Mullaitivu Gurukanda Rajamaha Viharaya Archaeological Ruins

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මුලතිවු ගුරුකන්ද රජමහා විහාරය පුරාවිද්‍යා නටබුන් - Mulativu Gurukanda Rajamaha Viharaya Archaeological Ruins

The Gurukanda Rajamaha Viharaya in Nayaru village, Mullaitivu, faced significant controversy in 2019. In the peaceful atmosphere that followed the defeat of the LTTE terrorists in 2009, the resident Buddhist monks had to make great efforts to protect Buddhist temples in the North and East from Tamil extremist political parties.

According to folklore, Gurukanda Rajamaha Viharaya is believed to be a place where Princess Hemamala and Prince Dantha rested on their journey after bringing the Tooth Relic of the Buddha to Sri Lanka via Lanka Patauna during the reign of King Sirimeghavanna (303-331 CE).

According to the Director General of Archaeology, Mr. A.B. Mandawala, the Mullaitivu Nayaru Gurukanda Rajamaha Viharaya is situated on an archaeological site brimming with Buddhist ruins that are over 2000 years old and still remain.

Among the ruins of Gurukanda Rajamaha Viharaya, two mounds with brick constructions are visible on the left side of the road. These have been identified as stupa mounds. Due to recent human activities, these mounds have suffered significant damage. The Nayaru road was cut in a way that bisects this archaeological site. In 2015, this road was again widened. A large number of archaeological artifacts unearthed during these road excavations have been placed in a chamber constructed on the left side of the road. These artifacts have been concluded to belong to the Anuradhapura Kingdom period.

The monastic dwelling (Avasa Geya) of Gurukanda Viharaya, built on the right side of the road, is constructed on an ancient stupa mound or another building. There is also a pillar base stone near this building.

Traveling about one hundred meters to the south of this ruin site, one encounters a stupa that has been completely bulldozed. From the scattered bricks, it can be inferred that its diameter may have been approximately ten meters. Based on the quantity of bricks visible at the site, this must have been a relatively large stupa. Fragments of pots and reddish-colored vessel parts belonging to the Anuradhapura period are also abundantly identified at this site.

After this land, which contains numerous ancient Buddhist ruins, was liberated from terrorist control, the Ven. Seruvila Saranakitti Nahimi, who was brought there, built a temporary shelter and resided there. Later, the army constructed a building for the Vihara and offered it to the temple.

Following the passing away of Ven. Seruvila Saranakitti Nahimi, the responsibility of the Gurukanda Viharaya was undertaken by his disciple, Ven. Colombo Medhalankaraththi Nahimi. When he attempted to create a Buddha statue in the Vihara, extremist groups claimed that Gurukanda Ancient Rajamaha Viharaya was a Kovil land and an ancient Kovil, stating that they had occupied the temple premises. They attempted to remove the chief incumbent of the Viharaya. As a result, he had to make strenuous efforts to protect his Vihara premises from a group of extremists claiming it was a Kovil.

In September 2019, with the passing away of Ven. Medhalankaraththi Maha Thero, the Kovil priests filed an appeal in court, obtaining a prohibitory order against performing Ven. Medhalankaraththi Thero’s cremation within the Gurukanda Viharaya.

Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thero’s View

On that occasion, Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thero commented on this land as follows:

“Mullaitivu Nayaru Gurukanda is a sacred land of 93 acres. During the white colonial era, they demarcated and mapped this land. This land was abandoned due to the war. In Tamil, this area is called ‘Kottarampattu,’ which means ‘a land where millions of monasteries existed.’ Around 2007, a friendly monk of Ven. Colombo Medhalankaraththi Thero visited this place, cleaned it, and established a Vihara. After his passing, Ven. Medhalankaraththi Thero took over the Vihara and registered it as a temple. The Director General of Archaeology has confirmed this land.

This monk dedicated most of his life to protecting the Gurukanda archaeological site. He helped the surrounding Tamil people even when he didn’t have a meal. There was never a Kovil here. A statue of God Pullaiyar, which was in another location, was brought by the monk and placed at this site. A group is attempting to achieve the racist objectives of Tamil separatists through this. A religious matter is a very sensitive issue. Politicians representing the local Tamil people have used this as an opportunity to deceive the uneducated Tamil people. This is a subversive incident that concealed the truth and misled the court. What was accomplished was something required by the separatist political agenda. Gurukanda is the permanent temple of this monk. It is the culture of this country for a Sri Lankan monk, upon his passing, to have his cremation at the temple where he resided.

The protest was initiated by a group that gathered around the deity statue that the monk brought to the temple premises. According to the police complaint, neither party was summoned. The Department of Archaeology had given permission for cremation at one location. But due to heavy rain, the gathered Sangha council and the Dayaka Sabha decided to cremate quickly. In this issue, we need to tell the citizens that this protest was incited by a group of politicians representing the Tamil people. Otherwise, there is no conflict between the Sinhala and Tamil people.”

Secretary of Gurukanda Vihara Dayaka Sabha, Mr. Manel Karunarathne’s Account

Meanwhile, Mr. Manel Karunarathne, Secretary of the Gurukanda Vihara Dayaka Sabha, speaks about the history of this Viharaya:

“The Mahavamsa states that this sacred land has a history dating back to as early as the 4th century BCE. The ‘Padavi Asabha’ inscription also mentions facts about this. We have a printed Ceylon Surveyor map from 1832. According to it, this land is referred to as Red Hill. It was named so because of the red soil. In ancient times, it was known as ‘Nakanagara.’ That’s how the name ‘Naga Nagara’ was pronounced. Later, it was referred to as Nayaru. The 1899 Ceylon map shows this land as a Vihara. Therefore, the Department of Archaeology, on behalf of the government, states that there are ruins of an ancient temple here. We can prove that.

But nowhere is there any mention of a Hindu Kovil. During the final period of the war, the army developed this temple. Based on everyone’s religious beliefs, they were the ones who built a Devalaya (shrine for deities) here. The monk intervened in that. This information is available on the commemorative plaque there. The roofs of the Buddha shrine and the Devalaya meet each other. God Pullaiyar is worshipped by both Sinhalese and Hindus. The problem arose after the Thai Pongal day in 2018. There are children whose education was disrupted by the war. Without any racial discrimination, we, along with the monk, worked to teach them. We even provided goods and food. Despite this, Tamil politicians have told the children and families to return everything they received from the temple. They want to incite racism. There are no problems between the Sinhala and Tamil people. Politicians are trying to create such conflicts. That is their survival.

Famous politicians came here. Members of the Local Council also came. We only recognize famous people by their appearance. Hindu devotees are not prohibited from coming to worship the deity statue in the temple. Last year, on Thai Pongal day, a foundation stone was laid to develop the Devalaya. After that, they tried to invade, claiming that we Buddhists were occupying their land.”

Thus, the efforts of the monks of Mullaitivu Gurukanda Rajamaha Viharaya, who are being battered by racists, to protect this archaeological site should be appreciated by all Sri Lankans. If you are visiting the Mullaitivu area, you should definitely remember to visit this place.

Directions

Travel about 18 km towards Kokkilai from Mullaitivu town to reach the Nayaru ferry point. After crossing this ferry point and traveling about 500 meters, this ancient temple is found on the right side of the road.

වැළලුනු කණු පාදම් - - මුලතිවු ගුරුකන්ද රජමහා විහාරය පුරාවිද්‍යා නටබුන් - Mulativu Gurukanda Rajamaha Viharaya Archaeological Ruins

පුරාණ ගඩොල් බැම්මක කොටස් - මුලතිවු ගුරුකන්ද රජමහා විහාරය පුරාවිද්‍යා නටබුන් - Mulativu Gurukanda Rajamaha Viharaya Archaeological Ruins

සම්පුර්ණයෙන්ම ඩෝසර් කරනලද විශාල ස්ථූප වහන්සේ - මුලතිවු ගුරුකන්ද රජමහා විහාරය පුරාවිද්‍යා නටබුන් - Mulativu Gurukanda Rajamaha Viharaya Archaeological Ruins

මාර්ග හා වෙනත් කැනීම් කිරීමේදී මතුවූ පුරාවස්තූන් - මුලතිවු ගුරුකන්ද රජමහා විහාරය පුරාවිද්‍යා නටබුන් - Mulativu Gurukanda Rajamaha Viharaya Archaeological Ruins

References

අසංග, එම්. වී. පී. කේ. සහ නිශාන්ත, අයි. පී. ඇස්., 2018. පෞරාණික ස්ථාන හා ස්මාරක – මුලතිව් දිස්ත්‍රික්කය – පුරාවිද්‍යා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව. 1වන සංස්කරණය. කොළඹ: රජයේ මුද්‍රණ දෙපාර්තුමේන්තුව, පි120-122
Archaeologysl.maps.arcgis.com. 2020. Web GIS Portal – Web GIS Unit. [online] Available at: <https://archaeologysl.maps.arcgis.com/home/index.html> [Accessed 30 September 2020].
ප්‍රදීප් විල්තෙර, ස. and චතුරංග, ස., 2019. ගුරුකන්ද විහාර භූමියේ අරගලය. [online] දේශය. Available at: <http://www.deshaya.lk/article/43/features/13196/ගුරුකන්ද-විහාර-භූමියේ-අරගලය> [Accessed 18 October 2020].
colombotoday.com. 2019. මුලතිව් ගුරුකන්ද විහාරය වසර 2000 කට වඩා පැරණි බෞද්ධ නටබුන් සහිත භූමියක් – පුරාවිද්‍යා අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් උසාවියේදී කියයි. [online] Available at: <http://www.colombotoday.com/මුලතිව්-ගුරුකන්ද-විහාරය-2/> [Accessed 18 October 2020].

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