The Abayagiri Dagaba (14)
|
A monastery was founded at the Abhayagiri by King Vattagamini in 88 B.C. The Dagaba itself was the work of King Gajabahu (114 – 136 A.D.) and it reached a height of 115 meters. This was the second largest thupa in the world. It is one of the great holy shrines of the Buddhists. The southern vahalkada is dressed with white limestone and has two austere stelae of earlier, perhaps 2nd century date.
|
|
(r) The Seated Buddha
A second Buddha figure, now black and weathered, but originally of polished white limestone, sits by the roadside to the southwest of the dagaba. It is an extremely fine sculpture, an early, perhaps 7th century A.D. example of a style of sculpture associated with the Northern monastery. It is certainly the most original, and perhaps the most beautiful style in Sri Lankan sculpture. The figure is in the position of vitarka, the attitude of exposition. Behind this sculpture is a restored shrine (s), with guard stones and a simple but excellent moonstone with a lotus in the middle.
The Refectory (t)
Passing along the road, on the left-hand side, a large trough can be seen.(t) this is the Abhayagiri refectory. The trough holds sufficient cooked rice to fill 5,800 monks’ begging bowls. The smaller trough it was presumably for curry. To feed five thousand monks at a time, must have been quite a logistical problem, hence the long shape of the trough, which allows many monks to serve themselves at once, a feature of design seen in modern cafeterias.
Click here to download the detailed map of Abhayagiriya (117kb)
 |
|
