14th March 2017
It was a bit of a noisy start to the morning with the local monkeys deciding to rearrange the furniture on our balcony.
It was a bit of a noisy start to the morning with the local monkeys deciding to rearrange the furniture on our balcony.
Departing the hotel at 8.30am, a long drive
to the North East takes us to todays destination, Polonnaruwa, Sri Lankas’
royal medieval capital from 1073 till the late 13th century.
Polonnaruwa in the second most anciet of
Sri Lankas’ Kingdoms, and the most
significant of the leaders was King Parakramabahu, who was
responsible for the vast irrigation systems that exist throughout the kingdom
today and still supply the rice farmers with their water needs. He decreed that
not a single drop of water should flow into the ocean without being used to
develop the land.
The irrigation system is highly sophisticated starting with the
expansion of the surrounding lake and the establishing channels and sluice
gates to control flow, storage tanks etc.
This resulted in a Golden Age in
Polonnaruwa, and the palace precinct which was a walled city, still has the
remains of the many of the religious and palace buildings of the era.
On first arriving at the site, we first
visited the very good museum, which covered the various periods of
Polonnaruwa’s history. It was clearly a very advanced civilization.
Once the museum tour was complete we headed
off on foot to see the first part of this expansive site.
The ancient channel and sluice gate that fed water from the lake into the irrigation system (now replaced with a more modern valve system elsewhere)
Bathing area , near the sluice gate where the King would bath when at the Summer Palace
The Summer Palace down by the lakeside,
still has a lot of the structure standing as does Parakramabahu’s main Palace.
The Summer Palace
In a tree next to the palace we saw a green leaf monkey, which are apparently quite scarce
The main palace, was 7
stories tall, and whist only a small part of that structure still stands, you
can see the notches in the walls where the timber beams were in place for the
floor of the upper stories. There is also an original staircase still standing,
and in very good condition.
Remains of the main palace
An original staircase still remains
Next we walked to the Audience Hall where all of the reigning Kings would meet with the people's representatives, a sort of parliament.
Audience Hall
The next part of the tour was a real surprise. We walked across the remains of the city wall and a little further on we confronted with the sight of a large bath house that would have made the Romans proud. Here the King would take his bath, using water piped from the dam. Yet another example of the extensive hydraulic systems in the city. This is located a long way from the dam.
The King would enter the bath down these stairs and water would be released through the two fishes mouths either side of the stairs
"Gal Pota", The Stone Book is a massive piece of stone that has inscriptions carved into its surface. The relate to the life of King Nisshanka Malla and his contribution to the development of the Polonnaruwa region.
Next we drive to another part of the city top see a large Stupa which is 80 feet high, and 900 years old and is still in remarkable condition.
It is nearly 2 pm and we are all hungry and very hot, so it is basck in the minibus to find a cool place for lunch. We were soon at one of the many roadside buffet restaurants set up for tourists.
On the way back to our hotel, we saw some wild elephants, grazing by the lakeside and stopped to take a photo.
Remains of the King's changing room
Back in the bus we drove to another part of the city where the main temples were located. First stop was the Thuparama Image House (below) which contains statues of Buddha that once contained adornments of valuable gemstones (all looted). The main statue is totally missing and was said to also contain valuable gems and was lit by natural sunlight through a window in the front wall when the sun was at a certain angle.
These two temples were thought to have contained the Lord Buddha Tooth Relic at one point
Next we drive to another part of the city top see a large Stupa which is 80 feet high, and 900 years old and is still in remarkable condition.
Our final site at Polonnawaru is a sacred site where 3 images of Buddha have been carved into a natural rock face. The images represent meditation (sitting), contemplation (standing), and the passing of Buddha (reclining)
The monkeys are everywhere enjoying the scraps that tourists leave.
On the way back to our hotel, we saw some wild elephants, grazing by the lakeside and stopped to take a photo.
We didn't get back to the hotel until well after 5pm, so it was a bit late for a swim, so we had a shower and rest before dinner.
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