ANCIENT TREASURES OF THE EASTERN SEABOARD – By Bernard VanCuylenburg There is a treasure trove of archaeological wonders in the Eastern seaboard of Sri Lanka and one specific location is the Kuchchaveli,  Pulmoddai and Tiriyaya district of Trincomalee. And that brief introductory line is the genesis of this article. I walked through the desolate track through patches of thick shrub and dense forest, my curiosity aroused by some stone slabs and granite pillars which lay scattered in disarray on the forest floor. Ocassionally I came across ancient brickwork which I surmised may have once been part of a wall. The villagers in the area told me that further on, in deep jungle there were statues of the Buddha badly damaged. This did not surprise me because there is an inscription that this whole area was occupied by members of the Buddhist clergy since the 3rd century B.C. It was late in ...

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