Kushtaraja Statue in Weligama
Kushtaraja is the name of a rock sculpture within the town limits of Weligama. "Kushta-Raja" translates to “Leper- King”. The name of the rock is “Kushtarajagala”. Another transcription is “Kusta Raja Gala”. It's a cluster of large moss-covered boulders in a small grove with several majestic old trees. A rock-cut image of a Bodhisattva, measuring 383 cm in height, is sculptured in an arched niche, just two metres above ground level. This fine work of sculptural art, though popularly known as the “Leper King”, depicts a Mahayana Buddhist saviour, a Bodhisattva. The Archaelogical Department’s website ascribes the statue to the 6th or 7th century C.E. This seems to be a very early dating. Most of Sri Lanka’s Mahayana Buddhist statues in a similar style are from about the 9th century C.E. A dating to the 6th century would mean, it is earlier than its Southindian counterparts.
Kushtaraja Bodhisattva statueThe two hands of the sculpture display two different Mudras. The gesture of the right hand is Vitarka Mudra, representing discussions and transmissions of the Dharma, the Buddhist teachings. The gesture of the right hand is Katakahasta, indicating the bearing of a flower and a beckoning to the adorant to come closer and to offer flowers. The Katakahasta with spred index and little finger is rarely seen outside Sri Lanka but a very common gesture of the islands Bodhisattva statues which were indluenced by Mahayana Buddhism.
Though much smaller in size than the other Mahayanist rock-hewn sculptures of southern Sri Lanka, the Kushtaraja statue in Weligama is extraordinarily detailed and well-preserved. The upper body of the statue is undressed, whereas the lower part is covered with a Dhoti carried by a decorative waistbelt. The neck is adorned with ecklaces, the arms with bracelets and the legs with anklets. Kushtaraja statue identification
Four figures of the seated meditating Amitabha Buddha are found of the head gear of the statue.
The presence of small depictions of a mediating Buddha in the haircown indicates, that the Kushtaraja statue is a representation of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshwara. But having four of them instead of one in the centre of the crown, is unique indeed. However, Mahayanist iconography was canonized in Bengal not before the end of the first millennium C.E. Hence, variants of Avalokiteshvara iconography sholud not come as a surprise. And concerning Mahayanist art, Sri Lanka was actually a far-away province. Many guidebooks claim, that this rock-cut statue shows another Bodhisattva, namely Samathabhadra. There are two reasons why this sculpture is often identified with Samanthabhadra. In Mahayanist iconography, Samanthabhadra is often depicted multiheaded, but this is not identical with having whole bodies of seated Buddhas depicted in the hair crown. Even if the four seated Buddhas in the crown represent the four eternal Jina Buddhas instead of only one of them, Amithaba, this does not mean that this rock-cut statue depicts Samanthabhadra instead of Avalokiteshwara, because there are no other Samanthbadra images known with four seated Buddhas in the crown. The second reason is the identification of Samanthabahra with the island’s regional deity Saman, protector of the Holy Mountain Siri Pada (Adam’s Peak). All Bodhisattvas of the Mahayana tradition were associated with certain mountain peaks, for example Manjushri with Wu Tai Shan, the most famous Buddhist Holy Mountain of China. Samanthabhadra is associated with Emei Shan in southwestern China (Sichuan Province). However, his supposed Sri Lankan equivalent, Saman, is the guardian deity of Siri Pada in southwestern Sri Lanka. Many pilgrims from India, who came to Sri Lanka in order to climb Siri Pada, went ashore in Weligama, then known as Walukagama. So the Kushtaraja statue marks the starting point of a pilgrimage trail for those who visit the island possibly to seek cure from deseases. In popular belief, however, the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshwara had healing powers, too. In his lion-form of Singhanada, Avalokitesvara was considered by Mahayanists to be the curer of all diseases. In the Himalayas, Singhanada one of the 108 manifestations of Avalokiteshvara, was invoked to cure leprosy in particular. Therefore, the relation to the legend of a cured king or prince does not at all favour an identification with Samathabhadra instead of Avalokiteshwara. Sri Lanka’s most renowned archaeologist, Senarath Paranavithana, identified the sculpture as Avalokitesvara not only by the Amitabha figure on the head-dress but also by the lotus symbolized by Katakahasta gesture. Furthermore, the site seems to have been bounded by four temples, one of which was dedicated to Natha, which means “Lord” and is a name for a regional hill country deity in Sri Lanka. Avalokitesvara and Natha are identified in Sinhalese Buddhism. |
Leper King legendThe name “Kustharaja” refers to a local legend. A prince from a foreign country ailing from a skin disease (“Kustha”) once came on a pilgrimage to the Agrabodhi Vihara. He carved this beautiful image into a nearby rock surface on a vow made to Lord Vishnu. Other versions have it, that the sick was prompted in a vision to reduce his diet to taking only Thambili (coconut pulp) and water for three months as a cure and that he left the statue out of gratitude after being healed, in order to commemorate his miraculous cure. Another legend has it that Kushtaraja was the person who introduced the king coconut on the island. There are many more variants of this legend, some of them about a Sri Lankan prince, others about an Indian nobleman or a seafarer from far-away shores.
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Kushtaraja location
Kushtarajagala is situated 1 km west of the town centre of Weligama 500 m away from the sandy beach and just 200 m south of the Agrabodhi Vihara, where, according to the Bodhivamsa chronicle, one of the first 32 Bodhi saplings from the Sacred Bodi Tree of Anuradhapura was planted.
Weligama is located in Matara District in Sri Lanka’s Southern Province. The coordinates of the Kushtarajagala are 5.969 north and 80.420 east.
