Aluvihare cave temple
Aluvihare Rock Temple
Visitors to Sri Lanka who do not grasp the opportunity to visit
one or more of the island’s Buddhist rock temples are committing a
serious sin of omission. Rock temples usually have delightful settings.
Often they form part of the rock, especially those that nestle beneath
overhanging boulders. Sometimes they are of significance to Buddhism,
such as Aluvihare, located en route to Sigiriya, Anuradhapura and
Mihintale.
Aluvihare is a rock monastery located in a picturesque valley
3km north of Matale on the Kandy-Dambulla section of the A9 route, so it
is conveniently located for those traversing the Cultural Triangle. It
is easily recognised from the road as it has a boundary wall with a
frieze of elephant heads. This sacred place is remarkable for the huge
rocks that are an integral part of it, which is why it is classified as a
rock temple.
One of the first Europeans to describe
the extraordinary topography here was James Emerson Tennent, writing in
Ceylon (1859): “The scene is a very extraordinary one – huge masses of
granitic rock have been precipitated from the crest of a mountain, and
on these other masses have been hurled, which in their descent have
splintered those beneath into gigantic fragments.”
Indeed, the craggy landscape at Aluvihare is much more
dominating and dramatic than at most rock temples, as Roland Raven-Hart,
writing in Ceylon: History in Stone (1964), was aware: “Ceylon
specialises in rock temples: none, I think, surpass this one in
extravagant beauty – not placid elegance but a Durer landscape. And this
because most of the rock temples nest confidingly like swallows under
the overhang of rounded boulders: here huge sharp-edged gneiss rocks
were thrown one on another when a baby giant tired of his toys, and the
buildings cower below them.”
There have been many descriptions of
Aluvihare down the years, no doubt because the awesome rocks have proved
so fascinating to so many visitors. Reginald Farrer, for instance,
writes In Old Ceylon (1909): “Beneath the golden gloom of the boughs the
little track winds upwards towards more open ground; and then, amid the
verdure, the boulders leap into sight – enormous cliffs and peaks, into
which huddle and cling the buildings of the monastery that was once a
vast abbey of scholars. Between two vast blocks of stone is an
alley-way, and on either side are carved into the living rock the
monastic dwellings of Aluvihare. At the farther end a flight of rock-cut
steps goes winding upwards among the boulders to where, on the topmost
pinnacle, a small snow-white dagoba is perched. From its narrow platform
one looks down over all the undercliff of blocks about its base.”
Aluvihare is one of the most important cultural sites in Sri
Lanka, for it was here in the 1st century BC that the Buddhist doctrines
-comprising the Tripitikaya or “three baskets of the law,” along with
the commentaries - were first transcribed after having been handed down
orally for several centuries. This transcription was carried out for
fear that the doctrine would be lost during the upheaval caused by
repeated South Indian invasions. It is said that 500 scholarly monks
congregated at Aluvihare to perform the onerous task of first reciting
the doctrines and agreeing on an acceptable version before writing them
down. Where they assembled for the work is a puzzle, as the only flat
area available does not accommodate so many. No doubt most perched on
rock ledges and in rock crevices.
Once agreement had been reached the
process of transcribing began. The doctrines were written in the Pali
language on long, thick strips created from the leaves of either the
palmyra or talipot-palm. These strips, called olas, were prepared for
use by drying, boiling and drying again. Then they were flattened and
finally glazed. A metal stylus was used to inscribe the elaborate
characters on the olas. Remarkably, it was held stationary while the ola
was moved in order to produce the lettering. The inscribed characters
were then rubbed with a black substance so that they became highly
visible. The leaves were then strung together and bound between
decorative wooden covers.
Probably one senior monk renowned for his knowledge of the
doctrines would have slowly recited them, while monk-scribes wielded
their styli and positioned the olas. The others monks would almost
certainly have been involved in discussion when occasional questions of
interpretation arose. The process of transcription must have taken many
years, for the doctrines alone are said to be 11 times the length of the
Bible, and that’s not counting the commentaries.
The library at Aluvihare, which had safely housed the volumes
of this precious manuscript for so many centuries, was totally destroyed
by the British during the Matale Rebellion of 1848. Along with it went
much of the rest of the temple complex. This came about when the British
pursued a notorious rebel leader to a hiding place in the rock caves
nearby, and then set about punishing the neighbourhood. The consequences
of this sacrilege are still evident today, for since that time
generations of monks have been painstakingly rewriting the Tripitika. As
there are only a few monks involved it is taking an extraordinarily
long time – the first of the three “baskets of the law” was only
completed in 1982.
The tranquility of Aluvihare is in contrast to the better-known
and more frequented rock temple at nearby Dambulla with its numerous
caves shrines. Aluvihare has many caves, too, with ancient inscriptions,
comparatively modern wall and ceiling paintings of interest, and
impressive images of the Buddha. The main cave, for instance, has a
large reclining statue of the Buddha 10m long, together with standing
and seated images. In the vestibule of another cave with a reclining
statue of the Buddha there are terrifying depictions of the hellish
afterlife that awaits sinners. Some of these unfortunate beings are
shown having their eyes pecked out by crows, being disembowelled,
dismembered and impaled on spikes.
One cave is dedicated to the revered Indian monk-scholar
Buddhagosa, who resided at Anuradhapura but is supposed to have spent
several years here during the 4th/5th centuries AD. Buddhagosa, whose
name means The Voice of Buddha, was regarded as the greatest exponent
and interpreter of the Pali canonical scriptures. Born in North India,
he was ordained as a monk and travelled to the island, settling at the
Mahavihare at Anuradhapura, where he spent most of life studying the
scriptures and writing. His greatest achievements were the new status he
gave to Pali scholarship and the development of a coherent and
systematic Theravada Buddhist school of thought.
Don’t forget to climb up to the dagoba on top of the rock just
beyond the cave temples. From this vantage point there are excellent
views of the dramatic topography of the North Central Province, with its
expansive plain and scattered, blue-hued rock escarpments.
Visitors to Sri Lanka who take the opportunity of witnessing
some of the island’s varied Buddhist temples will come away with many
positive impressions. The pervasive spiritual atmosphere is one such
impression, which Aluvihare has in quantity. Another abiding impression
is of the neatness and cleanliness of temples, epitomised by the monk
who sweeps the ubiquitous sand with geometric precision yet intricate
design. Raven-Hart believed that Aluvihare was “exceptionally tidy, so
much so that my footprints seemed intrusions, and I felt like asking for
a palm-leaf branch to sweep them away.”
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