Sri Lanka: Ruvanvälisa ̆ ̈ya, from the second century
B.C.E., has a diameter of 294 feet at the base and was
originally 300 feet tall; Abhayagiriya, from the first cen-
tury B.C.E., has a diameter of 325 feet and a height of
325 feet; and Jetavana, from the third century C.E., has
a diameter of 367 feet and was originally 400 feet tall.
Until Anuradhapura was abandoned in the tenth cen-
tury, these three stupas were enlarged a number of
times by successive kings.
The earliest Buddhist art in Sri Lanka appears in the
relief carvings of the stupa vahalkada(frontispiece).
The earliest of these relief carvings date to the first and
second century C.E. and are found on the vahalkadaof
the Kantaka Cetiya (stupa) at Mihintale, eight miles
east of Anuradhapura. Mihintale is the site where Bud-
dhism was believed to have been first introduced to Sri
Lanka by Buddhist missionaries from India, who were
led by the arhat Mahinda during the mid-third cen-
tury B.C.E.
Unfortunately, little art from the earliest period has
survived because the stupas were enlarged in various
phases through the centuries. With the exception of
the Kantaka Cetiya, surviving relief carvings of all other
stupas are late in date and can probably be assigned to
the second to fourth centuries C.E. For example, the
carvings at Dghavapi stupa (Ampara district, Eastern
province) date to the second century C.E.; those at
Dakkhina stupa (Anuradhapura) and Yatala stupa
(Humbantota district, Southern province) date to the
second to third centuries C.E.; those at Ruvanvalisa ̆ ̈ya
(Anuradhapura) to the third century C.E.; those at
Abhayagiri stupa (Anuradhapura) to the third or
fourth centuries C.E.; and those at Jetavana stupa
(Anuradhapura) to the late third century.
The main images appearing in Sri Lankan fron-
tispieces include DIVINITIES, such as Surya and INDRA;
YAKSAs with attendants, such as Kubera and Vais ́ra-
vana; yaksinlsor other females with attendants; Gaja
Laksmi, the goddess of prosperity; nagas in complete
serpent form, often with five or seven cobra hoods;
nagarajasin human form, often with five or seven co-
bra hoods; naginls,female serpent figures in human
form with cobra hoods; and stone pillars depicting the
kalpavrksaor the tree of life. Figures of yaksas, nagas,
elephants, lions, bulls, and birds were shown emanat-
ing from this tree of life. Attached to these frontispieces
were stone pillars topped by elephants, lions, bulls, and
horses (Von Schroeder, pp. 80–95). All these early
works are related to the late Amaravattradition of the
Andhra region in India.
The earliest available buddha images in Sri Lanka
appear to be no older than the 250 C.E. to 350 C.E.pe-
riod. A few seated buddha images from this period
have been found at Anuradhapura at the sites of
Abhayagiri Stupa and Thuparama Stupa (Von Schroe-
der, p. 113). Seated buddha statues become increas-
ingly common in many parts of Sri Lanka beginning
in the fifth to sixth centuries. The majority of them
show the direct impact of the Amaravatlschool. The
seated buddha statues at Abhayagiri Vihara, Pankuliya
Vihara, and Asokarama Vihara (all at Anuradhapura),
datable to between the sixth and ninth centuries, are a
few well-known examples. The majority of the seated
buddha statues found in Sri Lanka are in the samadhi
(meditative) posture.According to the available evidence, most of the
standing buddha images from Sri Lanka also date from
the fifth to sixth centuries C.E. and later. There are
monumental standing buddha images carved in rock
and stone at Avukana (42 feet, ninth century,
Anuradhapura district); Sasseruva (38 feet, eighth to
ninth centuries, Kurune ̈gala district); Buduruvagala
(44 feet, ninth to tenth centuries, Monaragala district);
Dova Rajamahavihara (38 feet, ninth to tenth cen-
turies, Badulla district); Maligavila (30 feet, eighth cen-
tury, Monaragala district), and Lankatilaka and
Tivanka (26 feet, twelfth century) at Polonnaruva. The
twelfth-century Gal Vihara, or “rock temple,” at
Polonnaruva is a unique monument carved out of solid
rock and famous for its monumental recumbent and
standing rock-cut statues in the round.There are a number of monumental MAHAYANA
rock-cut and standing stone statues in the round. They
include the eighth-century Dam ̆begoda stone image in
the round at Maligavila; at 45 feet in height, this
image, believed to be Avalokites ́vara, is the largest
bodhisattva statue in the world. The 13-foot Kushtara-
jagala rock-cut relief at Väligama (Southern province),
which dates to the ninth or tenth century, is also be-
lieved to be an image of Avalokites ́vara. There are also
two groups of rock-cut reliefs at Buduruvagala. One
group includes a 12-foot Sudhanakumara on the left,
a 24-foot Avalokites ́vara in the middle, and a 20-foot
Taraat the right; the other group includes a 22-foot
Vajrapani at the left, a 25-foot MAITREYAin the mid-
dle, and a 20-foot Avalokites ́vara at the right. These
images all date to the ninth or tenth centuries (Von
Schroeder, pp. 292–295).Other early Buddhist art of Sri Lanka from the
Anuradhapura period was influenced by the Gupta andSRILANKA, BUDDHISTART IN