Proceedings of the International Conference on “Advances in Concrete Technology, Structural Engineering

and Design: Dedicated to Helarisi Abeyruwan”, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, August 13, 2019.

KOTA VEHERAS OF SRI LANKA

M.P. Ranaweera1*, D.L. Kukulewithana2

1
Emeritus Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Peradeniya.
2
Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology, Malabe Campus.
*
Correspondence E-Mail: mpranaweera@gmail.com
Abstract: There are six prominent Kota Veheras in Sri Lanka. They are a particular style of stupas which
gives an impression of an unfinished stupa. The oldest of such Kota Veheras is at Deliwala near
Rambukkana, and the largest one is in Polonnaruwa. Kota Veheras are also quoted as of Lotus Shape, a rare
shape of stupas. However stress analyses show that the lotus shape gives rise to considerable tension in the
upper part of the stupa. This paper gives some information on prominent Kota Veheras in Sri Lanka and an
analysis of a lotus shaped Kota Vehera.

Keywords: Kota Veheras; Architecture; Lotus Shape; Stress Analyses.

1.Introduction Figure 1.2: Lahugala Kota Vehera.
Kota Veheras are a particular style of stupas
found in Sri Lanka which gives an
The Udaganawa Kota Vehera located near
impression of an unfinished stupa. The
Buttala in the Uva Province (Fig.1.3), also
oldest Kota Vehera is the Deliwala Kota
dates back to the 2nd Century BC, and is
Vehera located near Rambukkana (Fig. 1.1),
supposed to mark the place where a battle
supposed to be built during the time of King
between Prince Dutugemunu and his
Devanampiyatissa in 3rd Century BC.
brother Prince Tissa, had taken place, after
their father King Kavantissa’s death.
Another story says that this stupa was built
by King Parakramabahu the Great
enshrining the ashes of his mother Queen
Ratnavali.

Figure 1.1: Deliwala Kota Vehera.

Next comes Lahugala Kota Vehera (Fig. 1.2),
situated at Lahugala in the Ampara District.
It is believed that this was the home for a
novice monk who was reborn as Prince
Dutugemunu, and the stupa was built to
commemorate the birth of Dutugemunu in
the 2nd Century BC. Figure 1.3: Udaganawa Kota Vehera.

A very notable Kota Vehera is the

Dedigama Kota Vehera (Fig. 1.4), located
close to Nelundeniya in the Colombo Kandy
road, also built by Parakramabahu the
Great. It is also called the Suthigara Stupa

1
2 Ranaweera and Kukulewithana

because it is supposed to be constructed at 2.1 Deliwala Kota Vehera

the place where the King was born.
Figure 1.4: Dedigama Kota Vehera.
As mentioned earlier this is the oldest Kota
Vehera and during excavations in 1957, a
golden casket measuring about 70 – 80 mms
in height (Fig. 2.1) and resembling in its
architectural features a miniature specimen
of the Sanchi Stupa in India was discovered
near the basal rings. If we go by this model
this stupa would have been of the shape of
the Sanchi Stupa, with one basal ring and a
dome made out of stone. In fact many
stones can be found on the surface of the
present stupa (Fig. 2.2). As can be seen in
the renovation done by the Archeology
Department (Fig. 1.1), only one basal ring
has been provided as in Sanchi Stupa.

The last of the notable Kota Veheras is the

Damila Maha Seya (Fig. 1.5), also built by
Parakramabahu the Great in Polonnaruwa.
It was supposed to have been built by Tamil
prisoners the King brought from India. It is
the largest of the Kota Veheras found in Sri
Lanka.

Figure 2.1: Miniature Stupa Model found

Figure 1.5. Damila Maha Seya - the Small in Deliwala Kota Vehera
Stupa at the Top Centre of the Stupa.

2. Architecture of Kota Veheras

There is no universal agreement about the
architecture of Kota Veheras. Some are of
the opinion that they are unfinished stupas,
whereas some believe that they are a special
kind of stupas of a peculiar design
[Paranavitana, 1953]. Small stupa models Figure 2.2: Stones that can be seen in
found in relic chambers of some of the Kota Deliwala Kota Vehera surface
Veheras give and idea of the intended shape
of the finished stupa.
A drawing provided by the Archaeology
Department given in Fig. 2.3, shows some
KOTA VEHERAS OF SRI LANKA
dimensions of this stupa in the present
form. Accordingly, the stupa has a base
diameter of 50.0 m, total height of 17.65 m,
dome diameter of 38.7 m and a basal ring
height of 5.55 m.
Figure 2.3: Deliwala Kota Vehera – Plan &
Section (Department of Archaeology)
2.2: Lahugala Kota Vehera.
A miniature stupa model found in Lahugala
Kota Vehera (Fig. 1.2) also shows a Sanchi
type stupa (Fig. 2.4) like in Deliwala Kota
Vehera.
Figure 2.4: Miniature Stupa Model found
in Lahugala Kota Vehera
2.3: Udaganawa Kota Vehera.
Udaganawa Kota Vehera (Fig. 1.3) is the
largest stupa found in the Eastern Province
and it has a diameter of 91.2 m at the base of
the first basal ring. The renovated stupa
dome has a base diameter of 75.9 m and
rises to a height of 7.5 m from its base, with
3
a total height from the first basal ring of 13.0
m. The small stupa at the centre has a base
diameter of 41.7 m and rises to a height of
16.2 m from its base. If this Kota Vehera was
completed to its full conjectured height it
would have risen to more than 85.0 m.
2.4: Dedigama Kota Vehera.
Dedigama Kota Vehera (Fig. 1.4), is one of
the most prominent Kota Veheras and it has
a unique feature of having another small
stupa at its periphery (Fig. 2.5), which is
supposed to be built by King Manabarana
[Godakumbura. 1969], the father of King
Parakramabahu. Recent renovations by the
Archaeology Department has produced a
stupa with a diameter of 76.2 m at the first
basal ring, partly finished dome of diameter
67.6 at its base and having a height of 9.0 m
from its base. The total height of the
renovated stupa is 12.7 m. The stupa would
have reached a total height of more than
72.0 m, if it was fully restored.
Figure 2.5: Small Stupa at Dedigama Kota
Vehera
One of the very important findings from the
relic chamber of this Kota Vehera (Fig. 2.6)
is a miniature model of the stupa and four
bronze lamps all of which had soot and
pieces of burnt wick in the oil-containers
[Godakumbura. 1969]. The miniature stupa
model is of lotus shape (Fig. 2.7) and one of
the oil lamps (elephant lamp) is an
exquisitely moulded one with an oil
reservoir fed by an ingenious device. The
original oil lamp is in the National Museum,
Colombo.
4 Ranaweera and Kukulewithana

his Final year project at SLIIT. Some results

from this analysis are given below.
The lotus stupa model was derived by
scaling the dimensions of the stupa model
found in Dedigama Kota Vehera relic
chamber (Fig. 2.7), and it is shown in Fig.
3.1. The axisymmetric finite element model
used in the analysis is shown in Fig. 3.2.
This model was analyzed under self-weight
Figure 2.6: Dedigama Kota Vehera Relic
using the finite element package SAP2000
Chamber & Oil Lamps
[SAP2000, 2009]. The nodes at the bottom
were fixed.

The material parameters used were:

Young’s modulus = 1.86 GPa, Poisson’s
ratio = 0.25, Specific weight = 15.5 kN/m 3,
Compressive strength = 2.72 MPa, and
Tensile strength = 0.275 MPa.
These values are the mean values obtained
by testing old and new brick samples from
the stupa.

Figure 2.7: Miniature Stupa Model found

in Dedigama Kota Vehera

2.5 Damila Maha Seya

This is a gigantic stupa with a base diameter
of around 197 m, which if completed to its
full conjectured height would be around 186
m, depending on the dome shape, making it
the biggest stupa in the world. Presently the Figure 3.1: Model of Lotus Shape Stupa
basal rings have a total height of around used in the Analysis of Dedigama Kota
10.7 m. The flattened top of the basal rings Vehera(mm).
have a small stupa at its centre (Fig. 1.5). Existing structure is shown hatched.

3.0 Stresses in a Lotus Shape Kota

Vehera
Stresses in stupas of traditional shapes (i.e.
Bubble, Bell, Heap of Grain, and Pot) have
been recorded in the book by Ranaweera on
Stupas of Sri Lanka [Ranaweera, 2018]. A
study of lotus shape stupa was done by
Kukulewithana [Kukulewithana, 2018] for
KOTA VEHERAS OF SRI LANKA
Figure 3.2: Axisymmetric Finite Element
Model
Contours of Vertical, Radial and Hoop
stresses from SAP200 analysis are given in
Figs. 3.3 a, b & c respectively.
(a) Vertical Stress Contours
5
(b) Radial Stress Contours
(c) Hoop Stress Contours
Figure 3.3: Stress Contours from SAP2000
Analysis
It is seen that there are large stress
concentrations at the junction where the
bottom part meets the top part. The vertical
stresses are all compressive and the
maximum compressive stress at the bottom
centre is 623 kPa, whereas there is a large
stress concentration of 1115 kPa at the
junction. The radial stresses show some
tension at the top of the stupa with a
maximum of 72.5 kPa at the top centre and a
compressive stress of 208 kPa at the bottom
6 Ranaweera and Kukulewithana

centre. The hoop stresses show a more

spreded tensile region at the top with the
maximum reaching 72.5 kPa at the top
centre, as in the case of radial stress.

4. Conclusions
It can be concluded that there is a likelihood
of cracking at the top part of the stupa, and
that the lotus shape is not a suitable shape
for a stupa made out of bricks. To take up
tensile stresses, reinforcements have to be
provided. Since present trend is not to use
steel reinforcements, an alternative will be
geogrids.

References
Godakumbura, C.E. (1968). The Kotavehera at
Dedigama, Memoirs of the Archaeological
Survey of Ceylon. Department of
Archaeology, Colombo.
Kukulewithana, D.L. (2018). Historical data
collection and 3D structural analysis of
Dedigama Kota Vehera. Final year Project
Report, Sri Lanka Institute of Information
technology, Malabe.
Paranavitana, S. (1953). “The Art and
Architecture of the Polonnaruva Period”
Special Issue of the Ceylon Historical
Journal, editor. Saparamadu, S.D.
Ranaweera, M.P. (2018). Stupas of Sri Lanka –
A technological study. Godage & Brothers
(PVT) Ltd, Colombo 10.
SAP2000-V14. (2009). Computers and
Structures, Berkeley, CA, USA.