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Fuvahmulah City Havihtha is an ancient ruin of what is believed to be a Buddhist Stupa in the north of the Island. The site, located in the region known as “Veyregan”, once held a cluster of pre-Islamic religious structures that have since fallen into ruins. These structures were part of a monastery that dates back to at least 1500.
The term “Veyregan” encompasses not just one building but a complex of structures that includes Dhagaba, Vihara, Stupa, Pirivena, and more, all within a sacred area. The Havittha in Fuvahmulah City has the features of a stupa, which is a hemispherical building commonly found within Buddhist monasteries (known as “Ver”).
In the year 1922, Mr. Henry Charles Pearls Bell (H. C. P. Bell) undertook excavations of similar sites scattered across various regions of the Maldives. His findings showed the historical significance of these structures as fortresses of both Buddhism and Hinduism in the Maldivian past. His examinations on the ruins of Fuvahmulah City Havihtha found it as a place of worship during eras marked by these pre-Islamic religious influences. Similar religious sites and buildings can be seen in locations like Pokna and Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, all serving as ancient monuments of Buddhism.
A few years after HCP Bell’s second visit to the island in 1940’s, excavations were done on the site by a team led by a man called Adam Naseer Manik. These excavations charted the structure’s dimension and layout. The height of the stupa stood at 24 feet 8 inches, the diameter of the lower part measured 69 feet 8 inches, the middle part spanned 56 feet 6 inches, and the upper part measured 31 feet. The stupa’s interior was filled with sand and gravel.
Items of significance were unearthed during the excavation, including three sandstone boxes discovered at a depth of 4 feet. The current whereabouts of the items found during the excavations remains a mystery after it was taken to Male’, as none of them can be found in the Maldives National Museum at present.
The other major historical account on the Havihtha comes from Norwegian ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl, who visited the island in 1982. He discovered two more, but much smaller, mounds (Kudhu Havihtha) in the area which were previously unknown to the locals. He also came up with the possibility of the idea that the Havihtha could likely have been a sacral building that dates even further back to pre-Buddhist times.
The vast area surrounding Havittha is still in archeological terms uncharted territory. Recent discoveries from the area include an abundance of cowry shells (cowry shells were a medium of exchange in the past) as well as a sandstone box containing a human skeleton, and pre-Islamic religious artifacts.
As we continue to unearth the secrets of Fuvahmulah City Havihtha, this historic site stands as a gateway to religious history in the Maldives, leaving an indelible mark on the cultural heritage of this enchanting island and the entire Maldivian archipelago.
