේ.

ප‍්‍රාග් ඓතිහාසික අවධියේ සිට නූතන යුගය දක්වා විවිධ තත්ත්ව ඔස්සේ විකාශනයක් පෙන්නුම් කරන වර්තමාන වෙස්සගිරිය/ඉස්සරසමණ විහාරය ලාංකේය සමාජ විකාශනයේ පැතිකඩක් නිරූපණය කරන නිදර්ශනයක් ලෙස සැලැකීම අයෝග්‍ය නොවේ.

යතුරු පද: වෙස්සගිරිය, ඉස්සරසමණ විහාරය, බො-උපුල්වන්-කස්සප-ගිරිවිහාරය, ඓතිහාසික භූ දර්ශනය, හතරවන කස්සප

* 2010 දෙසැම්බර් මස 5 හා 6 දෙදින තුළ පැවැත්වුණු ශ්‍රී ජයවර්ධනපුර විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය හා බුඩිස්ට් ටයිම් භාරය සහ බොසු සහන අරමුදල විසින් සංවිධානය කරන ලද 6 වන ජාතික බෞද්ධ අධ්‍යයන සම්මේලනයේ දී ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලද පර්යේෂණ පත්‍රිකාවේ සංක්ෂිප්තය.

ANOTHER APPROACH TO THE MALAYA DESA IN ANCIENT SRI LANKA: NEW ARCHAEOLOGICAL REVELATIONS IN AND AROUND PAHALA-MAWELA TEMPLE AT KADUGANNAWA

Chandima Bandara Ambanwala^1*

Mahinda Karunaratne²

¹ Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, University of Peradeniya,Peradeniya.

² Department of Social Sciences & Comparative Studies, Buddasrawaka Bikshu University, Anuradhapura.

Introduction

The central hill region which had been named as Malaya Desa (=Malaya Country) in historical age has not got the due recognition as far as archaeological researches are concerned. Prof. Sudharshan Seneviratna has attempted to shed new light on the archaeological findings on the region and the purpose of the paper is to add some facts to help his argument. The main focus of this paper is to explore some findings that were obtained through basic archaeological researches in and around Pahala Mawela Rajha Maha Vihara.

Pahala Mawela Viharaya of Pahala Kadugannawa has been named as Walagamba Viharaya, Mawela Rajamaha Viharaya as well. It is situated in Makadawara Grama Niladari Divition of Mawanella DS Divition in Kegalle district of Sabaragamuwa Province in Sri Lanka. According to Ancient Divisions it belongs to Gane Pattuwa of Satara Korale.

The Researches have paid a little attention to the site and, it should mention here that H.C.P. Bell, in his Report on Kegalle District (1904), included a summarized description about the site. Rev. Pannila Saranankara identified the site as Mawela Viharaya followings the descriptions in Vihara Asna or Nam Pota a famous educational text during the Kandiyan period.

It is said, according to etno-archaeological evidence, this temple was built by King Walagmbahu. There is, however, another belief that Queen Henakanda Biso Bandara built was temple during the Gampola Kindom. The historical data related to the site can be traced back to Pre-Christian times.

Methodology

Equipment: 20 meters measurement tape, a binocular, a GPS equipment and Digital Camera.

Archaeological Evidence

In this site there are five drip-ledge caves. Three of them are in close vicinity of the temple and the other two can be found within a short distance from the site. In the site there are the stüpa house, the Image house and the monk residence. Within the stüpa house there is an 11 Ft. 6in. height stüpa and a 36 Ft. long reclining Budda statue can be seen and some paintings belonging to the Kandiyan Period are visible in the Image house.

Epigraphy

For the first time four early Brahmi Inscriptions could be discovered from this research. Three of them are cave inscriptions and the other one is inscribed on Korawakgala.

[1] [Paru]ma(ka) (Ku)yana ca Gapati sama Kulasa [lene]

The cave of the chief Kuyana and householder sama family

[2] Batimasa

Of the Battima

Discussion

When we probe into the human history of the relevant place, its earliest evidence represents the early Iron Age, among them drip-ledge caves and early brahmi inscription take an important place. Through the places like Pilikuttuwa, Warana, Lenagala, Salgahawane, Atugoda, Divela, Dhanagirigala and Heenatipone (Paranavitana 1970) there would be a route from the costal plain to the middle of the country or Malaya Desa. Observing the inscriptions, we come across the personal titles of Contemporary ruling classes like Parumaka, Ameta. Around the site there are important provincial ruling places (pre-state chieftains) like Yatahalena, Bambanragala and Gonawatta (Paranavitana 1970, Gunawardhana 1998). Importantly Mawela situated in a place where possible interconnection is observable with these places.

As the routes started from the harbor Gokanna, Matota, Dambakolapatuna which joined in Anuradhapura and went towards southern region, passing Dambulla-Matale to reach Malaya Desa and as the route came from the east passing Mahiyangana and Hunnasgiriya to enter Malaya Desa, the above mentioned route, we can safely surmise, might have reached Malaya rata through the wet region. (the researches done regarding the intermediate region have revealed that some raw material and minerals of Malaya Desa were transported to such places in intermediate region as Dambulla and Ibbankatuwa to make them finished commodities and they were re-transported to harbors via Anuradhpura) from the very beginning of the historical era this place had been used as a transportation center and further researches regarding this resource transportation from Malaya Desaya via the river Mahawaluka to the East are under way.

The change occurred in cultural landscape is explicit due to many facts such as some evidence found related to Mesolithic and Neolithic periods in the places like Warana, Alawala, Attanagoda Alulena and Dorawakkanda (Wijeypala 1997). Some evidence found related to proto historical era in such places as Kalaotuwawa, Galatara and the above mentioned sites carry some evidence of the early iron age. Thus we have the literacy evidence to prove the entrance of the highest plain of Malaya Desa.

This evidence will serve to promote the archaeological model that studies the transportation and exchange of resources in the central highlands.

Conclusion

From our study we can conclude that the region that ranges from the western region of the island to the central highlands represented three strata. We can develop a procedure like Mesolithic > Neolithic > early Iron Age > historic period

This Colombo-Kandy highway is important to the modern Sri Lankan Society, that much importance might be placed on the route that existed from the western Part of this island to

the Central highlands during the early historic period. Through our study we

suggest to shed a new light on the transformational routes that did not get due recognition in historical sources and the possible reconstruction of such routes existed between the Malaya Desa and the Northern, Eastern, Western parts of the country to Transport resources.

References

Bell, H.C.P. (1904) Report on The Kegalla District of the Province of Sabaragamuwa, Archaeological Survey of Ceylon.

Gunawardhana, R.A.L.H. (1998) Prelude to the State An Early phase in the Evolution of Political Institutions in Ancient Sri Lanka. Reflection on a Heritage, Central Cultural Fund, Colombo.

Paranavitana, S. (1970) Inscriptions of Ceylon, Archaeological Survey of Ceylon, Colombo.

Wijeypala, W. H. (1997) New Light on the Prehistory of Sri Lanka; In the Context Of Resent Investigatio-

ns At Cave Sites. A thesis submit- ed for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Peradeniya. Sri Lanka. (Unpublished)

Chandima Ambanwala

Archaeologist & Reasearcher
Temporary Lecturer,University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

• Degree of Bachelor of Arts (Special), 01st July2006. University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
First Class Honours. (CGPA 03.56)

• Reading for the Master of Science (MSc) in Post Graduate Institute of Archaeological Research-PGIAR, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.

• Post Graduate Diploma of Architectural Conservation of Monument and Sites-ACOMAS, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.2007/8

Experience:
• Presently, Working as a Temporary Lecturer at the Department of Archaeology, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. (appointment date: 07 January 2008)
• Participated U/UO/RB/PL/PG-08 Prehistoric Cave Excavation in Alawala, Gampaha, during the 2008 Field Season, Post Graduate Institute of Archaeological Research-PGIAR, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.2008
• worked as a Data Collector of National Heritage Index at the Centre for the Heritage and Cultural Studies, Department of Architecture, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.
• worked as a Archaeological Research Officer (Trainee) at the Jetawana Project-Anuradhapura, Central Cultural Fund, Sri Lanka. 2006 May-2007 March
• Participated VG CAVE NO.01 Archaeological Cave Excavation in Vessagiri Archaeological Site, Jetawana Project, Anuradhapura, in the role of research officer (Central Cultural Fund) 2006
• Participated Nilgala Archaeological Project during the 2006 Field Season in the role of Field Supervisor. 2006
• Participated JBOP 2005 Archaeological Excavation in Jetawana Project, Anuradhapura, in the role of research officer (Central Cultural Fund) 2004/5
• Participated JP/04/FR/Ha/G2 Archaeological field Reconnaissance in Jetawana Project, Anuradhapura, in the role of research officer (Central Cultural Fund) 2003/4
• worked as a Training bank assistant in Peoples Bank, Hasalaka Branch-140 (1yr). 2001
• worked as a Teacher in Daham pasal (Dhamma School). (1yr). 2000/1

Publications
• Uwa-Vellassata Nawa Pivisumak-In Sinhala (New Approach to Uwa-Vellassa) National Archaeological Symposium 2008, Department of Archaeology, Colombo 07, Sri Lanka. (Joint Paper with H.G. Dayasisira).
• Sri Lankawe Prag Eitihasika Paryeshana ha Siran Deraniyagala - in sinhala (Pre Historic Research of Sri Lanka and Siran Deraniyagala) Velipila-2005/6 Archaeological Magazine, Society of Archaeological Graduates, Central Cultural Fund, Sri Lanka.
• Vessagiri guha anka 1-2006 Mulika keneem Vartawa – In Sinhala (Preliminary Excavation Report On Vessagiri Cave No. 1-2006) First Archaeological Research Report Vessagiri Archaeological Site Jetawana Project, Central Cultural Fund, Sri Lanka.
• Sri Lankawe Purana Shilpa Kala - in sinhala (Ancient Art and Craft of Sri Lanka) a preliminary study on the basis of Senarat Paranavitan’s Inscriptions of Ceylon vol. I Alternative Archaeology-2006 the Society of Archaeology, University Of Peradeniya, Peradeniya.


Research Papers
• Metaka Anawaranaya uw Brahmi Sellipi Keepayak Pilibanda Satahanak – in Sinhala (A note on some recently discovered Brahmi Inscriptions), The Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka, 3rd Research Conference, March 27th – 28th 2009, Mahaweli Centre Auditorium, Colombo, Sri Lanka. (Joint Paper with H.G. Dayasisira).
• Uwa-Vellassata Nawa Pivisumak-In Sinhala (New Approach to Uwa-Vellassa) National Archaeological Symposium 2008, Department of Archaeology, Colombo 07, Sri Lanka. 07th & 08th July 2008. (Joint Paper with H.G. Dayasisira).

Editorial Works
• Prabhataya 2009 Environmental Magazine (Editor) National Environmental Forum, University Viharaya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
• Velipila-2005/6 (Assistant Editor) Archaeological Magazine, Society of Archaeological Graduates, Central Cultural Fund, Sri Lanka.
• First Archaeological Research Report, Vessagiri Archaeological Site, Jetawana Project, Central Cultural Fund, Sri Lanka.

Public Lectures
• The necessity of a literary criticism that lays emphasis on the social responsibilities of writers, The literary Festival, Namadagala Cultural Centre, Medadumbara, Madadumbara Divisional Secretarial, Teldeniya, Kandy. 02nd October 2008

Rupavahini Programs
• The Archaeological and Historical Background of Kotmale Area, National Rupavahini Coorparetion, 12th November 2008 (live Program on 02.00pm-03.30pm)
• The Suriyadoda Tempale and Its Archaeological Importance, Telshan Network Limited-TNL, 12th November 2008 (live Program on 04.15pm-05.50pm)

Prizes
• Prof. P. Leelananda Prematilake & Dr. Nanda Prematilake Prize for Archaeology-2006 (Greatest Competence), awarded by The University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

Scholarships
• Mahapola Higher Education (Merit) Scholarship 2000/1 Awarded By the Mahapola Higher Education Scholarship Trust Fund.

Memberships
• Life Member, the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka. (Serial No: L/905).