Stupa Built Up With 100 Million Bricks - Anuradhapura

The ancient Jetavenarawaya Stupa built in 2nd century to deposit the relic of Lord Buddha's belt or part of his sash, was the largest and tallest brick made structure in the ancient world. Its construction used up almost 100 million pieces of baked bricks that were able to build up 8000 houses at that era. The stupa sits on a bedrock foundation with a depth of 28 feet. Measured with a height of 122 meters and a base area of 233,000 sq. meters, though no more maintained the title as the highest monument today, it is still one of the largest religious structures on earth.



Jetavenarawaya Stupa was located in Nandana Pleasure Garden in the sacred world heritage city of Anuradhapura. It was initiated by King Mahasena (272-303) after the destruction of Mahavihara. The stupa was built on the premises of Temple Mahavihara that was destroyed by him. The construction was completed by his son Maghavanna I. The stupa became the landmark of the tensions between Theravada and Mahayana sects of Buddhism of that era.



The site of the premises was also where Buddhist Missioner Mahinda Thera, the son of Great King Ashoka preached the teachings of Buddha for seven consecutive days. After Mahinda Thera's preaching, name of Nandana Pleasure Garden was changed to Jotivana which means Place where holy one made true doctrine shine forth.



The present scheme of the stupa was the result of the gradual expansion and renovation through at least the past six centuries after it was constructed in 3rd century . The area of stupa complex covers about 48 hectares of land with 5.6 acres of sacred area which was able to accommodate ten thousand monks.



Jetavenarawaya Stupa was built on a platform with flights of steps at four cardinal points that are accessible to the stone paved terrace. The holy inner area was once surrounded by a 2.4 meters high stone boundary wall. The four Vahalkada front pieces at the boundary wall lead to the altars of the inner wall at the sand terrace.



King Parakrabahu The Great (1153-1186) was the last Sinhalese rulers to renovate the stupa. Currently, the maintenance is funded by Unesco.



The altars



The remnants of the four frontier pieces.



Overwhelming Joys: No more tensions between Theravada and Mahayana sects of Buddhism as what the Buddhists faced in 3rd century! Theravada and Mahayana monks from Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Tibet, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand and me a layman, gathered here to pay homage to the great Buddhist monument built thousand over years ago.



Young Westerners: Great to meet with a monk, a right person indeed to clear the doubt of Buddhism.



A great man high in the sky to protect the most symbolic monument of Buddhism, Sadhu!.



He climbed with a robe high over the stupa to clear off the wild vegetation growing over the surface of the dome.



Many artifacts were discovered at the sacred area when it was excavated in late 19th century by British administrative team.



During early times, buildings setting around the stupa in relation to cardinal points include an Image house, assembly hall, Chapter House, Bo Tree Shrine, Monks residential complex. At site, there are some ruins of these buildings.



Most of the artifacts unearthed from the stupa sacred area in 19th century are now displayed at the museum nearby. It includes treasure stone vase, jewellery box, coins, stone guards, drawings and sculptures.