Jetavanaramaya

The Jetavanaramaya is a vast dome of brick rising out of the ruins of ancient Anuradhapura. Today it stands 71 metres high, but when it was completed in the fourth century it reached about 122 metres, making it the tallest stupa ever built and, after the two largest pyramids of Giza, the tallest structure on earth at the time. It is still counted among the largest brick structures in the world: an estimated 93 million fired bricks went into it.

The stupa was begun by King Mahasena, who ruled from 273 to 301, and completed by his son Sirimeghavanna. Its origins lie in a bitter dispute within Sri Lankan Buddhism. Under the influence of the monk Sanghamitra, Mahasena turned against the orthodox Theravada monastery of the Mahavihara, which was abandoned and plundered; a rebellion followed, the king made peace, and the new monastery of Jetavana was raised on part of the Mahavihara's former grounds. It grew into one of the three great monastic fraternities of the island, alongside the Mahavihara and Abhayagiri, and its compound of some 5.6 hectares is thought to have housed around 10,000 monks. Tradition holds that the stupa enshrines part of a sash or belt once tied by the Buddha. The fraternity was dissolved in the twelfth century by King Parakramabahu I, who unified the monastic orders and rebuilt the stupa to its present, lower height after the abandonment of Anuradhapura had let the jungle cover it.

The engineering behind the dome is remarkable. The structure is solid, set on a foundation 8.5 metres deep that reaches bedrock; the chronicle known as the Mahavamsa describes the foundation stones being trampled down by elephants whose feet were bound in leather. The bricks, made of fine sand and clay, were bonded with a mortar of crushed dolomite and limestone, and the finished surface was coated in lime plaster. Each side of the square terrace measures about 176 metres, with flights of steps on all four sides, and excavations around the monastery have produced finds that show Sri Lanka's role as a trading hub between India, the Mediterranean and East Asia.

Anuradhapura was the capital of Sri Lanka's first great kingdom for well over a thousand years, from its traditional founding in the fourth century BCE until it was sacked by Chola armies from south India at the end of the tenth century. Its ruined monasteries, reservoirs and stupas, together with the still-venerated Sri Maha Bodhi tree, were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1982 as the Sacred City of Anuradhapura.

Getting there

The stupa stands in the ancient city, about 4.5 km from the centre of modern Anuradhapura, which is on the Northern railway line. The nearest airport is China Bay Airport (TRR) near Trincomalee, about 88 km away; the main international gateway, Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB) near Colombo, is about 140 km away in a straight line.