Thuparamaya: Anuradhapura's first stupa

Thuparamaya is traditionally said to be the first stupa built in Sri Lanka after Buddhism arrived. King Devanampiya Tissa raised it in the 3rd century BC, soon after the monk Mahinda's mission at Mihintale. It enshrined a relic sent from India, said to be the Buddha's right collarbone.

Over the centuries Thuparamaya was rebuilt several times. A vatadage, a circular relic house with stone pillars, was built around it, and later the stupa itself was restored. The bell-shaped dagoba seen today dates from a rebuilding in 1862.

Despite the restoration, Thuparamaya's age and associations give it deep sacredness for Sri Lankan Buddhists.

The chronicles tell how the collarbone relic arrived. Mahinda asked King Devanampiya Tissa for a relic to worship, and the novice Sumana travelled to India to fetch it. The relic was received with great ceremony, and the king built Thuparamaya to enshrine it, making Anuradhapura a place of Buddhist pilgrimage from that moment.

The slender stone pillars around Thuparamaya are its most distinctive feature. Arranged in concentric rings, they once supported the roof of a vatadage. Their capitals are carved, and many lean slightly with age, giving the site a graceful, almost forest-like feel.

The pillars show how vatadages worked before Polonnaruwa's more famous example. Seeing Thuparamaya first, then the Polonnaruwa Vatadage the next day, shows how the form developed.

Thuparamaya's pillars have carved capitals with bands of decoration, including figures of geese, lions and dwarfs. Look closely at a few of the better-preserved capitals. Some scholars think the pillars once supported a conical roof rather than a flat one, though how the roof was built is still debated by archaeologists.

Thuparamaya is an active temple within Anuradhapura's sacred city, and there is no separate charge, though the surrounding area is part of the main site. Remove shoes and hats, walk clockwise and dress modestly. Allow 20 to 30 minutes.

The terrace is open and heats quickly, so visit early or late. Thuparamaya is a few minutes' walk from Ruwanwelisaya and the Sri Maha Bodhi, so all three combine easily on foot. Lankan Stays & Trails guides often start here to explain the beginning of Buddhism in Sri Lanka before moving on to the larger stupas.

Thuparamaya is quieter than Ruwanwelisaya and the Sri Maha Bodhi for most of the day. Its smaller size and shaded pillars make it a good place to pause, especially in the late afternoon. Monks from the attached temple sometimes chant in the evening, adding to the atmosphere for visitors who linger.

Thuparamaya matters because it marks the beginning. Mahinda's mission brought Buddhism to Sri Lanka, and the first stupa gave it a physical heart in the capital. Every stupa built afterwards, including the giants of Jetavanaramaya and Ruwanwelisaya, follows from this one.

For a first-time visitor, starting the Anuradhapura story here helps the rest of the sacred city make sense.

Thuparamaya also shows how Sri Lankan Buddhism treats its monuments. Rather than preserving the stupa as a ruin, devotees rebuilt it as a place of living worship. That approach, renewing the sacred rather than freezing it, is common across the Cultural Triangle and explains why some sites look newer than their age.

Thuparamaya sits at the heart of the sacred city. Ruwanwelisaya is a few minutes' walk south, the Sri Maha Bodhi a little further, and Lovamahapaya, the ruins of the brazen palace with its forest of 1,600 stone pillars, lies between them.

Jetavanaramaya is a short ride east, and Abhayagiri north. A first Anuradhapura morning often starts at Thuparamaya, then Ruwanwelisaya and the Sri Maha Bodhi, before the heat.