Note: this text might be too long for paperless geocaching
Some climbing over stones and roots is required near the
entrance, then mostly an ancient paved path, partly with steps
uphill to target coordinates, ~ 40 minutes one way. The climate can
be very humid. Expect to see reptiles, insects and maybe larger
animals.
With regards to what the latest Lonely Planet reports, the site
is currently not included in the cultural triangle round ticket
anymore.
Location
The monastic complex is situated on the lower slope of Ritigala
Mountain in the north central plains of Sri Lanka. The entrance can
be reached via a 9km long, strongly eroded sand track from the
Habarana-Anuradhapura road which might be difficult to use with
normal cars during rain season. The ruins are connected by an
approximately 2km long ancient path climbing up the mountain. As
Ritigala is a strict natural reserve you need to take a guide along
to visit the ruins. You can only visit other parts of the mountain
with previously obtained permission.
The Myth
Ritigala is mentioned in the Hindu epic Ramayana where the story
goes that Hanuman, the warrior monkey-god came to Sri Lanka in
search of Lord Rama’s wife, Sita, who had been abducted by
Ravana, the king of demons. After Hanuman had found Ravana, he
informs Lord Rama of the news. He then led a monkey army across the
strait separating South India from Lanka and waged war against
Ravana. During that war, Rama’s brother was wounded in battle
and Sanjivani, a medicinal herb was required to save his life.
Hanuman was send to the Dronagiri mountain in the Himalayas to
collect this herb, but he was unable to find it before nightfall.
So he brought back a fragment of the Himalayas twisted in his tail,
in the hope that the right herb will be amongst the many. However,
the mountain fragment slipped and fell while Hanuman was over the
battlefield, and it broke into three pieces. These landed in
different locations, one of which was Ritigala. Maybe this part of
the legend is due to the mountain’s specific microclimate and
a vegetation that is distinct from the dry zone flora on the plains
surrounding the mountain. The summit itself has a cool and wet
micro climate due to almost permanent clouds and mists hanging over
the mountain. This enables many plants to thrive that don't grow
anywhere else on Sri Lanka.
The Ruins
The oldest inscriptions found in the secluded ruins date from
the third and second century BC. They were most likely build by
monks. It also appears to be a refuge for King Dutugamunu of Ruhuna
(161-136 BC) and for King Jetthatissa (623 AD) in their battles
against marauding Dravidian invaders from South India. Ritigala was
abandoned following the Chola invasions in the 10th & 11th
centuries and was only rediscovered by the British surveyor James
Mantell in 1872.
The Granite
The building material of the Ritigala ruins is granite that has
been quarried directly from the Ritigala Mountain, the highest
mountain on the north central plains. Granite is a common rock on
Sri Lanka and an intrusive igneous rock. As
the magma doesn't reach the surface it cools more slowly than lava
exposed to air, thus there is more time for larger crystals to
form. Compared to volcanic lava which cools within seconds or
minutes, magma within the Earth often takes years to cool.
Granites originate from relatively small blobs of magma that
intrude the Earth's crust
and cool there. They are usually very hard, massive and show no
internal structures. After softer rock that surrounded the
intrusion was eroded away the granite remained as a big mountain in
the otherwise relatively flat plains on north central Sri Lanka.
Have a look at the landscape from the view point the coordinates
lead you to. Can you spot other mountains that seem to have been
dropped onto the plains by the monk-god?
The magma that forms granites usually is created at convergent plate
boundaries where subduction is taking
place. Subduction is the diving of one plate of crust underneath
another and into the Earth's mantle.
With increasing depth the temperature and pressure increases and
the subducted plate begins to heat up and melt, forming magma.
Because magma is less dense than the solid rock surrounding it, it
will rise through fractures. Dissolved gases under pressure also
help to force the magma upwards and cooler rock that gets in
contact with the hot melt will start to partially melt as well. The
type of rocks that form the subducted plate and the mantle rocks
surrounding it will determine the chemical composition of the melt
The granites that were used for the base of the great stupas at
Anuradhapura or into which the big Buddha figures at Buduruwagala
were carved might have a different chemical composition, colour and
age than the granite that is Ritigale Mountain.
Granites are usually of light colours because their main
minerals are high in silica. These include minerals such as quartz,
and orthoclase and plagioclase feldspar. Quartz crystals are
usually transparent white while feldspars are pink,
milky white or grey. Mica crystals are smaller,
have a platy appearance and can be silvery transparent (muscovite) or
darkbrown to black (biotite). Other dark
minerals common in granites include hornblende and
augite. Feldspars
determine what colour a granite will have due to their abundance
within the rock and variety in appearance. If most feldspar
minerals are potassium-rich (alkali minerals, such as orthoclase) the
granites may have a colour ranging from milky white to pink to
greenish in colour and if they are rich in calcium (plagioclase) light
to dark grey. Given the right mineral composition, granites can
even be black.
The major mineral constituents that make up a granite have a
relatively low melting temperature and high amounts of relatively
light elements such as silica, aluminium, calcium and potassium.
Granites orginiate from different processes, but all involve the
melting and cooling of a body of magma.
Every rock is composed of minerals of different compositions.
Each mineral type has a different chemical composition and a
different melting temperature. Most elements granites are made of
have a lower melting temperature while other ones, such as iron,
titanium, magnesium, sodium and calcium have a higher melting
temperature. When a volume of rock gets heated up the least
heat-resistant minerals will melt first. These partial melts are
thus enriched in the chemical components of minerals with lower
melting temperatures and can form granites, while the non-melted
portion of the rock surrounding the melt remain composed of
minerals with higher melting temperatures.
In return, in a volume of cooling magma elements with a high
melting temperature will first combine to form crystals. If the
cooling happens very slowly these minerals will sink to the bottom
of the magma chamber as minerals with a high melting temperature
are also generally heavier than the elements that remain in the
melt. The remaining magma will become more and more reduced in
those elements and enriched in the least heat-resistant elements. A
granite can then form from those elements.
There are four types of granites, which all originate from a
different source rock or location:
I-type: |
igneous origin – melting of other granite or intrusive rock low in
silica. |
S-type: |
sedimentary origin – melting from buried or subducted
sedimentary rock. |
M-type: |
mantle origin – melt from rocks low in silica originating
from the mantle. Those are rare because it is difficult to turn
these rocks into granite via fractional curstallization. |
A-type: |
anorogenic origin – melting of the lower crust from
hot spot
activity in the Earth's mantle. |
|
Thus looking at the colour and mineral composition of the
Ritigala ruins stones can tell a lot about the history and origin
of the granite they were build from. This granite will most likely
have a different composition and originate from a different magma
than other granites on Sri Lanka.
Logging this earthcache
You may log Ritigala – A Himalaya fragment on Sri
Lanka? earthcache immediately after visiting, but we will
require the answers to the questions below within a reasonable time
frame.
1. |
Have a close look at the building blocks of the viewing
platform without chipping off corners or destroying the site
otherwise |
a. |
Describe the colour. Do you think the granite is rich in
calcium or potassium? |
b. |
Take a guess on how big the crystals are. |
c. |
Are smaller darker minerals present? |
|
2. |
Let's just say that ape-gods existed in ancient times. How
could you find out if Ritigala Mountain originates from the
Himalaya? (Please answer from a geological perspective.) |
|
3. |
(Optional) Upload a photo of any part of the site with your
log. |
|
Answers may be given in English, German or Dutch through
our contact page and please tick 'I want to send my email
address along with this message', so we can reply directly to
you.