Plus

Poya Features

The rock temple down south
By D.C. Ranatunga
The climb was steep but not tiring. We never realized that we had climbed 533 steps up and down until we checked out the number from a temple aide. This was the way to the Mulkirigala temple in the deep south, 21 km interior from Tangalle, off Beliatte.
The steps, although uneven in certain places, are well maintained and the tricky flight to the top can be quite tough but enjoyable.

Mulkirigala (Mulgirigala is also commonly used), as the name suggests, is a rock. Caves with elaborate paintings at three levels are reminiscent of Dambulla. Two large reclining Buddha statues adorn the caves at the lower level. Intricate paintings, most of which depict Jataka tales belonging to the Kandyan period, are visible in eight caves.

The temple, which dates back to the 3rd century BC, is a Raja Maha Viharaya, one that received royal patronage. There are several theories as to its origin. It is believed to be one of 64 temples erected by King Kavantissa, father of Dutugemunu, who ruled from Mahagama, a principality in the kingdom of Ruhuna. According to historians, this may have been the Samuddagiri or Muhudugiri temple built by Kavantissa.

He is credited with building a golden Buddha statue 18 cubits in length, in a large cave under the rock. A lamp with mustard oil is believed to have been lit in the cave on the advice of some arahat monks with the hope that it would remain lit for 5,000 years.
The name of King Saddhatissa (137-119 BC), son of Kavantissa is also mentioned in connection with the origin of the temple. According to legend, the king was hunting in this area when a Veddah informed him of a rock on which a temple could be built. The king agreed and called the place Mu Kivu Gala (the rock that he mentioned).

Thereafter, the place had come to be known as Mulkirigala. It is also mentioned that a Naga Raja connected this temple to the Umangala temple in Hakmana with a tunnel.
King Dutugemunu (161-137 BC), having unified the country under one banner, is believed to have built another Buddha statue, 18 cubits in size, out of red sandalwood. His brother, Saddhatissa, who succeeded him had done a lot to develop the temple.

At a time when the south had made tremendous progress under him, the king had built a chaitya on the rock and enshrined relics of the Buddha there. A Bo sapling from the Sri Maha Bodhi had also been planted and an abode for the monks built. The temple was further developed when his second son, Valagamba ascended the throne for the second time in 89 BC.

Muhundragiri is another name mentioned in the inscriptions about Mulkirigala. The place had also been known as Muvathitigala, Mukirigalla and Mulagiriya. As it happened to many ancient monasteries and temples, Mulkirigala temple declined as the years went by. However, when the Dutch occupied the maritime provinces in the 18th century, it had once again come into prominence, with the rock being called 'Adam's Berg' confused with Adam's Peak.

An early Dutch writer, Albrecht Herport, who served as a soldier here in 1663, wrote: "One sees also still at this day the image of Adam formed on earth, of remarkable size, lying on the hill." Ven. Heenbunne Punnasiri, once Viharadhipathi of Mulkirigala temple rejects the view that the temple had any connection with Samanala Kanda.

Records mention how two resident monks at Mulkirigala temple - Vatarakgoda Dhammapala and Vehelle Dhammadinna Theras - went up to Kandy and obtained higher ordination after the restoration of upasampada. That was the time when the efforts of Velivita Sri Saranankara Sangharaja Thera were bearing fruit and a resurgence of Buddhism was witnessed throughout the country. Ven. Dhammapala returned to Mulkirigala and spread the dhamma among the laity. He also took the initiative of informing King Kirti Sri Rajasinghe (1747-1782) of the need to restore the ancient temple. On the king's instructions, the caves were repaired and the paintings cleaned up and restored.

Mulkirigala preserves some of the finest expressions of the southern school, says Professor Senaka Bandaranayake. "Located in a border area, at the southernmost extremity of both the maritime region and the Kandyan kingdom, Mulkirigala is associated with some of the earliest evidence for the existence of late-period murals from a time pre-dating the mid-18th century revival... The temple is mentioned in connection with the transmission or reintroduction of the mural tradition from Kandy to the southern region in the latter half of the 18th century," he writes in 'The Rock and Wall Paintings of Sri Lanka'.

Older references to the Mulkirigala temple are made by George Turnour of the British Civil Service when he talks about getting a transcript of a commentary from a copy in "the Mulgirigalla Vihara in 1872 by the kindness of the Chief Priest of Saffragam". This is proof that the temple had a good library.

On leaving the vehicle at the entrance to the temple, we take a good look at the imposing rock and wonder how we will reach the top. Having taken the first flight to the first level, we spend time worshipping at the Pahata Malu Vihara comprising two cave image houses, the chaitya and the bo tree.

The climb to the second level is quite easy, with the steep climb starting after that to reach the next level -- the Meda Malu Vihara. Another flight of steps takes you to the main temple area with four caves - Naga Vihara, Raja Maha Vihara and Pirinivan Vihara. A flight of small steps cut into the rock with a tricky bend takes you to the top where the chaitya is located, with a panoramic view stretching to the southern coast.

By the time you trudge back to the second level, there are plenty of vendors to offer you either a beli mal or divul drink. We had a refreshing kurumba treat instead -- it was delicious on a hot morning.

Where two religions met and blended
By Ven. Dhammika of Australia
Much attention has been given to how far west Buddhism extended in ancient times. The most westerly Buddhist monument is the foundation of a large stupa in the southeast corner of the ancient citadel of Khiva in Turkmenistan. Small communities of Buddhists may have existed beyond this but if they did they would have been insignificant and isolated. We can say, therefore, that the outer edge of Buddhism in the west was what is now eastern Iran.

To the east
But how far to the east did Buddhism spread its influence? To the outer islands of Indonesia, to Australia or perhaps beyond? In the 1920s a superb bronze bust of the Buddha was found on Sulawesi, one of the larger islands of Indonesia. This is the eastern-most point that any Buddhist antiquity has ever been found.

There is, though, no evidence of an enduring Buddhist presence either on Sulawesi or beyond it. No ruined temples or monasteries, no inscriptions or references to it in historical records.

But only a few hundred miles southwest of Sulawesi is the small island of Bali where archaeological, epigraphical and literary evidence shows that Buddhism existed along with Hinduism for about 700 years.

Buddhism in Bali
Indian merchants first arrived in Bali in about 200 BCE and it was probably they who introduced Buddhism there. A Balinese work, the date of which is unknown, called the Nagarakratagama, lists all 26 Buddhist temples in Bali and mentions that in 1275 King Kretanagara underwent a Tantric Buddhist initiation to protect his kingdom from invasion by Kubla Khan.

The island's history is scant until 1343 when the Majaphit Empire of Java-Sumatra captured it. Hinduism and Buddhism both received state patronage although gradually Buddhism became indistinguishable from Hinduism.

A Javanese Buddhist work from about the 12th century contains this verse: "The one substance is called two, that is, the Buddha and Siva. They say they are different but how can they be divided? Despite differences there is oneness." Clearly, when these words were written some Buddhists were struggling to maintain the uniqueness of the dhamma while others were stressing its similarity to Hinduism. Incidentally, the phrase, "Despite differences there is oneness" (Bhineka tunggal ika) has been taken as the motto of the Republic of Indonesia.

With the collapse of Majaphit in 1515 and the ascendancy of Islam, Java's old intellectual and religious elite, including the last surviving Buddhist monks and scholars sought refuge in Bali.

Traces left behind
In January 2003, I fulfilled a long-standing wish to visit the island that Nehru eulogized as "The Morning of the World". I planned to visit all the sights that other tourists like to see but my main intention was to search out the traces of Buddhism and find out something about Bali's small Buddhist community. My first stop was the Bali Museum in Dempasar, the capital of the island. The older part of the museum was built in 1910, in the style of a royal palace and gives some idea of the artistic sophistication of traditional Balinese culture.

The paintings, masks, pottery, wood carvings and fabrics are superlative. In one room is a modest collection of Buddhist antiquities. These consist of clay votive stupas found at Pedgeng dating from about the 9th century and seals with the well-known Dhammapariaya on them. There is also a small collection of bronze images of the Buddha and various bodhisattvas. The captions on these exhibits had little information.

Next I headed for Goa Gajah near Ubud where I had read that there were some traces of Buddhism. Goa Gajah was a sacred spring in ancient times and people still come to bathe in its two pools. Water flows into the pools from pots held by the beautifully carved figures of apsaras. Beyond the spring is a deep, mossy and fern-filled canyon with huge boulders strewn around. The rocks on the side of the canyon have half-carved Buddha statues and other architectural forms.

One boulder has what was quite clearly meant to be the pinnacle of a stupa carved on it. There are also several artificial caves hewn out of the cliffs, one of which has three small stupas in front of it. The inscriptions found at Goa Gajah show that both Hindu and Buddhist ascetics once lived here.

My next stop was Besakih, Bali's largest and most sacred temple which is situated on the lower slopes of the spectacular Gunung Agung volcano. As the bus wound its way gradually upward, the air became cooler and the landscape reminded me of Kandy, lush and green.

Absorbed by Hinduism
The top of Gunung Agung was hidden by clouds. Before the 10th century, Besakih had been a Buddhist temple but with Buddhism's gradual decline it too had become a Hindu temple. The temple is laid out in a series of terraces and extends to about a mile up the side of the volcano. There were no signs of old Buddhist statues or familiar motifs. Volcanic eruptions have destroyed or damaged Besakih.

My final stop was the eastern town of Klungkung which had been the capital of a small kingdom during the 16th and 17th centuries. In the town centre is Taman Gili (The Island Garden), the only surviving part of the old royal palace which was built in 1710. The ceiling of several pavilions in the garden are covered with beautiful paintings depicting incidents from the Tantrikatha, a Balinese version of the ‘Thousand and One Nights’ and the Hindu epic, the ‘Mahabharata’.

There are also some 20 panels illustrating the life and adventures of a legendary Buddhist character named Satusoma. When I was at the Puseh Pura Desa Hindu temple at Batubulan, I chanced to see a line of images, which included an elegantly carved Buddha, while at the temple at Pura Ulunsiwa there is a statue of the Buddha, which is still worshipped.

The last census in 1989 records that there were 13,274 Buddhists in Bali, nearly all of them either ethnic Chinese or people from other parts of Indonesia. There are two Buddhist temples, one in Singharaj in the north of the island built by the Thai and Indonesian governments in 1971 and another in Dempasar.

Hinduism in Bali is still vigorously followed and it is unlikely that the teachings of the Buddha will prove an attraction to the Balinese.

Back to Plus