BURIED CITIES

Evening Star, Issue 15478, 28 April 1914, Page 10

BURIED CITIES

THE ANCIENT WONDERS OP CEYLOJv [By the Rev. E, F. Wadcy, in the ‘Sydne; Morning Herald.’]

An Australian visiting Ceylon. cannot bu be impressed by the antiquity and historica romance of much that ho comes across there In his own country he can point to no mouu ment dating back more than a century whilst in Ceylon the age of everything i. counted by the thousand years instead of th hundred. One explanation of (he giant foot print on Adam’s Peak takes him back to th very beginning of tbe world’s history, ana if he is sceptical about accepting this, he i. on surer ground when he visits Gallo, when for thousands of years the merchants of th world have come to trade; and if to-day th. harbor of Galle is deserted for that of Coi ombo, it is practically certain that Galle n-. the site of the ancient Tarshish, from whici Solomon drew many of his treasures. I something more recent is wanted, Gall again provides it, for the old Dutch for still stands as it was built, throe centime. ago, and its walls, in some parts at leas; 70ft thick, still testify to tho solid nabim of all the work the Dutch did in Ceylon. But what arouses the greatest interest art the buried cities. Built about 300 b.c., fo; centuries they have been deserted, and theii

—Ruins Overrun with Jungle,— but within the last 30 years the Government of Ceylon have done much to clear and restore them, and now the tourist can see in comfort the ruins of a city which over 2,000 years ago was the largest and most magnificent city in the world. And yet to 99 peopltout of 100 Anuradhapura, Mehiutale, and Polonaruwa are unknown names. Situated about a hundred miles north, and inland from Colombo, Anuradhapura can be reached by train in a few hours. Everywhere are the ruins of the old city, and in their midst a modern native village. Eight miles away is the hill of Mehintalo, where Buddhism was first preached in Ceylon by tho prince missionary Mihinda, The Cingalese king and people were at once converted, and in honor of" the new religion sprang up the numerous dagobas which are still there and at Anuradhapura. Leading up to Mihinda’s tomb is a flight of over 1,800 steps, some cut out of the solid rock of the hillside, the rest slabs of solid granite. Everywhere aro'ruins of temples and baths, and at the top a large dagoba of solid brick. In Anuradhapura, within a mile of the hotel, there are at least —Five Huge Dagobas,— and the remains of several smaller ones. These dagobas are conical in shape, generally with a spire on the top, built of solid brick,; and said to contain relics of Buddha and priceless jewels. Jetawanarama dagoba .is a typical one, though not the largest. Some figures of Sir Emerson Tennent’s will give an idea of its size;—“lts diameter is 360 ft, and its present height 249 more, whilst the has" covers about 8 acres. Even with tho facilities which modern invention supplies for economising labor, tho building of such a mass would at present occupy 500 bricklayers from six to seven years, and would involve an expenditure of at least a million sterling. The materials are sufficient to raise 8,000 houses, each with 20ft frontage; they would construct a town the size of Ipswich or Coventry, or form a wall Ift in thickness and 10ft in height reaching from London to Edinburgh (or Sydney to Melbourne). The outer surface of these dagobas has crumbled, and they are now covered with trees and undergrowth.” The country hereabouts is quite flat, and the difficulty of an adequate water supply was met by the construction of

—Enormous Dams, — which bad to be excavated and walled up. From these the city was supplied and the, district was irrigated, so that a rich, fertile district, now given up to jungle for lack of a water supply, was 2,000 years ago able to support millions of inhabitants. From this water supply, too, came the water for the pokunas, or baths, which are found everywhere. Some of these are 150 ft long by 50ft broad and 25ft deep, paved with marble, with tiers of granite rising from the floor to the surface. But for the-Buddhist the most revered thing in Anuradhapura is the sacred 80-tree. A branch of the original 80-tree, under which Gotama sat and meditated, was brought to Ceylon from India, and planted there some three centuries b.c., and has flourished there ever since. _ Surrounded by an outer and inner wall, it has always been zealously guarded, and there is every reason to believe that the tree in the inside enclosure, with its three branches carefully propped up, and

—Festooned with Buddhist Emblems,— is the original tree. It is recognised as the oldest known tree in the world. There are imiumerabl o ruins in and Ground Anuradhapura which command interest—the rock temple of Isurumtmiva, the remains of the Brazen Palace, which one© contained 900 rooms, shrines, and carvings—enough to keep one occupied for weeks; hut even a day or two among these ruins helps one to realise that there are still many things we moderns have to learn, for it would tax the stall and ingenuity of our architects and engineers and the wealth of our Empire to reproduce Anuradhapura in its glory.