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Broken, dug
and blasted Text and
photographs by Marlon Saldin My day's excitement
was far from over as close to the village I was marched to the police
post by home guards who assumed I was a terrorist! Fortunately,
I had informed another Police post of my intentions but until my
identity was verified, I had to wait surrounded by the police, home
guards and armed villagers. They were most
curious about this 'terrorist' in a straw hat, with a camera and
bicycle with empty water bottles, armed only with a Swiss army knife,
that too made in China! Today, most
of it is broken, dug and blasted! I had to get across by clinging
onto the remains of the images, as there is a very deep hole beneath
the rock. The dagobas have vanished leaving in their place three
deep holes! Thinking back
to 1999, and the armed group that confronted me, I believe that
they were a group of treasure hunters as poaching, illicit timber
felling and the odd ganja plantation could all be carried out much
closer to the village! The only reason for their heavily armed presence
was the attraction of ruins. If one were
to draw a line from Galle to Batticaloa, it could be safely stated
that there are hundreds if not thousands of ruins still left unaccounted
for. Buried deep within the forests these are the perfect targets
of a few organized groups of treasure hunters! The rock and clay
images of Lord Buddha and ancient heroes can only watch in silence,
as they are demolished piece by piece! The names that
come up from many a jungle dweller are always the same! A leading
actor, a politician and a businessman seem to have caused most havoc
and destruction. Stranger is the fact that they are all Sinhala
Buddhists, although of late a few Muslims have also joined the vandalism. The pattern
of destruction remains the same. No sooner word gets around that
some ruins have been discovered, they arrive in their Pajeros with
dynamite, soothsayers etc and in some instances even earth moving
machinery! Working with ruthless efficiency they target the ruin,
steal its treasure and leave, mostly leaving the surrounding areas
untouched. Then come the second string of treasure hunters who take
whatever is left by blasting and breaking. Then come the
villagers looking for their pot of gold. They destroy whatever little
that is left, dig the surrounding areas and leave most places of
archaeological value in a frightful mess! If one has witnessed a
kill in an African game park, the process is similar with the big
carnivore decimating its foe, before the hyenas and vultures leave
an unrecognizable carcass. Wilful destruction
apart there is also the sheer ignorance of the villager who lives
off the jungle. The most serious damage is taking place in the highlands,
where once upon a time someone great decided to hide from another,
out of all places behind a waterfall! In the middle of this 100ft
fall, a thin ledge runs along the cliff for access. Slippery and
overgrown with ferns, it leads into a cave probably man-made. Within,
is a smooth rocky sort of veranda that leads into a rock cut table
complete with benches. Further inside were a couple of twin size
beds beautifully carved out from the cave itself! However all
of this has been broken up to build two rooms inside! The person
who did this thought it was a great idea to build the rooms to protect
himself from the cold! How he managed to carry a few bags of cement
inside is a feat that the Guinness Book of Records would find interesting,
but the fact remains that this piece of national heritage that may
have competed as a World Heritage site is now a mere walled cave! The best example
is the cave that I call the flying saucer. Most of its clay drawings
and paintings have been blackened by fire. Much farther inside the
jungles, the roof of the Mailla cave still remains intact, although
its 40ft sleeping Buddha has been destroyed in several places by
treasure hunters. These jungles
as mentioned before are a strange meeting place, sometimes pleasant
as in the case when I came across Manjusri Jr. Adding detail to
my otherwise basic site visits, he informed me that the painted
colours were of crushed gemstone, that retains its colour through
time. Time, however,
has been unkind to the 60ft Buddha and dagoba of Budugala, the rock
images, shrine and dagobas of Budupatuma or Budupatunna, the Palace
of Namal Pokuna, the Buddha image at Wattegama, the marble Buddha
image at Veherakema and many other sites that are yet nameless! Since the ceasefire,
with security presence emerging the treasure hunters' search still
continues, although much farther and deeper in the jungles. Someday when someone decides to take an inventory of all that this island had or could have had, perhaps its countrymen may wake-up and decide to protect what is remaining. |
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