Rumassala ,
known to colonialists as Buona Vista, is the subject of many legends. It is
featured in the Ramayana, as the home of the beautiful Queen Sita.
According
to the Ramayana it is also said that Hanuman dropped a chunk of ‘Himalaya’ at
Unawatuna (Onna Vetuna - ‘here it fell’) to form the present mountain, where
many medicinal plants still grow. There is a major magnetic anomaly near
Unawatuna, which Arthur C. Clarke attributes to a meteorite strike, and it is
said that satellites lose their orbits with unusual frequency overhead. The
Portuguese had a dreadful reputation in Sri Lanka as looters and pirates, are
said to have given false light signals from Rumassala to lure unsuspecting Arab
trading ships onto the rocks.
Mythical
Legend
According
to legend the Monkey-warrior Hanuman was sent back to India to fetch the four
medicinal herbs, mritasanjeevani, vishalyakarani, suvarnakarani and sandhani
from Himalaya in mountains to heal Lakshman who was wounded in his great battle
with Ravana to save the abducted Princess Sita as he failed to identify the
herbs he uprooted the mount and ferried it to the battlefield and a chunk of
that “fell-down” forming the Rumassala Hillock , and the name of the village
derived from Unna-watuna meaning “fell down”.
How does
one reach Rumassala ? One has to pass Galle Town from Colombo towards
Kataragama and in about 10 minutes a sign board to Rumassala “Rumassala Sama
Ceitya” comes into view on the sea side. After five minutes from the sign board
on the narrow road you reach the Sama Ceitya.
Sama Ceitya is the stupa which was built by the Japanese Nipponzan
Myohoji Nikaya in 23rd February 2004. It is called “Peace Pagoda”. There are
four stupas of this kind in Sri Pada, Bandarawela, Walapane and Ampara. In
addition to these you can see this type of stupas in America, India, Australia,
Japan, Nepal and Italy. By 2000, 80 Peace Pagodas had been built around the
world in Europe, Asia, and the United States.
Purpose
“We must
not forget that Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country. We want to protect this
country and Buddhism. It is for this purpose that five stupas were built in Sri
Lanka. When we look at history it proves this country has pure Buddhism. There
were many kings who built many stupas in their kingdoms. For example king
Dutugemunu built Ruwanweli Maha Seya, the largest stupa in Sri Lanka. “But
during the period of the Portuguese, Dutch and the British we lost our
religion, culture and other good values. The stupa is a symbol of Buddhism. We
want to develop our religion day by day. It is mainly for this purpose that we
decided to build five Peace Pagodas in Sri Lanka,” said Venerable Asami who is
the Japanese representative from Nipponzan Myohoji.
Venerable
Asami has been living in Sri Lanka for 27 years and in Galle 11 years. The 59
year old Thera Reverend can speak fluent Sinhala and has a very good rapport
with the people in Galle. Those on ships calling at the Galle port can see the
stupa. It is a very good sign to say that Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country.
This Peace
Pagoda is designed to provide a focus for people of all races and creeds, and
to help unite them in their search for world peace. Most (though not all) have
been built under the guidance of Nichidatsu Fujii (1885-1985), a Buddhist monk
from Japan and founder of the Nipponzan - Myohoji Buddhist Order. Fuji was
greatly inspired by his meeting with Mahatma Gandhi in 1931 and decided to
devote his life to promote non-violence. In 1947, he began constructing Peace
Pagodas as shrines of World Peace.
The first
Peace Pagodas were built as a symbol of peace in the Japanese cities of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki where the the atomic bombs took the lives of over
150,000 people during the World War II.
Staircase
There is a
staircase to the stupa and we can go around it. There are four Buddha Statues
around it and they indicate the birth of prince Siddhartha, His Enlightenment
and the attainment of Parinibbana. From this place we could see the magnificent
view of the sea. There’s a beach track from Sama Ceitya to the sea with fully
grown trees on either side. Travelling further pass the Peace Pagoda is another
temple call Sri Vivekaramaya of Rumassala. The temple contains some interesting
structures. One is the image of Hanuma carrying the piece of the himalaya
mountain in its hand. The other is a figure of Maithree Bodhisattva
