Cinnamon Lakeside team lends a hand at Abhayagiriya

A 75-member strong team of Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo associates dedicated a Saturday towards assisting in the restoration of Abhayagiriya, a temple of immense historic significance.

The project embraces the John Keells Leisure Group’s commitment to the community as endorsed by one of its five pledges – ‘I Will Care’.

The gigantic Abhayagiri Dagoba, often confused with the Jetavanarama, was created in the 1st or 2nd century BC. It served as the centrepiece of a monastery of 5,000 monks.

The name means ‘Hill of Protection’ or ‘Fearless Hill’ although it is sometimes mistakenly claimed that ‘Giri’ was the name of a local Jain monk. The monastery was part of the ‘School of the Secret Forest’, a heretical sect that studied both Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism. The Chinese traveler Fa Hsien visited it in AD 412.

The Dagoba was probably rebuilt several times to reach its peak height of 75 meters. It has some interesting bas-reliefs, including one near the western stairway of an elephant pulling up a tree. A large slab with a Buddha footprint can be seen on the northern side, and the eastern and western steps have remarkable moonstones made from concentric stone slabs.

Approximately three cubes of 3 ¼ metal, bricks, stones and cement where transported to the top of the Dagoba by the associates. Together with Adriana and Alexandre Gruhier, the wife and son of Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo General Manager Denis Gruhier, the team also helped lay bricks and clear rubble. After an exhausting day of physical labour, the experience left the team only more excited about its next project.