Under the Patronage of
Ven. Sri Siddhartha Buddharakkhitha, High Priest of Ridi Vihare
Formulated, Planned & Organized by
Dr. SinhaRaja Tammita-Delgoda &
Ms Jeevanthie Senanayake (Former Director General Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism & Hotel Management)
Supported by Buddhist Association of Ridi Vihare.
Facilitated by Ms Sarangi Thilakasena,
Deputy Director(Marketing) Sri Lanka Tourism.
Information Platform : Harith Soysa.
idi Vihare is a historic and traditional temple stretching across a range of rocks and hills Beginning with the ancient past (200 -100 BCE), it evolves through the Middle Ages (1200 -1400 CE), flowering during the Kandyan period (1594-1815 CE).
Originating from ancient times, the temple is a living embodiment of Sri Lanka’s unbroken culture and history, a tradition, now more than 2,300 years old. A microcosm of Sri Lanka’s unbroken past, the temple is a treasure trove of art, architecture, sculpture, ivory and metalwork.
Photo courtesy of Harith Soysa
Ridi Vihare is the temple of the Mahanayake (Chief Prelate) of the Malwatte Order. The two great monastic orders of the Kandyan Kingdom (1594-1815 CE), the Malwatte and the Asgiriya chapters have been the custodians of the sacred Temple of the Tooth Relic for several centuries. Known as the Siam Nikaya (Order of Siam), they have historic links with Thailand and are the guardians of most of the historic temples on the island.
The 1st Mahanayake of Malwatte, Ven. Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Buddharakkhitha (1753–1773), was the 1st Mahanayake of Malwatte. Since then three of the High Priests of Ridi Vihare have become Mahanayakes of the Malwatte Order.
Throughout Sri Lanka’s history, the temple was the repository of art, culture, tradition, lore and learning. Until the 19th century, it was the centre of village life. Despite the massive economic and social changes of the last 100 years, Ridi Vihare remains the heart of a Living Society, which maintains and practices many of the customs and rituals of the ancient past. Some of the people safeguarding these traditions are those whose ancestors have been doing so for centuries. This is one of those Rare Places where the Links with the Living Past are still alive.
The current Mahanayake of Malwatte was once the High Priest of Ridi Vihare and its current incumbent, Ven. Sri Siddhartha Buddharakkhitha, is a product of this tradition.
Pahangala
Pahangala means “The Rock where the Lamp was Lit.” It is the highest and oldest part of temple. To reach it you have to scramble up the rocky hillside, through a thick tangle of scrubs, bushes and small trees. The whole area is full of caves which have been hollowed out of the hillside. These have been inhabited by meditating monks from ancient times.
In 247 BC the King of Anuradhapura was converted to Buddhism by the Arahat Mahinda. On the orders of the king, 68 caves were prepared for the Apostle and his fellow missionaries to dwell.
In Buddhist lore the cave acts as a metaphor for the body which houses the mind. A physical statement of detachment and renunciation, it provided a natural environment for contemplation and reflection.
This was a formative moment in the island’s history. Mahinda’s example inspired men and women from all walks of life to retreat from the world in their search for Enlightenment and thousands of rock and caves all over the country were gradually converted into dwellings. Buddhism became the bedrock of Sri Lanka’s civilization and the inspiration behind its art and architecture.
Meditation and Mindfulness on the Mountain
Dwelling in the cave (of the heart), the mind, without form, wanders far and alone. Those who subdue this mind are liberated from the bonds of Mara
Dhammapada. The Path of the Doctrine. Circa 5th century C.E
Descending a short way from Pahangala, we reach a cave on the mountainside which was once used by the ancient monks.
As the Buddha realized, the root of all sorrow and suffering was human desire. In order to overcome suffering, man had first to master himself and overcome his own desire. The key to this was the mind. In the search for this truth, the path to Mindfulness and Discovery lay in controlling the mind through introspection and understanding.
During a short period of meditation and introspection, we will gather our thoughts and then empty our minds as we try to search within.
For further information on meditation programs visit:
A Walk in the Forest
Photo courtesy of Harith Soysa
Holy is the Forest
Holy is the place where the senses are at peace
Where the saint finds refuge and simple delight
Dhammapada. The Path of the Doctrine. Circa 5th century C.E
One of the underlying aspects of the Buddha’s message was that man should live in harmony with his environment. The natural world is a constant presence in the Buddhist teachings. It is a realization which dawns on us as we enter the Forest Hermitage.
Photo courtesy of Harith Soysa
Scrambling down the mountainside, we make our way to the Forest Hermitage.
This is a landscape of rocks and caves surrounded and shaped by the jungle. In ancient times Sri Lanka had many monasteries such as these.
Enriched with rocks and ancient trees, winding roots and climbing vines, they were serene and beautiful places dedicated to meditation.
Nature here has been left alone to live and flourish.
The light is dark and green and there is a stillness in the air. Yet this is an environment full of sound. There is the constant noise of birdsong, rustling leaves and the humming of crickets.
Photo courtesy of Harith Soysa
ආහාර
Ahara
Ahara is the Sinhala word for food. Here in the middle of the jungle there will be a traditional lunch prepared by the villagers from the plants, grains, pulses and vegetables in the surrounding environment. Meat was rarely taken but the fruit of the Jak tree was a staple food akin to potatoes and meat while the Kitul tree provided treacle and a form of sugar. Plants and bushes were an important ingredient, there were many kinds of Mallungs (salads) and Sambols (spicy relishes) made from leaves. A large part of this diet has remained the same for nearly 350 years.
There is another fruit, which we call Jacks…these are a great help to the people, and a great part of their food. They grow upon a large tree, the fruit is as big a good peck loaf…The next tree ..the Kettule. …yeildeth a sort of liquor..It is rarely sweet and pleasing to the palate.. They boil and make a kind of brown sugar, called Jaggory….Their roots are …of divers and sundry sorts, some they plant, and some they grow wild,…they serve both for food, and for carrees, that is sauce, or for a relish to their rice….They have several other sorts of fruits which they dress and eat with their rice and taste very savoury.
AFTERNOON
Photo courtesy of Harith Soysa
Returning to the main temple, we walk through “cultivated” forest, past plantations of coconut, pepper, mango and cadjunut. In the middle of the temple courtyard is a low, heavy building made from great slabs of stone. This is the Varaka Valandhu Vihare.
The Varaka Valandhu Vihare
Photo courtesy of Harith Soysa
Richly and elaborately carved, the Varaka Valandhu Vihare is the symbol of a different aesthetic and a very different culture. Although now a Buddhist temple, it was built in the style of South India. It was once a Devalaya, a Hindu shrine, the home of the God, perhaps Lord Shiva, who is worshipped widely throughout the island.
With the collapse of the great Buddhist civilizations of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, the Sinhalese kings withdrew into the forests and mountains at the heart of the island (1232- 1341). This was a troubled and unstable period governed by the shadow of fear and uncertainty. As Hinduism grew stronger, the rulers turned to the certainty of the Hindu Gods. In its quest to survive Buddhism assimilated new rituals and new deities.
A Reading into the Past
Ridi Vihare means the Silver Temple, literally the temple where the silver was found. Built in 2nd century BC, its story is recorded in the ancient Pali texts and is bound up with the Varaka Valandhu Vihare. Stepping back in to the past, we will explore the events surrounding the foundation of Ridi Vihare through the words of the ancient chronicles.
The Art of Writing and The Making of the Book
“A Blank Paper on which Nothing Has Been Written”
The story of Sri Lanka was recorded in books made from Olas, the leaves of the palmyrah tree. Since the 2nd century before Christ, the Ola Leaf book has been the embodiment of Sri Lanka’s living memory. In the Sinhala language, the book was known as the Puskola Potha, “a blank paper on which nothing has been written.”
The Art of Writing was known as Lekha. It was an art, a discipline, a skill and a meditation. The whole process was inextricably bound with the natural world, from the raw materials and the ways of preparing them, to the final writing and finishing of the book.
The custodians of the art of writing were the Sangha, the Order of Buddhist monks. The temple was the school and it was here that the art of writing was nurtured and kept alive. Ridi Vihare is one of those temples where this art is practised and where outsiders can learn. Although it is a physical process, it is also a precise, delicate skill, requiring minute concentration and the coordination of hand, eye, mind and breath.
The Art of Worship
Photo courtesy of Harith Soysa
If you can understand the painting, you can see into the mind of the society which created it
Ananda Coomaraswamy (1877 − 1947)
Son of Tamil legislator and philosopher Sir Muthu Coomaraswamy and his English wife Elizabeth Beeby, Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy was one of the great art historians of the 20th century. An early interpreter of Indian culture to West, he was largely responsible for introducing Ancient Indian Art to the West. His work Mediaeval Sinhalese Art (1908) is the classic authority on the arts and crafts of Kandy.
The last part of the 16th century saw the emergence of the Kandyan Kingdom as the last stronghold of the Sinhalese kings. A densely forested mountain region, this natural fortress held off a succession of foreign invaders, the Portuguese, then the Dutch and finally the British from 1594-1815. The last phase of Ridi Vihare belongs to this period. Shaped by its forests, its mountains and its valleys, this was a poor subsistence, farming culture, impoverished by isolation and enfeebled by invasion and war.
Eighteenth century Images, though possessed of dignity and other qualities are generally not beautiful
Ananda Coomaraswamy, Medieval Sinhalese Art (1908)
Whereas the buildings of the ancient world had dominated the landscape, the temples and stupas of this era in Sri Lanka merely blend into it. The art of this period moves away from the fluid beauty of ancient times into the world of belief, freezing into form and stylization.
Rather than to engage with the world outside, the Kandyan artist withdrew into himself. Clinging to the world view that he knew, he saw his surroundings in metaphysical terms. Art and sculpture became a form of worship. The overriding aim of the Kandyan artist was to tell a story which would unfold across the wall like a scroll and be read by the observer. There was no attempt at perspective. The intention was to make a powerful visual impact and leave an enduring impression on the mind.
Photo courtesy of Harith Soysa
The most essential character of Kandyan painting, as of Kandyan design, in general is its idealism.
Ananda Coomaraswamy, Medieval Sinhalese Art (1908)
Rituals of the Evening
Photo courtesy of Harith Soysa
In the early Evening, the temple comes alive in a blur of ceremony, light and sound. As evening draws near, ceremonies are performed in honour of the Buddha and Ritual Offerings (Poojawa) are made.
Thewava. Ritual Services in Honour of the Buddha
Inside the inner shrine, the doors are closed and Offerings of Food and Drink are made to the Buddha by the monks.
Aloka Poojawa. The Offering of Light
In the courtyard small pots of clay are filled with coconut oil, lamps are lit. And the courtyard gleams with flickering lights. This is the Aloka Poojawe. The Lighting of Lamps.
Hewisi Poojawe. The Offering of Sound
The Thevava is accompanied by the Offering of Sound. Drums of various kinds were used for all ceremonial, social and religious occasions. There is no sitar, no tabla and no sarod, in Sri Lanka everything revolves around the drum.
When the temple was dedicated by the King, the surrounding lands were given to the villagers to live and farm, on the condition that they fulfilled their obligations to the temple. One of these obligations was the beating of the drums at ritual times and occasions. This tradition is still maintained and many of these hereditary families (Paramparawe) still exist.
As the light begins to die, the sound of the Hewisi echoes across the mountainside. The drums are beaten by the same families whose ancestors performed this rite in the time of the Kings. This is Living Tradition.
Bringing the World to Sri Lanka to Learn
In December 2023 a group of Lecturers and Students from the leading arts university, Indus Valley School of of Art and Architecture (IVSAA)in Pakistan spent 4 days as Guests of the Temple and the Village Community. During their time in the temple the students and their lecturers interacted with the villagers and learned Meditation, Drumming and Dancing. They Bathed in the Rivers and Explored the Environment, Experiencing and Preparing Ancient Recipes and creating Traditional Ola Leaf Books.
All Classes and Experiences were curated by the priests of the temple, volunteers and the members of the community on a free and voluntary basis. Payment was not asked for or given at anytime.
An Interactive Learning & Sharing Experience
This initiative was designed to break with the usual forms and Pioneer a New Experience to Showcase the Heritage of Sri Lanka and Promote its Art and Culture. The underlying objective is to create an Interactive Learning Experience which will Uplift and Empower the Local Community and enable Peoples and Cultures to Engage and Understand.
By doing this we hope to build a People to People experience based on Environment, Philosophy, Participation & Interaction which will serve as a different Model for International and Intercultural Relations.
This is something which has Never Been Done or Attempted in Sri Lanka before. We hope it works and that it will succeed in the short and the longer term
Jeevanthie Senanayake and Sarangi Thilakasena
Information Platform developed by Harith Soysa.
Contact details: +94714516131, harith.soysa@gmail.com
Copyrights Reserved. A Day at Ridi Vihare.
Images and Text by Harith Soysa and Dr SinhaRaja Tammita-Delgoda