A few miles away from Galnewa via Magalweva in Mahaweli System H, lies a standing Buddha statue similar to Aukana, enclaved amidst a vast conclave of rock cave shelters and giant boulders in the folds of the jungle fastness. This Buddha statue is known by two names; one is Ras Vehera and the other Sesuruwa. Sesuruwa means what is similar, as the Ras Vehera statue bears similar profiles to the Aukana Buddha statue. But there is a world of difference between the sculpturing structure of these two Buddha statues.
Ras Vehera has its derivation that the patriarch Bo tree standing there had originated from a sapling that was brought from the Sri Maha Bodhiya in Anuradhapura. As when the Bo sapling was planted there, the rays (halo) of Lord Buddha illuminated around the place.
The Sesuruwa/Ras Vehera Statue is 36 feet high. This Ras Vehera statue is carved into a rectangular frame in the rock boulder itself. The siraspota is absent there, while it is portrayed in dots for the hair. The Ras Vehera statue stands on a plain rectangular stone pedestal.
The symbolic mudras (gestures) depicted here differ from Aukana. The Aukana Buddha statue has the Ashiva Mudra (giving of a blessing), while in Ras Vehera, the Mudra is in the form of Abhaya Mudra (meaning freedom from fear or fearlessness). For all visual purposes, from the sculptured features on the Ras Vehera Buddha statue it appears that it was left in an unfinished state of sculpturing for some unknown reason.
(Sunday Observer - Gamini G. Punchihewa)
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