[ The Rajangana Ruins ]
By Sajendra Kumara
Location:
The picturesque Hasthikuchchi ruins are located in the North Western Province on the Anuradhapura-Padeniya road close to Galgamuwa.
The meaning of the word Hasthikuchchi
It is a Pali word meaning 'Elephant Stomach'. It is also known as 'The Eth - Kus - Vehera'.
Eth - elephant
Kus - stomach
හස්තිකුච්චි යන්නෙහි අර්ථය හස්තියාගේ උදරය යන්නයි. මෙය පාලි භාෂාවෙන් බිඳී ආ අර්ථයකි. මෙම ස්ථානය ඇත් කුස් වෙහෙර යනුවෙන්ද හඳුන්වනු ලබයි.
The place has got the name Hasthikuchchi apparently because of a large rock situated within the ruined temple complex.
බොහෝ විට මෙම ස්ථානයට හස්තිකුච්චි යන නම ලැබී ඇත්තේ මෙහි ඇති හස්තියෙකුගේ කුසක ස්වරූපය ගත් පර්වතය නිසා විය හැක. (පහත ඡායාරූපය බලන්න)
The temple complex is one of the oldest Buddhist monasteries in the island. The place is said to have been constructed by king Dewanampiyathissa (307-267 BC).
මෙම විහාර සංකීර්ණය දිවයිනේ ඇති පැරණිතම විහාර සංකීර්ණයකි. දේවානම්පියතිස්ස රජු විසින් මෙම ස්ථානය කෙරවූ බව පැවසේ.
This magnificent Buddhist temple complex is associated with the story of the king Sirisangabo(251-253 AD).
මෙම චමත්කාරජනක විහාර සංකීර්ණය සිරි සඟබෝ කතා පුවත හා සම්බන්ධ වෙයි.
Gotabaya, a good friend of Sirisangabo , ousted the pious king Sirisangabo and captured power. The king went into self exile in the guise of a hermit.
ඉතා දැහැමි රජ කෙනෙකු වූ සිරි සඟබෝ රජතුමා තමාගේ කුළුපග මිතුරකු වූ ගෝඨාභය විසින් බලයෙන් පහ කරන ලදී. ඉන් අනතුරුව සිරි සඟබෝ රජතුමා මෙම ස්ථානයේ තාපසයකු ලෙසින් සැගව ජීවත් වූ බව පැවසේ.
When the king visited this place, the old monastery had been covered with the jungle.
සිරි සඟ බෝ රජතුමා පැරණි විහාර භූමියට පැමිණෙන විට එය වනාන්තරයෙන් වැසී ගොස් තිබූ ස්ථානයක් බව සඳහන් වෙයි
Meanwhile, Gotabaya feared that the ex-king would return. So he launched a massive manhunt in every nook and corner of the kingdom.
මේ අතර සිරිසඟ බෝ රජතුමා නැවත පැමිණ තම බලය තහවුරු කර ගනී යැයි බිය වූ ගෝඨාභය සිරි සඟබෝ රජතුමා මරා දැමීම සඳහා රටේ සෑම තැනකම ඔහු සොයා දැවැන්ත මෙහෙයුමක් දියත් කරන ලදී. රජතුමාගේ හිස ලබා දෙන කෙනෙකුට විශාල මුදල් ත්‍යාගයක් ලබා දෙන බවද ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කරන ලදී. රජතුමාගේ ස්වරූපය ඇති සියලුම දෙනා ඝාතනය කරන ලදී. මෙලෙස මුළු රාජධානියම භීෂණයකින් වෙලී ගොස් තිබිණි. මෙම කිසිවක් නොදත් සිරිසඟබෝ රජතුමා පැරණි විහාර භූමියේ භාවනායෝගීව වැඩ වාසය කළහ.
He went into the extent of setting a prize for Sirisangabo's head and killed every one who resembled the ex-king. The kingdom was gripped with a fear-psyschosis. Sirisangabo not knowing anything happening in the city of Anuradhapura was engaged in meditation at the old monastery.
It was in the meantime that a poor traveller passing this place had stopped for lunch at this place. He had noticed the 'hermit' and had engaged in a chat. The traveller had told the king the untold sufferings the people of the city were going through because of Gotabaya's rivalry with the ex-king. The ex-king was touched to hear all this. The traveller, then, had shared his packet of meals with the hermit.
එක් දිනක මෙම ස්ථානය පසුකරගෙන යන මගියෙකු දිවා ආහාරය ගැනීම සඳහා මෙම ස්ථානයෙහි නැවතී ඇත. ඔහු භාවනාවේ යෙදී සිටින තාපසතුමා දැක කතාබහේ යෙදී ඇත. මගියා අනුරාධපුර ප්‍රදේශයේ ඇති බිහිසුණු තත්ත්වය පිළිබඳව පවසා ඇත. මෙම කතා පුවත ඇසීමෙන් සිරි සඟ බෝ රජතුමා මහත් සේ කම්පනයට පත්වී ඇත. මගියා තම දිවා ආහාරය තාපසතුමා සමග අනුභව කර ඇත. සියල්ල අවසානයේ රජතුමා තම අනන්‍යතාවය මගියාට හෙළිදරව් කර ඇත. රජතුමා තම හිස රැගෙන ගොස් රට වැසියන් මෙම භීෂණයෙන් මුදවා ගන්නා ලෙස මගියාට ආයාචනය කර ඇත. මෙම ඉල්ලීම මගියා විසින් දැඩි ලෙස ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කළ ද, අවසානයේ ඔහුව ඒ සඳහා එකඟ කරවා ගන්නා ලදී.
After that Sirisangabo had revealed himself to the traveller and he was shocked. By then the ex-king had decided to put an end to all this suffering of his people by offering his head to the poor traveller to be taken to the king. The traveller had been forced to do it through persuasion and explanations. It is said that the king had reached a developed state of his mind through constant meditation.
මේ වන විට භාවනාවෙන් සිත දියුණු කරගෙන සිටි සිරිසඟ බෝ රජතුමා තම හිස කදින් වෙන් කර මගියා වෙත පිරිනමා ඇත. කඳුළු පිරි දෙනෙතින් රජතුමාගේ හිස බෑගයක දමාගෙන මගියා නැවත අනුරාධපුරය වෙත පිටත්ව ගොස් ඇත.
The traveller, finally , in tears, had taken the pious king's head wrapped up in a bag having left the torso in the monastery complex.
The famous pond on top of the rock:
👉 The Story of King Siri Sangabo:
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Attanagala Raja Maha Vihara
An old image house situated in the monastery complex.
Crowds of school children can be seen here every day.
The three friends Sangabodhi, Gotabhaya and Sangathissa came
to Anuradhapura to serve the king. While they were passing Thisawewa,
a blind wise man who was living nearby hearing their footsteps exclaimed,
“The earth bears these three kings” and the last one Gotabhaya heard
this and insisted, “pray tell me. Whose reign will last long ? ” The
answer was ” The last one’s my lord” Having heard this Gotabhaya joined
the others without revealing the friends anything.
Three of them proceeded to the city and served to the king Vijaya
very closely. Later Sangathissa conspired and killed the king and
crowned himself as the king. He ruled Anuradhapura for four years.
Sangathisa was fond of eating Damba fruit and used to travel the
eastern part of the island often with his troops and this was hazardous
to the peasants there and they poisoned the fruit. The king Sangathissa
died eating the poisoned fruit on the spot.
Then the Prince Sangabo was crowned as the king. He was known as a
virtuous king and he was very kind to his subjects. When the criminals
were captured he exiled them to a remote part and the dead bodies
secretly brought from the cemeteries were burned in the guise of the
criminals to show the people. Once a devil called Rakthakshi ( the one
with red eyes) began to kill the people and the king overpowered him by
his virtues and promised him to accept offerings from people instead of
killing them.
Then the prince Gotabhaya conspired and entered the city with his
troops in order to get the kingdom from king Sangabo who was once his
friend. The king Sirisangabo didn’t want to shed blood of the troops
from the both parties ,and left the city only with a piece of cloth to filter
the water. Hereafter, the king lived a simple life in Attanagalla as a
hermit meditating most of the time.
His friend prince Gotabaya began searching for the ex-king and killed a number of people suspecting it was the king. One day a passing by peasant offered the king a meal not knowing it was the king , and he revealed the king about the way the innocent people were killed mistaken as the king.
His friend prince Gotabaya began searching for the ex-king and killed a number of people suspecting it was the king. One day a passing by peasant offered the king a meal not knowing it was the king , and he revealed the king about the way the innocent people were killed mistaken as the king.
The king was worried and he was still more worried to hear about
the bounty on his head. Because of the bounty price, people had began to
kill people and bring the heads to the palace to get the money. Then
the king revealed that he is the king Sirisangabo and asked to cut his head and to
get the money. The peasant refused the and the king himself separated
the head and offered it to the peasant.(Mahawamsa 58-97 verses)
This is the story behind the Attanagalla and the place where the king had lived and the pond he went for the water can still be seen. The place has later become a Buddhist temple and a lot of people visit it today.
This is the story behind the Attanagalla and the place where the king had lived and the pond he went for the water can still be seen. The place has later become a Buddhist temple and a lot of people visit it today.
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