Mihintale

 Situated 12 kilometers east of the ruins of the great city of Anuradhapura, the sacred mountain of Mihintale is considered the location where Buddhism was first introduced to the island of Sri Lanka. There are two stories, one historical and one mythological, that explain the arrival of Buddhism at Mihintale. According to historical sources, in the middle of the third century BC the great Indian Emperor Ashoka had sent his son Mahinda to Sri Lanka to spread the teachings of the Buddha. Mahinda and his group of Buddhist monks were camped upon the sides of Mt Mihintale when King Devanampiya Tissa of Anuradhapura encountered them during a royal hunting expedition. Mahinda spoke to the king of Buddhism and recited the Culahastipadopama and other sutras. The date of this meeting between King Devanampiya Tissa and the Buddhist monk is believed to have been on the full moon of June in the year 247 BC. Soon thereafter the king (and 40,000 inhabitants of Anuradhapura) converted to Buddhism. An alternate story of the arrival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka tells that the Buddha himself journeyed to the island, on the back of the great winged demigod Garuda, but there is no historical evidence that the Buddha himself ever visited the island. Today the peak of Mihintale, approached by a grand stairway of 1840 granite steps, has many temples, lodgings for monks and several splendid statues of the Buddha. Each June on the full moon there is a pilgrimage commemorating the date when Mahinda first preached the Buddhist doctrine in Sri Lanka and many thousands of pilgrims flock from all over Sri Lanka to meditate on the holy peak. The photograph was made with a Nikon F3, a 300mm lens (with two 2x teleconverters resulting in a 1200mm lens) and Fujichrome 50 film. The photograph was made during the brightest part of the day but was underexposed by several f-stops in order to turn the background to dark black and thereby simulate the view of the great Buddha as seen during the night of the full moon pilgrimage.



Ambasthala

During the Poson season, thousands of devotees ascend the 1840 stone steps from the bottom to the top of the Mihintale hill to pay their respects to Arahat Mahinda, whose relics are said to be enshrined in the Ambasthala stupa.

This stupa was created by King Mahadathika Mahanaga on flat land just below the peak where apostle and king were supposed to have met and talked.

The Ambasthala dagaba or "mango-tree stupa" got its name from a riddle that Mahinda is said to have posed to the king to test his capacity for instruction.

Pointing to a tree close at hand, the Thera asked the king for its name. The king replied that it was a mango tree.

"Are there any other mango trees besides this?"

"There are many mango trees," replied the king.

"And are there any other trees besides this mango tree and other mango trees?"

"There are many other trees," replied the king, "but they are not mango trees".

"And are there besides these mango trees and those which are not mango, yet other trees?"

"There is this mango tree", said the king.

"Thou hast a shrewd wit, O Ruler of Men" said the Thera.

The spot where this Socrates-like dialogue took place is marked by a rock slab enclosed by a railing. Mango trees have been grown in the vicinity to commemorate that event.

More than two centuries after the construction of the Ambasthala, King Kanitha Tissa added two circular wooden roofed ambulatories on stone pillars and converted it into a Vatadage. Only the stone pillars are left.

Mahinda’s cave

From the Ambasthala, opposite the point of entry, a path will take you down to a steep sheltered rock overlay, within which is a flat rectangular slab of rock.

This place is called "Mihindu-Guha" or Mahinda’s cave, where he is said to have spent much of his time in meditation.

What thoughts did he have of the people he was instructing to counteract greed, malice and inordinate desire, the arch enemies of an enlightened mind?

Was it there that he conceived the idea of asking King Tissa to request Emperor Asoka of India to send some bodily relics (saririkadhatu) and associational relics (paribhogiakadhatu) of the Buddha to be enshrined and worshipped as a constant reminder of the Master’s teachings?
view of Mihintale (24 kb)

His sister Sangamitha Theri subsequently arrived with the relics. A collarbone of the Buddha was enshrined in a hastily put together stupa in Anuradhapura using the mud of the Abhayawewa.

In time this stupa — Thuparama was given a firmer structure and finally converted into a Vatadage.

A sapling of the Bodhi Tree under which the Buddha received enlightenment while meditating at Gaya was also brought by Sangamitha and planted in the royal Mahamegha garden, where it still exists today as the oldest historically recorded tree in the world.

Maha Seya

Another relic of the Buddha — the "uma-roma" or a hair that grew between the eyebrows signifying a "maha purusha" or "great being" was also enshrined in the Maha Seya at Mihintale.

When excavation and restoration work was begun by the Archaeological Department in 1934 under the direction of Senerat Paranavitana, the Maha Seya was found in a collapsed condition.

Under its debris was discovered a small stupa which Paranavitana identified as the Mihindu Seya built by King Devanampiyatissa’s brother King Uttiya to enshrine Arahat Mahinda’s ashes.

Several golden relic containers were found inside the stupa. Also a small polished black earthernware container.

In the black container was a reliquary in thin gold foil in the form of a miniature stupa containing beads, trinkets, fragments of bone and ash.

Kanthaka Chaitiya

Relics were also enshrined in the Kanthaka Chaitiya halfway up the hill, but there is no record of what they were.

During excavation, there was ample evidence of the relic chamber having been vandalised for buried treasure.

Several stupa-shaped stone containers, very likely to have contained the expensive offerings of the pious, were found scattered in the debris.

The highlights of this stupa are the restored "vahalkadas" (altars) and flanking stelae which display some of the earliest examples of the plastic arts.

They are profusely ornamented with friezes of dwarfs (gama) geese (hamsa) animal figures, floral motifs and niches in stucco or terra cotta with fragments of figures of deities.

In the words of Professor Paranavitana:

"When it was in its pristine glory covered with a coating of white plaster, with its gilded pinacle and its elaborately carved four vahalkadas at the four cardinal points, it must have presented a spectacular sight of singular beauty".

Even in its truncated form today the chaitiya is a wonderful sight under a westering sun.

In the soft evening air, one is able to experience the spell of antiquity and the spirit of Arahat Mahinda, Apostle of the romantic coming of Buddhism to Lanka in King Tissa’s bygone day.