Dematamal Viharaya - Saddhatissa's hiding place
The Dematamal Viharaya is a Buddhist temple with an ancient stupa, located in paddy fields near Okkampitiya village, halfway between Bundala and Maligawila. According to local legends, the temple was the hiding place of Prince Saddhatissa, after he lost his war of succession against his elder brother, Dutthagamani. With the help of the monks, the two brothers were finally reconciled. The aim of the reconciliation was bundling forces of the southern kingdom, Rohana, to launch a campaign under Dutthagamani's leadership in order to reestablish Buddhist reign in Anuradhapura.
The Dematamal Viharaya, administrationally belonging to the village of Okkampitiya, is situated in paddy fields close to the B 522 road, 7 km southeast of Buttala (a major junction in southern Sri Lanka).
The Dematamal Viharaya, administrationally belonging to the village of Okkampitiya, is situated in paddy fields close to the B 522 road, 7 km southeast of Buttala (a major junction in southern Sri Lanka).
Most pilgrims and tourists visiting the Buddhist giant statues of Maligawila and Dambegoda, which are in 11 km distance, travel along the Dematamal Vihararaya without taking further notice of it. However, the ancient temple compound, looking like an island in the wet-rice fields, is worth having a short break.
Dematamal Viharaya in southern Sri Lanka (photo courtesy of Günter Schönlein)
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stupa of Dematamal Viharaya (photo courtesy of Günter Schönlein)
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The main feature of the archaeological site is a typical Sri Lankan brick stupa. This specimen probably dates back to the Anuradhapura period. Local traditions have it that the structure is from the 3rd century BC, this is to say: from the island’s earliest Buddhist period.
Bodhigara of Dematamal Viharaya (photo courtesy of Günter Schönlein)
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Pathimagara of Dematamal Viharaya (courtesy of Günter Schönlein)
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Within the small compound of Dematamal Viharaya, there are also some traces of other structures, most of them being meditation cells of monks’ abodes. Apart from those simple platforms, there are classical ceremonial buildings, too, namely a Pathimagara once serving as a place of veneration of a Buddha statue and a Bodhigara, in which a tree instead of a statue was worshiped.
Bodhisattva bust (photo courtesy of Günter Schönlein)
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museum of the Dematamal Viharaya in Okkampitiya (photo courtesy of Günter Schönlein)
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Some decorations are still in situ, too, or safekept and exhibited in a small museum attached to the temple. One bust, once apparently belonging to a statue, shows a haircrone of a Mahayanist figure. Statues with tall haircrowns usually represent Bodhisattvas, the helping saviours venerated in Mahayana Buddhism. Bodhisattvas are often seen in ancient monasteries of southern Sri Lanka, which was once the principality or kingdom of Rohana. However, the head and hairdress of the said bust in the Dematamal Viharay is too weathered to be identified as a Mahayanist figure unequivocally. Instead of a Mahayanist savious, the statue could simply depict a king in royal ornate.
guardstone with Nagaraja at the Dematamal Viharaya (photo courtesy of Günter Schönlein)
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couple on guardstone (photo courtesy of Günter Schönlein)
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The Dematamal Viharaya has several guardstones still in situ. Most guardian figures have cobra canopies above the head and carry a pot of abundance or a creeper growing to the sky. This symbolism of fertility, replacing the deterring demons known from most of the Indian guard stones, is typical of sculptural elements at ancient temple entrances in Sri Lanka. However, one Murugal of the Dematamal Viharaya is quite unique and even more appealing, in a surprising way. Females are usually not depicted on guardian steles, particularly not on those depicting Nagarajas (serpent kings). A rare exception can be seen at the Dematamal Viharaya. Even more uncommon is that this Murugal shows a couple in an intimate position, underlining the amicable characteristics of Sri Lankan guardstones all the more.
Story of the Dematamal Viharaya in Rohana
Like many other places in the Buttala area, Dematamal Viharaya is said to have been the setting of events of the story of Dutthagamani, the national hero known as Dutugemunu in Sinhala. After having defeated his younger brother Tissa, later known as Saddhatissa, in a war of succession, Prince Tissa fled and took refuge in a monastery.
The Mahavansa chronicle does not give the name of this monastery. But local folk tales have it, that this Buddhist temple must have been the Dematamal Viharaya. This identification, by the way, is most probably the etymological root of the name “Dematamal”. The last syllable is an abbreviation of “malli”, the Sinhalese term for “younger brother”, wheras the first part of the world can be derived from “Detu”, which translates to “I saw”. So the name of the monastery refers to the legend, meaning: “I found my younger brother”.
The Mahavansa (Mahavamsa) reports that the chief monk hid Tissa under as bed, when Dutthagamani appeared in search of the traitor (see quotation below) and that he helped him to flee from the monastery by pretending that his body is a corpse carried by Buddhist monks. Dutthagamani, however, figured out that this was a trick. But he did not dare to capture his foe on sacred temple ground and in the presence of Buddhist monks, because this would have been in violation of the Sinhalese religion. Later on, the chief priest named Godhagatta Tissa (maybe the same chief priest as that one hiding him) succeded in reconciling the brothers and uniting their forces for advancing against the then Tamil-held Anuradhapura.
Actually, this is the crucial point of the story told in the 24th chapter of the Mahavamsa: Even mighty and victorious kings must fully respect the sanctity of the Buddhist Order, which in turn is a driving force to unite the country under one ruler. After the reconciliation initiated by the Buddhist fraternity, Tissa alias Saddhatissa became not only a helping hand in the campaign of Dutthagamani to conquer Anuradhapura and reestablish a Sinhalese kingdom there. He too became his elder brother’s undisputed successor and finalized Dutthagamani’s most pious work, the construction of the then largest stupa in the world, the Ruwanweliseya in Anuradhapura.
The Mahavansa chronicle does not give the name of this monastery. But local folk tales have it, that this Buddhist temple must have been the Dematamal Viharaya. This identification, by the way, is most probably the etymological root of the name “Dematamal”. The last syllable is an abbreviation of “malli”, the Sinhalese term for “younger brother”, wheras the first part of the world can be derived from “Detu”, which translates to “I saw”. So the name of the monastery refers to the legend, meaning: “I found my younger brother”.
The Mahavansa (Mahavamsa) reports that the chief monk hid Tissa under as bed, when Dutthagamani appeared in search of the traitor (see quotation below) and that he helped him to flee from the monastery by pretending that his body is a corpse carried by Buddhist monks. Dutthagamani, however, figured out that this was a trick. But he did not dare to capture his foe on sacred temple ground and in the presence of Buddhist monks, because this would have been in violation of the Sinhalese religion. Later on, the chief priest named Godhagatta Tissa (maybe the same chief priest as that one hiding him) succeded in reconciling the brothers and uniting their forces for advancing against the then Tamil-held Anuradhapura.
Actually, this is the crucial point of the story told in the 24th chapter of the Mahavamsa: Even mighty and victorious kings must fully respect the sanctity of the Buddhist Order, which in turn is a driving force to unite the country under one ruler. After the reconciliation initiated by the Buddhist fraternity, Tissa alias Saddhatissa became not only a helping hand in the campaign of Dutthagamani to conquer Anuradhapura and reestablish a Sinhalese kingdom there. He too became his elder brother’s undisputed successor and finalized Dutthagamani’s most pious work, the construction of the then largest stupa in the world, the Ruwanweliseya in Anuradhapura.
Quote from the Mahavansa
The 24th chapter of the ancient Mahavamsa chronicle is addressed to this war of brothers faught between the two sons of King Kavantissa, who reigned in the southern land known as Rohana:
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„The prince came to a vihara and fleeing to the cell of the chief thera, he lay down, in fear of his brother, under the bed. The chief thera spread a cloak over the bed, and the king, who followed immediately, asked: `Where is Tissa?' `He is not in the bed, great king'; answered the thera. Then the king perceived that he was under the bed, and when he had gone forth he placed sentinels round about the vihara; but they laid the prince upon the bed and covered him over with a garment and four young ascetics, grasping the bed-posts, bore him out as if (they were carrying) a dead bhikkhu. But the king, who perceived that he was being carried forth, said: `Tissa, upon the head of the guardian genii of our house art thou carried forth; to tear away anything with violence from the guardian genii of our house is not my custom. Mayst thou evermore remember the virtue of the guardian genii of our house!' Hereupon the king went to Mahagama, and thither did he bring his mother, whom he greatly reverenced.“
quoted from: http://lakdiva.org/mahavamsa/chap024.html |
