|Lanka Gems, Pearls & Minerals

The historical chronicle of Sri Lanka, the Mahavamsa, records that gemstones were among the gifts of Sri Lanka's king, Devanampiyatissa, to Emperor Ashoka of India. The Mahavamsa also records that the Buddha visited Sri Lanka to settle a dispute between the Naga King Mahodera and Prince Chulodera over a throne studded with gemstones. The Buddhist monk, Fa-Hien, reports on the mineral abundance of the land when he visits Sri Lanka.The Venetian traveller, Marco Polo, reaches the shores of Sri Lanka. He writes: "The island produces more beautiful and valuable rubies than are found in any other part of the world. Likewise sapphires, topazes, amethysts, garnets, and many other precious and costly stones. The king is supposed to possess one of the grandest rubies that ever was seen, being a span in length and the thickness of a man's arm, brilliant beyond description, and without a single flaw."

Sri Lanka Waterfalls:

The island is blessed with 103 rivers and streams radiating from the central hills, rushing down rocky precipices forming a number of roaring waterfalls of various shapes and heights, all ending up loosing the momentum at the Indian Ocean. Here are some of the most picturesque waterfalls, out of which only a few can be viewed with ease, where as the others can only be seen by penetrating thick forests and tea plantations

Galboda Waterfall

On a bright and sunny day three of us boarded the Colombo-Badulla bound “Podimenike” train at the Nawalapitya Station on a trip to Galboda to see the beauty of the waterfall and the environment.
Passing Inguruoya station we experienced the natural beauty of the hill country. The train passed through several tunnels. In between tunnel no. 12 and 13 we saw a bridge over a stream. The valley below was beautiful surrounded by hills planted in Cyprus and Pinus trees. There were also jungle flowers, Orchids were also seen in bloom on the sides. Passing the 13th tunnel we reached Galboda Station.
A fellow passenger in the train who became friendly with us voluntarily agreed to give us directions to reach the waterfall. The road was leading through a tea estate. On the way we sat on a terrace and watched the far distance, the beautiful trees hundreds of years old with huge trunks and branches giving shade over large areas.
We walked along passing streams and we met two Tamil friends of school-going age who could converse a little in Sinhala. A little way along this road there was a steep cliff. The person who accompanied us told us that there is a shrine in the forest believed to have miraculous powers and that the path to the shrine is on a difficult track and people who have tried to climb to the summit have failed. He left us at this stage as he had to take a different road to his house. The two Tamil friends accompanied us. We were rather tired due to the rough track and the hot sun. There was a stream to cross and we were very careful as the stones were slippery. Passing the stream, we were stuck by the beauty and grandeur of the scene before us. We were there to observe the Galboda waterfall. One could stand for hours in a spirit of amazement wondering at this beautiful scenery which we all wish to preserve in its’ uniqueness for generations to come.

Rassa Ella - The mystic waterfall

There are many fascinating waterfalls of great scenic beauty while other cascades, as to where their roots are concerned, are shrouded in mystery.

On a tour around the Kandy-Matale-Wattegama mountain frontiers, I chanced to see a cascading yet boisterous waterfall roaring down into rock water pools. The rock pool, from the point of its source joining the other end of its rivulet, remains a mystery.
About six miles off Wattegama, along the Kandy-Katugastota-Wattegama highway on the road to Panvila, is this mystic waterfall called Rassa Ella. Its name describes it well - that it is as mystic in name and origin.

Rasa Ella is different from all other such miniature 'fountains of paradise' - as romantically described by certain poets. A veil of water cascades down in a loud roar into the abysmal, gurgling waters below. From these rock pools, the rolling waters do not fall and join from the other end as any other waterfalls do, as at the rock pool from where the waterfall arises, there is not a ripple to be seen or even a murmur.

Strangely, the water joins the other end without physically revealing where it actually meets. The people around that area say that it ends in a sub-way that was constructed during the time of the kings of the Kandyan kingdom, as an escape route. Others say that the source lies submerged in the subterranean depths.

While seated on the culvert over Rassa Ella by the roadside, I met a bearded patriarch in his seventies with silvery beard flowing down like a waterfall itself. He smiled at me and asked me if I was seeking the source of the waterfall. When I replied in the affirmative, he told me an interesting and amusing story about Raja Maha Viharaya called Kubiyagoda situated about eight miles away from Wattegama. He said that he lived in its vicinity.

According to him, when the British held sway in the region, a certain English government agent visited Kubiyagoda Rahamaha Viharaya with his wife. His haughty wife was no respector of the sanctity of this hallowed Buddhist temple and she sat boldly upon the arm of the statue of Buddha that was enshrined there.

This act of desecration was brought to the notice of the high priest there. His samanera used to memorise some manthrams but the incumbent priest had requested him to stop learning them. Due to the disrespect done to the statue of Buddha by the GA's wife, the priest asked the samanera to repeat the manthrams once again.

When the samanera began chanting them the GA's wife fell senseless to the floor much to the GA's alarm. The high priest then told the GA that this was due to his wife having being disrespectful. More manthrams were recited and the woman came to her senses. The GA then asked the high priest what he could give him in return. The priest replied that salt was hard to come by in that place and from then on the GA saw to it that a bushel of salt was sent to the temple each month and the temple was never short of this commodity from then onwards.