“RELICS OF OLD CEYLON”(SERIES)

by Desmond Kelly ‘the Star of eLanka’

With our thousands of years of “culture”, I can only “write” of the “Ceylon” I remember & cherish. This Land, our home, has had many “prior-names” but none as pretty or.poetic as Ceylon. “Relics of old Ceylon” therefore, will feature “treasures” that must never be forgotten. I bring them to all my readers of eLanka, in a new age, as an effort to bring back “old memories” that could quite easily be forgotten as the “old Ceylon” , now Sri Lanka,is “modernised” almost beyond recognition. The Kings of old Ceylon (Queens of bygone eras simply lived to serve their “Kings”), not only “ruled” their people, they ordered them to build several collossal temples & statues in recognition of a former “Prince” of “Mother-India” which was the main Island from which the “tear-drop” in the Indian Ocean, Ceylon, was formed by what we call the “Palk-Strait.

The “Prince” I talk about was Prince Siddahartha Gautama, who gave up “everything” to try & find out WHY the World around him was suffering. HE was the Lord Buddha who eventually became and always will be the “KING” of the Buddhist Philosophy. He found his “Nirvana”(Heaven), by contemplation under a “Bo-tree”, still another sacred “relic” in old Ceylon.

Other Kings of that era were responsible for this “stupendous work” for example. On the “face of a rock” at AKUNA, about a mile & a half from the head of “Yoda-ela”, this particular King caused to be carved a statue of the “Teacher” in heroic size, facing the dam at Kalaweva, his eyes ever gazing upon the vast expanse of paddy-fields, irrigated from that resevoir, his right hand “rasied” in a “protective” attitude.

Persons upon whom the “poetry” of this conception has been lost have permitted the view to become obstructed and have even “created” obstructiobs themselves, in that, some Buddhists, well-intentioned, but sadly lacking artistic perception, have erected, over the statue, a canopy of red-tiles, completely out of harmony with the surroundings.

The gigantic statue is nevertheless well worth the slight trouble involved in visiting it. It is necessary to walk from the dam at Kalaweva, first, along the banks of the Yoda-ela, then, up the railway-track, thru a bit of ” jungle” & to climb a short flight of steps, cut into the rock at the insistence of a once philanthropic Buddhist lady.

The “Creator” of the statue was as ambitious as he was skilled. This was a mammoth rock he was working on. He chiselled a huge “block” away ftom the boulder, except for a narrow “strip” , left at the rear to provide support. By doing so, he was able to give a “roundness” of outline to the image, which otherwise, he could not have done.

The “stupendous-statue”, in old terms, is forty six feet, four inches tall, including the nimbus & pedestal, the “head” of the Buddha itself is six and a half.feet, tall, the right forearm, eleven feet, eight inches long, the feet, each six feet, ten inches in length. The “face” of Lord Buddha is “calm”, but not expressionless. The long graceful folds of the robe he is wearing add to the majesty of the figure.

The colossal propotions and the general “style”
have led some “scholars” to doubt that this statue was built by King Dhatu-Sena. The era was considered wrong. They ascribe it to the eleventh or twelfth Century.

It really does not bother me as to how MODERN Sri Lanka is now becoming. It does not bother me as to WHO ultimately takes the Country over, after all, in my life alone, Ceylon was once “Ruled” by the Sinhalese, the Portuguese, the Dutch, the British & now, as has always been the case, there are at least two or three other Nations with their beady eyes on the strategic little Island in the Indian Ocean. Whatever happens in the future, whoever is “in-charge. I sincerely hope that the “Relics of old Ceylon” will always be respected & remembered for what they are.

There will be more “stories” in this series, but, folks, you will have to join me & eLanka, the website for Lankan/Aussies & Lankans everywhere, to read all about it.

Desmond Kelly.
Star of eLanka.