MIRISAWETIYA STUPA, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, 2019.12.07

Day 3 (4 of 4).

Mirisawetiya Stupa was just five minute walk away from our hotel Sanctuary at Tissawewa.  As we left the ruins of Abhayagiri Monastery, it was still a little early for supper, so we decided to check out Mirisawetiya Stupa before sunset.  The road leading to the stupa was decorated with colourful Buddhist banners and flags.  Large group of people, some dressed in traditional costumes, gathered at the entrance parking lot.  Red carpet was laid on the ground leading into the forecourt of the stupa.  We were excited to see the scene, despite we couldn’t figure out exactly what was going on.  We figured that there must be a certain kind of religious ceremony taking place.  And so we followed the red carpet, took off our shoes at the forecourt, and entered the stupa complex.

It was still too early to call it a day, so we asked the tuk tuk driver to drop us off at Mirisawetiya Stupa.

A long red carpet led us into the stupa forecourt.  A large TV screen was broadcasting the speech of a monk.

The vivid Buddhist colours and traditional costumes stand out extremely well from the white wash stupa.

The costume looks like to be some kind of ceremonial costumes.

Shrines at the Mirisawetiya Stupa was full of offerings.

Monks also gathered at the stupa with their offerings.

Crowds sat down at various locations around the stupa.

A parade of ceremonial procession walked right by us.

Followed by a number of people dressed in white.

Because of the crowds and security control, we could not move freely around the stupa.

We stayed with a group of worshipers for a while.

And admired the stunning Mirisawetiya Stupa below the setting sun.

Unfortunately we didn’t understand the language so we didn’t stay for long at the scene.

Later at night, we found out that the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka came to Mirisawetiya Stupa for a visit.  What we saw was part of the ceremony associated with his visit.

Due to the close distance, we could still hear the speakers of Mirisawetiya‘s ceremony from our hotel until late at night.  The event perhaps gave us an insight on how a Buddhist event might have look like in Anuradhapura over a millennia ago.  The next day we would move on to Polonnaruwa and then Sigiriya, two other popular attractions in the Cultural Triangle.