Image house with a throwback to the ’20s gets new lease of life
Tucked away from the hustle and bustle of Wellawatte is a small sanctum of a temple, with the sibilant whispering of a bo tree and calm saffron robes but otherwise silent.
The Sri Saddharmarama Maha Vihara, this year a century old, stands by the Kirulapone Canal, as it has since the days when Wellawatte was a leisurely suburb with padda boats, swaying palms and sprawling gardens.
Crumbling edifice: The 100-year-old image house of the Sri Saddharmarama Maha Vihara, Wellawatte
Ven. Wathawana Sirisumana Nayake Thera
Founded by the Venerable Wathawana Dharmarama in 1916, the temple is remarkable for the one relic that harks back to those early days – the image house, albeit minuscule, that whisks you to the ’20s, when though under the British, Ceylon knew a resurgence of the old faith.
The large Buddha statue is clearly from those days with its workmanship, and Jataka tales adorn the walls. The edifice is crumbling but, facing the canal, it exudes an aura of the times when the Buddhist local grandees were contributing their bit to viharas, the most famous example being the Kelaniya temple image house done by Helena Wijewardene (in fact begun two years after the Wellawatte image house).
This image house, says current Chief Incumbent of the temple, Ven. Wathawana Sirisumana Nayake Thera, was painted originally by M. Sarlis, renowned siththara (muralist), and has two devales dedicated to gods Vishnu and Kataragama.
Construction began originally in 1925, and to mark their centenary this year, the temple, last week, began refurbishing the image house, retaining however the original murals, the statues, the painted wooden ceiling and that ’20s look with lots of care and specialised archaeological experts and baases. Before work began, there was a pooja to propitiate Kadawara, a local deity.
The bo tree, planted in 1921, will also get a sakman maluwa or an area where devotees can practise walking meditation.
Among the illustrious dayakayas (patrons) of the temple were A. C. Goonaratne, QC, Crown Counsel Kenneth Seneviratne, Dr. Cyril Herat-Gunaratne, A. V. D. Ratnapala, M. S. Gunewardene, A. J. Pieris and Mudliyar P. D. Ratnatunga of the Pali Text Society fame, known for translating parts of the Mahavamsa. Their third generation descendants still patronize the temple.
The temple has its new image house with a relic shrine. There’s also another connection with Wellawatte in that Ven. Sirisumana is Chairman of the W. A. Silva Foundation, a literary society celebrating perhaps the most famous resident of Wellawatte, the bestselling ‘Walter Scott’ of Ceylon of his day, and indefatigable spinner of romances.
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