Upulvan (, ;

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

: Utpalavarna), also known as

Vishnu Vishnu (; , , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism, and the god of preservation ( ...

(''Vishnu deviyo'') is a guardian deity (Pali: Khettapala; Sanskrit: Kshetrapala) of

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. Sri Lankan Buddhists believe him also as a protector of the

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

in the country. The name Upulvan depicts his body colour which means "blue water lily coloured". The cult of Upulvan started during the medieval period in Sri Lanka. According to the local lore and legend, Upulvan is the god whom the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

entrusted with the guardianship of Sri Lanka and Buddha

Śāsana Śāsana (, śāsana; ) is a Buddhist term for the distribution time or availability of the teachings of a Buddha. The currently available philosophy and practice are dated back to Siddhartha Gautama and are only available for a limited time span ...

of the country.

Historical accounts and legends

According to the Sri Lankan chronicles Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa, north Indian

prince Vijaya Prince Vijaya (c. 543–505 BCE) was a legendary king of Kingdom of Tambapanni, Tambapanni, based in modern day Sri Lanka. His reign was first mentioned in ''Mahāvaṃsa.'' He is said to have came to Sri Lanka with seven hundred followers afte ...

and his seven hundred followers were blessed by god Upulvan upon their arrival to Sri Lanka in 543 BC. The second appearance of god Upulvan in literary sources occurs in the 7th and 8th centuries and again after a gap of several centuries his name reappears in 13th and 14th centuries as the god par excellence. Though god Upulvan is mentioned in Mahavamsa as the guardian deity of Sri Lanka, the first reference to the worship of Upulvan is dated to the 13th century.A history of Sri Lanka
by K. M. De Silva, pp.51-4 & 92-3 Kotte era poem ''Panditha Perakumba Siritha'' describes a story of how god Upulvan transfigured a log of a kihiri tree and floated it to the sea beach of Devinuwara kingdom in Southern Sri Lanka. On the night prior to the incident, King Dappula I (661-664) who was the reigning monarch, had a dream about the arrival of this transfigured kihiri log. Accordingly, the king and his people rushed to the beach and recovered the kihiri log. They carved the god's figure out of the kihiri log, and brought it ceremonially for enshrinement. The poem further states that the wood of the said kihiri log was also used as a medicine for treating various diseases. The ''Paravi Sandesaya'', written by Thotagamuwe Sri Rahula Thera in the 15th century mentions the name of the consort of god Upulvan as Sandavan Biso, and they have a son named Dhanu also called Janak. In the medieval period local deities, namely Upulvan, Katharagama, Saman and Vibhisana came to be worshiped as protectors of the island. The 14th century inscription of King Buvanekabahu IV is the first inscription that refers to the guardian deities of Sri Lanka. Within the same century Nissanka Alagakkonara erected four shrines for the guardian deities when he was constructing the fortress of Kotte. God Upulvan seems to have been the most popular of these guardian gods and his main temple was located at Devinuwara (Dewundara) in Matara. ''Dewundara Devala Sannasa'' speaks of land dedicated to the temple by the ancient kings of Sri Lanka. A second temple for god Upulvan was erected by King Parakkramabahu IV at Aluthnuwara, Satara Korale in Kegalle District. Evidence reveals that land and other endowments were made to this temple up to the beginning of 17th century.

Identification with Vishnu

At the end of the 15th century, god Upulvan was identified with god Vishnu of Hinduism, which could be attributed to the resemblance of the two deities and to the Hindu or influence that prevailed during the times of Kotte Kingdom. Thereafter images of Upulvan as Vishnu were set besides the images of Buddha in Buddhist temples throughout the country. After the identity of god Upulvan was merged with god Vishnu, the use of name Upulvan slowly disappeared and the worship of Upulvan as Vishnu was spread throughout Sri Lanka. The deity was important for the Abhisheka

coronation A coronation ceremony marks the formal investiture of a monarch with regal power using a crown. In addition to the crowning, this ceremony may include the presentation of other items of regalia, and other rituals such as the taking of special v ...

rite Rite may refer to: Religion * Ritual, an established ceremonious act * Rite (Christianity), sacred rituals in the Christian religion * Ritual family, Christian liturgical traditions; often also called ''liturgical rites'' * Catholic particular ch ...

.The Buddhist Vishnu: Religious Transformation, Politics, and Culture
By John C. Holt, pp. 5, 13-14, 67-87, 97-100, 343, 413 (Columbia University Press) Vishnu Devalya of Kandy Kingdom – මහනුවර විශ්ණු දේවාලය
Amazing Lanka Accessed 07-09-16Perpetual ferment : popular revolts in Sri Lanka in the 18th and 19th centuries, Kumari Jayawardena pp.17,128 (SSA) Today it is commonly accepted both Upulvan and Vishnu as identical deities in Sri Lanka. But there exists different views about this identification and according to some historians and sources, the two deities are not identical. There are also sources that equate god Upulvan to the

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed ...

god

Varuna Varuna (; , ) is a Hindu god. He is one of the earliest deities in pantheon, whose role underwent a significant transformation from the Vedic to the Puranic periods. In the early Vedic era, Varuna is seen as the god-sovereign, ruling the sky ...

, the protector and the lord of oceans, and in that capacity he is assumed as a protector of the island of Sri Lanka as well as

Avalokiteśvara In Buddhism, Avalokiteśvara (meaning "the lord who looks down", International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ), also known as Lokeśvara ("Lord of the World") and Chenrezig (in Tibetan), is a Bodhisattva#Bhūmis (stages), tenth-level bodhisattva associ ...

and Tara.

Major temples

An ancient temple dedicated to god Upulvan was situated at Devinuwara in Matara, the southernmost area of the country. According to the recorded history, the Devinuwara multi-religious complex, the Buddhist temple and the Upulvan devale (shrine) was started by King Dappula I (Dappula-sen) in the 7th century AD. The origin of the Esala festival of Devinuwara goes back to the times of King Parakramabahu II who had reconstructed the dilapidated temples during his reign. Kings

Parakramabahu VI Parâkramabâhu VI (, ) was the first king of Kingdom of Kotte, Kotte, ruling from 1410 until his death in 1467. He is the last great king in Sri Lanka who managed to unite the island under one flag. His rule is famous for the renaissance in Sri ...

, Vijayabahu VII and Bhuvanekabahu VII of Kotte made further grants to the temple.Arnold Wright. ''Twentieth century impressions of Ceylon: its history, people, commerce '' p. 416 The sacred shrine is mentioned in the ''Kokila Sandesaya'' ("Message carried by Kokila bird") written in the 15th century with reference to the exploits of Sapumal Kumaraya. The temple complex was visited by

Ibn Battuta Ibn Battuta (; 24 February 13041368/1369), was a Maghrebi traveller, explorer and scholar. Over a period of 30 years from 1325 to 1354, he visited much of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Iberian Peninsula. Near the end of his life, Ibn ...

in the 14th century and

Zheng He Zheng He (also romanized Cheng Ho; 1371–1433/1435) was a Chinese eunuch, admiral and diplomat from the early Ming dynasty, who is often regarded as the greatest admiral in History of China, Chinese history. Born into a Muslims, Muslim famil ...

in the 15th century. In 1587, a Portuguese army led by Thome de Sousa Arronches attacked the sacred city and destroyed the temples to distract king Rajasinha I's

siege A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

.112th death anniversary of C. H. de Soysa – philanthropist unequalled
Dr. K. N. M. D. Cooray

Daily News (Sri Lanka) The ''Daily News'' is an English-language newspaper in Sri Lanka. It is now published by the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (Lake House), a government-owned corporation. The newspaper commenced publishing on 3 January 1918. D. R. Wij ...

Retrieved 15 October 2015 King Rajasinghe II managed to recapture Matara and re-built the shrine to god Vishnu, which is presently known as Uthpalawarna Sri Vishnu Devalaya. Today Vishnu is venerated by a large number of devotees in Sri Lanka, and is specially revered as the custodian of the island. There are many temples and shrines which are dedicated to the god in many parts of Sri Lanka. Annual processions (''peraheras'') are held to pay homage to the god in most of these temples. Other than the main temple and shrine in Devi Nuwara some of the famous Vishnu shrines and temples (''devalas & kovils'') in Sri Lanka are located in

Kandy Kandy (, ; , ) is a major city located in the Central Province, Sri Lanka, Central Province of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the Sinhalese monarchy from 1469 to 1818, under the Kingdom of Kandy. The city is situated in the midst of ...

, Vallipuram, Aluthgama ( Kande Viharaya) and Dehiwala. The chief lay custodian of each shrine is known as the Basnayaka Nilame.

References

External links

Official web site of Devinuwara
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430113417/http://devinuwara.org/ , date=2009-04-30 Sinhalese Buddhist deities Forms of Vishnu

Historical accounts and legends

Identification with Vishnu

Major temples

References

Further reading

External links