KANDY – CRADLE OF BUDDHISM

हिंदी में यहाँ देखें

Kandy is the cultural capital and also the second largest city in Sri Lanka. It was the Kandyan Kings who nurtured and propagated Buddhism together with this town. According to a belief, Buddha’s tooth relic was smuggled from India  so as to protect it from the so called evil kings. They believe that the tooth relic brings in prosperity to the land where it is kept.

Tamil is the official language in addition to Sinhala and most of them converse easily in English or Tamil. We were advised in the beginning not to engage in conversation on controversial issues with the natives. There is some amount of mistrust between the Tamils and Sinhalese. At the same time we also found many of the temples being renovated even in lesser Tamil dominant towns.

Sri Lanka has a very good road network through out and reasonably good rail connectivity, of British Era, between major cities. We wanted to feel both the experiences and planned to take up the 3 hour bus journey from Colombo to Kandy, to begin with.

In about an hours time, the bus reached hilly terrain, leaving behind the hot and humid coastal planes. The bus was almost full. A Sri Lankan girl sitting behind me showed the point to get down to reach the elephant orphanage at Pinnawala. It was originally started as an orphanage for elephants and calves that are handicapped by landmine explosion. Now it is one of the biggest centres for Asian Elephants. She also showed us some other points of interest like the rail museum, and the botanical gardens while travelling in the bus. In between an elderly women kept her heavy baggage below the seat of our son, depriving him of the comfortable leg space. Our Son Achu wanted to convey his displeasure but I stared at him to keep quiet.

We had  booked a room in “Sevana Lodge” Kandy well in advance. It had basic facilities like airy rooms, good linen, neat toilets and  hot water shower. The owner with her family is living downstairs. She has converted the 1^st 2^nd and 3^rd floors into a Guest house.

Auto Rickshaws (Tuk Tuks) are available through out though the cheapest and best mode for local travel is the town buses.

Kandiyan people are beautiful. They are not very fair but have good features possibly due to the traditional classical dance form they practice. We got a glimpse of one such dance in Kandy. It resembled a war dance and had combination of excellent reflexes, songs and rhythm of drums.

Kandy has a beautiful lake in the middle, beside the famous Tooth Relic Temple, (Dalada Maligawa), the most sacred of all the Buddhist centres in the world. The ticket costs SL Rs.1000/- for foreigners and SL Rs.500/- for SAARC country citizens. The Structure was partially damaged once by the LTTE bombers killing eight people.

Sri Lankans are big fans of elephants. Elephant tusks (ivory) are displayed in all Buddhist shrines. The annual festival of the tooth temple (resembling the Dussera of Mysore) and the procession involving elephants and Kandiyan Dancers is world famous.

Sri Lankans have better civic sense compared to Indians. The towns and cities are kept clean. Parts of Kandy town, its junctions, roads, old buildings and sub-ways resemble some unknown town in England or Europe. Yes, the influence of the Colonial past. Unpredictable rains added to the charm.

The second major attraction in Kandy, the Royal Botanical Gardens at Peradenia, five miles away from the town, is the home for the rarest species of plants in Sri Lanka. Said to have set up in the 13^th century by the Kandiyan Kings, this 150 acres garden is a professionally managed centre displaying botanical wealth of Sri Lanka. The creative and scientific method of display of different species is praiseworthy. There are sections allotted for different species having different variants of same species found in the sub continent. One cannot finish the whole area in a day. We spent half a day in the garden. A must visit place in Kandy.

We also visited a hill town, Nuara Elia, located about 70 miles south of Kandy, famous for the tea plantations described as the Switzerland of Sri Lanka. Europeans preferred to stay here for the cool weather. It is also an escape for the Sri Lankans from the scorching heat of Colombo. Paucity of time and non availability of train ticket forced us to reduce the trip to a one day affair hiring a cab, which costed us SL Rs.4000/-. It was school holiday time in Sri Lanka.  The hill station has under it a vast area of tea gardens and associated processing centres. A very big lake and a beautiful garden are the major attractions.

We found here a temple dedicated to Goddess Sita (Sita Elia). According our Ramayana, this area should have been Ashok Van. The priest showed us the footprints of Hanuman who landed here in search of mother Sita sitting below a Ashok Tree.

It was great to witness the expertise and professionalism with which the PWD people work here. It took only an hour for them to clear the road block caused by a landside in the Nuwara Elia- Kandy Section. JCBs were being put to use to remove the earth and big cutting machines removing the fallen trees.

While returning from Kandy, we opted for Train Journey. Only 3^rd class tickets were available, obviously the cheapest. Train journey offers most of the panoramic view of the hill country. Excellent Sri Lankan Tea and some snacks were provided to us in the train. Overall, the two and half hours train journey from Kandy to Colombo was the highlight of our trip.

Authored by: PN Sampath Kumar,
                  Cochin Shipyard, Kochi.
Second of the Series

Sigiriya (Sri Lanka), A Palace in the Sky

A Guest Post by:

P.N. Sampath Kumar,

                                  Cochin Shipyard, Kochi                                  

हिंदी में यहाँ देखें 

I heard of Sigiriya, the historical monument in Srilanka for the first time while surfing internet in 2004 when my colleague in the office entrusted me with the job of planning his vacation in Srilanka. Considering the risk of travelling too much deep into that country due to the turbulent political situation and also the difficulty in climbing the number of steps for his ailing wife prompted him to opt out that option. But those inputs initially saw the seeds of curiosity and longing to visit this place at an opportune time.

Magestic Sigiriya Rock

For SriLankans “Sigiriya” is more than what our Taj Mahal is for us. Derived from the root Sanskrit name Sinha Giri (meaning Lion Mountain) this city used to be the capital of the 5^th century King “Kashyapa”(479 – 497 AD). The Story goes that King Kashyapa, the son of Dhatusena (King of Anuradhapura – 50 KM north of Sigiriya) and half brother of Prince Moggallana killed his father fearing that his half brother would be appointed as the next king. He shifted his capital from Anuradhapura to Sigiriya and created this beautiful city in a span of, they say, 7 years. Sigiriya provided an ideal place for a fortress as it was in a difficult-to-approach remote area. His half brother Dhatusena though fled to India fearing for his life, came back stronger after few years and defeated his brother Kashyapa in a war. It is said that Kashyapa committed suicide by cutting himself, not wishing to die at enemy’s hand. The site became a monastic refuge after his death. In the 16th and 17th centuries, it served as an outpost of the Kandyan kingdom but later went into ruin and was rediscovered by a British archaeologist Mr. H.C.P. Bell.

 

All these in the backdrop of my mind, we included this site in our itinerary during our vacation to Srilanka in mid April 2011. We were staying in Kandy, in central Srilanka. It was a Sunday morning, after breakfast (we came across a couple of south Indian restaurants run by Tamils in Kandy) we proceeded to Sigiriya by a hired cab on a one day trip. Our Driver ‘Tamura’ from ‘Kandy Cabs’ was a nice boy who understood little Tamil and English. As advised by Ms Shakuntala, the owner of the hotel where we stayed, we got sufficient sandwiches, flavoured milk packets and bottled water parcelled for the journey. Itinerary included visit to Dambulla cave temples also en-route.

Kandy has unpredictable weather. We feared rain en-route as it was playing hide and seek for the last two days in Kandy. After a few miles (it is all miles and yards in Srilanka) alongside the Mahaveli River, and later through the reserve forest, we reached Matale town. We took a break there to have a cup of Srilankan tea and later walk around the big goddess temple (Muthu Mari Amman) in the middle of the town. I was told that Mahatma Gandhi has once visited Matale in 1927 and laid foundation stone for one school here.

 

Mariamman Temple at Matale

We furthered our travel through paddy fields and coconut plantations. The journey through the unknown land was pleasant. Paddy fields are getting ready for sowing. Farmers ploughing the land with buffalows is a usual scene. Air smelled mud. Occasional scenes of houses resembled the Malabar Coast in India. The tiled houses there are the most suitable for the rainy whether. On both sides of the road, there were shops selling bananas, fruits and vegetables and tender coconuts. Tourism is becoming a serious business. It was nice to see big Banyan trees on both sides of the road. Thanks to the conscious effort on the part of the government. Banyan trees are great source of Oxygen and even prevent depletion of ozone layer, they say.

Huge Buddha at Dambulla base

Dambulla Caves - Outside

The reclining Buddha

Buddha

Mural

Mural

Dambulla town is also the home for the most impressive cave temple in Asia, dedicated to Lord Buddha. Situated on top of a rock, the five caves are said to have been continuously occupied since it was established in 3^rd Century BC. There is a functioning monastery. Dambulla is famous for murals, mostly Buddhist themes. They also run down below a good museum detailing the Jataka and other stories related to the Tooth Relic.

 

A Chaitya

Though entry for the Sri Lankans is free, foreigners including Indians are charged SL Rs.2200/- (1 SL Re= In Rs.0.45). Despite being funded by UNESCO, and liberally supported by Buddhist countries like Japan and Burma, they charge such huge fee from the foreign tourists. Elsewhere, in Srilanka, SAARC member country citizens are allowed 50% discount on entrance fee. (We availed this discount in Sigiriya and in Kandy Tooth Temple).

Dambulla is a lovers’ paradise too. Roadside shops selling lotus flowers, incense sticks, souvenirs and eatables are aplenty. On a whole, this place somehow did not impress me. This was my first encounter with a Budhist Shrine outside India. They have reduced it to being only a pilgrim centre, run by a group of ritualists catering to the needs of the poor locals.

Sigriya seen from Dambulla rocks

The view around Dambulla rock is enchanting. Sigiriya fortress seen at a distance of 13 miles was inviting us. In the next half an hours travelling through difficult village mud roads (the main road was under repair) we reached Sigiriya. SL Rs.1650/- was the ticket charge per person. We hired a certified guide (paid him SL Rs.500/-). We bought a bottle of cold water and followed our guide Perera. He gave us a very good brief introduction on the city of Sigiriya beginning from King Kashyap till the end.

 

Main entrance - A moat at the foreground

Old brick work

The city is about three kilometres in length and one kilometre in width surrounded by huge wall and an outer moat filled with water for added protection. Creatures like lizard monitors are in abundance. Their predecessors would have helped the intruders and thieves to climb the fort those days. A notice board cautioned the visitors against loud noise which could disturb the wasps on the big trees. Hornets attack is common here.

 

The water gardens

Experimenting with a fountain

The well-organised and landscaped gardens around Sigiriya consist of pleasure garden, water gardens, fountain gardens, boulder (stone) gardens and terraced gardens. The water garden, as it is called, particularly consisting of a number of symmetrical ponds and countless fountains on both sides of the main pathway welcomed us to the fort. Some of the fountains in the water gardens are still operable during rainy seasons. Our friend Perera demonstrated it by exhaling air into one of the holes to show water gushing out from the other fountain.

 

The king's summer palace was also located close to the water gardens, which are amazing constructions for those early ages. The gardens of Sigiriya are said to be the oldest such constructions in Asia and one of the first in the world. Excavations (by UNESCO) are still incomplete and a lot more need to be done.

Ruins of the Palace

The Lion Gate

Halfway through lion gate

The royal palace was built atop the rock while other buildings and gardens were built around the rock. Only the foundations of these structures remain now. At one time, a gigantic brick lion sat at one end of the rock while the climb to the top started with a stairway that led between the lion's paws and into its mouth. Although the lion is no longer there, the paws and the first steps are still visible. The stairway built around the rock leading to the summit is astounding.

 

The highlight of Sigiriya trip is the wall paintings (frescoes) of 5^th Century AD period. From over 500 paintings only around a dozen paintings only are seen. Rest of it would have been destroyed by vandals or Budhist monks who would have thought that these paintings might distract them. These frescoes would remind one of the Ajanta cave paintings in India. Some believe the women depicted in these paintings to be ‘apsaras’. On a closer look, one can easily make out that these women were from different races. These beautiful women resembled, Indian, Chinese and even African faces. The quality and the bright colours speak volumes about the artists of bygone era and the techniques they used.

Graffitti on the mirror wall

A mirror wall beside the main stairway to the rock is another wonder. It is coated with a mirror-smooth glaze and continues to shine despite being exposed to rain, sun and winds for centuries. The graffiti on the wall is believed to have been written between the 6th and 14th centuries by the many visitors who were delighted by the splendor of the rock.

 

Pool at the summit

King's Assembly area

A throne at the summit beside the pool

At the summit an archaeology enthusiast can spend hours looking at astonishing features of such an architectural wonder. The remnants of the swimming-pool, pools providing drinking water and pipes leading off from them are still visible. Meeting places, stone seats, courts and sentry posts are nearby.

 

View from the summit

Farm Lands

We stood there admiring the surroundings, looking at the dense forest on the one side which would have been hunting place for the kings in search of wild elephants to be used in wars and the far reaching fertile paddy fields on the other side which provided them abundant wealth of grains. Somewhere beyond those fields in the north is Anuradhapura, King Kashyap’s birth place. Towards East, 80 miles away is the famous Trincomalee, one of the most beautiful harbours in the world. And in the south-west about 100 miles away is our temporary base in Srilanka. We had to leave as it was already 5 pm in the evening. Sayonara Sigiriya ....

Vishnois of Rajasthan (India)

हिंदी में यहाँ देखें 

There is a small group of elders here and we meet regularly. Once in a month we also arrange for an outing to some worthwhile secluded place. I used to consider myself an Environmentalist and used to pick up all the garbage left behind by picnickers. Truly speaking this act of mine is probably driven by an instinct  for recognition and not out of any real concern. This awakening came to me very recently.

There is a  conservative community referred to as Vishnois living in an otherwise arid state of Rajasthan in India. Their dedication to nature is well known and I wanted to delve  upon them in one of my posts. It was a mere coincidence that I was going through a Hindi blog, a travelogue on  the City of Patna  (in Hindi) which was devoid of any pictures. The kind of language used was itself  picturesque and in fact the words explained everything. Then there was a comment by one Mr. Gourav Ghosh who although appreciated the presentation but was underlining the need for supplementing with photographs. In my own comments, I lent my support to him in a veiled manner. Thereafter I tried to locate him  and landed up at his own site  which had a picture of a Vishnoi women breast feeding a Chinkara   fawn. The photograph was taken by Mr. Vijay Bedi at great pains. Here it dawned upon me that I need not write anything about the Vishnois. No words need to be used. The photograph could speak volumes.

It stirred me up and in my curiosity I searched the web and found yet another photograph taken by Mr. Himanshu Ghosh, a photo journalist working with Hindusthan Times.

Continuing with Nisha's argument that the mother and the child and chinkara being the same in the two photos, thereby making us wonder if they were two different poses,  a third one above  "Ashes"  could google up.

A blogger friend Mr. Ratan Singh Shekhawat, who hails from Rajasthan, sent in a link to the Youtube video. This animation video depicts the sacrifices made by the community. 

Parsis (Zoroastrians) in India - Endangered Species

                                                                                                     हिंदी में यहाँ देखें

While moving around downtown, Mumbai, you are most likely to come across the imposing building housing the Parsi Fire Temple (Atashgah). The beautiful frescoes decorating the outer walls has always attracted me. However the notice board prohibiting entry of non-Parsis always intrigued me. I was always tempted and tried to have a peep inside. At times I even felt like entering the premises, under disguise, wearing a Cap but something within forbade me.

The population of Parsi community , the followers of Zoroastrian faith, is dwindling. They number around 1,25,000 world-wide and out of that nearly 80,000 reside in India and most of them are in Mumbai. Prophet Zarathustra (meaning one who loves camels), introduced the Zoroastrian religion in ancient Iran some 2600 years back. He was also born to a virgin mother "Dughdova". His spoken directives are contained in Avesta, their holy book. Originally this consisted of 21 chapters but additions were supposed to have been made subsequently. The Avesta also incorporates "Gathas" personally authored by the Prophet in the form of verses. Their religion advocates Good thoughts, Good words and Good deeds. They are basically fire worshippers. In their temple, Atash Behram, the holy fire, remains burning all the time and is never extinguished. They refer to their God as Ahura Mazda.

Before we start exploring about them, let us briefly have a look at their glorious past. As early as 550 BC, Cyrus the Great established the Achaemenid Persian (Iranian) Empire with their capital at Persepolis. It reached its zenith during the rule of Darius I (522-486). They patronized Zoroastrianism and ruled over a vast area extending to three continents and twenty countries. It was the largest empire in the ancient world. The empire could not, however, withstand the attacks by Alexander the Great and crumbled by 330 BC. Again during the Christian era Ardashir I established the Sassanian Empire in 224 AD which ruled for the next 400 years upto the 7th century AD. Parts of western India (Present day Pakistan) were also under their control. Their state religion was also Zoroastrian.

After the fall of the great Zoroastrian empire, to escape from persecution at the hands of the invading muslims, the Parsis started en-mass migration to safer places. They had a fair idea about the Gujrat coast due to their long trading association. The migration started from an area known as Khorasan (which was a part of Iran earlier but now stands divided amongst many countries) somewhere between the 8th and 10th century AD. The first batch of more than a 1000 people arrived at Diu by the sea route. A local ruler named Jadi Rana or Jadav Rana gave them shelter with an understanding that the Parsis will adopt the local language and customs. The story woven around the offer of shelter says that the King, apprehensive of tall, fair and warrior like foreigners sent a bowl full of milk, implying that there was no place for the Parsis in his kingdom. The leader and High Priest of Parsi community, Dastoor Neryosang Dhaval added sugar to the milk and sent the bowl back to the king. This action implied that just as sugar mixed with milk added taste and flavor to it, Parsi’s will mix with the local people and be an asset to the kingdom – Some say he dropped his Gold ring in the milk instead of sugar signifying that they will only add to the wealth of the kingdom, and never take them away.


These Parsi refugees named their settlement as Sanjan, the name of the town in Turkmenistan where from they had come. Shortly thereafter, within years, a second group also arrived known as Kharsani or Kohistani who also brought with them the instruments of their faith (Alat). A third group is also reported to have arrived taking the overland route. Although there are no documentary evidences regarding their arrival in India, a book titled as "Kissa-e-Sanjan" written by Bahman Kaikobad contains the story of the arrival and settlement of Parsis at Sanjan. This was written in 1599 AD and is relied upon as an authentic work.

within five years of their arrival, they had constructed a Fire Temple for consecrating the holy fire (Atash Behram) brought by them from Iran. Although they had adopted the local language and the customs of the people of Gujrat, they preserved their cultural identity and religious traditions zealously. By 10th century AD they had started moving out and settling in other parts of Gujrat as well. During the 15th century, Sanjan was under attack by the Muslim army. Majority of them fled to Navsari together with the Holy Fire where it got housed in a temple in 1516 AD. Due to differences amongst the high priests, the holy fire got shifted to Udvada in 1742.

Around 1620 the English East India Company was enabled to establish its factory at Surat which became a major trading centre. Parsis who were either traders are artisans, were induced to settle down at Surat to exploit the business opportunities it offered. The English also preferred to deal with the Parsis and many of them became the brokers of the Company. Under the famous wedding treaty of 1665 (Catherine Braganza of Portugal to Charles the Second of England) the islands of Bombay were ceded to the British Crown which was eventually leased out to the East India Company. The Company was interested in developing Bombay as its base for it operations and it needed skilled people for various activities. People from Surat were given inducements to migrate to Bombay including the Parsis. Once again the Parsi population started moving to Bombay because of the prosperity it held for them. Gujrat also suffered from a great famine during that period which further accelerated the movement of Parsis to Bombay. As a matter of fact Parsis were already settled in Bombay even prior to 1640 during the Portuguese occupation. There are records of one Dorabji Nanabhoy who is said to have been engaged in trade during 1640.

As was the case with Surat, here in Bombay too the English preferred to have Parsis as their trading partners. One Rustom Manek seems to have been the first authorised broker of the Company who was conferred the title of "Seth". It was his son Navroz, who established the Parsi Panchayat in 1728. The Panchayat was intended to implement self governance within the community but due to several reasons it got confined to welfare activities which it continues to administer as a Trust. Being close to the British, Parsis understood the importance of modern education for the prosperity of their community. The first English School was started by them in 1849 and surprisingly it was a co-educational one even at that time. Later on separate schools for boys and girls sprang up. Parsis are credited for their immense contribution in every field including India's independence movement. Some of the eminent personalities being, Feroze Shah Mehta, Dadabhoy Naoroji, Bhikaji Cama, Homi J Bhabha, Homi K Bhabha, Sam Manekshah, Jamshedji Tata, Sooni Taraporewala, Nani A Palkhiwala, Wadias, Godrej and many many more.

As already said, Parsis worship the holy fire. A child (irrespective of a boy or a girl) is initiated into the Zoroastrian faith between the age of 7 and 9 years during a ceremony known as Navjot which is something like the thread ceremony amongst Hindus. It is the first time when they wear a Sudrah (shirt made of muslin which has an inner pocket) and also tie a woolen girdle known as Kushti. This Kushti is made out of 72 threads of Sheep Wool and tied winding the waist thrice. These are the compulsory accompaniments for any religious ceremony. They also sport a vermilion mark (Bindi) on their foreheads on such occassions. They look upon the Earh, Fire and Water as sacred and are revered. So as not to desecrate these elements, they offer their dead to the Sky. When some one dies, after the religious rites, the body is taken out and the room is sprinkled with Cows urine for purification of the area. The dead are placed above a tower (Tower of Silence) known as Dakhma to be eaten away by vultures. The skeletal remains fall down the well and get decomposed due to presence of charcoal, lime and other chemicals. The first such tower was built in 1673 in the Malabar Hill area of Bombay on the land provided by the East India Company. Earliest of their fire temples (Atashgah or Agiary) at Bombay are at Banaji Lane, Opposite Akbarally's show room built in 1709 and on Nariman Street, near CST which was commissioned in 1733.

As already stated in the beginning, the Zoroastrians (Parsi) are now in the category of endangered species. Year after year their population is coming down due to a very slow birth rate as compared to the elderly taking to the tower. One major reason being general apathy towards getting married amongst the males. They seldom consider taking a partner before they are 40 and above. On the other hand modern girls from the community,in their twenties, majority of whom are of western orientation seek partners outside the community. This is a sort of vicious circle. The Parsi community does not accept outsiders to their fold and on the other hand all their people who seek alliances outside the community are driven out. Speaking about accepting outsiders, a high priest of Navsari Atashgah once said:

"if such persons have not shown a sense of fidelity to their own religion of birth, then what guarantee do we have that they will show an unflinching commitment to our Parsi/Irani Zarthoshti beliefs and reet-rivaj?" He further stated:

"I believe that our religion is truly "mazishtacha, vahishtacha, sraeshtacha", the mightiest, the best, the purest and therefore throughout my life my family members and I have always been proud to have been practicing Parsi Zoroastrianism in all respects. Whilst we respect all religions, we should not fall prey to introducing the precepts and practices of other faiths into our homes, nor should we indulge in pujas, fasts, and prasads, if we wish to be truly spiritual in the religion of our birth."

Interestingly and contrary to these statements, the DNA studies carried out amongst the members of the community reveals that the male part of the DNA, i.e the Y Chromosome does indicate the presence of an Iranian ancestry but the corresponding feminine part seems to have been lost and replaced by a Gujarati lineage. Obviously this indicates that the Parsis, when they landed on the soils of Gujarat, had established marital relationship with the local women folk.

Here is a rare video on problems with their funeral: