Ranmasu Uyana (Golden Fish Park) is an ancient urban park spread over 40 acres, situated between Tissa Wewa reservoir and the Isurumuniya Rock Temple, in the sacred city of Anuradhapura. This ancient urban park has stood as a Royal pleasure garden for a prolonged period in history, its origins yet to be known. Famous for its rock carved bathing ponds with a sophisticated hydraulics technology and fine craftsmanship, and highly advanced building construction technology – A marvelous example of ancient Sri Lankan architecture.
However, this ancient urban park is home to an artifact far more curious and mystic. Shallowly carved on a rock face, is a remarkable and unexplained chart that is speculated to be a Stargate – An ancient gateway through which humans allegedly roamed the universe. This chart is believed to be a map to unlock the secrets of the universe. Four seats have been carved into a flat rock surface opposite the chart that provide the ideal viewing area. For more than a century historians, archaeologists and academics have speculated many theories to explain both the chart and the seats, of which’s existence, purpose nor function is mentioned in any of the historic records.
The iconography of the chart is quite different in nature to other carvings of the Anuradhapura kingdom (3rd -10th Century AD). The chart’s centre is made up of seven concentric circles divided by parallel vertical and horizontal lines. Rectangular compartments contain small, crossed circles. To the untrained eye, there are figures resembling umbrellas or bow and arrows, a kite, wavy lines and cylindrical shapes. An outer ring represents marine animals: fish, turtles, seahorses. Whilst other carvings of the same period such as the Sandakada Pahana represents vines, swans and a lotus which are all typical Buddhist iconography. Seemingly, leaving the chart without any religious context, undoubtedly questioning its purpose and existence.
H C P Bell, a British civil servant was the first academic to note the chart’s archaeological importance. In his 1911 report for the Governor of Ceylon, he concludes the chart to be an ancient ‘map of the world’, perhaps the oldest in existence. Whilst the chart does not resemble a map in a modern sense, Bell considered that it depicts “an old-time cosmographical chart illustrating in naivest simplicity the Buddhistic notions of the universe”. He further interpreted the circles, the symbols and marine life on the chart, based on his knowledge of Buddhism, to mean the earth, the seas, outer space and the universe.
Conspiracy theorists noted that certain iconography of the Stargate of Ranmasu Uyana, parallels between the Stargate charts found in Abu Gharib in Egypt and “The gateway to the gods” in Peru. The most notable similarity is the mysterious coincidence of all the three Stargates been found close to water ways with sophisticated engineering systems. This evoked many theories, of which the most preferred speculation is that these stargates were used by extraterrestrials that were processing gold from the waters of Earth.
Amid many speculations and theories incomprehensible by modern knowledge, would it be possible that the Stargate at Ranmasu Uyana is a real gateway to unlock the secrets of the universe, or is it only an ancient map of the world ? This amazing artifact of an ancient civilization of Sri Lanka – Remains a phenomenon shrouded in mystery!
Source: ASTL team
Image credit: Respective owners
Sri Lanka Travel Feneteko