Padalanchana Chethiya (lit: the Foot-print Stupa; Sinhala: පාද ලාංඡන චේතිය) is a small Stupa located to the east of Thuparama Stupa in Anuradhapura District, Sri Lanka. This Stupa is also called Sila Thupa/Chethiya or Digha Thupa.
History
The Stupa is believed to have been built by King Lanjatissa (119-109 B.C.) by covering the Footprint of the Buddha. It is said that after his third visit to Sri Lanka, the Buddha had risen into the air from this place before returning to India.
Padalanchana
The name Padalanchana is found in several chronicles of Sri Lanka. During the reign of King Kassapa IV (898-914 A.D.), a home for Buddhist nuns is said to be built on a site named Padalanchana (Nicholas, 1963). The chronicle Culavamsa (Ch.54; v.44) states that, after being burnt down by the Cola troops, King Mahinda IV (956-972 A.D.) restored a temple of four Cetiyas (Stupas) in Padalanchana (Paranavitana, 1958).
Padalanchana (or Padalasa), according to the view of S. Paranavitana, is referred to four Stupas, located to the east of Thuparamaya, built to mark the places believed to have impressed with the four Buddhas of the current aeon (Nicholas, 1963; Paranavitana, 1958). Citing the details given in the ancient texts such as Dipavamsa, Mahavamsa, Culavamsa, and Mahabodhivamsa, Paranavitana pointed out that the Silathupa which was founded by Lanjatissa to the east of the Thuparamaya could be one of the four Stupas at Padalanchana (Paranavitana, 1958).
The name Padalanchana is found in several chronicles of Sri Lanka. During the reign of King Kassapa IV (898-914 A.D.), a home for Buddhist nuns is said to be built on a site named Padalanchana (Nicholas, 1963). The chronicle Culavamsa (Ch.54; v.44) states that, after being burnt down by the Cola troops, King Mahinda IV (956-972 A.D.) restored a temple of four Cetiyas (Stupas) in Padalanchana (Paranavitana, 1958).
Padalanchana (or Padalasa), according to the view of S. Paranavitana, is referred to four Stupas, located to the east of Thuparamaya, built to mark the places believed to have impressed with the four Buddhas of the current aeon (Nicholas, 1963; Paranavitana, 1958). Citing the details given in the ancient texts such as Dipavamsa, Mahavamsa, Culavamsa, and Mahabodhivamsa, Paranavitana pointed out that the Silathupa which was founded by Lanjatissa to the east of the Thuparamaya could be one of the four Stupas at Padalanchana (Paranavitana, 1958).
The Stupa
The Stupa has been built on a raised circular platform. A flight of steps accompanied by Sandakada Pahana (moonstone) and Koawak Gal (balustrades) provides access to the raised platform.
#) LankaPradeepa.com extends its gratitude to Lalith Kekulthotuwage for providing the necessary photographs required for this article. All the photos are published here with the permission of the author.
2) Paranavitana, S., 1958. Padalanchana at Anuradhapura. University of Ceylon Review. pp.56-61.
References
1) 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). pp.132-133.2) Paranavitana, S., 1958. Padalanchana at Anuradhapura. University of Ceylon Review. pp.56-61.
Location Map
This page was last updated on 14 January 2023
A short note for local school students
පාද ලාංඡන චේතිය
පාද ලාංඡන චේතිය (පාද ලාඤඡන චේතිය) යනු ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අනුරාධපුර පිහිටි ථූපාරාමය විහාර භුමියෙහි වූ කුඩා ස්තූපයකි. මෙම ස්තූපය සිලාචේතිය හෝ දීඝතූපය යන නම් වලින්ද හැඳින්වේ.
ඉතිහාසයබුදුන් වහන්සේගේ පාද ලාංඡනයක් වට කරමින් ලජ්ජතිස්ස රජු (ක්‍රි.පූ. 119-109) විසින් මෙම ස්තූපය ගොඩනැංවූ බව විශ්වාස කෙරේ. බුදුන් වහන්සේගේ තෙවන ලංකාගමනයෙන් අනතුරුව උන්වහන්සේ අහසට නැග නැවත ඉන්දියාව වෙත ගමන් ඇරඹුවේ මෙහි සිට යැයි විශ්වාසයේ පවතී. දීපවංශය, මහාවංශය හා මහාබෝධිවංශය වැනි ග්‍රන්ථ වල මෙවැනි ස්ථානයක් පිළිබඳව තොරතුරු සඳහන්ය.
ස්තූපයඔසවන ලද වෘත්තාකාර වේදිකාවක් මත ස්තූපය ගොඩනංවා තිබේ. සඳකඩ පහන, කොරවක් ගල් වලින් සමන්විත පියගැටපෙලක් මෙම වේදිකාවට ප්‍රවිශ්ඨය සපයයි.