The Half-Moon Stone (16)

Continuing beyond the Rathna Prasada, there is an image house that contains one of the most perfectly executed sculptures in Sri Lankan art. The significance of ‘moonstones’ is debated, but they may well represent stages in the spiritual path. The meaning of the moonstone has been explained by Professor Paranavitana. The first ring on the outside of the stone depicts flames, which symbolize desire. Leaving behind desire and stepping into the next circle, there is a stately frieze of four animals; elephants, horses, lions and bulls pace around the ring. Passing beyond these fore sorrows, as the Buddha did, you reach a circle with a creeper and leaves. The twisting creeper symbolizes the life force, but when this craving is surpassed you reach the goose, which decides between good and bad. At this stage the goose again like the Buddha, leaves home and family behind, in search of truth. An exquisite scroll is the next ring, and the center is the lotus, symbolizing the region of purity and the approach to Nirvana.

Tragically the guard stones and makaras of this shrine are missing, but above the moonstone forcefully executed dwarfs hold up the steps. A base of an image shows where it stood. The buildings, which comprise the site, are of 8th or 9th century date, but they stand on an earlier site.

 

Bodhigara – A Bodhi Tree Shrine (u) 

By the road a seated Buddha statue can be seen, which marks the sight of a former Bodhi tree shine. Three Buddha statues were found here, two are in the museum with the large ‘asana’ (or throne) which is usually under the tree. Stone column bases have sockets for the wooden pillars that held up the building. The seated Buddha statue is in dhyana mudra, the attitude of deep concentration. The two large stone inscriptions found at this sight describe the Rathnapasadha(15) in poetical language.

 

A Pond (v) 

From the refectory or the Bodhi tree shrine, towards the south you come to a pond (v). It is one of the largest in Anuradhapura, and its walls show a feature of the design of tanks. Stones are dressed in columns and laid like the cells of a ‘honey-comb’. This effect absorbs waves beating against the bund, which would otherwise slowly wash it away. Most of the tanks in Anuradhapura would have had bunds made in this way, and the design is known as ‘wave combs’.