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Godavaya: Glorious Harbour in The Maritime Silk Route 2nd Century AD

Godavaya was an important harbor town in Sri Lanka during the 2nd century AD that served as a hub for trade along the maritime Silk Road. Archaeologists have been excavating the area and have found artifacts showing trade connections from China to the Mediterranean, including Roman coins, pottery from Persia and China, and garnets exported to Europe. The excavations have uncovered the custom office, monastery, statues, and remnants of the harbor infrastructure, providing evidence that Godavaya was a prosperous trading center linking East and West.

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Gayan Madushanka
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106 views2 pages

Godavaya: Glorious Harbour in The Maritime Silk Route 2nd Century AD

Godavaya was an important harbor town in Sri Lanka during the 2nd century AD that served as a hub for trade along the maritime Silk Road. Archaeologists have been excavating the area and have found artifacts showing trade connections from China to the Mediterranean, including Roman coins, pottery from Persia and China, and garnets exported to Europe. The excavations have uncovered the custom office, monastery, statues, and remnants of the harbor infrastructure, providing evidence that Godavaya was a prosperous trading center linking East and West.

Uploaded by

Gayan Madushanka
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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8/3/2017 Godavaya

Godavaya: glorious harbour in the maritime Silk


Route
2nd century AD
@ WWW Virtual Library Sri Lanka

Imagine the scene: It is rush hour in the Godavaya


(By Susanne Loos-Jayawickreme / Sunday Times)
harbour's tax office. Ships from all over the world are rocking on the waves, secured by their
heavy bell-shaped stone anchors. Sweaty labourers are carrying loads of cargo into the harbour
and tax collectors are busy stamping the cleared freight with a
lion seal.

Godavaya, the picturesque harbour town down South, is


situated around a huge rock overlooking the Indian Ocean, the
gem mining area of the Lower Sitracala Wewa and the inland
shipping route of the Walawe Ganga.

It seems almost like a modern harbour - but all this happened as


far back as the 2nd century AD in Godapavata Pattana, west of Hambantota. Evidence is being
unearthed every day to prove Godavaya's importance in the maritime Silk Route, with excavations
and research revealing connections from China in the East to the Red Sea and the Mediterranean
in the West.

Once a year, Godavaya bounces back to life again as Sri Lankan and German archaeologists
excavate the old Kingdom of Ruhuna to gather more evidence about its glorious past. Since 1994,
a team from the University of Bonn, Germany, directed by Prof. Helmut Roth has been working with
the Archaeological Department directed by Director General Dr. W.H. Wijeyapala and the German
Archaeological Institut (DAI), conducting joint excavations here.

Under the guidance of Research Assistant Oliver Kessler, a team of 35 is presently excavating the
temple area of Gotha Pabbatha Rajamaha Vihara in Godavaya.
The excavation team comprises officers and workmen of the Archaeological Department, local
archaeology students and experienced labourers from the nearby village.

The temple area had been a religious and administrative centre since the reign of King Gajabahu I.
A unique Brahmi inscription on a rock next to the ancient shrine room clearly states that this was
indeed a significant sea-trading place. True to Sri Lankan tradition, Ahalaya, one of King
Gajabahu's ministers, has immortalized himself by getting his name carved in another inscription on
this rock.

In ancient times, Sri Lanka was heavily involved in the export and import trade and exported dark
red garnets that were in great demand in early medieval Europe. Upto the 7th century AD, these
semi-precious stones were found as burial objects in many European graves and new research
reveals that most of those garnets were from India and Sri Lanka. Another money-spinner for Sri
Lanka had been spices. Sassanian (Persian) and Chinese pottery was also discovered as import
cargo and Roman coins as early foreign currency.

Ships from the East carrying silk from China exchanged their commodities with merchandise from
the West in the transit harbour of Godavaya as trade ships from both directions usually did not go
farther than Sri Lanka. Therefore, Ruhuna played an important role as a turntable of trade and
commerce in early East-West trade.
Upto the 6th century AD sea trade was busy. Articles of trade to and from the river shipping route
as well as land routes were also switched at Godavaya.

This harbour town is mentioned in the Mahawamsa's chapter on "The 12 Kings". Even in early
western books like the Topographia Christiana of the 6th century AD, Sri Lanka is referred to as an
http://www.lankalibrary.com/geo/godavaya.htm 1/2
8/3/2017 Godavaya

important sea trade centre on the Silk Route.

Oliver Kessler points to an exciting excavation site on the east side of the ancient monastery: the
custom office building, which was decorated with ornaments showing an elephant placing his trunk
in lotus flowers. Normally, only the King was allowed to collect taxes. In Godavaya, the tax fees
were donated to the temple for its maintenance. Clay seals bearing the emblem of a lion were
used to seal goods and cargo as proof that the customs duty was paid.

On top of the rock overlooking the entire area was the monastery, which dates back to the 2nd
century AD. On the west side of the monastery an elevated ancient image house (Buddhu gedera)
and a chapter house (Dharma salawa) were excavated.
Three different statues were discovered here: A standing Buddha about 3.50 metres tall and two
Bodhisattva statues each about 1.80 metres in height. Traces of colour are evidence that the
statues date back to a period before the 8th century AD. The source of the colour is still a
mystery, but it has withstood the weather.

At the bottom of the rock was the settlement of Godapavata Pattana, sandwiched on the
peninsula between the Walawe river's inland harbour and the sea harbour in the bay of Godavaya.
"Many South Indian harbours carry the ending 'pattana" which means harbour," explains Oliver
Kessler. Hence, close links existed between Lankan and South Indian harbours, because the
Dravidian community organized the sea trade there.

A landing jetty constructed of stone pillars upto 3.50 metres high was part of the ancient harbour.
While doing an underwater survey, the excavation team found one of the four ancient stone
anchors discovered so far in Sri Lanka, the other three being found in Galle.

Several Roman coins, beads, bangles, bricks showing guild marks in the shape of an O, a huge
selection of pottery and rich decorations used for roofs and houses give clear evidence of a once
prosperous time.

A quarry was also discovered. One big pillar covered with many drill marks dating to the middle
Anuradhapura period before the 5th century AD, lies in front of the huge rock close to the ocean.
"That is something spectacular, as there are not many quarries documented," Oliver Kessler
reveals.

In a few days, as these excavations end, Godavaya will disappear again under a thick layer of
sand to be protected against the weather and souvenir hunters. Silence will return to the sacred
area of the 2nd century AD monastery overlooking the Indian Ocean, where now fishermen are
working hard for their daily catch.

@ WWW Virtual Library Sri Lanka

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