Anuradhapura is an ancient city that dates back to the 5th century BC. It was the capital of Sri Lanka for many centuries, from around 4th century BC until 11th century AD. The ancient city is a UNESCO world heritage site.

We stay in a hotel in the “new city” and visit the sacred old city by bike (naturally), doing a 26km tour over the course of a few hours. Most of the sites around the sacred city are not accessible, with rough paths and many steps, so our hand cyclists are not able to visit. The rest of the group visit the Bodhi Tree and Mirisawetiya Stupa, returning with photos and stories to share, but for the remainder of the sites we stick together and just view them from the outside. Our local guide seems to be in a tearing hurry to get us from place to place, so there is little time to savour the sights.

We pause for a while near Kuttam Pokuna as heavy rain hits. We’ve been in the country for three days, and have had threat of rain, but this is the first time it has fallen and caught us.

Our tour finishes up at The Sanctuary at Tissawewa, for lunch. We relax in a grand old colonial building and dream of sipping gin & tonics on the wide and airy patios while staring out into the gardens and watching monkeys leap about in the trees. In reality, this is an alcohol-free area, so the G&Ts are out, but maybe lime soda would do?

Places we visited:

Bodhi Tree

The Bodhi Tree is the second most sacred site in Sri Lanka, next to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy.

This tree – a sacred fig (Ficus religiosa) – is said to have grown from a sapling of the very tree that Lord Buddha sat under while gaining enlightenment. It was planted some time in the third century BC, which makes it more than 2200 years old. While it is not the oldest tree in the world, it is the oldest tree that has a written history, with a known planting date (though if you hunt around you can find references to it being planted in 236BC, 245BC and even 286BC).

It draws many visitors – people coming to worship and pray, as well as tourists like us. You have to cover your shoulders and knees and remove shoes to visit this, and other sacred sites in Anuradhapura. Many people wear white as a sign of respect. It probably isn’t that respectful to wear brightly coloured sarongs over bike shorts, paired with lurid lycra tops; we do our best with what we have, but we do stand out in the crowd of worshippers.

In 1985, during the Sri Lankan civil war, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam gunned down worshippers at the temple. Bullet holes are still visible in the temple walls, and are marked and numbered.

The tree has had an unbroken line of caretakers since it was planted all those years ago. It had a period of ill health some years back and they had to call in expert arborists. Can you imagine being in charge of this terribly important tree if it turned up its toes and expired?

Mirisawetiya Stupa

The original Mirisawetiya Stupa was built by King Dutugamunu who ruled from 161-137BC. The Bodhi tree had been in place a century or so by the time he came by on his way to a water festival following his consecration, and left his sword in the ground. When he came back, the sword was stuck, unmovable, which he saw as a miracle, and ordered that the Stupa be built over the spear.

The Stupa went through a number of renovations over the centuries, the last of which was in was in 1980, more than 2,000 years after it was built, but it collapsed a short time later in 1987. Today’s Stupa was completed in 1993 and encloses the remains of the original.

Thuparamaya

Thuparamaya was the first Stupa to be built in Sri Lanka, some time during the reign of King Devamnampiyatissa (250BC – 210BC). The original Stupa was “paddy-heap” shaped (like the shape of a pile of rice), but following renovations in 1862, the shape of the Stupa was completely changed to its current bell shape. It is said to enshrine a relic of the Buddha’s collar bone.

Jethavana Stupa

Jethavana Stupa, at 122m in height, was the tallest stupa in the ancient world. Its construction was initiated during the reign of Mahasena of Anuradhapura (273–301), and completed by his son. It is believed to house a part of a sash or belt tied by the Buddha.

Unlike Mirisawetiya and Thuparamaya, this Stupa does not have the lime plaster covering, though it looks to have had a covering that has mostly crumbled away.

Kuttam Pokuna

The twin ponds, Kuttam Pokuna, are most likely bathing pools used by monks belonging to the Abayagiri monastery.

Main Refectory and Elephant Pond

The refectory was the main meal preparation and eating place for the 5,000 monks who lived at the Abayagiri Monastery. There are massive troughs, said to be for the rice and vegetables that the monks ate. I am trying to imagine how they would cook up enough rice to fill a massive trough.

Nearby is the giant, man-made, 159m long Eth Pokuna (Elephant Pond). It was built for use by humans, probably for bathing or water supply, and named after elephants only because of its size.

Along the way today