Fua Mulaku Havitta
Encyclopedia
Fua Mulaku Havitta is an ancient ruin of a Buddhist chaitya
whose main feature is a ruined stupa
. The Havitta is located at the northern end of Fuvahmulah, Maldives in the area of the historical boundaries of Dhadimago
ward of the island. Starting from the late 1980-1990s, the area is claimed by Hoadhado ward. Today, its actual shape has been lost because of the damage done by careless diggings to find valuable artifacts or for bungled research purposes. The ruin is about 40 feet in height and it looks like a small hill. A smaller mound, about 15 feet in height, is located near the Havitta.
he had previously seen at Anuradhapura
. Bell's expeditions remain to be the only professional archaeological excavations ever conducted in the Maldivian Archipelago. As a part of these excavations Bell travelled to some other islands too.
Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl
also visited the Havitta in the 1980s.
Chaitya
A chaitya is a Buddhist or Jain shrine including a stupa. In modern texts on Indian architecture, the term chaitya-griha is often used to denote assembly or prayer hall that houses a stupa.-History:...
whose main feature is a ruined stupa
Stupa
A stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, typically the remains of Buddha, used by Buddhists as a place of worship....
. The Havitta is located at the northern end of Fuvahmulah, Maldives in the area of the historical boundaries of Dhadimago
Dhadimago
Dhadimagu, is an administrative division of Fuvahmulah, Maldives. It is the largest division of the island, located on the north-west of the island.-Economy:...
ward of the island. Starting from the late 1980-1990s, the area is claimed by Hoadhado ward. Today, its actual shape has been lost because of the damage done by careless diggings to find valuable artifacts or for bungled research purposes. The ruin is about 40 feet in height and it looks like a small hill. A smaller mound, about 15 feet in height, is located near the Havitta.
Explorers
In 1922 H. C. P. Bell, who had already visited the Maldives in 1879 and 1920 returned to the islands for a last time with the specific objective of establishing, once for all, whether Buddhism had indeed been the faith of the islanders before their conversion to Islam in ca. 1153 A.D. In February 1922, he travelled to Fuvahmulah and briefly examined the remains of the Havitta. Bell's extensive report on the 1922 excavations, published posthumously in 1940, links the pre-Islamic Buddhist structures of the Maldives such as the Havitta with those of neighboring Sri Lanka. It was the Havitta, for which Bell was much struck by the close resemblance between it and the dagabasStupa
A stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, typically the remains of Buddha, used by Buddhists as a place of worship....
he had previously seen at Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura, , is one of the ancient capitals of Sri Lanka, famous for its well-preserved ruins of ancient Lankan civilization.The city, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies 205 km north of the current capital Colombo in Sri Lanka's North Central Province, on the banks of the historic...
. Bell's expeditions remain to be the only professional archaeological excavations ever conducted in the Maldivian Archipelago. As a part of these excavations Bell travelled to some other islands too.
Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl
Thor Heyerdahl
Thor Heyerdahl was a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer with a background in zoology and geography. He became notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition, in which he sailed by raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands...
also visited the Havitta in the 1980s.