Millions of harsh Sunrays covered the Nainativu Island, and the visitors were nearly burnt from the heat. The nature’s efforts to stop the crowd from entering the peaceful Island was in vain, as there were many numbers of devotees present even on a day when there was no long weekend. Near the entrance to the island at one of the army checkpoints, soldiers ensured us that the day we went as a good day to worship the temple, as it was less crowded. Let your imagination run wild and visualize a crowded day. Very difficult, even to imagine isn’t it? The temple is a world-renowned tourist destination and being out of reach for 30-years made this temple today as one of the highly demanded places of worship in the country.
Nagadeepa Viharaya, the
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The road from Jaffna runs across a long causeway to the island of Kayts then from there drives on another causeway, which leads to Punkudutivu. From the far end of the Punkudutivu, from the Kurikadduvan Jetty, the visitors must take a boat to reach the temple. Sri Lanka Navy oversee this service while many private groups carry out the boat service. The 15 minutes journey to the temple was not at all thrilling. The boat was crowded with nearly hundred people from all walks of life. Since the boat roof was low, we had a hard time trying to stand properly. The crowed increased the inside temperature making it difficult even to breathe. However, as soon as we reached the island, I assure you, I did not even remember the boat ride. What lie ahead at the islet is magnificent and it is well worth the suffering. The Island has an old Hindu Kovil, Naga Pooshani Amman Kovil, in addition to the temple. Unlike olden days now, there is another new jetty built near the temple as well. Therefore, if there are many Buddhists in the boat, it will be stopped near the Temple jetty and if there are more Hindus, the boat will go up to the Kovil Jetty. The temple management and the chief incumbent thera of the temple, Venerable Navadagala Padumakiththi Tissa Nayaka Thera highly emphasise the importance of a proper dress code and respectable behaviour. There are boards fixed all over reminding the devotees on that. The temple atmosphere is serene …show more content…
We left the Temple premises and walked along the road led towards the kovil. Soon we arrived at the makeshift stalls, or ‘thorombal’ as my little brother call them. They were selling palmyrah jaggery, popcorn, fruits and conch shells that are common in the area. “Buy ‘inguru dosi’ from me, three boxes are over and the last six remains,” an old woman announced. “Buy palmyrah jiggery from us, take these for your loved ones,” a man shouted. It was chaos at the road. We rushed to the jetty under the blazing sun and the heat. For our relief this time it was better boat and fewer crowds. The boat slowly drifted away from the islet, and the excited youngsters in the boat tried pushing the elderly crowd from the entrance and climbed to the roof when one nearly fell to the sea. Luckily, they had their life jackets on. Journey to Nagadeepa, was one memorable trip in my life. Now, I too can brag like my granny and other elders, “I have being to
There is a lot of information being portrayed through this small Diorama. On the left side of the stage, there is the beautiful and exquisite town of Sighet. The garden is blooming and the sun is shining. The clouds and stars are hovering through the sky. The community and environment is pristine. The plants and trees are healthy and vibrant green. This small town was extremely devotional toward Judaism and the pr...
In 1785, a Christ Child was said to have appeared. A shepherd boy from the village of Tayankani played with the child, but the child disappeared. The child was believed to have disappeared into a rock that was left with his imprint. This is the story behind the pilgrimage to the rock, but those of our community don’t pay much attention to it. Their purpose in the event is to ‘honor’ their supernatural beings. They pay homage to Rit’i (the snow), Taytakuna (Fathers), and the great Apus (Lord Mountains).
Yu, Han. “Memorial on Buddhism”. Making of the Modern World 12: Classical & Medieval Tradition. Trans. Richard F. Burton. Ed. Janet Smarr. La Jolla: University Readers, 2012. 111-112. Print.
Walking into the Hall of the Buddhas, there was a sense of peace and guidance lingering inside me. The seated Bodhisattva, of the Northern Wei dynasty (386-534), CA.480, from the Yungang, Cave xv, Shani Province, made of sandstone, guarded the entrance. At first, I thought it was a time to be disciplined, but the transcending smile from the statue was a delicate fixed gesture that offered a feeling of welcome. It was not a place to confess your wrongdoings; neither was it a place for me to say, “Buddha I have sinned.” It was a room to purify the mind, the mind that we take for granted without giving it harmony. There was a large mural decorating the main wall called “The Paradise of Bhaishajyaguru”(916-1125). I sat down wandering if the artist of the portrait knew that his work would one day be shared on this side of the world, in my time. Much like Jesus Christ and his followers, the mural is a painting of healers and saviors. It was a large figure of the Buddha of medicine, (Bhaishajyaquru) surrounded by followers of Bodhisattvas, Avalokiteshvara, and Mahosthamaprapta with twelve guardian generals who have pledged to disseminate the Buddha’s teaching (Tradition of Liao 916-1125, Metropolitan Museum wall plaque).
The Warka Vase is a special view into the daily practices of the Inana cult and the structure of their life and the importance of the various materials, animals and people who makeup the cult of Inana. The Vase honors all aspects of their life. The irrigated water is the basis of their life, without the irrigation no crops would grow. The cattle used in the temples wouldn’t stand without the crops to feed them. Without the cattle neither would the men exist to provide for the cult of Inana. Each register is important to the way of life in the cult of Inana, even the the simple irrigation of their plants.
Were Dash’s audience to return to the South Sea islands eighty years after “Daughters of the Dust” they might find the Gullah people and their lives similar to those of the Willow Springs of Naylor’s novel. Although nearly a century spans between them, these two people nevertheless share many traits. Many of the residents of Willow Springs answer to a nickname given them as a child; similarly, Viola Peazant reminisces about the nicknames given to children in Ibo Landing. Members of both communities, generations from Africa and steeped in “modernity,” still come to the traditional herbalist for help in matters of the body and spirit: Eula uses Nana’s medicine to contact the soul of her deceased mother; Bernice and Ambush come to Mama Day to heal Bernice when she becomes ill, and later for help in conceiving a child. Both Nana Peazant and Mama Day draw their knowledge from a life lived on their respective islands and their strength from their ancestors, whom they visit and tend at the village graveyards. And like Nana Peazant, Mama Day struggles to maintain a tie with her family members who have left the island and immersed themselves in the mainstream culture.
When Sripathi and his family receive the news of Maya’s and her husband’s fatal road accident, they experience a dramatic up heaval. For Sripathi, this event functioned as the distressed that inaugurated his cultural and personal process of transformation and was played out on different levels. First, his daughter’s death required him to travel to Canada to arrange for his granddaughter’s reverse journey to India, a move that marked her as doubly diasporic sensibility. Sripathi called his “foreign trip” to Vancouver turned out to be an experience of deep psychic and cultural dislocation, for it completely “unmoors him from the earth after fifty-seven years of being tied to it” (140). Sripathi’s own emerging diasporic sensibility condition. Not only must he faced his own fear of a world that is no longer knowable to him, but, more importantly, he must face his granddaughter. Nandana has been literally silenced by the pain of her parent’s death, and her relocation from Canada to Tamil Nadu initially irritated her psychological condition. To Sripathi, however, Nandana’s presence actsed as a constant reminder of his regret of not having “known his daughter’s inner life” (147) as well as her life in Canada. He now recognizeed that in the past he denied his daughter his love in order to support his
The wooden lintels, writing, and the unique calendar reveal clues about life in a society that thrived for over 1000 years. Many massive building are visible today, those built to pay tribute to kings and to please the deities. The M...
The article equips the reader with the tools needed to better understand other cultures, in terms of their own beliefs and rituals. Miner’s original approach does create a certain level of confusion that forces the reader to critically evaluate his purpose. “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner ultimately brings people together, by illuminating the eccentricities present in all
"Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History." Altarpiece Dedicated to Buddha Maitreya (Mile) [China] (38.158.1a-n). N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2014.
...tures are built in the attempt to be noticed for their cultural significance but not as a main religious gathering place, and they both have spacious ambulatories for flow of spectators. Now in contrast of the two monuments, the pair have differences in their imagery, exterior as well as added spacing. The Dome of the Rock has mosaics on its exterior and interior and the mosaics are non representational. The overall shape of the temple is simply a dome on a octagonal base. However, San Vitale has multiple images of figures and animals but excludes it to only its interior. In addition, unlike the Dome of the Rock, its floor plan consists of a narthax, two towers, an apse and two chapels. By studying these monuments, it is possible to understand the importance of religious or cultural imagery as well as limiting materials for construction in these distinctive areas.
"Basics of Buddhism." n.d. The Living Edens: Thailand. Public Broadcasting Service. Website. 6 March 2014. .
For my site visit reflection paper, I decided to visit the Thai Buddhist Temple in Homestead. The reason this particular site was my choice was because information acquired from the videos in lecture about tradition and Confucianism in Asia made me curious to learn more about the Buddhist way of life. Because so many South Eastern countries instantaneously adopted Buddhism from India and then China with open arms, I decided to make the visit in the morning to learn the reasons for the international success of this way of life. This would give me a more interactive comprehension of Buddhism.
In Golema Mmidi, a place where social norms and values are well respected, Makhaya joins a group of refugees and exiles and becomes involved in...
All of the preparations were made accordingly, and for the very first time, the art of ‘Natya’ was performed before an audience of Devas and Asuras. In this Natya, the Devas were portrayed as victorious and the Asuras as losers. The Asuras (demons) got angry and rose in protest and threatened even worse consequences.