Ambalamas & Medieval Travellers of Ceylon

In medieval Ceylon when a man takes a bride and walks with her to his village, its customary for the woman to walk in front and the man behind her, said Robert Knox, who chronicled the life and times during his capture here. The reason for this tradition, he says is that once a man walked ahead of his bride and she was stolen from behind and the groom didn’t have a clue that his brand new wife had disappeared. In any case both men and women walked plenty of miles then, especially if you didn’t have a bullock cart or a retinue of slaves to carry you in a palanquin, On their journeys their wayside rest places would be the ambalamas.

Recently I had an opportunity to see two such ambalamas in the Kurunegala District. The first was the Panavitiya Ambalama  is situated close to Matiyangana near Narammala in the Kurunegala district. This served as a wayside shelter for travellers on the ancient foot path from Dambadeniya to Kurunegala and Yapahuwa. 

Panavitiya Ambalama. 6 Dec.2014 Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

Not sure who erected the Panavitiya one, but it has been repaired and reconstructed over the years. The large timber columns are carved in the Kandyan tradition and floor beams rest on rock boulders planted on the ground. The structure is designed to achieve stability and raising it above ground level keeps the beams dry and away from white ants. The roof has the small Kandyan peti-ulu tiles.

The second was the Karagahagedera Ambalama, similar in structure to the Panavitiya one but without the carvings on the timber columns that Panavitiya is known for.

Karagahagedera Ambalama, Kurunegala. 6 Dec.2014. Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

The four corners of both rest on solid rock boulders.

The base beams rest on solid boulders. Karagahagedera Ambalama, Kurunegala. 6 Dec.2014. Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

Coomaraswamy’s description of the Kandyan wooden pillars (kappa) fits the Panavitiya ones to T. The beams holding the roof of the Panavitiya ambalama are carved with a great variety of designs, elephants, dancers, birds, flowers, garlands of pearls (mutu dela), and the Goddess Lakshmi is centred on a cross ceiling beam.

Decorative woodwork on the roof and cross beams on the Panavitiya Ambalama. 6 Dec.2014 Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

One column at Panavitiya Ambalam had entwined cobras with the cobra hoods (naga bandhu).

Carved wooden column Panavitiya Ambalama.
Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

There were many of these ambalamas at no great distance apart on frequent paths, says Ananda Coomaraswamy. There were better ones in each village, erected by all villagers, or by one man (or even a woman), anxious to perform a meritorious act.

Carving on a wooden pillar Panavitiya Ambalam. Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

It was easy to imagine the weary wayfarers resting at Karagahagedera ambalama  located near a lush paddy field. Most travellers carried their own food “Bath mula” a rice packet, probably wrapped in a banana or a lotus leaf. Often they would carry their own cooking utensils. Drinking water was supplied by the nearby villagers in stone or earthen pots, covered with a lid and provided with a dipper (kinissa).

Karagahapitiya Ambalama, Kurunegala overlooking the paddy fields. Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

There were a few more pretentious rest-houses, called madama or idama, where food and firewood etc were provided free to strangers, being kept by a madama-rala or idama-rala who held land for the performance of this duty. Such would appear to have been the Governor’s house where Knox made a stay (on his escape) about six miles south of Anuradhapura; “having reached his house,”says Knox, “according to the Country manner we went and sat down in the open house; which kind of Houses are built for the reception of strangers.

The huge tree at the edge of the paddy field near the Karagahapitiya Ambalama. Karagahapitiya Ambalama, Kurunegala overlooking the paddy fields. Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

Coomaraswamy lists the wayfarers as mostly persons going to Kandy to perform their services or take their produce-rent;officials on tour, who travelled with a great retinue; King’s messengers; a few traders; and parties of pilgrims on their way to Adam’s Peak or other shrines.

 

Carved beams of Panavitiya Ambalama, Kurunegala Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

The ambalama served not only as a halting place for strangers, but was also generally resorted to for exchange of news and a quiet chew (of betel) says Coomaraswamy pointing out that it served as the meeting place for the village or gam-sabhava, and was intimately associated with the life of the village community.

References :
Coomaraswamy, Ananda K.  Medieval Sinhalese Art 3rd ed. 1979.
Knox, Robert An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon in the East Indies 1984

Fading Murals of Bihalpola Raja Maha Vihare

Information is pretty thin stuff, unless mixed with experience said the American author Clarence Day and so it was with the Bihalpola Raja Maha Vihare  located off the Kurunegala-Narammala-Madampe Rd, Sri Lanka. We had been warned that the climb to the top was tedious but I was glad that I huffed and puffed and dragged my aching, creaking joints to the higher level of the temple.  Much of the murals are fading and decaying but the grandeur and the colours of what is left of the frescoes in the relic chamber (Datu Mandiraya) of this temple was well worth the climb.  

Mural of possibly Sariputta or Mogallana Arahat thera.Bihalpola Raja Maha Vihare. Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

Historically the temple roots go back to King Devanampiya Tissa (B.C. 89-77), who is supposed to be the first person to convert when Buddhism was introduced to Lanka by Emperor Asoka. An interesting fact I gleaned after returning was that Kingship was founded in Ceylon [Sri Lanka] by Asoka with the consecration of Devanampiya Tissa. This is a hypotheses put forward by Senarath Paravitana, our pioneering archeologist and epigraphist. The temple was later renovated by King Walagamba (89-77 BC) and the paintings are supposed to belong to the Kandyan period.

The opposing right side mural of possibly Sariputta or Mogallana Arahat thera.Bihalpola Raja Maha Vihare. Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

Ananda Coomaraswamy in his classic work Mediaeval Sinhalese Art describes in detail how the natural pigments were prepared by Kandyan artists. White was derived from hydrous magnesite obtained from  a cave known as the makul gal lena in Vetekgama near Maturata. Red came from Cinnabar, which is not known to occur in Lanka and says it must have been imported. Yellow from gamboge (goraka)  from the gokata tree (Garcinia morella). Black  is lamp black and was made from grinding the juice from the jack fruit, Kekuna oil (oil from Canarium zeylanicum) and rosin (hal-dummala, from the hal tree Vateria acuminata) and then mixing it with shreds of cotton cloth and setting on fire this mixture in a clean earthen pot with a second pot inverted above it. The soot is deposited on the top pot and then collected. Blue was rarely seen it seems, but was obtained from the indigo plant. Green was known as pacca and was made by mixing blue and yellow. Shades of colours were obtained mixing red, black and blue with white to form pink, grey and light blue respectively.

Coomaraswamy comments that a characteristic feature was the outlining of all forms with a clear black line: this outline and the occasional use of small quantities of green or white in the detail of an ornament gives just the necessary softening required to harmonize the strong reds and yellows and reduce their extreme brilliancy. This can be seen in the executing of the above two murals.

A fire in 1997 has damaged number of paintings and a wooden Makara Thorana at the temple and treasure hunters have got away with the Sacred Footprint of the Buddha and some of the statues at the Viharaya. Maybe the statue in the middle in the photo below is a replacement as it doesn’t seem to blend in harmony with the other two statues in the relic chamber.

The inner relic chamber. Bihalpola Raja Maha Vihara, Kurunegala. Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

The Makara Thorana at the entrance  too looks as if it has also been redone.

The makara thorana at the entrance to the relic chamber. Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

However, the Jataka stories — stories of Buddha’s previous lives on the Vihara walls are fast fading. The stories are visually retold in long panels and there is a small strip that is just sufficient to give a short explanatory note of the Jataka story. The Vessantara Jataka on the panels on the outer wall of the relic chamber tells the story of one of Buddha’s past lives — about a compassionate prince, Vessantara, who gives away everything he owns, including his children, thereby displaying the virtue of perfect charity.

The first two panels from the Vessantara Jatakaya. Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

The first panel probably shows the people requesting the King Sanjaya to send Prince Vessantara away from the kingdom as he gave away the magical white elephant that brought rain to the kingdom to envoys from Kalinga, a neighbhouring village.The second panel shows Prince Vessantara’s wife Queen Madri in conversation with a bear breasted servant.

Panel with the magical white elephant being led away. Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

The panel with the magical white elephant adds to the panorama but here it is the observer that has to move to follow the story while the mural stays static.

Panels showing people carrying away items given away by Prince Vessantara. Photo copyright Chulie de SilvThe upper level where the relic chamber is situated is reached by two narrow wooden staircases and there are trap doors that were probably there to protect the relics.

The air is cool and tranquil and the view is lush and green from the higher level where the main Stupa enshrining Buddha’s relics are located. Historical records attribute the bringing of the relics to  Brahmin Hambinarayana from Vaishali. At the lower ground zero level, the Chief Priest had displayed some relics in a transparent casket. They looked like minute bone fragments.

The stupa on the top level. Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

Next to the 3 storey relic chamber is a “Tampita Vihara” which is  a shrine room built on pillars.

The 3 story relic chamber is next to the Tampita Vihara. Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

We might not have known the importance of this temple but the people from the vicinity were all there on this full moon Poya day.

Young devotees walk up the stone steps to worship the Buddha Statue at the temple on the top. Bihalpola Raja Maha Vihara, Kurunegala. 6 Dec.2014. Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

Many of Sri Lanka’s temples have decaying historic murals as this one.

The shrine room, Bihalpola Raja Maha Vihare. Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

As Ananda Coomaraswamy said: “The value of these paintings lies not merely in their beauty and charm as decorations, but in the fact that they are priceless historical documents that could npt be reproduced under modern conditions.”

The Berlin Wall & Death Tower, I Saw

Part of the Berlin Wall from the Berlin Wall Gallery. 11 May 2008. Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

25 years after the fall of the Berlin wall and over six years since I glimpsed a piece of this history, it was time to dig up my photos. It was on a cold blustery morning in May 2008, that I saw the eight 12-foot-high concrete sections of the wall and the creepy three-story East German guard tower that had once been located near Checkpoint Charlie — Berlin’s best-known East-West crossing. Each section of the wall apparently weighs over 3 tons.

Where was I? No, this was not in Berlin but at the Berlin Wall Gallery at the Newseum in Washington. Newseum, as the name implies is a news museum — all 7 stories of the plush glass and steel  building that took 4 years to build at a cost of 450 Million dollars. It is one of the most expensive museums and  I suppose no expense was spared to get these artifacts too,

“The Berlin Wall was strong enough to stop a tank, but it couldn’t stop news from getting into East Germany by word of mouth, smuggled messages or radio and television,” so the Newseum said.

The watch tower stands behind the wall. Newsuem, Washingotn DC. Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

Interestingly, the red blur on the back of this photo below is a reflection of me taking the photo.

The Newseum tells the story. Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

The Death Tower, Berlin Wall Gallery, Newseum 11 May 2008.
Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

Amidst the Berlin Walls lethal restrains of razor wire, guard dogs was the dreaded three-story towers that housed the armed guards and searchlights. This one stood at Stallschreiberstrasse less than a mile from Checkpoint Charlie.

Originally there were more than 116 towers says Wikipaedia, but today, only a few towers have survived. The Newseum claims that this is the only one in the US. The death tower, as they came to be called  guard was gift in 1994 to the Newseum from the Checkpoint Charlie Museum in Berlin and was facilitated by Rainer Hiderbrandt, the Museum’s director and founder.

The tower is creepy. I stood looking up at it for ages. Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

So, the icons toppled…. Stalin’s headless statue.

Stalin’s headless statue, Newseum, Washington DC. Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

and there were celebrations.

Newsuem, Berlin Wall gallery. Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

So what do we have after 25 years…. Old order did change, but we are still a world in conflict, mired in wars and definitely not at peace. The euphoria  has subsided, Europe is fraying at the edges and icons may have toppled but there are others that have sprung up….  sort of like the venomous creatures on Medusa’s head. One can hardly escape the sobering 24/7 news that hits you from all sides, unless you are a meditating forest monk. Us, the lesser mortals will reflect on what has happened in the last quarter century this Sunday, on the 25^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Photo copyright Chulie de Silva.

Among ghosts and legends at Sasseruwa (Res Vehera )

Ancient monasteries, potent legends, the mystique of incense laden Buddhist temples is a heady combination and a good playground for amateur photographers. Sasseruwa also known as Res Vihara is such a Buddhist monastery, so named as the area was flooded with rays of light (Res) when the Bodhi tree was first planted. The tree was one of the first 32 saplings (Dethis maha bo Ankara) of the Sri Maha Bodhi in the Anuradhapura.

The monastic complex is located off the beaten track at Galgamuva in the Kurunegala District. Dating back to the 2nd century BC, Sasseruwa Raja Maha Vihara had nearly 100 caves where over 360 priests had lived and attained spiritual enlightement like the Buddha. The main attractions now are the magnificent colossal unique Buddha statues – one reclining in the main cave shrine and the other, the unfinished standing brooding Buddha carved into a rock face. Incidentally both statues are around 39 feet in length and height.

Reclining Buddha Statue, image house of the “Raja Maha Viharaya”  Sasseruva (Res Vehera). 23 Feb. 2014. Photograph© Chulie de Silva.

Details of the feet without the customary pedestal – the unfinished collosal granite Buddha Statue at Sasseruwa. Photograph© Chulie de Silva.

We had taken a couple of wrong turnings and the light was fading, and the inky blue black night was almost on us. I was despairing as there wouldn’t be enough light to photograph. The glimpse of the white stupa, across a lake at Sasseruva was a welcome sight.  As KM de Silva said, the white stupa “gave a subdued but unmistakable quintessence of Buddhism –simplicity and serenity.”

The Bodhi tree at Sasseruwa Raja Maha Viharaya. One of 32 saplings of the Anuradhapura Bodhi tree. Saseruwa Raja Maha Viharaya. 23 feb. 2014. Photograph© Chulie de Silva.

My mind wandered away back in time. I roamed invisibly among the caves of priests meditating; listening to sermons in the evenings, with “hulu athu’ (natural torches made of leaves) lighting up the complex; the Bodhi Puja at the feet of the tree; the lonely artist  moping near his unfinished statue; King Dutugemunu’s Army camping near the lake and even spotting a love tryst between a comely maiden and a handsome warrior. ..

Romanticism aside it was also interesting to reflect on the fact that although  the two forms of religious exercise Buddha proscribed were mediation and learning through sermons, how we lesser mortals needed the rituals of worship for spiritual sustenance. Prof. MB Ariyapala in his book “Society in Medieval Ceylon.” says how people influenced by beliefs and superstitions needed Bodhi trees, dagabas and image houses and the rituals of worship. Thus he says every monastery then also had to have amidst the meditating priests, Bodhi trees, stupas, image houses, and alters for offering flowers and incense. In that respect, society hasn’t changed that much from medieval times.

Reclining Buddha Statue, in the image house of the Raja Maha Viharaya. Photograph© Chulie de Silva.

The main image house “Rajamaha Viharaya” is perched high up on a rock. Inside it is a virtual treasure trove, albeit the collection of frescoes and statues are fast decaying. The Pièce de résistance is unique 39.5 foot reclining Buddha Statue. I walked around the statue as I have never been able to before in any other temple. The robe is of actual cotton threads pasted on the statue and then painted. The threads, the story goes were were woven by a poor woman as an offering to Buddha.

Feet of the reclining Buddha statue with big toenails in equal position indicating this is not a parinirvana statue. Saseruwa Raja Maha Viharaya. 23 Feb. 2014. Photograph© Chulie de Silva.

Lotus chakra marks on the soles of the feet of Buddha. Sasseruwa Raja Maha Viharaya. 23 Feb. 2014. Photograph© Chulie de Silva.

Buddha is supposed to have had thousand-spoked wheel sign on his feet, as described in the Digha Nikaya, in the “Discourse of the Marks” (Pali: Lakkhaṇa Sutta). In the earliest phase of Buddhism was generally aniconic, with the Buddha being represented as symbols such as a footprint, an empty chair, a riderless horse, or an umbrella. Many early worship stones with the Buddha’s foot print exist at monastery sites.

The entrance to the resident of the guardian cobra of the reclining Buddha, Raja Maha Vehera, Sasseruwa. Photograph© Chulie de Silva.

As I was trying to focus on the intricate design of chakras carved under the soles of Buddha, another traveller was pointing and photographing the hole on the wall just behind me. Apparently the hole was the entrance to the abode of a cobra, the guardian of the statue. And if that message on the wall was not enough for any robbers, there was this seated Buddha statue with the cobra sitting very protectively over the head of the Buddha.

The Cobra shielding the mediating Buddha. Sasseruva (Res Vehera) Raja Maha Viharaya. Photograph© Chulie de Silva.

Earlier, with creaking bones and wobbly knees I had climbed up uneven 300 or so stone steps to view in wonder the 39 foot vertical colossal Buddha statue of Sasseruwa. Chiselled in high relief, this unfinished statue is considered to be far inferior to that of the more famous twin the Aukana Buddha statue. In the fading light, there was so much feeling and intensity. One long ear lobe was carved ( as in photo) and the other was not.

Details of the face of the unfinished statue showing the carvings on the left ear. Photograph© Chulie de Silva.

At least 3 versions of legends exist as to why it was never finished –it was a competition between the master and the protege and the latter gave up when the Guru completed first his Aukana statue. The second is the work was abandoned when the artist discovered a crack on the rock. The third is that it was the work of a craftsman from King Dutugamunu’s army and was carried out when the army camped here before going to war with King Elara. Apparently, the army was unable to cross the “Malwathu Oya” (river Malwathu) due to heavy rains.

Saseruwa granite Buddha statue in the Abhaya mudra. Photograph© Chulie de Silva.

This statue might have lost out to Aukana, but there is still an unmistakable impressiveness of this colossal which can dwarf a worshipper to a Lilliputian.

The cool black of a village night, pierced harshly by a few modern lights, yet caressed by soft breezes was upon us when we left. I turned back to record in my mind a one last look. Are the ghosts I could sense a figment of my lively imagination or is the disappointed sculptor still brooding; is the woman who sewed the robe still around — maybe returned to guard the statue as the cobra; are the many painters who devotedly painted murals lamenting over the decaying of their art works. Who knows, but what I saw was not just ruins but a rich piece of their lives. Are we telling their story well?

Colours of Nepal

The sights, the sounds, the smells, the laughter all came tumbling out when I re-discovered  the photos I took in Nepal in 2005.

The young and the not so young, seated in the sun. Photograph©Chulie de Silva

This was my first visit to the country of birth of Lord Buddha. Though I didn’t get to Lumbini, I kept thinking this is the country, this is the earth that he walked on. Not having traveled much in the subcontinent, everything was spectacular.  I had only a hand me down camera but it was great fun trying to capture the mood of what I saw.

The evening shadows were getting longer when we got to the  Buddhist Newars temple of Swayambhunath, with the giant eyes painted on the Stupa. It is  one of the most sacred among Buddhist pilgrimage sites.

Swayambhunath Temple with the eyes painted on the stupa. 5 March 2005. Photograph©Chulie de Silva

Children at the Swayambhunath Temple complex. 5 March 2005.Photograph©Chulie de Silva

Multi-coloured flags fluttered, white robed holy men walked the streets. … Photograph©Chulie de Silva

It was street life at its most interesting.

A snooze to recharge the batteries using solar power. Photograph©Chulie de Silva

Bead necklace maker and vendor sits in front of a beautifully carved door. Photograph©Chulie de Silva

Bhaktapur, the ancient Newar city — a World Heritage site seemed frozen in time. On that bright sunny morning everyone was out basking in the sun. There was a  labyrinth of narrow alleys linking houses, courtyards where it was common to see groups of people giving each other oil massages, pounding rice in open courtyards, or just sitting there in the sun.

The labyrinth of interconnected passgages in Bhaktapur. 6 March 2005. Photograph©Chulie de Silva

Morning chat in the sun.
Photograph©Chulie de Silva

Some were busy at work but this was a slow period for tourism due to various factors.

The potter at work. Photograph©Chulie de Silva

The natural kiln. Photograph©Chulie de Silva

Batsala Temple is a stone temple dedicated to Batsala Devi and  has many intricate carvings.  It is most famous for its bronze bell, known to local residents as “the bell-of barking dogs,” so called as when it is rung, dogs in the vicinity begin barking and howling. The colossal bell was hung by King Ranjit Malla in 1737 A.D. and was used to sound the daily curfew. It is nowadays rung every morning when goddess Taleju is worshiped.

Stone Temple of Batsala. Bhaktapur, Nepal. 6 March 2005. Photograph©Chulie de Silva

Bhaktapur Durbar Square is an impressive  conglomeration of pagoda and and is one of the most interesting architectural showpieces of the valley highlighting the grandeur of the ancient arts of Nepal.

Bhaktapur Durbar Square. Photograph©Chulie de Silva

The grandeur of the ancient Nepalese art. Bhaktapur, Nepal. 6 March 2005. Photograph©Chulie de Silva

And the Pièce de résistance of the visit — the unforgettable flight over the majestic Himalayan mountains.

The legendary Himalayan mountains . Photograph©Chulie de Silva

Acknowledgement: Thanks for this visit to Nepal go to my former manager Dale Lautenbach and Country Director Peter Harrold, who thought a short spell of work at the Nepal World Bank office would be a welcome change for me after the traumatic tsunami of 2004. In Nepal these visits would not have been possible without the support of Rajib Upadhya, Sunita Gurung and Reena Shrestha of the World Bank in Nepal and Jim Rosenberg of World Bank DC.

The Mystique of Gal Viharaya, Polonnaruwa

“At six a.m.  I set off for my fifth visit to the Gal Vihara. … like a pilgrim to Nirvana the jungle still dark but with shafts of dawn now appearing. The head of the standing figure — which I like to believe represents Ananda — was haloed with the first light , while the Master was in deepest shadow. The anguish on the face of the disciple seemed more delineated as he stood protectively over the reclining figure. Little scrappy dogs of all colours kept guard, and I was alone on this great plateau of gneiss,” so wrote Roloff Beny, a passage from his diary quoted in his most prized book in my collection “Island Ceylon.”

The standing statue Gal viharaya, Polonnauwa. AD 1153-86. One of the four great medieval statues supposed to be of Buddha sculptured from a streaked granite rock during the reign of Parakramabahu the Great. The statue was earlier thought to be of Buddha’s disciple Ananda. 12 March 2005. Photograph©Chulie de Silva

Beny, a charismatic reputed photographer uses a blue suffused surreal Gal Vihara image with the standing and reclining statues on the cover of his book.  “No words can adequately describe the feeling of exaltation that I experienced when the spirit of the Island took possession of me,” he says. On his diary notes he asks “How many times down the centuries had the dawn touched the sorrowing face and gradually painted the rippling robes of the Buddha and brought to life the dying features?”

The standing Buddha is considered to be of the finest of sculptures and is 22 feet 9 inches (6.93 m) tall. “The expression is clear and precise, while utterly transcending the limits of spatial and temporal experience,” says Beny adding that “the statue recalls Greek modelling of the sixth century BC.”

Some like Beny are of the opinion that this statue is that of Ananda Maha Thera but Dr. S. Paranavitana identifies it as that of Lord Buddha in the attitude described as Para dukkha dukkhita – “He who sorrows for the sorrows of others”.

The reclining Parinirvana statue of Buddha, Gal viharaya, Polonnauwa . AD 1153-86. One of the four great medieval statues supposed to be of Buddha sculptured from a streaked granite rock during the Parakramabahu the Great. 12 March 2005. Photograph©Chulie de Silva

The reclining image is 46 feet 4 inches (14.12 m) in length, and is the biggest statue in Gal Vihara,and is also supposed to be one of the largest sculptures in Southeast Asia.

The colour and texture of the rock with the banded striations gives an extraordinary effect almost differentiating the textures between clothing and skin. The carving on the pillow is beautifully executed too, with indentations which looks like the crushing of a pillow, with the weight of the head. The pillow has the wheel or chakra, the symbol, which is also found on the underside of the soles of the feet of the reclining Buddha. The slight drawing back of the upper foot in this statue is an indication that this is his withdrawal into parinirvana.

The reclining Parinirvana statue of Buddha, Gal viharaya, Polonnauwa . AD 1153-86. Photograph©Chulie de Silva

The wheel – chakra – in Buddhist art symbolizes  Buddha as the one who in his first  sermon at Saranath, set the wheels of Dhamma in motion — Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion. His subsequent discourses at Rajgir and Shravasti are known as the “second and third turnings of the wheel of dharma.” The eight spokes of the wheel symbolize the Noble Eightfold Path set out by the Buddha in his teachings.

The wheel also represents the endless cycle of samsara, or rebirth, which can only be escaped by means of the Buddha’s teachings. And some Buddhists regard the the wheel’s three basic parts as symbols of the “three trainings” in Buddhist practice: The hub symbolizes moral discipline, which stabilizes the mind. The spokes (usually there are eight) represent wisdom which is applied to defeat ignorance. The rim represents training in concentration, which holds everything else together.

The Gal viharaya, compound Polonnauwa. AD 1153-86, once the “Uttararama” or Northern Monastery built by King Parakramabahu the Great
Photograph©Chulie de Silva

The Gal Vihara or Gal Viharaya is so called because of the rock/granite ( Sinhala = Gal) face that was used to carve the four statues and it was part of “Uttararama” (the northern monastery), in the city of Polonnaruwa.

Wikipedia quoting the chronicle Chulavamsa says “the Vihara was one of the more prominent of the 100 temples built throughout ancient Sri Lanka by King Parakramabahu I (1153 – 1186). The chronicle mentions that Parakramabahu I,  had his workmen build three caves in the rock after finishing the temple: the Vijjadhara Guha (cave of the spirits of knowledge), the Nissina Patima Lena (cave of the sitting image), and the Nipanna Patima Guha (cave of the sleeping image). Although they are described as “caves”, only the Vijjadhara Guha is a cave, while the others were image houses similar to the Thivanka and Lankathilaka, with their walls connected to the rock face. These walls, which were evidently decorated with frescoes^] have since been destroyed and only their bases now remain.

Vijjadhara Guha, Gal Viharaya, Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka. Photograph Jerzy Strzelecki. This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons.

While visiting Angkor Wat in 1993, I first noticed that there in Angkor was a temple very similar to the Sathmahal Prasadaya at Polonnaruwa and heard about the ties between Lanka and Cambodia during this period.

See Bernard VanCuylenburg’s article about; Lanka and Cambodian connections: http://lankavisions.weebly.com/the-cambodian-connection.html

[ See also Wikipedia for more history and images of the seated Buddha statues]

Reference:

Island Ceylon by Roloff Beny (1971, Hardcover)

Roloff Beny | ISBN-10: 0670402095 | ISBN-13: 9780670402090

Happy 4th July, American Friends

Happy memories of street clicks in Washington DC.

The 45 words that form the cornerstone of Democracy , rendered larger than life in a 74 foot-tall marble tablet at the entrance to the Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington DC. Photograph © Chulie de Silva

I was lucky to have a friend Delores Boyer, who would check what was on, and guide me to see Washington. As she drove, I clicked when she stopped at a traffic light or just through the window.

Photograph © Chulie de Silva

Photograph © Chulie de Silva

Over the years, she introduced me to several exhibitions, museums, guiding me through a mind boggling array of art work and sculpture.

For a museum freak like me some pieces remain engraved in my memory.  Degas little ballerina is an eternal favourites. So many years later  it still stirs such emotions as you see this statue and read the story behind the work . …

“At the sixth impressionist exhibition in the spring of 1881, Edgar Degas presented the only sculpture that he would ever exhibit in public. The Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans, the title given by the artist, has become one of the most beloved works of art, well known through the many bronze casts produced from this unique original statuette after the artist’s death.”

Degas 14 year old little ballerina. Photographs© Chulie de Silva @ National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. May 2008

And then there was the famous Dale Chihuly’s glass boat.

Chihuly Glass on a boat Botanical Gardens, Washington. Photograph © Chulie de Silva

The botanical gardens with spring flowers in bloom was such a treat.

Connecting across the globe — A charming lady I stopped to chat at the Botanical Gardens. Photograph © Chulie de Silva

Delores would sometimes sit and read, while I wandered around trying to capture the ambiance of a place.

A favourite haunt — The National Gallery of Art, Washington. Photograph © Chulie de Silva

Photograph © Chulie de Silva

Thanks to Delores and many of my other friends too for the great memories. Have a Happy 4th July!

Fragments of Memories: The National Museum of the American Indian

My first memorable introductions to the world of the American Indians came via an adapted children’s storybook “Hiawatha”, based on the poem “Song of Hiawatha” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  No matter there is controversy about the poem but the evocative verses brought to life a wondrous world of the noble American Indians where I could roam with my imagination. I didn’t understand the significance of the “Pale Face’s” long poem then. Nevertheless, the poignancy of Hiawatha’s departure still remains a favourite piece of poetry.

An exhibit at the National Museum of the American Indian. Washington DC. Photo Chulie de Silva.

By the shore of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
At the doorway of his wigwam,
In the pleasant Summer morning,
Hiawatha stood and waited.
All the air was full of freshness,
All the earth was bright and joyous,
And before him, through the sunshine,
Westward toward the neighboring forest
Passed in golden swarms the Ahmo,
Passed the bees, the honey-makers,
Burning, singing In the sunshine.

Bright above him shone the heavens,
Level spread the lake before him;
From its bosom leaped the sturgeon,
Sparkling, flashing in the sunshine;
On its margin the great forest
Stood reflected in the water,
Every tree-top had its shadow,
Motionless beneath the water.

The Entrance to the National Museum of the American Indian. Photo Chulie de Silva

So through the beautiful doors of the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), my partner in crime for the Museum sojourns, Delores and I walked in. It was warm spring day in 2007, and the first stop was at the 120-seat circular Lelawi theater. Here we were immersed in a dazzling multimedia experience titled Who We Are.  We sat docilely as we were transported to a wooded natural forest area with sunlight streaming through the trees and was introduced to the vibrancy and diversity of the American Indian world, imbibing the strength that different communities across the hemisphere derive from their connections to land, religion, traditional knowledge, self-government, and self-expression.

Aymara Totora-Reed Boat of the indigenous people of Bolivia and Peru. Photo Chulie de Silva

Side view of the long Aymara Totora-Reed Boat of the indegenous people og Bolivia and Peru. Photo Chulie de Silva

First to catch my attention were the boats displayed in a central circular area. The NMAI says the “Aymara Totora-Reed Boats are made on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Fishing boats and ritual  boats have been made since ancient times. Totora reeds are tied together with specially braided twine to create these unique boats.”

A beautifully crafted boat with an outrigger very similar to the outrigger fishing boats of Lanka — Photo Chulie de Silva.

Costing US$ 219 million to build initially it now has one of the most extensive collections of Native American arts and artifacts in the world—approximately 266,000 catalog records (825,000 items) representing over 12,000 years of history and more than 1,200 indigenous cultures throughout the Americas. It was mind boggling and awesome. There were so many things to see and we realized we needed to be selective. There had to be time for the famed American Indian food at the Museum’s cafe too.

Sioux two hide patterned dress with beaded yoke. Photo Chulie de Silva

Sioux artists are well known for their fully beaded yokes which are made of hide, seed beads sinew.. Historically NMAI says this dress shows the background colour is light blue representing a lake.  The designs on the yoke are reflections of clouds and the narrow white band is the shore. In the centre, a beaded u shaped design represents a turtle. The Sioux believed that turtles had the power to protect a woman. On the side of the dress are displaced the moccasins, a belt etc. Ca 1900, South Dakota.

Some of the dresses displayed had yokes which were extensively decorated with cowrie shells as beads.

A dress adorned with cowries shells. Photo Chulie de Silva

The Kiowa battle dress. Photo Chulie de Silva

The Kiowa battle dress is worn exclusively by the female relatives of the elite warriors Ton-Kon-Ga (the Kiowa black leggings society) , which is an old military society.  The battle dress uses the colour black to announce and celebrate a great victory over an important enemy. Vanessa Jennings (Kiowa) says “by wearing the dress I recognize and honour the sacrifices of our warriors. There was a large payment in blood for our freedom in our culture. It is not proper for a man to brag about his war deeds. It is the woman’s responsibility to dress dance and honour him.”

Beautifully embroidered papoose (baby carriers) and children’s’ clothes. Photo Chulie de Silva

The NMAI’s educational info for school children says “Indians of the northern Plains wore buffalo hides for both practical and ceremonial purposes. They wore buffalo hides in winter, with the fur on the inside for warmth. When people were sick, they often wore a hide painted with symbols to hasten healing. Women sometimes wore painted hides to promote childbearing. Political and spiritual leaders wore special hides. These hides might depict a warrior’s heroism or record important events in the history of the tribe.”

Buffalo hide etchings. Photo Chulie de Silva

“Some tribes used hide paintings to record their history. Tribal leaders chose the single most important event of each year, and added one picture representing that event to the hide painting. Members of the tribe often identified the year they were born by referring to the event depicted on these “winter count” hides.”

NMAI states that their collection ranges from ancient Paleo-Indian points to contemporary fine arts, and this include works of aesthetic, religious, and historical significance as well as articles produced for everyday use. Current holdings include all major culture areas of the Western Hemisphere, representing virtually all tribes in the United States, most of those of Canada, and a significant number of cultures from Middle and South America and the Caribbean.

The photograph above—which was given the museum catalog number P23360_143—was taken at the Santa Fe Indian School circa 1904. It is captioned in the margin, “Just arrived—Navajo Indian girls.” Then, “Several of these girls had never seen a white man until they met the clerk of the agency who brought them to the school.” Read more by clicking the link below:

Digitizing the Museum’s Photo Archives: 75,000 Images and Counting

By Will Greene

In addition to the object collections, the museum’s holdings also include the Photographic Archive (approximately 324,000 images from the 1860s to the present); the Media Archive (approximately 12,000 items) including film and audiovisual collections such as wax cylinders, phonograph discs, 16mm and 35mm motion picture film, magnetic media of many varieties, and optical and digital media recorded from the late 1800s through the present; and the Paper Archive (approximately 1500 linear feet) comprised of records dating from the 1860s to the present that preserve the documentary history of the NMAI, its predecessor, the Museum of the American Indian (MAI), Heye Foundation, and their collections, as well as other documentary and archival materials. Each of these four permanent collections components is defined by its individual scope and described in detail below. NMAI also maintains unaccessioned collections, including educational teaching collections and non-Native works of art depicting American Indian subjects, as well as poorly documented materials currently being researched for their value to the overall collection or potential disposition.

Although maintained as four discrete components, the Object, Photo Archive, Media Archive, and Paper Archive collections are deeply intertwined since each contains items that relate to one another: Photo and Media Archives include images of objects in use in Native communities or excavation contexts and the Paper Archive includes fieldnotes and documentation for all aspects of the combined collections. Through implementation of its Collecting Plan, NMAI hopes to expand the scope of the collections and continue its historically significant work in documenting indigenous lives and perspectives—through objects, diverse media, and other means—while simultaneously increasing the integration of the collections with one another and making them more applicable to museum programs and accessible to external users.

Joan Fontcuberta – 2013 Hasselblad Award Winner

The Hasselblad Foundation announced that Catalan photographer Joan Fontcuberta is the recipient of the 2013 Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography for the sum of SEK 1,000,000 (approximately EUR 110,000).

Portrait Joan Fontcuberta
Photo: Patrice Josserand, 2012

The award ceremony will take place in Barcelona on 7th March, 2013. An exhibition of his work, Joan Fontcuberta – 2013 Hasselblad Award Winner will open on 25th October, 2013 at the Hasselblad Center at the Gothenburg Museum of Art, Sweden. That day, The Hasselblad Foundation will host a symposium with the award winner, and a book on the work of Joan Fontcuberta, published by Mack, will be launched.

The Foundation’s citation regarding the decision to award the 2013 prize to Joan Fontcuberta reads as follows:

Joan Fontcuberta is one of the most inventive contemporary photographers, with an over 30-year achievement of constantly investigating and questioning the photographic medium. His work is distinguished by original and playful conceptual approaches that particularly explore photographic conventions, means of representation and claims to truth. He challenges concepts of science and fiction in interdisciplinary projects that extend far beyond the gallery space. In addition to his photographic practice, Joan Fontcuberta’s capacities as a writer, teacher and curator have been greatly inspirational to the younger generation.

Miracles & Co series: “Miracle of levitation”, 2002
© Joan Fontcuberta

Works by Joan Fontcuberta

Joan Fontcuberta is an artist who works between ‘reality’ and ‘fiction’, by manufacturing photographic illusions loosely based on ‘the real’. He creates a visual universe in which concepts of truth and fiction are intertwined. This dialogue, however, is never brought to a concrete conclusion but remains elusive. In many ways Joan Fontcuberta’s work both anticipates and integrates the radical impact of digital manipulation in the field of current photographic practice.

Palimpsest series: “Hand & Wrist”, 1992
© Joan Fontcuberta

Since the mid-1980 s he has used photography to reflect doubts and distrust of the authorities as well as of the veracity of photography itself and the multitude of media that it relates to. What makes Joan Fontcuberta’s work so engaging is the biting humour, sharp wit and seamless technique with which he infuses all of his elaborate provocations.

Joan Fontcuberta’s work undermines mass media in all of its guises, scientific investiga- tions, technological breakthroughs, the art world, religion, medicine and of course, political and governmental propaganda. He mixes all the forms of media and public communication. In essence, he creates bodies of work that resemble a modern-day Trojan horse, and then presents it in scholarly journals, hardbound‚ scientific books, large scale museums exhibitions, and as newsworthy discoveries that dupe even the most professional experts and journalists as well as their readers.

Palimpsest series: “La Nascita de Venus”, 1992
© Joan Fontcuberta

With irony as an important artistic strategy Joan Fontucuberta continues to amaze, confound and amuse or provoke the viewer with an ever-evolving array of techniques and approaches. His topics as and his focus on recent technologies and his constant changes of method characterize him as an exceptional photographer and artist.

Fauna series: (series created together with Pere Formiguera) “Cercopithecus icarocornu”, 1987
© Joan Fontcuberta & Pere Formiguera

This year’s award committee, which submitted its proposal to the Foundation’s board of directors, consisted of:

Ute Eskildsen (chair), Professor – Head of the Department of Photography, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany until 2012.
Thomas Joshua Cooper, Professor, Photography Department, Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, Great Britain.
Marcel Feil, Deputy-Director, Artistic Affairs, Foam Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Agnès Sire, Director, Foundation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paris, France.

Hasselblad Foundation

The Erna and Victor Hasselblad Foundation was established in 1979 in accordance with the last will and testament of Erna and Victor Hasselblad. The main aim of the Foundation is to promote research and academic teaching in the natural sciences and photography. This aim is achieved through the awarding of donations and grants for scientific research, an international award in photography, and scholarships and grants for research projects in photography.

Meeting Apollo at Hyde Park

When we set out for an evening stroll through the park, I had no idea that I would meet Apollo. It was a cool spring evening and as we crossed the road, there he was lithe, beautiful bathed in the evening glow by the setting sun.

Apollo statue at Archibald Fountain, Hyde Park, Sydney. 30 September, 2012. Photograph©Chulie de Silva

Apollo, stood on a central column holding out his right arm and with a lyre in his left hand. The sprinkling jets of water cascading round him cast a mysterious aura around him. On the three plinths radiating from the central column there were figures representing Diana, the goddess of purity; a group representing the good things of the earth; Theseus slaying a Minotaur, representing the sacrifice for the good of humanity.”

I was at the Archibald Fountain, in Hyde Park, in central Sydney, and is named after J.F. Archibald, owner and editor of The Bulletin magazine, who bequeathed funds to have it built. Archibald loved French culture and wanted to commemorate the association of Australia and France in World War I.  He had specified that it must be designed by a French artist and the person who was chosen was François-Léon Sicard.

“At Apollo’s feet the star of day is indicated by a semicircle, of which the rays spread out in jets of light (the rising sun). The horses’ heads represent the horses of Apollo’s chariot. Out of their nostrils the water will fall into the first basin, to fall from there into the second, and run away into the large basin,” Sicard had said talking about his work.

“Apollo represents the Arts (Beauty and Light) and holds out his right arm as a sign of protection, and spreads his benefits over all Nature, whilst he holds the Lyre in his left hand. Apollo is the warmth which vivifies, giving life to all Nature. At the touch of his rays, men awake, trees and fields become green, the animals go out into the fields, and men go to work at dawn. The ancient Pliny adored the sun, symbol of Life. It is on this account that I wished this figure to be the chief one in the memorial.”