Mirisawetiya (Sinhala: මිරිසවැටිය; Tamil: மிரிசவெட்டி தாதுகோபுரம்) is a Buddhist temple situated in the ancient city of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.
History
The Mirisawetiya Stupa was constructed by King Dutugemunu [(161-137 B.C.) Nicholas, 1963; Ranaweera, 2004; Wikramagamage, 2004]. As mentioned in the chronicles, this is the first construction work of the Stupa of the king.
Construction of the Stupa
According to chronicles, King Dutugemunu on the seventh day after the victory in eliminating the Chola influence and bringing the country under a single flag went to Tissa Wewa for water sports. He placed his spear/sceptre (the relics of the Buddha are said to be embedded in this sceptre) and other clothes in a nearby place and enjoyed the occasion (Jayasuriya, 2016). In the afternoon when he was ready to go back to the palace, he tried to remove the sceptre but found that it couldn't be moved from the place where it was deposited (Fonseka, 1997; Jayasuriya, 2016). This incident led the king to think that this place is a holy place and accordingly he began to construct a Stupa thereby enshrining the sceptre along with its relics (Fonseka, 1997). As mentioned in the chronicle Mahavamsa, the construction work of this Stupa continued for a period of three years and on the completion of the Stupa, it has been offered to an assemblage of invitees consisting of 100,000 Buddhist monks and 90,000 Buddhist nuns.
Repenting for having partaken a food item containing chilly (Miris) without offering a share to the Sangha, the Stupa is said to have been named "Mirisawetiya" by the king as a punishment for his deed (Wikramagamage, 2004).
Royal Patronage
The Mirisaweti Stupa received the patronage of many successive kings such as Gajabahu I (114-136 A.D.), Voharika Tissa (209-231 A.D.), Kassapa V (914-923 A.D.), Parakramabahu I (1153-1186 A.D.), and Nissanka Malla [(1187-1196 A.D.) Nicholas, 1963].
Also, the other components of the Mirisaweti temple were developed or built by several kings including Gotabhaya (249-263 A.D.), Moggallana I (491-508 A.D.), Kassapa II (650-659 A.D.), Kassapa V (914-923 A.D.) and Mahinda IV [(956-972 A.D.) Nicholas, 1963]. King Moggallana I is said to be constructed a storied building named Candana-pasada in the Mirisaweti Vihara premises to place the hair relic of the Buddha, but that building has not been identified today (Nicholas, 1963; Wikramagamage, 2004).
Anuradhapura slab inscription of Kassapa V
An inscription belonging to King Kassapa V (914-923 A.D.) records that the king had rebuilt the Mirisiwiti [(Mirisawetiya Vihara) Wickremasinghe, 1912].
Anuradhapura slab inscription of Kassapa V
An inscription belonging to King Kassapa V (914-923 A.D.) records that the king had rebuilt the Mirisiwiti [(Mirisawetiya Vihara) Wickremasinghe, 1912].
In 1874, a slab containing an inscription by King Nissanka Malla (1187-1196 A.D.) was found near the Ruwanweliseya Stupa (Wickremasinghe, 1928). According to the inscription, the king had appointed a "Chief Conservator of Monuments" and granted him unlimited wealth to carry out the restoration work of the Mirisaviti (Mirisawetiya Stupa) and other Viharas (Wickremasinghe, 1928).
Ruins
The Stupa is 48.8 m tall and has Vahalkadas/Ayakas (frontispieces) at the base of the Stupa facing the cardinal points (Wikramagamage, 2004). The Ayakas are decorated with ornate carvings. Above the dome of the Stupa are the Hathares Kotuwa (the square chamber) and the Kot Kerella (the spire). However, the original Mirisawetiya Stupa is said to be had a Chatra (a parasol) and a square railing above its dome instead of the present Hathares Kotuwa and Kot Kerella (Wikramagamage, 2004).
The other ruined structures around the Stupa are the components of the ancient Mirisawetiya Viharaya. Among the ruins, the Chapter House, the Refectory, and the residential quarters of the monks have been identified (Wikramagamage, 2004).
Inscriptions
The Mirisawetiya Stupa is surrounded by a compound paved with smoothed stone slabs. Four stone slabs lying on this pavement contain inscriptions engraved in Brahmi Characters of the first or second century A.D. (Paranavitana, 2001).
Restoration
Conservation and restoration of Stupas were carried out from time to time by successive rulers of the country. However, by the turn of the 19th century, most of the ancient Stupas were in a state of ruins (Ranaweera, 2004). The Mirisawetiya also had turned into a mound of earth at that time (Ranaweera, 2004; Silva, 2007).
Restoration by the British
The British colonial government (British Ceylon:1815-1948 A.D.) chose Mirisawetiya Stupa for a complete restoration and the design and supervision of this process were given to the Public Works Department (Silva, 2007). They tried to restore the Stupa by covering the remaining mound by installing a series of circular brick piers and arches but this work was abandoned by them later when the height of the new dome stood at 60 ft (Silva, 2007).
Failed restoration
The next restoration attempt on the Mirisaweti Stupa was commenced in 1979 by a Stupa Development Society with the help of the Department of Archaeology (Silva, 2007). However, a catastrophic failure occurred on the partially restored Stupa on 10 June 1987, several hours before the planned enshrinement of relics (Silva, 2007). Large segments of the new brickwork of the Stupa were separated and fallen due to the effects of the several vertical cracks that already had been noticed on the dome (Silva, 2007). This incident finally left only a conical mound of the weak inner core of the original Stupa (Ranaweera, 2004).
Third attempt
The third attempt to restore the Mirisaweti Stupa was commenced in 1990 by the Department of Archaeology (Silva, 2007). This time, the restoration work was carried out in a more systematic manner than the previous time with the help of the Central Cultural Fund (Ranaweera, 2004; Silva, 2007). On the Poson Full Moon Poya Day in 1993, the restoration work of the Stupa was completed with the pinnacle unveiling ceremony (Silva, 2007). The archaeologists involved in this project had decided not to plaster the restored Stupa (Silva, 2007). However, the Stupa was completely plastered in 1995 due to the demand of the devotees (Silva, 2007).
.See also
Attribution
1) Mirisawetiya Vihara 2 by Nipuna Gamage are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
References
1) Fonseka, S., 1997. Superstitions and beliefs in architecture: an examination of their impact on layouts and site utilization. A dissertation presented to the Department of Architecture, University of Moratuwa for the M.Sc. Architecture. p.30.
2) Jayasuriya, E., 2016. A guide to the Cultural Triangle of Sri Lanka. Central Cultural Fund. ISBN: 978-955-613-312-7. pp.52-53.
3) Nicholas, C. W., 1963. Historical topography of ancient and medieval Ceylon. Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, New Series (Vol VI). Special Number: Colombo. Royal Asiatic Society (Ceylon Branch). p.136.
4) Paranavitana, S., 2001 (Edited by Dias, M.). Inscriptions of Ceylon: Vol. II. Part II. Archaeological Survey Department, Sri Lanka. pp.226-227.
5) Ranaweera, M.P., 2004. Ancient stupas in Sri Lanka–Largest brick structures in the world. CHS Newsletter, 70.
6) Silva, W.N.G., 2007. Conservation of ancient dagobas in Sri Lanka. Engineer: Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka, 40(3).
7) Wickremasinghe, D. M. D. Z., 1912. Epigraphia Zeylanica: Being lithic and other inscriptions of Ceylon: Vol, I. Archaeological Survey of Ceylon. London. pp.42-57.
8) Wickremasinghe, D. M. D. Z., 1928. Epigraphia Zeylanica: Being lithic and other inscriptions of Ceylon: Vol, II. Published for the government of Ceylon by Humphrey Milford. pp.70-83.
9) Wikramagamage, C., 2004. Heritage of Rajarata: Major natural, cultural, and historic sites. Colombo. Central Bank of Sri Lanka. pp.92-94.
2) Jayasuriya, E., 2016. A guide to the Cultural Triangle of Sri Lanka. Central Cultural Fund. ISBN: 978-955-613-312-7. pp.52-53.
3) Nicholas, C. W., 1963. Historical topography of ancient and medieval Ceylon. Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, New Series (Vol VI). Special Number: Colombo. Royal Asiatic Society (Ceylon Branch). p.136.
4) Paranavitana, S., 2001 (Edited by Dias, M.). Inscriptions of Ceylon: Vol. II. Part II. Archaeological Survey Department, Sri Lanka. pp.226-227.
5) Ranaweera, M.P., 2004. Ancient stupas in Sri Lanka–Largest brick structures in the world. CHS Newsletter, 70.
6) Silva, W.N.G., 2007. Conservation of ancient dagobas in Sri Lanka. Engineer: Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka, 40(3).
7) Wickremasinghe, D. M. D. Z., 1912. Epigraphia Zeylanica: Being lithic and other inscriptions of Ceylon: Vol, I. Archaeological Survey of Ceylon. London. pp.42-57.
8) Wickremasinghe, D. M. D. Z., 1928. Epigraphia Zeylanica: Being lithic and other inscriptions of Ceylon: Vol, II. Published for the government of Ceylon by Humphrey Milford. pp.70-83.
9) Wikramagamage, C., 2004. Heritage of Rajarata: Major natural, cultural, and historic sites. Colombo. Central Bank of Sri Lanka. pp.92-94.
Location Map
This page was last updated on 14 November 2022
A short note in Sinhala
මිරිසවැටිය
මිරිසවැටිය යනු ශ්රී ලංකාවේ අනුරාධපුර පිහිටි පුරාණ විහාරයකි.
ඉතිහාසයක්රි.පූ. 2වන සියවසේදී දුටුගැමුණු රජු (ක්රි.පූ. 161-137) විසින් මිරිසවැටිය ඉදිකරන ලදී. මිරිසවැටිය ස්තූපය ඉදිකිරීම සම්බන්ධව වංශකතාහී කියැවෙන්නේ, දුටුගැමුණු රජු දිය කෙලියට ගොස් ආපසු පැමිණෙන අවස්ථාවේ විවේක ගැනීම පිණිස මෙම ස්ථානයේ තබා තිබූ සර්වඥ ධාතු සහිත සිය ජය කොන්තය (සෙංකෝලය) නැවත ගැනීමට උත්සාහ කිරීමේදී එය එතැනින් සෙලවීමටවත් නොහැකි වූ බවත්, පසුව රජු විසින් එය වට කොට මෙම ස්තූපය ඉදි කරවූ බවත්ය. රජු විසින් ස්තූපය මිරිසවැටිය ලෙස නම් කොට තිබෙන්නේ, ඔහු විසින් සංඝයා වහන්සේ නොපුදා මිරිස් මාළුවක් අනුභව කිරීම නිසා සිදුවූ දෝෂයට වන්දියක් වශයෙනි.
රාජ්ය අනුග්රහය
එතැන් පටන් රාජ්යයත්වයට පත්වූ රජවරු බොහොමයක් දෙනා මිරිසවැටි ස්තූපයේ අභිවෘද්ධියට සිය අනුග්රහය දක්වා තිබේ. 1වන ගජබාහු (ක්රි.ව. 114-136), වෝහාරික තිස්ස (ක්රි.ව. 209-231), ගෝඨාභය (ක්රි.ව. 249-263), 1වන මොග්ගල්ලාන (ක්රි.ව. 491-508), 2වන කාශ්යප (ක්රි.ව. 650-659), 5වන කාශ්යප (ක්රි.ව. 914-923), 4වන මහින්ද (ක්රි.ව. 956-972), 1වන පරාක්රමභාහු (ක්රි.ව. 1153-1186), හා නිශ්ශංකමල්ල (ක්රි.ව.1187-1196) වැනි රජවරුන් මිරිසවැටි ස්තූපයේ හා විහාරයේ සංවර්ධනයට කටයුතු සඳහා දායක විය.
5වන කාශ්යප රජුගේ අනුරාධපුර පුවරු ලිපියෙහි හා නිශ්ශංකමල්ල රජුගේ අනුරාධපුර රුවන්වැලි සෑ පුවරු ලිපියෙහි මිරිසවැටිය පිළිබඳ සටහන්ව පවතී.
දාගැබ හා නටඹුන්මිරිසවැටිය ස්තූපය 48.8 මී පමණ උසකින් යුක්ත වන අතර ගර්භයෙහි සිව්දිශාවෙන් වාහල්කඩ ඉදිකර ඇත. වත්මන් ස්තූපයෙහි හතරැස් කොටුව හා කොත් කැරැල්ල දැකිය හැකි වූවත් පුරාණ ස්තූපයෙහි ඒ වෙනුවට තිබී ඇත්තේ ඡත්රයකි. ස්තූපය වටා ඇති නටඹුන් පුරාණ මිරිසවැටි විහාරයේ ගොඩනැගිලි වන අතර, ඉන් පැරණි පොහොය ගෙය, දාන ශාලාව, හා භික්ෂු කුටි මොනවාද යන්න හඳුනාගෙන ඇත. මීට අමතරව ස්තූප මළුවෙහි බිමට අතුරා ඇති ගල් පුවරු 4ක් මත ක්රි.ව. 1හෝ 2වන සියවසට අයත් පසුකාලීන බ්රාහ්මී අක්ෂරවලින් යුත් ශිලා ලිපි දක්නට ලැබේ.
ප්රතිසංස්කරණය19වන සියවස පමණ වනවිට මිරිසවැටි ස්තූපය ගරාවැටී නටඹුන්ව තිබිණි. යටත් විජිත සමයේ බ්රිතාන්යයන් විසින් ස්තූපය සම්පූර්ණ ප්රතිසංස්කරණයකට ලක්කරනු වස් නව ගර්භයක් ඉදිකිරීම ආරම්භ කලත් එය අඩි 60ක පමණ උසකට ලඟාවූ පසු අත්හැර දමන ලදී.
1979 වර්ෂයේදී පුරාවිද්යා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේද සහය සහිතව දාගැබ සංවර්ධන සමිතියක් විසින් මිරිසවැටි ස්තූපයේ සංරක්ෂණ කටයුතු නැවත අරඹන ලදී. කෙසේ නමුදු, ස්තූපයේ නිදන් වස්තු තැන්පත් කිරීමට පැය කිහිපයකට ප්රථම, අළුතින් ඉදිකරන ලද ගර්භය 1987 ජූනි 10වන දිනදී කඩාවැටුනේ ඒ වනතුරු ස්තූපයේ සංරක්ෂණයට ගත් සියළුම උත්සහයන් ව්යර්ථ කර දමමින්.
1990 වර්ෂයේදී පුරාවිද්යා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව විසින් පුරාණ ස්තූප ගොඩැල්ල ආවරණය කරමින් වත්මන් මිරිසවැටි ස්තූපය ඉදිකිරීම ආරම්භ කරන ලදී. 1993 පොසොන් පොහොය දින ප්රතිසංස්කරණ කටයුතු නිමවන ලද ස්තූපය විවෘත විය. වන්දනාකරුවන්ගේ ඉල්ලීම පරිදි ස්තූපය වටා සුදු පිරියම් කිරීම 1995 වසර වනවිට සිදුවිය.
