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Haunting magic
of Medirigiriya The Medirigiriya
Watadage (circular relic house) along with the two watadages at
Polonnaruwa and Thiriyaya in the Trincomalee district are an example
of the architectural style that was unique to the ancient Sinhalese.
The Polonnaruwa and Medirigiriya watadages are said to be identical
in measurement and design but the setting of the latter adds to
its mystic appeal. The Medirigiriya
Watadage is located at Thamankaduwa, some 24 kilometres north-east
of Minneriya. The drive to the Watadage itself transports the visitor
to the time of the great kings of the past with water from the giant
tanks they built still flowing along the canals alongside the road.
The natural beauty of the area is spellbinding and visitors can
also see a variety of wildlife, foxes, spotted deer, giant squirrels,
star tortoises and many birds. Numerous signboards
show the way to the Watadage, situated about five km from the Medirigiriya
town, but its beauty is difficult to describe. It still has a lost-city
feel to it, making the visitor want to sit on the rock overlooking
it and visualise what it would have been like in the days when it
was a centre of intense religious activity, patronized by royalty
as well as the common man. Today there
is little religious activity there but it is a valued archeological
site. Unfortunately it is hardly visited by those who go to Polonnaruwa
owing to its close location to some of the areas affected by the
fighting in the north-east. Today even though the number of people
making the journey has increased, one can still enjoy a moment of
tranquillity. The thick jungle cover provides ideal shelter to the
few streaks of sunlight filtering through to reach the ground. The history
of the Watadage is sketchy but there is reference to it in several
ancient chronicles. Although there is no exact record of under whose
reign this monument was constructed, there is reference to it in
the Mahavamsa as the Mandalagiri Viharaya. Its origin is recorded
during the reign of King Kanittha Tissa (2nd Century A.D). Other ancient
chronicles too refer to it and one special incident has been mentioned.
It is said that King Gaja Bahu II (1142-53) declared a truce with
King Parakrama Bahu I (1153- 86) and publicly declared he had given
the "Raja -Rata" to Parakrama Babu who was fighting for
control of the entire island. King Gaja Bahu had the declaration
inscribed on a stone tablet at Mandalagiriya. However this stone
inscription has not been discovered so far. King Nissankamalla(1187-96)
is also said to have visited the watadage himself but the glory
days of the Polonnaruwa kingdom declined with the end of his reign
and thus began the decline of the Mandalagiri Viharaya as well.
After being swallawed up by the jungle for several hundred years,
it was rediscovered by the first Archaeological Commissioner of
Ceylon H.C.P. Bell in 1897. There are several
other smaller monuments in addition to the watadage. A coffin shaped
granite herbal bath is said to have been used to heal the sick who
were supposed to lie in an assortment of herbal oils. To the right
of the watadage are some standing stone pillars which are recorded
as the ruins of a hospital. The remnants of an ancient toilet too
have been found in the surroundings of the watadage complex. A lotus
filled pond too stands close by. A few vendors sit at its entrance selling mango pickle and king coconut. A man sells books on the history of the watadage. They too speak softly as if not wanting to disturb the tranquillity of the place. The haunting feel of Medirigirya stays with a visitor long after he's said good-bye. The
old man of the kovil Visitors on
the way to the Kovil built within the old Fort complex of Trincomalee
often see a solitary figure, an old man gazing into the distance.
Ninety nine-years-old, he had come to Trincomalee in 1938, in the
latter part of British rule in Sri Lanka. The old man
was very short of hearing and one had to literally shout to communicate.
Mutthiah was his name, he told us, recalling that at the time he
came to Trincomalee, the present Koneswaram Kovil had not even been
built and there were few locals to be seen here, only the British,
the imperial armed forces stationed in and around Trincomalee. The Koneswaram
site, had been the police barracks of that time. He remembered the
name of the police superintendent John Smith. Mutthiah had served
with the Royal Navy Divers at that time and had been involved in
the clearing of the site of the Koneswaram Kovil and the road leading
to it for the building of the kovil which was completed in 1954.
His name can be seen in some of the early documents which are preserved
in the Kovil, he says. Reticent about
his family he said his wife and two sons had died in the 1983 riots.
He now spends his days, sitting on a step of the closed down police
barracks and lives in a makeshift tent, helped by some boutique
owners at the foot of the kovil. After independence,
he made a living working in a small boutique. His fear is that he
may have to move from this spot where he has lived for so many years
as the small boutiques are to be torn down by the Trincomalee town
council. He and other new vendors are asking that they be granted
approval to run shops in the area. A man who had
faced many hardships over the years, Muttiah is obviously reluctant
to move from his perch at Koneswaram in the twilight of his life.
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Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers
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