Our life in ruins

When we decided to travel to the Indian subcontinent, we did not include Sri Lanka in our plans. We knew Cintra's close friend, Upali, lived here, but we did not know we would ever have the chance to see him.

But it seemed so natural to extend our Indian trip and visit this country. We knew little about the island - its climate, history, culture, etc.

Now that we are here we are totally in awe of this wonderful country. We have already shared with you some of our experiences and there will be lots more to come.

But we have quickly realized that no visit to Sri Lanka is complete without exploring its archeological treasures. In fact, this is probably why many people visit here; to see why UNESCO has designated so many World Historic Sites in this relatively small island.

That alone is a sign of the richness of Sri Lanka's history and culture. But the country's Buddhist and Sinhalese roots dating back thousands of years are not buried and forgotten. They are prominently visible in the form of archeological ruins scattered in different parts of Sri Lanka.

Naturally, there are ruins that are still hidden and may or may not be uncovered over time. But those that are visible, tell fascinating stories about the quality of the original architecture, the way the kings ruled their domains, the central role of the Buddhist monks, the agrarian lifestyle of the people, the domestic lives of the people and the wars and hardships that the people faced at the hand of invaders.

In an earlier blog, we mentioned a palace built on a 200 m high rock in Sigiriya. We did not go into these ruins, but there there were many features to this World Historic Site.

Over a period of two days, we visited the World Heritage Sites in Polonnaruwa and in Anuradhapura about 60 km away.

The first King of Sri Lanka (Aggabodhi) had built his palace in Polonnaruwa in 663 AD. Anuradhapura had already been the administrative capital a thousand years before that. But the King favored Polonnaruwa as the capital and location of his palace.

After the invaders from India destroyed Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa was the natural centre for the palace and Buddhist shrine.

Another Sinhala King (Vijayabadhu I) made major improvements to the buildings in 1070 AD and encouraged trade and agriculture to boost the economy.

During his reign between 1153 and 1186, a King Parakramabahu raised Polonnaruwa to its height with even more expansion, including this 2400 hectare tank that was named after him. He unified the three Buddhist shrines and built a huge centre for Buddhism.

In the late 1800s AD, the last King Nissankamalla neglected Polonnaruwa and let it fall into disrepair. Further, invaders mainly from India, completely burned and destroyed the buildings and left them to be abandoned and covered by forest.

The remains of these destroyed buildings and shrines were discovered by the British in the 18th century. Since then, archeologists have painstakingly cleaned up the ruins and in some cases conjectured what they might have looked like originally.

The result is nothing short of amazing if not miraculous. And today thousands of visitors as well as Sri Lankans are enjoying viewing these historical wonders and learning unbelievable lessons about the roots of the early Kings and their subjects in Sri Lanka.

It is no doubt that the ruins of Sri Lanka make this country one of the most fascinating for visitors and local residents and truly deserving of their designations as World Historic Sites.

During our visit to Polonnaruwa, we stopped for an amazing "farmer lunch" in a country home. The food itself was delicious, but the ambience was unusual. Behind this rural family home were two thatched roof sheds with home made benches to seat up to four each accompanied by narrow tables. At the centre were two large tables where the food was placed. Each of us was given a lotus leaf on which to eat. In our shed, there were about a dozen "guests."

Washing hands is a normal routine before and meals, largely before South Asians often use their hands to eat instead of using forks or spoons. They also use only one hand for eating.

When we went to tour the ruins of the Sacred City of Anuradhapura the following day we found ourselves in the midst of tens of thousands of Buddhist pilgrims from all over Sri Lanka paying homage to Buddha at the central shrine.

There is so much more we can say about our experience but will take too much time and space. So we invite you to do some searches on your own under the town names of Sigiriya, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa or under World Heritage Sites of Sri Lanka.

Thanks for joining us on this journey through the ruins.

Ayubowan.