Raw data
"The earliest pottery imports belong to the Tang dynasty (AD 618-906) (Pramathilaka 1990). Chinese ceramics are found on both inland and coastal sites. Inland sites include Buddhist monasteries such as Jetavanaramaya, Abahayagiriya and Mihintale in north central province in Sri Lanka."
http://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/jayasingha/index.html
Town 7 Miles north-east of Anurādhapura, Sri Lanka. Its great spiritual importance to the Buddhists of the island is due to the fact that it is here that Mahinda, son of Emperor Aśoka, met King Devānampiya Tissa and converted him to Buddhism, thus officially introducing the religion to the country.
http://www.answers.com/topic/mihintale
"In 247 B.C. Buddhism was first introduced to Sri Lanka on the mountain of Mihintale. Since then, various kings of Sri Lanka have blessed this rock with magnificent masterpieces of architecture. These include a hospital, a monastic complex, stupas and dagobas. While some of these structures are in an almost perfect state of preservation, some others are in complete ruin. The most spectacular of these is the Kantaka Chaitiya, which displays some of the finest architecture of the early Anuradhapura era.
The climb to the summit consists of almost a thousand steps."
http://www.srilanka.com/travel/traveldetail/TL00252
"From ancient times a large number of large steps were constructed to climb Mihintale. It is stated that King Devanampiyatissa [r. 307 BC to 267 BC. - tmc] constructed a vihara and 68 caves for the bhikkhus to reside in. At Mihintale there gradually grew a number of Buddhist viharas with all the dependent buildings characteristic of monasteries of that period.
The Hospital
At the foot of the mountain are the ruins of a hospital, medical bath (or stone canoe in which patients were immersed in medicinal oil) a stone inscription and urns belonging to the ancient period have been unearthed. Between the hospital and the steps leading to the rock are the ruins of a large monastery. On the floors of the square building which is 125 feet (38 m) on one side, are beautiful carvings and also are stone balustrades and guard stones. As this side is precipitous, the steps are on the eastern side of the slope, spacious and in 4 sections. The stairway has 1840 steps made of granite, leading to the summit. At the end of the first set of steps on the right side of the plain, is a small mountain peak. On this is situated the most famous Kantaka Cetiya [a stupa - tmc].
Heinz E Müller-Dietz (Historia Hospitalium 1975) describes Mihintale Hospital as being perhaps the oldest in the world.[…]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihintale
Input by: tmciolek, 24 Jan 2009
Final data (and their sources)
Last updated: 03 Oct 2013
Lat/Long coordinates' accuracy:
The monastery in question is assumed to be situated actually no farther than 200m from the point defined by the coordinates below.
General location of the Mihintale monastery, SL.
Lat 8.350594 Long 80.516944
Mapping & images: Falling Rain Genomics (http://www.fallingrain.com), 2009.
Google Map link:
Final data - explanatory notes
1. Monastery's name
- Mihintale monastery - http://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/jayasingha/index.html
2. Monastery's modern country & province
- Sri Lanka:North Central Province
3. Monastery's alternative/historical names
4. Monastery's lat/long coordinates
- Approx. Lat 8.350594 Long 80.516944 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihintale
5. Other known nearby Buddhist monasteries
- [missing data]
6. Modern name of the known nearest city, town, or village
7. The settlement's alternative/historical names
- Aneuradhapura http://www.fallingrain.com/world/CE/30/Anuradhapura.html
- Anuradhapur http://www.fallingrain.com/world/CE/30/Anuradhapura.html
8. The settlement's coordinates
- Approx., Lat 8.3500 Long 80.3833 http://www.fallingrain.com/world/CE/30/Anuradhapura.html
9. Monastery's major Buddhist tradition
10. Monastery's Buddhist sub-tradition
- [missing data]
11. Date-early
MBM chrono-tag <=0200 - tmciolek 03 Oct 2013
<=0200 0200-32c 0233-66c 0267-99c 0300-32c 0333-66c 0367-99c 0400-32c 0433-66c 0467-99c 0500-32c 0533-66c 0567-99c 0600-32c 0633-66c 0667-99c dated-ex
12. Date-intermediate
- Archaeological finds from 600s and later periods - http://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/jayasingha/index.html
MBM chrono-tag 0600-32c 0633-66c 0667-99c - tmciolek 03 Oct 2013
13. Date-late
- [missing data].
14. Details of contacts with other monasteries
- [missing data]
15. Type of evidence regarding the monastery
- inscriptions, architecture, texts, archaeological
16. Additional notes
- A vihara and 68 caves for the bhikkhus to reside in - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihintale
17. Corrections & addenda to this page were kindly provided by
- [missing data]
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