The King is on a pleasure hunt. As he stands near a mango tree with a bow and arrows, he sees a yellow robed imposing figure on top of a rock. He orders the King to come close to him. The King is bewildered. “Who is there to order me like this,” he wonders. “We are ‘bhikkhus.’ We have come from Jambuddipa,” the Sage says.
The King puts down his bow and arrows, approaches the Sage and worships him. This watershed encounter in Sri Lanka’s history took place at the Missaka mountain (Mihintale) on the full moon day of Poson (June), 247 years before the birth of Christ (B.C.). The King was Tissa – later came to be known as Devanampiyatissa – (250-210 B.C.E). The Sage was Arahat Mahinda Thera, son of the Indian Emperor Asoka. His mission was to introduce Buddhism to Sri Lanka. The conversation that followed between the King and the Sage has been described as the first intelligence test in history.
First sermon
The Mihintale ‘Maha Seya’ amid picturesque surroundings
The Sage was satisfied that the King was an intelligent person who could understand and grasp the Dhamma, the teachings of the Buddha. He then delivered his first sermon to the King. Starting with the King, people embraced Buddhism in large numbers after listening to the Arahat Mahinda Thera’s sermons.
The event was not merely a religious one. It was the beginning of a new civilisation. It marked the commencement of the Sinhala Buddhist architecture. Stupas began to adorn the capital city: Anuradhapura and its environs. Intricate sculptures began to evolve. The dwellings for monastic bhikkhus were built. The art of writing began to take shape. Buddhism inspired the Sinhalese painter and the writer.
Buddhist pilgrims or foreign visitors who wish to reach the dagaba on the summit of this sacred mountain need to climb 1,840 steps to do so. The staircase was built by King Bhathika Abhaya (22 B.C E. to 7 A.D.). An ancient paved road, some 1,500 years old, cuts that number in half by ascending to a terrace halfway up the 1,019-foot (311-metre) hill.
At the foot of Mihintale Kanda (hill) is a hospital, so denoted by an inscription and by the presence of a stone cistern for medication by immersing the needy in herbal oils. A nearby vihara of unknown age probably marks the remains of a monastic complex.
To the right of the stairs, about half-way up the first long flight, is the 2nd Century B.C E. Kantaka Chaitya. Not excavated until 1934, it was found in an almost perfect state of preservation, displaying some of the finest architecture of the early Anuradhapura period. Standing 39 feet (12 metres) high, with a 426-foot (130-metres) base, it has four ‘vahalkadas’ (altar-piece panels) with ornamental friezes of captivating dwarfs.
Ambasthala Dagoba
The spacious precincts on the top of the main stairway is the site of the Ambasthala Dagoba, a charming stupa said to mark the spot where Ven. Mahinda Thera and his retinue appeared to King Devanampiyatissa instead of the deer that the King had been chasing after. (The name recalls the amba, or mango, the tree – the centrepiece of the initiation of their dialogue). It may have been built shortly after King Devanampiyatissa’s death. It was modified to take shape of a vatadage in the 3rd Century A.D.
The Mihintale Rock, the ‘Aradhana Gala’
Close to it is the Aradhana Gala, the ‘rock of convocation’ from which Arahat Mahinda Thera first expounded the Buddha Damma. On the left side of the plateau, a large white gleaming sitting Buddha is reached via a set of rock-carved steps, to the side of the Ambasthala Dagoba. There are handrails to guide you to the place safely. On the pinnacle of the Mihintale Kanda, clearly visible from all surrounding points, is the 1st Century B.C. E. Maha Seya. This dagoba is said to enshrine a single hair of the Buddha.
The highest point on the Mihintale hills is crowned by Et Vehera, the ‘distant’ dagaba. Completely ruined, it may be the repository of Arahat Mahinda Thera’s cremated ashes.
A rock pool along the path to this mountain from the Mandapaya is called the Naga Pokuna, because, on its back wall, a seven-headed cobra has been hewn from the rock.
Secluded pool
A secluded pool, the Kaludiya Pokuna, was the centre of a cave-dwelling monastic community about one kilometre Southwest of the Mihintale Kanda, at the foot of the Anaikutti Kanda. And near the base of the fourth (and Western-most) hill – the Rajagirilena Kanda – the beautiful Rajagirilena cave is sited under a massive rock boulder.
This beautiful pool is less frequented by pilgrims as it is a kilometre away from the Mihintale sacred area. The Indikatu Seya dagoba has enshrined several copper plaques bearing Tantric inscriptions.
There are many places to see in and around Mihintale, including caves, inscriptions and ruins of buildings which may have been dwelling places of bhikkhus of a bygone era. The Brahmi inscriptions of Mihintale are the earliest form of Sinhala writing. The earliest to decipher these was British Archaeologist H. C. P. Bell. The credit of restoring the Mihintale places of worship goes to renowned archaeologist, Commissioner of Archaeology, Prof. Senerat Paranavitana.
This year’s Poson full-moon Poya falls on June 10 and the State Poson Festival will be celebrated at the Mihintale Raja Maha Vihara. Devotees from all parts of Sri Lanka flock to Anuradhapura and Mihintale to celebrate Poson. Most of them first visit the ‘Atamasthana’ – the eight places of worship in Anuradhapura and then proceed to Mihintale.
The staircase fringed by ‘Araliya’ trees evokes a sense of spirituality
Kantaka Chaitya is famous for its four Vahalkadas
The Kaludiya Pokuna with reflections of trees and boulders of the neighbouring forests and mountains
