Mihintale
Then…
The history of Mihintale is the history of Sri Lankan
Buddhism, which begins with the story of the Indian
missionary and Buddhist monk, Mahinda,
since this is, literally, Mahinda's Mountain. This was
where King Devanampiya Tissa was converted to Buddhism
by Mahinda in 243 BC. The legend tells how King Tissa
was chasing a stag during a hunting expedition. The
stag reached Mihintale and fled up the hillside followed
by the King until he reached a place surrounded by hills,
where the animal disappeared and the frustrated King
was astonished to find a gentle person who spoke to
him about the Buddha's teachings. It was Mahinda, Asoka's
son, who had come to preach Buddhism. Mahinda tested
the King, found him worthy and was able to convert the
King to Buddhism with 40,000 followers. Buddhism soon
overwhelmed the island, embraced with fervour by the
Sinhalese people, whilst in India it declined. The Buddha
himself sanctified this mountain three centuries before
Mahinda's visit.
…and
now
Mihintale is one of the 16 most important pilgrimage destinations
in the country, with the Poson (June) full moon festival
in particular attracting thousands of pilgrims. The
three flights of granite steps to the top, totalling
about 1840, take the pilgrim through the shadows of
the spreading temple trees to the summit. They were
built in the reign of Bhathika Abhaya (22-7 BC), but
a later paved road provides a short cut. The first flight
of steps is wide and shallow. The climb is sufficient
to require regular deep breaths and a meditative pace.
Regardless of your beliefs, the beautiful
shrines, stupas, caves and, above all, the wondrous
setting, make Mihintale unforgettable. Looking over
the flatlands around Anuradhapura from Mihintale is
a wonderful opportunity to get to know the countryside
of the central north, where life still depends on the
precious water in the pools and channels built by the
kings of long ago.
The principal sites of interest include:
Ancient Medicine
Kantaka Chetiya
Off the Beaten Track
The Ascent
To the Summit
Most of the principal sites of interest
can be visited in a 3-hour tour from Anuradhapura.
At the foot of the mountain
and before the first flight of steps are spread the
ruins of a hospital (Vejja Sala), which dates back to
the 3rd Century AD, some 400 years before the earliest
recorded hospital in Europe. Among the remnants of walls
and pillars are monolithic basins for bathing the sick,
known as bat oruwa or "medicinal boats". They are hewn
from a single rock, but they have a particularly gripping
sculptural quality. The internal cavity is shaped to
immerse a recumbent body without wasting precious herbal
oils. Stones used for grinding medicinal herbs unearthed
here can be seen at the museum, along with medicine
jars whose blue glaze indicates that a link must have
existed between Persia and the island.
 At
the end of the first flight of steps is the 2nd Century
BC Kantaka Chetiya, one of the earliest religious monuments
on the island, excavated in 1934. The 130-metre base consists
of three giant steps of dressed stone, a characteristic
of Sinhalese stupas. Above them the dome has worn down
to resemble a heap of masonry, reaching 12 m in height.
It would originally have been much more impressive at
over 30 m high.
 The
highlights of the building are the four ornamental façades
called vahalkadas facing the cardinal points. The eastern
façade is the best preserved, with horizontal
rows of carvings separated by strips of plain stone.
There are beautiful friezes of dwarfs and elephants
among the symbolic patterns, and on either side the
wall is finished off with a tall carved pillar holding
rather weathered lions aloft. The south façade
also has some very ornate pillars carved with symbolic
animals and plants. There is also a small relief figure
of a naga, which is one of the earliest figure sculptures
on the island.
 South
of the ancient stupa is something even older. On a rock
shelter that would have been inhabited by Buddhist monks
in the 3rd Century BC can be found an inscription in
large Brahmi characters, the forerunner to the Pali
script. These rock shelters are perched on the edge
of a sheer cliff face where the resident monks would
sit on narrow ledges and meditate. The Brahmi inscriptions
below the drainage ledges bear the names, titles and
occupations of the caves' donors. It was considered
meritorious to make such hermit dwellings available
to the arahants, the holy men, and 68 of them have been
found in the Mihintale area.
On a high peak are the ruins of Et
Vihara, the "Stupa of the Elephant". It has a panoramic
view of the sacred valley on the one side and of Kaludiya
Pokuna ("Pond of the Black Water") on the other. This
artificial pond at the foot of the western slope of
Mihintale served a monastery of the 10th or 11th Centuries.
It is a very beautiful and peaceful spot.
Near the base of the westernmost
hill is Indikatuseya dagoba ("Stupa of the Needle").
This site caused great excitement among Buddhist scholars
when Sanskrit texts belonging to the Mahayana school
were found here. They had been transcribed into Sinhala
characters and inscribed on copper plaques in the 8th
or 9th Century.
 The
second flight of steps leads to the remains of some
monastic edifices. At the entrance of the Dhatu Ghara
relic house are the Mihintale Tablets - inscriptions
on two stone slabs that formed the rules and regulations
that governed the monks. They met to discuss matters
of interest at the Sannipata Sala or Assembly Hall and
they ate communally at the Bhojana Salava (Monks' Refectory),
which is the central courtyard. Beyond it are two huge
vats for food hollowed out of single blocks of stone,
set at right angles to each other.  These
are referred to as a bat oruwa ("rice canoe"), on account
of its resemblance to a dug-out boat, and a kanda oruwa,
a trough containing side dishes, generally curries.
They were filled with cooked rice and curries donated
to the monks by devout locals. This facility could feed
more than a thousand monks.
 The
third flight of steps, narrow and steep, takes you on
a spiritual ascent to the highest plateau, where the
lovely Ambasthala Dagoba marks the place where Mahinda
surprised King Tissa in mid-hunt and quizzed him about
mango trees to test his intelligence. The Mango Tree
stupa is supposedly built on the exact spot where Mahinda
stood, and the statue of the King is placed where he
stood, a respectful distance away. The great sage Mahinda
preached his first sermon from the Aradhana Gala, the
"Rock of Convocation", near here.
 From
this plateau trails spread out in all directions. One
leads to the 1st Century BC Mahaseya dagoba, the largest
stupa in Mihintale, which enshrines a single hair relic
of the Buddha. Another path wends its way to Mihindu
Seya where a small golden reliquary resembling the earliest
Indian stupas surmounted by a chattra (umbrella) was
discovered, along with a bronze statue.
Above them all towers the enormous
boulder that covers Mihindu Guha or "Mahinda's Bed".
The bed itself is a smooth slab of stone, the covering
rock was the roof. This is where the sage reposed, apparently
oblivious to discomfort.
 Another
path leads past a long pool in the shadow of a large
low rock which is carved in low relief with a mythical
five-headed cobra. This is the Naga Pokuna, the "Cobra
Pool". Naga is supposed to be the guardian of treasure,
protector of water and the marker of rain. The carving
on this natural rock emphasises its association with
water and it is said the naga's tail reaches down to
the bottom of the pool. The pond is part of an elaborate
irrigation network that connects it with Sinha Pokuna,
the "Lion Pool", by means of stone channels, which never
runs dry even at the height of a tropical drought. The
outstanding lion gargoyle spurts water into a handsome
square bath surrounded by a wide step carved with a
frieze.
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