04 August 2009

Sights on the way

We passed so many sights.. attractive, unusual, sacred, pleasing, inspiring, depressing... yet I missed the chances of capturing so many.. as by the time I pulled out the cam and focused they were already gone out of sight! -__-

Then when I started capturing the lakes infested with cattle, malli (my cousin brother) started calling out every time he spotted anything the shape of a buffalo or bull.. and then.. to my horror and to their joy.. everyone *my aunts and uncs of mom's side* joined the fun.. making me take too many pics of nothing but cattle of all colors and sizes and types *you know the dairy ones with black and white spots to brown ones, black ones and white ones grazing beside a bunch of buffaloes!* I mercilessly removed the excess pics later on. -__-

Here's a one I kept as a souvenir though...

* Click to expand the pictures

Cattle galore


This was almost like an oasis as most of the lakes were already dried up or drying. There's a bunch of diya kawa (little cormorant.. I think) wading next to these four legged, in the water. There were lots of these birdies in other lakes too, though I couldn't get a clear capture of them.

...

The trees and the ruins



First Pic: I came across this site teeming with ruins en route to the sacred Bodhi tree. There were many of such ruins straddling the paved walkway that runs from the Sri Maha Bodhi to Ruwanweliseya. Notice the tree behind these ruins with shiny twisted branches? These trees are the natural resources for making the famous 'ruk kala' or tree art.

Second Pic: The parapet wall is a remnant of an ancient stone wall. And this one sits opposite the stairway to the sacred Bodhi tree. These stones doesn't seem to neatly fit in, so I wonder if they were restored recently (few decades back) after excavations. Conversely, the outermost fortification of the premises has neatly cut huge rectangular stones placed side by side with a remarkable precision. They reminded me of the pyramids of Giza.

...

Glimpse of Temples in the distant



This was a famous kovil (Hindu temple) which we passed on our way to Tantirimale in the wee hours of the morning, around Matale. The area nestles many such kovils featuring stunning relief and carvings on every nook and corner of their facades. I was only able to capture its top most portion when the van stopped to get a fill at the petrol shed (filling station).



Just as the sign reads, it's the Rangiri Dambulu Temple (The Golden Temple) which is famous for its splendid frescoes of hell and numerous golden Buddha statues in a cave. The 1st pic was taken on our way to Tantirimale, and the 2nd was taken during the return trip.

The paintings and sculptures of the hell housed in the premises is highly recommended by my mom for everyone! She's been iterating that ever since I was a kid, saying if we see it even once we'd be afraid to commit even the tiniest crime. I've yet to see this amazing hell! =D



This is the famous sitting Buddha statue at the Dambulu temple dazzling in golden hues. It's one of the biggest sitting Buddha statues in Lanka.



This is... I think the Stupa of Jetavanaramaya which we saw on our return trip. From a distance both Jetavanaramaya and Abhayagiriya looks very much alike.. especially after the restoration process.

11 comments:

  1. Anonymous8/05/2009

    Sounds like you had such a wonderful time ! Its lovely that your family shares your enthusiasm :)

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  2. Thanks MTC.. um.. not sure if they shared the same passion or had fun teasing me into taking snaps of cattle.. lol But ya.. we all had a great time.. nevertheless. =D

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  3. Nice narrative again..Like the first picture very much..

    I learnt something new about rukkala..

    Talking about Jethavana. Heard the re construction is over now. is it true? A few years ago I had the chance to climb to the top when the construction is in progress. Glad I could be a part atleast for few minutes.

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  4. Thanks K. I'm surprised how some of these pics came out ok, cuz the van was simply racing during the whole trip, so it was very hard to focus.

    Really? I saw a documentary on TV sometime back where they showed the whole process of making ruk kala, starting from choosing raw material to the finished product. Just recalled that when I saw this tree amidst the ruins.

    Oh ya, my aunts n uncs said the same. But the stupa looked just like in the pic.. I wonder if they're gonna leave it as it is, without painting in white.

    Really? That's so great. You must have gotten a bird's eye view of the area from the top, as I think it's the tallest Stupa in Lanka.

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  5. nice pics Harumi! AFAIK, the wall was made from rock pillars lying about in the late 19th century, when Anuradhapura was once again cleared from the forest and made into the habitable place it is today. They say that the wall was created to keep the wild elephants out... :)

    and I've been inside this hell when I was only a small kid... either at Dambulla or Matale... it was very scary! :D

    and K, I visted Jetawanaramaya after restoration was completed. They are going to leave it as a brick structure without plastering it... I saw the view from the top in a TV programme once and it looked amazing! :D you're lucky to have had a bird's eye view of our ancient Capital... :)

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  6. Tallest Stupa in the world if i'm not wrong. And the tallest brick structure in the world..

    Infact it is just 50 feet less than the largest Pyramid of Giza (Khufu)

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  7. @ Chavie: Thanks for sharing all the historical facts. You seem to know so much about history as much as you do on Space related stuff! =D

    Yep, got to be grateful to all the officials, workers and authorities who contributed during those excavations and restoration process.

    Aww.. poor you! hehe.. Now I'm really curious to see this hell up close and take some pics too, if allowed. =D

    @ K: Thanks for the stats. I just checked Wiki, and according to that the tallest Stupa in the world is Thailand's Phra Phathom Chedi, and only 7m taller than our Jetavanaramaya.

    Yep it must be. The kind of technology and potential of the ancient people are truly amazing. There's so many supertall skyscrapers coming up but.. they just seem to lack something when compared to pyramids and other ancient wonders.

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  8. Chavie,
    Thanks for the info. I think brick structure without plastering is better. I like it that way.

    Harumi,
    Thanks for that info and correcting me.

    Think it is the materials used for the structures and the climate that resulted the present status of all these different monuments.

    Most of the brick structures and woooden roofs in Anuradhapura have destroyed over the time. The tropical weather has not helped either.

    In Egypt they have used granite for most of the temples inluding roofs. And most of the parts in Egypt you do not get rain for years.. E.g. where Abusimbel no rain for 6 years..

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  9. No worries.. and true.. another article of Wiki I found (in here) says that this Stupa could be the world's biggest. Anyway biggest or not, it's still a marvel. =D

    Wow.. that's some info I didn't know about the pyramids. Thanks for sharing.

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