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Bring back the glory of Anuradhapura

Sunil Vijayapala

I appeal to the President of Sri Lanka to bring back the glory of Anuradhapura by declaring it the Capital of Sri Lanka, at least symbolically. The constant incursions, plunder and arson which could be attributed to the South Indian Cholas and Pandyans, contributed the downfall of Anuradhapura, unless otherwise would be still our capital, as much as Athens to Greece and Rome to Italy.

A strong Military and Police presence in Jaffna, Mullativ and Mannar, and making them a Security Triangle will prevent in future any threats to Sri Lanka, by South Indians and locals, with improper aspirations.

It has being documented that our kingsmen had visited Rome during Roman era and Roman coins have been excavated at our Anuradhapura sites, proving an ancient trade link. One of the dreams of King Kashyapa was to make our currency equivalent to Roman currency. Today most structures will be still standing, if not for marauding South Indian kings such as Paranathaka, who absoluted devasted our ancient cities.

We can boast of the most advanced hydrological society in the world at that time as proven by intricate irrigation projects such as Yoda ale, which connects Kala wewa(Tank) with Tissa wewa, an elevation difference of only 6 inches, separated by
a distance of over 30 kilometers. The engineers of yester year had used a technique to move the water in a zig zag manner to achieve such a gradient.

It may be that there had been some in put by the fully enlightened ones, to built massive structures such as Ruwanweli Seya with such perfection of curvature, although this is just a conjecture. I had the opportunity to go down on an excavation site, thanks to the young archeology officers, where ancient pots, coins, beads and a small water canal system had been discovered. The notion of Arahant Mahinda introducing Brahmi script in 3rd BC is now being disputed, according to a young archeologist, with the findings of pottery dating back even to before Anuradhapura era, with scripts engraved on them, proving an advanced civilization had existed in Anuradhapura. In fact the Vanni Aththos, along with our precious Veddhas( whom our Sinhala educated stupid fools attempt to Sinhalise them, as we were Anglised by the English) were supposed to be the inhabitants before Vijaya's time. This discovery of ancient script, Brahmi or otherwise should be further investigated, without prejudice and shedding aside professional jealousy common among our Sinhala professionals.

Exploration of Anuradhapura, apart from worship, will take months and currently I am so fortunate to do so and one of my attractions is the Ran Masu Uyane, and ancient Royal pleasure park near Isurumuniya, with it's intricate highly sophisticated water duct, pool and pond system. I met the Irrigation Engineer and Archeology officers and requested them to water test the system and document it, which has never being tested before. Another attraction is Wessagiriya, with it's natural caves which could be used as an International meditation center as at present this is being under utilized. I have requested the Assistant Director, Archeology for permission to built a structure with basic amenities, keeping existing ruins in tact, so that expats and westerners who are inclined for meditation in this natural setting, can practice with peace and tranquility. The present Sri Lankan Buddhists still practice Hindu devotional, poojas apparent at Sri Mahabodhi and at Ruwanweli Chatiya.

Tantirimale, situated about 40 kilometers from Anuradhapura, is a fabulously beautiful place where Sangamiita had passed through, is with statues, libraries carved out of a massive rock base, with lotus ponds and a sampling of Bodhi tree could be seen at the top of one of the rocks. At this place Pre-historic drawings by Veddahs is seen in some caves, which are similar to ancient Aborigine drawing found in Australia.

According to young Archeologists, the existing ancient Tank restorations, with a careful global study, will eliminate the problem of water in Anuradhapura. The problem with Sri Lankan mentality is that they keep away from exploring and testing these ancient systems and also fail to document even the ones they have discovered in digital form so that everyone in this world can see them through internet, the marvel of ancient Sinhala brilliance, as most of these places have been declared as World Heritage sites. Unfortunately the Neo-Sinhalaya is still under the yoke of the stupid British.

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