The Abhayagiri Dagoba is situated in Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka.The Abhayagiri Dagoba was built in 88BC by King Vattagamini Abhaya, also known as Valagambahu. Abhayagiri means "fearless Giri," which, legend says, refers to a Jain monk whose hermitage stood on this spot in the 1st century BC. When Vattagamini fled the city before an Indian invasion in 102BC, he was supposedly taunted by this monk, who shouted after him, "Look at the great black Singalese running away!" Fourteen years later Vattagamini regained the throne, had Giri executed, and built the Abhayagiri where the monk's hermitage once stood.

Originally, however, this sacred place was called Uttara Vihara or Northern Monastery and it was established by followers of Mahatissa, a monk who had helped Vattagamini regain his throne. Mahatissa became abbot and embraced the tenets of Mahayana and Tantric Buddhism. Mahayana means 'great' (maha) means of salvation (yana). Its universalistic emphasis was reflected in the greater place it gave to the Bodhisattva as the ideal or goal of universal. Tantrism is a form of sacramental ritualism, often with esoteric or magical aspects. (The term tantra derives from the root meaning 'to expand' or 'to extend' knowledge.)

The Abhayagiri Dagoba was originally 135 metres high, but it fell into disrepair and was later restored by King Parakramabahu of Polonnaruwa in the 12th century, when it may have stood over 100 metres high. Today, however, in it is only 75 metres high. The dagoba has some interesting bas-reliefs, including an elephant uprooting a tree.


The monks of the Abhayagiri sect reorganised the monastic complex in a way hitherto unique at Anuradhapura. Instead of a haphazard collection of buildings round the stupa, they arranged them all in concentric squares. An outer enclosure contained the monks' living quarters, refectory, bath house and latrines, while an inner precinct, on a raised platform, contained the religious buildings, including the bo-tree and the dagoba.

The famous Chinese Buddhist monk and pilgrim Fa Hsien stayed in Anuradhapura for two years in the 5th century. Fa Hsien was trained at the Buddhist centre in Ch'ang-an before leaving China in 399 AD to visit India and other Buddhist countries in search of a complete canon of Buddhist scriptures. After six years of adventurous travel he arrived in India, where he spent a further six years collecting and copying sacred texts. Fa Hsien then travelled to Sri Lanka, before returning to China and causing a period of intense Buddhist study in that country.

He wrote a famous account of his travels, known as the Fa Hsien Chuan ("The Narrative of Fa Hsien") in which he mentions the Abhayagiri Dagoba and the monastery "where there are now 5,000 monks. There is in it a hall of Buddha, adorned with carved and inlaid work of gold and silver; and rich in the seven precious substances, in which there is an image of the Buddha in green jade more than twenty cubits high." Located just south in a modern complex is the Mahatissa - Fa-Hsien Museum, which was built by the Chinese to commemorate the visit of Fa-Hsien. This museum provides information on the historical context and internal functioning of monastery life and displays a good selection of more recent excavation finds.