Kalpe - small archaeological site near Horowupotana
Kalpe is a small village in Anuradhapura District, located between the cities of Kahatagasdigiliya and Horowupotana at the A12 Puttalam-Trincomalee road. The Puravidya Stana (Archaeological Site) is in only 1 km distance from the A12 highway. A signboard of the Archaeological Department is posted at the main road. Road distances to Kahatagasdigiliya and Horowupotana are 14 km (9 miles) and 9 km (6 miles) respecively. Anuradhapura is 48 km (30 miles) to the west and Trincomalee 58 km (38 miles) to the east.
Kalpe Thammennawahinna is an archaeological site of the Anuradhapura period not entirely excavated. The almost rectangular archaeological area is around half a kilometer long and covers around 30 hectares. It has only few and small but typical elements of an ancient monastery. What is remarkable is that the few ruins are from completely different historical periods. A life size Buddha in Samadhi Mudra was destroyed by treasure hunters.
Kalpe Thammennawahinna is an archaeological site of the Anuradhapura period not entirely excavated. The almost rectangular archaeological area is around half a kilometer long and covers around 30 hectares. It has only few and small but typical elements of an ancient monastery. What is remarkable is that the few ruins are from completely different historical periods. A life size Buddha in Samadhi Mudra was destroyed by treasure hunters.
The main building of Kalpe is a brick stupa of modest size on a comparatively large platform, measuring 4m by 4m. The stupa dates back to the Anuradhapura period. Stone carvings depicting highly stylized footprints of the Buddha (called Siripathulgala) are placed in the cardinal directions on all four sides of the stupa. Like at many other ancient stupas in Sri Lanka, numerous small and damaged modern Buddha sculptures are placed on the platform, just at the edge of the stupa building. When Buddha images fall down and break into pieces or are otherwise damaged, they are not thrown away, but villagers do not keep them at home any more but bring them to a sacred site. The stupa of Kalpe is often visited by young couples who believe that praying here is helpful for their wishes of children.
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Close to the stupa is a former temple gateway, consisting of typical elements such as an undecorated balustrades (Korawakgala), a guard stone (Muragal) with a guardian statue and a moonstone (Sandakada Pahana), all of small size. The weathered moonstone is remarkable for its design. Mythical animals slightly resembling lions can be seen in the center, where usually a lotus pedal is to be expected. It is said that the Kalpe moonstone is from the Polonnaruwa period, because out of the four Buddhist animals the bull is missing, which, out of respect for the sacred animal of the Hindus, became a characteristic feature of Polonnaruwa moonstones. But the Kalpe moonstone has other characteristics that do not indicate a design from the Polonnaruwa period. The exterior semi-circle of the Kalpe moonstone shows at least two different animals, namely elephant and horse, whereas Polonnaruwa moonstones typically have only one type of animal in one band. Moreover, the geese are shown on an inner band like on Anuradhapura moonstones, whereas most Polonnaruwa moonstones have them on the outer band. As Polonnaruwa moonstones are rarely found outside Polonnaruwa and are younger and hence less weathered, it seems more likely that the Kalpe moonstone dates back to the Anuradhapura period.
Not far from the stupa is also a group of pillar stumps once arranged in six rows of six columns. 30 truncated pillars can still be seen. They once carried a wooden image house. This kind of buidling, which is called Tampita Vihara, was introduced in the Kandy period. During that early modern period the architects made much more use of wood for sacred buildings than in ancient times. However, as the new settlement area was in the hillcountry and wet zone (whereas the population and agriculture had been focused on the dry zones in the previous Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa periods), the wooden structures had to to be saved from moisture, floods and and animmals by lifting them half a meter above ground level by usinfg such stone stilts. Tampita Viharas are most often found in the areas of Kandy, Ratnapura, and Kurunegala. They are rare in the dry zones around Anuradhapura and the Vannis, where Kalpa is situated. Nevertheless, Kalpe can definitely have got a modern Tampita Vihara in the Kandyan period, because other Tampita Viharas are known from dry zone areas, for example one is completely deserved in Habarana near Sigiriya. To be sure, wooden structures on pillars were not entirely unknown in the privious kingdoms of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa in the dry zone of the island. However, those ancient structures were multi-storey buildings with more than head high pillars on the ground floor. Truncated columns of such modest height are an almost certain indication that this elevated structure in Kalpe was constructed in the Kandyan era.
200 meters east to the stupa is a rectangular compound surrounded by a moat. It probalbly wasa Pabbhata Vihara, a quite regularly arranged type of monastic architecture that was en vogue in the late Anuradhapura period (7th to 10tth century). Seven golden Buddha images were discovered in this area, they are now for safekeeping in the National Museum in Colombo.
200 meters east to the stupa is a rectangular compound surrounded by a moat. It probalbly wasa Pabbhata Vihara, a quite regularly arranged type of monastic architecture that was en vogue in the late Anuradhapura period (7th to 10tth century). Seven golden Buddha images were discovered in this area, they are now for safekeeping in the National Museum in Colombo.
