Jetavanarama Pilimage (Anuradhapura)

Jetavanaramaya Pilima Geya (lit: Image house of Jetavanarama; Sinhala: ජේතවනාරාම පිළිම ගෙය) is located to the west of the Jetavanarama Stupa and is the main image house found in the monastery complex.

The building is a Gedige-type image house that once had a vaulted roof made of brick (Jayasuriya, 2016). As having a main and a side entrance, the building belongs to the Gandakuti style comprising a Garbha-gruhaya and an Antharalaya (Wijesuriya & Weerasekara, 1997). According to the present architectural features, this image house is thought to be a work belonging to the later Anuradhapura Period.

The entrance to the image house is a stone door frame which is about 8 meters (27 feet) tall (Jayasuriya, 2016; Wikramagamage, 2004). It suggests that this image house had sheltered a colossal standing image of Buddha. The Buddha statue may have been done in brick and mortar and the circumambulatory path around it allowed devotees to pay their homage (Jayasuriya, 2016). The lotus pedestal (Padmasana) of the Buddha statue and the twenty-five chamber stone reliquary (Yantragala) of the shrine are still at the site. There are indications that they had been destroyed by fire. The ruined buildings around the image house could be the subsidiary structures of the main shrine.

1) Jayasuriya, E., 2016. A guide to the Cultural Triangle of Sri Lanka. Central Cultural Fund. ISBN: 978-955-613-312-7. p.41.
2) Wijesuriya, G.; Weerasekara, H., 1997. Footprints of our heritage. Sri Lanka National Commission for UNESCO. ISBN: 955-9043-32-3. p.42.
3) Wikramagamage, C., 2004. Heritage of Rajarata: Major natural, cultural and historic sites: Colombo. Central Bank of Sri Lanka. p.136.

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This page was last updated on 14 January 2023