Anuradhapura: Encyclopedia - Anuradhapura

Anuradhapura

Anuradhapura is an ancient capital of Sri Lanka, famous for its monuments and architecture. It is situated in the North-central province of Sri Lanka.

The very first kingdom in Sri Lanka, Anuradhapura was made the country's capital by King Pandukabhaya (reigned c. 437 BC - 367 BC, although some sources also state 337 BC-305 BC).

The word "Anuradhapura" is derived from Anuradha, which is the name of one of king vijaya's chief ministers, whose special charge was this city, and "pura" which means city or town in Sinhalese.

The construction of Anuradhapura is described in the Mahavamsa:

Although according to historical records the city was founded in the 5th century BC, the archaeological data put the date as far back as the 10th century BC. By the 3rd century BC, the city has grown to become one of the 10 most largest cities in the subcontinent. In that time Buddhism was introduced to Sri Lanka. With this began the great building era in which vast monastery complexes and some of the tallest buildings in the ancient world were built. The Jetavanaramaya dagoba of the city is still the highest brick structure in the world.

Large lakes were also constructed by the city's rulers to irrigate paddy lands and also to supply water to the city. Nuwara wewa and Tissa wewa are among the best known lakes in the city.

Anuradhapura attained its highest magnificence about the commencement of the Christian era. In its prime it ranked beside Nineveh and Babylon in its colossal proportions--its four walls, each 16 miles long, enclosing an area of 256 square miles,--in the number of its inhabitants, and the splendour of its shrines and public edifices. It suffered much during the earlier South Indian invasions, and was finally deserted as a royal residence in AD 1017.

The city was the capital of the country continuously from the 5th century BC to AD 1017. It's decline began with continuous wars with the invading South Indians which made the kingdom economically poor. The great city was overrun by the South Indian Chola forces in 1017. From then on the capital was shifted to Polonnaruwa. The destruction caused to the city and its complex irrigation system was so great that the city was totally abandoned, and fell completely into decay.

It was not until the 19th century that the jungle was cleared away, the ruins laid bare, and some measure of prosperity brought back to the surrounding country by the restoration of hundreds of village tanks by the British.

The ruins consist of three classes of buildings, dagobas, monastic buildings, and pokunas. The dagobas are bell-shaped masses of masonry, varying from a few feet to over 1100 in circumference. Some of them contain enough masonry to build a town for twenty-five thousand inhabitants. Remains of the monastic buildings are to be found in every direction in the shape of raised stone platforms, foundations and stone pillars. The most famous is the Brazen Palace erected by King Datagamana about 164 BC. The pokunas are bathing-tanks or tanks for the supply of drinking-water, which are scattered everywhere through the jungle. The city also contains a sacred Bo-tree, which is said to date back to the year 245 BC. The railway was extended from Kurunegala to Anuradhapura in 1905.

Today the old city can be traced by its ruins while a new city with a population of about 55000 (2001) has come up in place of the old city. Today it is a major attraction to both foreign and local tourists in the country, and the home of the sacred Sri Maha Bodhi tree, the oldest historical tree in the world, at 2300 years.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Anuradhapura", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki