Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
teaching. The earliest Buddhist emissaries also brought to Sri Lanka a cutting of the bodhi
tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment. It survives in Anuradhapura, now
garlanded with prayer flags and lights. Strong ties gradually evolved between Sri Lankan
royalty and Buddhist religious orders. Kings, grateful for monastic support, provided liv-
ing quarters, tanks (reservoirs) and produce to the monasteries, and a symbiotic political
economy between religion and state was established - a powerful contract that is still vital
in modern times.
Buddhism underwent a further major development on the island when the original oral
teachings were documented in writing in the 1st century BC. The early Sri Lankan monks
went on to write a vast body of commentaries on the teachings, textbooks, Pali grammars
and other instructive articles, developing a classical literature for the Theravada (doctrine
of the elders) school of Buddhism that continues to be referenced by Theravada Buddhists
around the world. The arrival of the Buddha's tooth relic at Anuradhapura in AD 371 rein-
forced the position of Buddhism in Sinhalese society, giving a sense of national purpose
and identity and inspiring the development of Sinhalese culture and literature.
The bodhi tree in Anuradhapura has a 2000-year history of human care and custody,
making it the world's oldest tree of this kind.
TANK-BUILDING
The science of building tanks, studying gradients and constructing channels is the key to
early Sri Lankan civilisation. The tanks, which dot the plains of the ancient dominions of
Rajarata (in the north-central part of the country) and Ruhuna (in the southeast), prob-
ably started as modest structures. But by the 5th century BC they reached such dimen-
sions that local legends say they were built with supernatural help. It is claimed that Gi-
ant's Tank near Mannar Island was built by giants, while other tanks were said to have
been constructed by a mixed workforce of humans and demons.
The irrigation system, developed on ever-greater scales during the millennium before
the Common Era, ranks with the ancientqanats(underground channels) of Iran and the
canals of Pharaonic Egypt in sophistication. These dry-zone reservoirs sustained and
shaped Sri Lanka's civilisation for more than 2500 years, until war and discord overtook
the island in the 12th to 14th centuries AD.
