Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Hot Water Wells in Kanniya used to be a complex of Buddhist monasteries!

Hot Water Wells in Kanniya in Trincomalee have been a great tourist attraction. This has specially been the case after the war was over. The place is quite known among many as wells with hot water. But the most glaring fact, unknown to many, is that the place used to be a complex of Buddhist monasteries spread over a vast area. The hot water wells are just a part of complex of ponds of the monastery.( pond complexes are common feature of Buddhist monasteries). Extensive changes have been made to these ponds to use as a bathing spot. 
As has always been the case with thousands of Buddhist places in North and Eastern part of the country this place too have not been able to escape the wrath of "Tamil Homeland Fantasy". An extensive destruction has been caused to the place and an attempt has been made to build a Hindu Kovil on parts of the ruins of the monastery in order to claim that the place was a piece evidence proving 'Tamil Homeland'.  One of the glaring examples of similar kind of many places which faced the same fate is the famous Koneswaran Temple in Trincomalee which was the Gokanna Viharaya before it was destroyed by the Portuguese. It was later turned into a Hindu place of warship after building a Hindu Kovil there. (The true history of the Temple is mentioned in this post).  
The photos show the attempts made to turn the place into a Hindu Kovil with a concrete foundation laid concealing the base of a Buddhist Pagoda (Degaba). The destructed parts of the stone monuments and bricks are strewn in all over the place.
A vast number of ruins of the Buddhist temples, caves, inscriptions and other works such as tank and irrigation works have been the major source of evidence to prove the existence of flouring Sinhala civilization in the North and East in Sri Lanka.  This is corroborated by the mentioning of the existence of them in the chronicles such as Mahavamsa, Deepavamsa and Chulavamsa etc. The Tamilinized place names which were earlier used to be the Sinhala place names are also strong evidences for the existence of a Sinhala civilization in the North and East of Sri Lanka.
Post Script: the funniest and bizarre part of the whole story is that a mosque is also being built close to the premises. 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

see the following link

http://pitastharayablog.blogspot.com/2010/04/blog-post_30.html?showComment=1272665570042_AIe9_BFuArzMedfpsS2edTYNnthVfxdIk8dmhS_00BFaAuVGv7JQ2uPQXX6BrSTDPSatPvw2quRQ4QsgN9xL_cuqxErJGBDnDsrTWB8OVAVLxPEqU-UWd2tHrPq6Qub8tjLgskR7ZAMwsDNkbHPX-7eqSD9x3YxmAniR77xh01L1Fg0TqsMy05LoCjtBDVaLLd-73wDCQ66RA5dz-nlzDaJCHgk6ZB_kTvxO8kk9hmEBq1sKKEZlZl0#c7274872524872457515

Anonymous said...

Nice try asshole.... People who go there will know who it belong to. Buddhist came to Sri Lanka only one thousand years ago. Thouse wells are over 3000 years old.

Nice try....

Anonymous said...

A few years ago buddhish put a Buda on Trincomalee town and say it's our. Nice try.... It's not going to work anymore... Becasue everything on the internet. If you read harder you will find that you guys came to Sri Lanka from easten India about 1000 years ago, and Tamils are always lived there and India and Sri Lanka had land attached 3000 years ago.

You Should read more south Indian history , so you will find all about it.

Anonymous said...

A few years ago buddhish put a Buda on Trincomalee town and say it's our. Nice try.... It's not going to work anymore... Becasue everything on the internet. If you read harder you will find that you guys came to Sri Lanka from easten India about 1000 years ago, and Tamils are always lived there and India and Sri Lanka had land attached 3000 years ago.

You Should read more south Indian history , so you will find all about it.