David's Been Here is touring all the top sites and must visit attractions in Sri Lanka. Join David in Anuradhapura where he visits some of the most holy and timeless pieces of religion/culture in the entire country. Walk around the tremendous Ruwanwelisaya Stupa as David displays this architectural marvel dating back to the 2nd Century BC. Revered by Buddhists all around the world, this 300+ foot high stupa is a must visit for anyone touring the holy Sri Lankan city of Anuradhapura. Circumambulate the Buddhist monument, leave offerings, visit the ancient Bodhi Tree or just soak in the spiritual air of this top Sri Lankan attraction. For more information on this and all the sites of the holy city, check out the David's Been Here Guide to Anuradhapura, now available for your Kindle as well.
About Me: My name is David Hoffmann and for the last decade I have been traveling around the world in search of unique culture, food and history! Since starting Davidsbeenhere in 2008, I have traveled to 71 countries and over 1,000 destinations, which I welcome you to check out on my YouTube Channel, blog and social medias.
I focus a great deal on food and historic sites, as you probably have seen! I love to experience the different flavors that each destination has to offer, whether it’s casual Street food or gourmet restaurant dining. I’m also passionate about learning the local history and culture.
Alright, so we just ate lunch at this little restaurant right here.
It's, you know, typical food from here.
Rice, vegetables, curry, lentils, and chicken.
Well, sorry, and chicken, fish, and a few other things.
It literally cost like $3 for both of us to eat.
Amazing.
So right now we're going to Anaranapuda.
If they grabbed each brick from here, they could literally build a wall 6 feet high, 3 feet wide, from where?
From London to Edinburgh.
From London to Edinburgh, which is, I don't even know how many kilometers.
It's a lot of kilometers.
It's London to, obviously, Scotland.
So 5th to 6th century AD, this was the second largest building in the world.
Nearly 300 meters high.
Because the top is gone.
The top is completely cut.
Okay, let's go up to it.
So here we are in front of the Dutugamunu structure.
Dutugamunu structure.
The great king who was able to fight against the Dravidians.
So this is the great king who fought the Dravidians from India.
Okay, and this is, what year was this built?
It's before the 2nd century, like 3rd century BC.
BC, and this is one of the most holiest places here in Sri Lanka.
And I'm going to actually do an offering for a friend of mine that's going through some trouble right now.
So when you're going through trouble, this is sort of the way that you pray and ask for help, right?
Right, yeah.
Okay, so this is what you buy, and you go and you leave a flower or two.
And you go to the other stupa, because there's a few different ones around here.
And you just leave them there, and they're going to help you.
Let's go.
This lamp right here, this lamp in here is called Dos Mahe, which means 12 months.
And it's lit up every single day of the year.
And the reason it stays lit is because everybody comes here and fills it up with fuel, with oil.
Now we're in front of one of the shrine rooms.
If you walk a little inside the shrine room, you can see...
Four Buddhas.
No, inside the shrine room you see the Dutugamunu and the Dravidian king, Alara.
Okay, I'm sorry.
The four Buddhas are outside.
Here we go, I'm going to make it awkward again.
Now here we are in front of the statue.
It shows you Sangamitta, which is the sister of the Mahindu.
And this place became the second famous place of Sri Lanka after the sacred relic, two sacred relics in Kandy.
Alright, so right in front of us we have the bow tree, the original one.
And the reason they have it covered is because she was saying that some people didn't really respect it.
They would light candles, do a lot of things by the roots.
And that could really harm the tree.
This is a very old tree.
This is over 2,000 years old.
So right there you see that they have it sticking up.
Golden supports right here.
Everybody over here making offerings.
Everything here is ancient.
2,000 plus years old, during the Romans.
The Romans didn't get over here though.
They missed this place.
