Photo: Nisha Jha & Vasudevan R
Vasudevan R and Nisha Jha recently had the opportunity to visit Sri Lanka and were happy to cover 5 of the 8 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Sri Lanka…
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Sri Lanka – Ancient City of Polonnaruwa
Polonnaruwa is a bit of tongue twister name. I kept pronouncing it wrongly through the trip. Being a UNESCO world heritage site, it was on my list for this Sri Lanka Road Trip. But I had no idea about what Polonnaruwa is besides that.
My first insight into this lovely city was at Colombo National Museum where they had a section devoted to Polonnaruwa era of Sri Lanka. It spoke about its mighty kings like Prakrambahu and his contributions.
After soaking in Anuradhapura, next day I headed to Polonnaruwa. I am happy I did not follow my guide’s advice to do both Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa in one day. It would have been too much to take in one day. At the end of the day, I liked Polonnaruwa far more than Anuradhapura. And I am definitely biased towards the latter.
Sri Lanka – Ancient City of Polonnaruwa
Gal Vihara, also known as Gal Viharaya, means stone or rock temple in Sinhalese. It is a Buddhist temple situated in the second largest ancient city of Sri Lanka, in the Northern Central Province of Polonnaruwa.
The Buddha images at Gal Vihara are known to be very sacred and highly charged. Many pilgrims and visitors have experienced blessings from the images by gaining spiritual realisations and a higher level of awakening. Although Gal Vihara belonged to Theravadan Buddhism, its monuments do show clear evidence of Mahayana Buddhism’s influence from the 12th century.
The temple was built in the 12th century by King Parakramabahu I (1123 – 1186 CE), and in the beginning it was known as Uttararama or “The Northern Temple”.
Photo: http://www.wandr.me
Source: A visit to Sri Lanka’s medieval capital, Polonnaruwa – Wandering Aramean
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Aizudin Zainal
IU7. UNL.
All About World Heritage Sites 