Spatializing Nationalism and Religion: The Production of Sinhala-Buddhist Imagination and the Centrality of Anuradhapura

Abstract

Anuradhapura, the most ancient and revered Buddhist city in Sri Lanka, underwent a major transformation at the turn of the 20th century. By analyzing the complex interplay of nationalism, religion, and colonialism, and paying special attention to local agency, this article examines how the local leaders of the Buddhist revival movement brought the ancient city into the center of the Sinhala-Buddhist universe. They struggled against the colonial archeologization and museumization of Anuradhapura, especially where highly significant Buddhist monuments are located, and to eliminate non-Buddhist activities from the sacred city. Simultaneously, they fought against the continuing dominance of the Buddhist order established in the last native kingdom (Kandy-based Up-Country) which fell in 1815. Combined with the rise of the Low-Country elite, the restructuring of Ceylon that followed displaced both Kandy and the colonial capital of Colombo, making them find accommodation in the new Sinhala-Buddhist spatiality defined by Anuradhapura’s centrality.