It was an exciting and fresh morning. After
a good night sleep followed by the heartwarming hospitality by the villagers
and some hours of listening to interesting folklores, we were ready for our
main mission of the visit. By 6.30 am Ashan joined with Theshantha who took the
night bus from Colombo to Athimale were at the doorstep.
A quick but filling breakfast was taken and
all packed into Yohan’s jeep with as much as possible water bottles in their
backpacks and were ready to go. Another three villagers joined us on the way
while our journey proceeded through chena cultivations off the roads, along the
river Vila Oya. Our plan was to drive as deep as possible into the jungle in
order to reduce the distance we had to walk.
Having reached the border of the village’s
chena lands we left the vehicle under the shade of a big tree and proceeded
towards the jungle. The initial part of our journey was through a jungle patch
until we reached the river. About 20 minutes of walking brought us to the river
which was totally dried up because of the many months long severe drought. The
rest of our journey of about six kilometers was along this river.
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| starting the walk |
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| Entered the river |
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| there were many of them. but had no time to waste photographing them |
Oh, apologies for not telling where we were
going. Budupatunna! Heard of it? I don’t think so. I don’t think even some of
the archaeologists have heard that name. Even I had no clue when I saw the
initial discussion started by NG on Lakdaun forum (www.lakdasun.org). Joining the Lakdasun
forum and becoming an active member was a turning point of my life. It refined
my traveler instincts and desire to travel and made me more than a ‘trip
enthusiast’.
However after a great effort of map
reading, literature reviews and inquiring NG, Yohan and Priyanjan were able to roughly
locate the site somewhere in Kotiyagala. Then rest of the mission was
undertaken by Ashan who dropped the bomb suddenly by announcing that he has
found the place and even visited it. Since that day we were planning our journey,
getting delayed for about one year due to various reasons until this day.
It was a hard journey. The path was a totally
dried up river, the walking was on soft sand which was burying our feet as soon
as we set on it, the sun was burning hot on a clear day in the middle of the
driest month of the year, but still we marched on.  |
| first of the many pit stops |
 |
| our path |
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| smooooth |
 |
| along a shady stretch |
Frequent pit stops were taken, water was
carefully consumed, Jeevani solution was sipped frequently and the journey was
enjoyed to the max. Endless blue skies, greenery all around us, thousands of
butterflies everywhere, echoing bird songs, presence of wild elephants close to
our path a couple of times and endless chatting took us along the journey.
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| lovely |
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| Kumbuk Poottuwa |
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| claw marks of a sloth bear who came searching for honey on a tree trunk |
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| giyam kole gala |
Four hours into our walking, we reached the
landmark where we had to enter the jungle again. Another short walk brought us
to our destination. For a moment the heartbeat stopped, ears turned deaf,
tongues went dumb and the time stopped. We were looking at three statues carved
out of a rock boulder, hidden deep in the jungles, covered by thorny creepers
and bushes. It was like an ‘Indiana Jones movie location’ as NG described after
watching my video clip.
 |
| Behold.... the first sight |
The largest of the three statues was the
statue of Lord Buddha in the middle with equal sized two Bodhisathwa statues on
either side, similar to the statues in Buduruwagala. The significance of these is
that they belong to the Mahayana Buddhism
style.
“The
rock cut trio of figures represents the Buddha in the center flanked by Avalokitesvara
(with his garment held in position by a tiger skin indicating his ascetic
identity) and a bodhisattva who could well be Maitreya, as in the case of
Buduruwagala” – John Guy, Indian Art and
Connoisseurship : Essays in honor of Douglas Barret, page 159.
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| the trio of statues |
 |
| destroyed |
 |
| only one remaining in better shape |
 |
| sort of a hood |
 | |
| vandalized |
A Japanese team from Hosei University had
come exploring this site in 1985. An old article related to their exploration
triggered NG’s first discussion about Budupatunna and ended up with us going on
exploring the same.
The
Japanese journal says “It is thought to
have been able to be able to until October 3 end of activities, to explore the
ruins point of 51 points total, and include better-than-expected performance.
Waketemo is U~iraoya-Budo~upato~un'na ruins, ruins of
extremely rare Mahayana Buddhism system, is Shakasanzon image obtained by a
round carved rock, Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka art history also
archaeological also have an important value in Sri Lanka mainstream I
considered.” - Sri Lanka jungle ruins exploration Corps (Fifth Corps)
summary of activities
 |
| images from Japanese Journal. |
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| images from Japanese journal |
However the current status of the statues
was very bad. Though it has been hidden deep in the jungle full of wild animals
and once was a territory of the terrorists, Budupatunna has had no escape from
the cruel greedy eyes of the treasure hunters. One of the Bodhisattva statues
was totally destroyed. The head of the Buddha statue is carefully cut and
removed, probably now being kept in a glass box of a billionaire’s house as a
relic. The base of the statues and the pagoda nearby were dug and vandalized.
See the video clip
 |
| see the Buddha statue. Head is cut |
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| one last look |
It
was past noon so we had to say good bye to this precious place, which probably
we will never see again in any better shape. Returned to the river, had a light
lunch, had a nap for about 40 minutes under the shade of a giant Kumbuk tree,
we started our torturous return.
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| a nap after lunch |
 |
| while lying down |
Scorching sun had made the sand red hot and
the soft sand drained all our energy. We had to preserve our remaining water as
there were no water sources on the way. So we had to take more pit stops than
in the morning.
Later on the heat was reduced and some
large clouds provided us some shade. There were evidences of fresh elephant
activities along the river after we passed those locations in the morning. As
the evening fell we saw some wildlife in the close proximity. We reached the
place we left our vehicle by 5p.m and marked the end of another remarkable
journey.
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| textures of nature |
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| as we came out of the river |
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| we had get past them to get to our vehicle |
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| serenity |
Thank you for reading.
Tips, Notes and Special Remarks:
1.
Police (Athimale
police post is the closest) and the Wildlife authorities must be informed
about your visit.
2.
Need a guide who
knows the place and some extra villagers for help
3.
Wear appropriate
attire to protect from sun and thorny bushes
4.
Beware of wild
animals.
5.
Carry as much as
possible water
6.
Minimize carrying
plastic and polythene and remember to bring back your litter
7.
Take ORS
(Jeewani) to prevent dehydration and cramps
8.
Shoes preferred.
9.
Carry a machete,
an axe and some fire crackers (to scare elephants if needed)
Special
Thanks to Ashan, Priyanjan, NG, Yohan & Theshantha
