The Satmahal Prasada: A Historic Link between Lan Na and Sri Lanka

Part of Ancient Chiang Mai

About 35km east of the great rock fortress of Sigiriya, just off Route 11 linking Anuradhapura and Batticaloa, lies the sleepy provincial capital of Polonnaruwa, 215km distant from Sri Lanka's bustling capital, Colombo. It's difficult to imagine now, but between the 10^th and 13^th centuries ad, for about three hundred years, Polonnaruwa was the splendid capital of ancient Sri Lanka.

The golden age of Polonnaruwa is generally considered to have spanned the reigns of King Parakramabahu I (1153-1186) and King Nissanka Malla (1187-1196). During this period the city reached its zenith, attaining remarkable achievements in civic administration and economic prosperity, as well as promoting a general cultural and religious revival. Yet after Nissanka Malla's death this golden era gave way to a period of strife and confusion, with several contenders for kingship jostling to assume power.

David Henley / CPA

Satmahal Prasada, Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka.

At the heart of old Polonnaruwa, within the city fortifications, Parakramabahu I built a great palace, said to have been seven storeys high and with three-metre thick walls, as a symbol of his temporal power. A short distance to the north he began work on a complex of religious buildings symbolising his spiritual concerns and dedicated to Theravada Buddhism, the major religion of Sri Lanka as well as of the neighbouring Maldives until their conversion to Islam after 1153. Theravada Buddhism also provided the basis for strong religious and cultural links with the more distant countries of Southeast Asia, most notably Burma, Thailand (both Siam and Lan Na), Laos (Lan Chang) and Cambodia.

When Parakramabahu I died in 1186, he was succeeded by his nephew, Nissanka Malla, a Hindu of South Indian extraction who nevertheless continued with considerable enthusiasm his uncle's work of expanding Polonnaruwa's religious infrastructure-both Hindu and Buddhist-including the religious complex north of the palace now known as the Polonnaruwa Quadrangle.

As it stands today, the Quadrangle encompasses a vatadage or circular relic house, the Thuparama gedige or temple, the Gal Pota or "stone book", two tooth-relic chambers-the Hatadage and Atadage-and a Bodhisattva shrine. Finally, standing alone in the north-eastern corner of the complex is a most unusual dagoba, the Satmahal Prasada or "seven-storied stupa" built during the reign of Nissanka Malla and therefore dating from the last quarter of the 12^th century ad.

The Satmahal Prasada is apparently unique in Sri Lanka, although excavations at Annuradhapura indicate that the 2^nd century bc Digavapi Cetiya was also square in shape and built of brick. Essentially, the Satmahal Prasada is a square, pyramid-like structure [rather like a much smaller and much steeper version of the step-pyramid of King Zoser (c2650 bc) in Egypt] that once had seven levels, now reduced by time to six, becoming consecutively smaller towards the top. Each of the four sides of each tier of the Satmahal Prasada is (or was) ornamented by the figure of a deity in a single arched niche.

As indicated, the Satmahal Prasada is unique in Sri Lanka and has long puzzled art historians and archaeologists who tend to attribute it, loosely and variously, to either "Cambodian", "Burmese", or "Siamese" influence. In fact it bears a striking resemblance to a number of chedi of Mon origin or Mon inspiration in North Thailand, more especially at Lamphun, the capital of the former Mon Kingdom of Haripunchai, and at Chiang Mai, the capital of the former Lan Na Kingdom of North Thailand.

David Henley / CPA

Mahapol Chedi, Wat Ku Kut, Lamphun, Thailand.

The earliest extant of these stepped chedi is the renowned Mahapol Chedi at Lamphun, formerly capital of the Mon Kingdom of Haripunchai and home to its most celebrated ruler-the (possibly) 9^th century-Queen Chama Thewi. The legendary origins of the Mahapol Chedi date from the 7^th or 8^th century ad, but the first historic records date its construction to the years 1130-1150, when King Aditta of Lamphun was victorious in the second of the Lamphun-Lopburi wars. According to the Jinakalamali chronicle King Aditta triumphed over the army of Lopburi in a dhammayuddha or "righteous war" which involved digging ponds rather than fighting. Afterwards Aditta had the armies of both Lopburi and Lamphun cooperate in building a stupa which he named Mahabalacetiya, or "Great Army Stupa"-Mahapol Chedi in Thai.

This monument is now the principal stupa of Wat Chama Thewi (better known locally as Wat Ku Kut), standing about 1km to the west of Lamphun. In its present form it dates from 1218, when it was restored by King Savvadhisiddhi (c.1200-1230) following an earthquake. The Mahapol Chedi-which is also known at the Suwan Chang Kot Chedi-is a tall and slender structure of laterite and stucco set on a square laterite foundation. It rises 21 metres through five diminishing tiers culminating in a (damaged) finial above the fifth tier-hence the local name of the temple, Wat Ku Kut, or "Temple of the Damaged Stupa". On each of the four sides of each tier, three niches shelter standing Buddhas in stucco, making a total of sixty images. These images show the characteristics associated with Mon-Haripunchai art, having a blend of Mon and Khmer traditions in their horizontal features, especially in the joined eyebrows. The left arm hangs by the side of the body, while the right arm (where not broken off) is raised in the abhaya mudra or "gesture of renunciation". It is locally believed that this stupa contains the ashes of Queen Chama Thewi.

The Mahapol Chedi of Wat Ku Kut is a particularly fine example of Mon-Haripunchai architecture; it's also one of the very few surviving examples of the religious art of this sophisticated Mon kingdom. By any standards, its similarity to the Sri Lanka's Satmahal Prasada is indeed striking.

The Mahapol Chedi may be the oldest and most significant of Lan Na's square, brick-tiered pyramidal stupa, but it's not the only one of its kind in North Thailand. The style, which is called ratana cetiya or "jewelled chedi", is repeated in Chiang Mai's Wat Chedi Liam (1288-89), probably the oldest surviving structure of the Mangrai Dynasty, predating even Wat Chiang Man (1297), the oldest temple within the walled city. According to the Mulasasana Chronicle of Chiang Mai (cited by Hans Penth in his Jinakalamali Index), when King Mangrai first established his capital at Wiang Kum Kam (c1287), 'he wished to acquire much merit and thus built a stupa with four corners'. He named the temple Wat Ku Kham or "Temple of the Golden Chedi", but it is now more generally known as Wat Chedi Liam, or "Temple of the Square Chedi", located on the east bank of the River Ping, just south of Nong Hoi Market.

Chedi Liam is clearly based on the design of Lamphun's Mahapol Chedi. Square in plan, it rises through five tiers in an elegantly slender pyramid. Like the Mahapol Chedi it has three niches on each of the four sides, making a total of 60 niches in five tiers. The second and third tiers have makara-framed niches, the other niches have floral decorations. Unlike the Mahapol Chedi, the Buddha images in the niches differ slightly in posture from tier to tier. Today the stupa diverges quite markedly from the traditional Mon design in that it has a curving spire similar to a Lao that, topped with a Burmese-style hti. The four corners of the square base are guarded by Burmese-style chinthe lions. These additions date from the beginning of the 20^th century. According to Penth, 'local people told me in 1967 than in about 1905 Phraya Taka’¡Ä a wealthy Burmese merchant in Chiang Mai, repaired the stupa and added the lion statues’¡Ä and the parasol on top of the stupa'.

Another fine example of the Mon-style ratana cetiya is to be found at Lamphun's Wat Phra That Haripunchai. The very attractive Suwanna Chedi dates from 1418 and is again clearly based on the architectural style of the nearby Mahapol Chedi. The tall brick-and-stucco stupa rises in five diminishing square tiers, each with three niches, making a total of 60 in all. Unlike the Mahapol Chedi, the ku on top is undamaged and culminates in an unusually tall and narrow gilded spire, contributing to the overall effect of slender elegance.

Finally, the chedi of Nan's Wat Phaya Wat, located a short distance south of the town centre in the direction of Phrae, is yet again based on the venerable Mahapol Chedi at Lamphun. It rises in the same five square tiers, each with three Buddha niches to make a total of 60. As with the Suwanna Chedi, it is made of brick-and-stucco. It has an undamaged ku, and the characteristic narrow spire which is very similar to that of the Suwanna Chedi. It's not known exactly when the chedi at Wat Phaya Wat was constructed-it's not mentioned in the Nan Chronicle-but it is generally judged to be the latest of the Mon-style chedi surviving in North Thailand, and may be as recent as the 17^th or 18^th century.

All of which begs the question, did the Satmahal Prasada in Polonnaruwa (c.1187-1196) draw its inspiration from the Mahapol Chedi in Lamphun (c1130-1150, but restored in its present form in 1218), or was it the other way round?

In fact it seems likely that the artistic inspiration for the Mahapol Chedi derived from earlier Mon-Dvaravati chedi further south at Lopburi, though only archaeological relics survive to suggest this. Certainly Mon monks travelled to Polonnaruwa, while Sri Lankan Buddhist monks travelled to and taught in contemporaneous North Thailand. On balance, it seems most likely that the square-sided ratana cetiya originated with the Mon of Dvaravati, spreading from Lopburi to both North Thailand and Sri Lanka.

But then again, as the art historian Betty Gosling has pointed out, the stupa style of ancient Lopburi was almost certainly based on that of Bodh Gaya in northern India. Clearly, cross-cultural influences are very much a two-way street!

Text by Andrew Forbes, images by David Henley. © CPA Media, 2005

Contributions

1. Mon-Dvaravati vs. Mon-Haripunchai:

One small quarrel and that is with your use of "Mon Dvaravati" as description of the pre-Tai kingdom in the Lamphun area. Actually the kingdom is called Mon Hariphunchai (10th - 13th C.), and is an off shoot of the Mons in Central Thailand from the Lavo/Lopburi area. See Hans Penth's "A Brief History of Lan Na," although he has a slightly different dating. As for Mon Hariphunchai art, the Buddha images show a blend of Mon and Khmer traditions with their horizontal features, especially the joined eyebrows. They are quite different from the Mon Dvaravati type of Buddha image (see the section on Mon Hariphunchai in my book for more distinguishing details).

Carol Stratton [Chiang Mai and Vermont] 13/03/05

Noted with gratitude and changed, thank you Carole. [AF]