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Buddhist Kingship, British Archaeology and Historical Narratives in Sri Lanka c.1750–1850

Buddhist Kingship, British Archaeology and Historical Narratives in Sri Lanka c.1750–1850 BUDDHIST KINGSHIP, BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORICAL NARRATIVES IN SRI LANKA c.1750–1850 The ancient city of Anura ¯dhapura continues to be a potent icon of Sinhala Buddhist identity in war-torn Sri Lanka. With its famous Bo tree (Ficus religiosa), said to be a sapling from the tree under which Buddha attained his enlightenment, and dome-shaped stu ¯ pa made of brick and earth with Buddhist relics at their core, Anura ¯ dhapura is now thronged with lines of pilgrims and curious tourists. This essay presents a new account of how this city came to have such powerful symbolic significance. Historians have already identified Brahmacha ¯ ri Harischandra’s The Sacred City of Anuradhapura (1908) as crucial to this story. In the preface to this work, the early nationalist described the ancient capital thus: ‘there is no other city upon the universe that has maintained its position as a Sacred City replete with sacred objects of diverse kind, for a period of 2,200 years, except this city’. He added that Anura ¯ dhapura belonged to the Buddhists and that it had been built and maintained by the ‘Sinhalese nation’. Harischandra was insistent on the need to protect the ruins from the ‘vandalism’ http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Past & Present Oxford University Press

Buddhist Kingship, British Archaeology and Historical Narratives in Sri Lanka c.1750–1850

Sivasundaram, Sujit
Past & Present , Volume 197 (1) – Nov 1, 2007
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References (33)

Publisher
Oxford University Press
Copyright
© Published by Oxford University Press.
ISSN
0031-2746
eISSN
1477-464X
DOI
10.1093/pastj/gtm040
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Abstract

BUDDHIST KINGSHIP, BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORICAL NARRATIVES IN SRI LANKA c.1750–1850 The ancient city of Anura ¯dhapura continues to be a potent icon of Sinhala Buddhist identity in war-torn Sri Lanka. With its famous Bo tree (Ficus religiosa), said to be a sapling from the tree under which Buddha attained his enlightenment, and dome-shaped stu ¯ pa made of brick and earth with Buddhist relics at their core, Anura ¯ dhapura is now thronged with lines of pilgrims and curious tourists. This essay presents a new account of how this city came to have such powerful symbolic significance. Historians have already identified Brahmacha ¯ ri Harischandra’s The Sacred City of Anuradhapura (1908) as crucial to this story. In the preface to this work, the early nationalist described the ancient capital thus: ‘there is no other city upon the universe that has maintained its position as a Sacred City replete with sacred objects of diverse kind, for a period of 2,200 years, except this city’. He added that Anura ¯ dhapura belonged to the Buddhists and that it had been built and maintained by the ‘Sinhalese nation’. Harischandra was insistent on the need to protect the ruins from the ‘vandalism’

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Past & Present – Oxford University Press

Published: Nov 1, 2007

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