Gems in Sri Lanka

 Island of Gems

"The island produces rubies more beautiful & valuable than we found in any other part of the world, & likewise sapphires, topazes, amethysts, garnets & many other precious stones. The king is supposed to possess the grandest ruby that ever was seen being a span in length & thickness of a man's arm, brilliant beyond description & without single flaw. It has the appearance of a glowing fire & upon the whole is so valuable that no estimation can be made of its worth in money. The grand Khan, Kublai, sent ambassadors to this monarch, with a special request that he would yield to him the possession of this ruby in return for which he should receive the value of a city, this offer was turned down" Marco Polo

"The marvellous rubies called bahraman (carbuncles) are found only in this town. Some are taken from the channel, & these are regarded by them as the most valuable, & some are obtained by digging. In the island of Ceylon rubies are found in all parts. The land is a private property, & a man buys a parcel of it & digs for rubies. He finds white stones, deeply cracked, & it is inside these that the rubies are formed. He gives them to lapidaries who scrape them down until they split away from the ruby stones. Some of them are red, some yellow, & some blue. Their custom is that all rubies of the value of a hundred fanams belong to the king, who pays their price & take them; those of less value belong to the finders. A hundred fanams equal in value six gold dinars.

All the women in the island of Ceylon have necklaces of rubies of different colours & wear them also on their arms & legs in place of bracelets & anklets. The king's girls make a network of rubies & wear it in their heads. I have seen on the forehead of the while elephant seven ruby stones each larger than a hen's egg..." Iban Battutah

Ratnadeepa

The tropical island of Sri Lanka was once known as the "island of gems' (Ratnadeepa) because of the spectacular range of jewels found in its gravelly soil. It is most famous for its lovely sapphires now branded & marketed by the name "Ceylon Sapphires", but it also produces ruby, garnet, alexandrite, spinel, zircon, perodot, topaz, tourmaline, moonstone & a highly-prized chrysoberyl cat's eye. Gems are found throughout central & southern Sri Lanka. But large scale mining is concentrated in the Ratnapura (city of gems, Ratna meaning gem & Pura meaning city in Sinhalese) & Elahera areas. Sri Lankan gems are found in the crown jewels of Europe & in artefacts from China's Min Dynasty tombs. Historians trace Sri Lanka's international gem trade back to 500 BC.

Ratnapura

Blue Sapphires
Sri Lanka's Blue Sapphires are the finest in the world. The Blue Sapphire is second only to the diamond in hardness & is highly prized. Accordingly to the experts, Blue Sapphires with colours called "corn flower blue" & "royal blue tint" are of the finest quality. Sri Lanka's Gem Corporation exhibits a 93 carat Blue Sapphire of "cornflower blue".

Star Sapphires
The 362 carat Star Sapphire being exhibited at the Sri Lanka's Gem Corporation is third largest Star Sapphire of such quality & colour. The most celebrated star sapphire of Sri Lanka called "Star of Bombay' is on permanent exhibition at Smithsonian museum of Natural history in New York.

"... and by some distressing impertinence the splendid Star Sapphire which is one of the glories of American Museum of Natural History's gem collection is called the Star of Bombay-not as it should be-the Star of Ceylon." Arthur C. Clarke

Heat treated Rubies & Sapphires
It is estimated that 90% of the rubies & sapphires in the world market today undergo heat treatment, a permanent process widely accepted by the gem trade. Sapphires are so common in Sri Lanka that the palest, least valuable gems were once used in ornamental rock gardens or buried under the posts of village homes for a blessing. These low quality sapphires, known as "gueda", were not suitable for setting into jewellery. But in the 1970s, Thai gem dealers perfected a heat treatment process that transformed the worthless gueda into valuable gems. By "cooking" the stones at high temperatures, they worked a kind of alchemy. The titanium dissolved & mixed better with the iron, deepening the blue colour of the geuda. The Thais then experimented on different coloured sapphires & rubies, & learned that a valuable sapphire or ruby could be made even more valuable by "burning" out slight flaws. The process is risky as certain stones may crack, melt or explode. In some cases, the gems lose all their colour.

Padparadscha
The padparadscha is the most prized of the "fancy", non-blue sapphires. Padparadscha is a Sinhalese word derived from the Sanskrit "padmaraga", meaning lotus flower, & was first applied to sapphires in 1847. While
lotus flowers occur in many colours, the original species is pinkish orange. A padparadscha sapphire is a delicate blend of these two colours. The effect is breathtaking-as magical as a tropical sunsets, padparadscha sapphires are exceedingly rare. Some sellers may try to pass off a pink sapphire as a padpardscha, but a true padparadscha calls for a harmonious blend of both colours, spread in a light, even tone throughout the stone. A stone may exhibit this perfect mix of colour when viewed from above, but when viewed from the side, shows a distinct separation of tones. Such a gem is simply a fancy sapphire & not the more valuable padparadscha. Many connoisseurs believe that a padparadscha sapphire can only come from Sri Lanka.

Buying gems

Sri Lanka has a variety of gemstones to offer, in a wide range of quality & prices, making it a tempting place to buy-even if you aren't a jewellery or gem fanatic. Reputable gem & jewellery stores in the island offer good value.

Avoid buying gems from the street. The ICA (The international Colored Gemstone Association) put it this way: "Would you buy on the street in the New York City? Buying on the street of Rangoon will probably have the same result. The key is to buy from a reputable shop."

In Sri Lanka, the reputable shops allow the buyers to have the authenticity of the gems verified at the government run State Gem Corporation, Colombo or at a private yet government certified gem valuation agency prior to the transaction.

Four Cs of gems
Evaluate gemstones using the four "Cs": carat weight, color, clarity & cut. One carat equals one-fifth of a gram, the unit of measure by which gemstones are sold. Generally the heavier the gem, the higher the price. From the consumers' standpoint, much of that weight should be showing on the face of the stone, or the table. This is where the cut of the gem comes into play. If the gem is cut too deep, most of the carat weight is hidden from the eye & the colour may be too dark. A gem cut too shallow, on the other hand, will lack brilliance & have a flat, washed-out look. An ideally cut gem reflects light evenly from all parts of the table.

Trust your own eyes when judging the colour of a gem. When shopping for rubies, for instance, ask to see a range of colours & qualities available. You will be surprised at the variation in ruby shades, with the reds often showing hints of pink, orange or purple. It is mostly a matter of personal taste as to which shade is the best. No matter what the shade, the brighter, richer & more vivid in colour, the more valuable the stone. Look at the gem in different lights. Some gems look magnificent under florescent lights but appear lifeless in daylight, or vice versa.

Clarity is another important consideration. Only glass or gems of phenomenal value have no inclusions visible to the eye. Flaws can add interest, but look for those jewels with flaws that are least obvious when the gem is viewed face up. Emeralds have more inclusions & small fractures than most other gems. While you cannot avoid internal inclusions in emeralds, avoid those with crack that reach the surface, as they could affect the durability of the gem.

Precious & Semiprecious gems
Traditionally diamond, ruby, sapphire & emerald are considered precious. However, these terms have now become meaningless in the modern market. You can easily find buy low quality diamonds, rubies, sapphires & emeralds at low prices. And stones such as tourmaline & garnet can be worth thousands of USD per carat (as in tsavorite garnet & Paraiba tourmaline).

 Ratnapura (meaning city of Gems) in luxuriantly verdant, gently hilly landscape

A replica of Aukana Buddha statue, Maha Sumana Saman Dewale, Trekking and Bird Watching
Ceylon Sapphires, Rubies, Moonstones, Beryl, Zircon, Garnet & Quartz.
Gem pits, Gem market, Tea & Rubber plantations in the hills, Paddy fields in the plains

Ratanapura or Rathnapura (Sinhala: city of Gems), the Mecca of Gem mining, cutting, processing and trading in Sri Lanka, the legendary city with the greatest concentration of gems on earth has made Sri Lanka one of the top five gem-bearing nations in the world. The long-established industry of precious stone at Ratanapura produces rubies, sapphires, white, yellow, pink, orange, purple and blue star sapphires, ruby and star ruby, cat's eye, topaz, amethyst, moonstone, aquamarine, tourmaline, garnet, zircon, spinel and alexandrite.

Ratanapura of which, Divaguha cave as narrated by Mahawamsa the great historical chronicle of Sri Lanka, gave shelter to Gauthama Buddha and 500 monks following the visit of the Supremely Enlightened Being to the Adam's Peek Sri Pada; Ratanapura that unearthed the great ruby, as narrated by Marco Polo, with which biblical King Solomon, the builder of the First Temple in Jerusalem wooed Queen Sheba of Marib, Yemen; Ratanapura, the city that tolerated and gave sanctuary to Blessed Joseph Vaz the Apostle of Ceylon during the 17th century when he visited Ratanapura as a part of his apostolic mission to Sabaragamuwa, today is a vibrant with trade of gems and agriculture and Sri Lanka tourism

Ratanapura in the Sabaragamuwa province of wet zone (area of higher rainfall with south-western monsoon: 4000 to 5000 mm) is the centre of a number of richly watered valleys between Adam's Peak & Lion King (Sinharaja) Tropical Rain Forest. Ratanapura, a pleasingly verdant, slightly hilly landscape with its high rainfall figures is a flourishing agricultural region that has Paddy, Tea & Rubber plantations spread across the mountainous regions surrounding the city. Tea grown in the district of Ratanapura is called low-country Ceylon Tea. Many delicious fruits like mango and papaya and vegetables are grown in the district.

Ratanapura, a convenient transportation hub for the excursions to Sri Lanka Holidays Sinharaja rain forest (UNESCO World Heritage Site), Kitulgala (White water rafting at the rapids on the River Kelani ganga), Uda Walawe National Park (Large herds of elephants at the reservoir) especially popular among Nature, Adventure and Wildlife tourists, is located 101 km south east of Colombo, in a valley, 21 meters above the sea-level on River Kalu Ganga that originates at Mount Sri Pada Adam's Peak also called Samanala Kanda (Sinhala: Butterfly Mountain)

Ratanapura's gems, as narrated in the, Mahavansa, great historical chronicle of Sri Lanka, once adorned the Ruwanweliseya Dagoba (a sacred Buddhist relic chamber) built in the 2nd century at Anuradhapura, an ancient Sri Lankan capital of North Central Sri Lanka. According to, the lord Buddha himself is said to have come to Sri Lanka from India to settle a dispute between two kings, Chulodara and Mahodara, over a throne of gems.

Location
City of Ratnapura, Ratnapura district, Sabaragamuwa province, South western zone (wet zone) is located 101 km (63 miles) from Colombo in the south-western part of Sri Lanka's wet zone, on the outskirts of the hill country, in the valley of the Kalu Ganga. A hill topped by a Portuguese fort dominates the town. Ratnapura district is the centre of a number of richly watered valleys between Adam's Peak & Lion King (Sinharaja) Tropical Rain Forest.

Traditional start of the pilgrimage to Mount Sri Pada (Adam's Peak)
Ratnapura is the traditional start of the toughest pilgrimages up to Adam's Peak, & this is reputed to be the best place for views of the sacred mountain. The route from Hatton is easier, Hatton being at a higher elevation.

The town
The town has fine views of Adam's Peak on the eastern horizon & is surrounded by thickly forested hills. The old Fort above the clock tower, currently under renovation, offers good views. The town has a famous daily gem market, the bazaar of the region's ancient wealth of gemstones.

Gem trade
Gem pits surround the town. Most of the large-scale gem businessmen of Sri Lanka together with foreign gem traders operate from Ratnapura to trade in international market. Major export markets are USA, Thailand, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Japan, Germany, Italy, UK, Singapore & Malaysia. Ratnapura's famous sapphires in a wide range of colours - white, yellow, pink, orange, purple & blue - found in Ratnapura is marketed with a brand name: Ceylon Sapphires.

Working gem mines
In the district of Ratnapura there are more than 200 working gem mines. The mines are around 100 ft (30 m) deep, each with a series of interconnecting tunnels. The process of mining is same as the in the ancient times with the exception of water pumps & diesel powered power generators. Although there aren't any gem mines catering for the visits of tourist visits, we can arrange for all of you to walk inside a mine. First hand experience of seeing the manual process of miners digging, washing & sifting the stones will definitely turn out be a memorable one.

Trading gems in open bazaar
Clock tower is a fascinating place to visit in the early morning. We can enjoy the scene of hundreds of people buying & selling gems. The genuine gem merchants allow the buyers to have the authenticity of the gems verified at the government run State Gem Corporation, Colombo or at a private yet government certified gem valuation agency prior to the transaction. Although people seem to trade gems all over town, there are certain areas that specialize in uncut & unpolished stones, polished stones, cut stones, while other street will only deal in star sapphires or cats' eyes.

The National Museum
This museum exhibits a collection of pre-historic fossils of elephants, rhinoceroses & hippopotamuses found in gem pits from the Balangoda area. Also displayed are stuffed animals & snakes in jars. There are items of local art & culture such as musical instruments, masks, jewellery, textiles & flags, gems, fabrics & jewellery on display too.

Private Gem Museums
Private museums tend to be primarily retail outlets for gems but at the same time demonstrate the craft of gem polishing. Raw stones being cut & polished in these museums.

Gemmological Museum
This private museum has an interesting collection of gems & precious minerals. There are mining-related exhibits including a model of a pit. The museums' rare elephant pearl is priceless. Gaja Mutu (Elephant pearls) are found only in the tusks of Gaja Mutu tusker elephants of Saddantha (penis as well as the tail & trunk of the elephant touches the ground) caste.

Trekking & bird watching
The area surrounding the town is a popular trekking destination and a good place for bird watching.

Bopath Ella waterfall
It's one thing to bath, swim in the stream below the waterfall or simply sit on the stream bed, with a bottles of beer & plates of boiled, salted & spiced Tapioca & water flowing at you breast level, but it's quite another thing to succumb to the temptation of scaling the cliff from a flank of the waterfall to get to the top. Too slippery, too risky. No. No go.

Big Buddha statue
Further afield from old fort is a big Buddha statue, built by a wealthy young gem merchant, on a hill behind the Rest House. There's a full-size replica of the Aukana Buddha statue at the Gnanasiha Tapowana Vihara, on top of a hill overlooking the town; you can walk to it through Pompakelle Forest Park. About 8km from town, at Kosgala, are some caves.

Massive curtain wall of the central highlands to the north
Driving up to Gillimale from the bridge gives you a chance to see the massive curtain wall of the central highlands to the north, Ratnapura being located at the ridge.

Orchids
The area surrounding Gillimale are rich in flowers, one of the most notable being the Vesak Orchid which takes its name from the month of Vesak (May) in which it flowers.

Maha Saman Devale (Shrine)
"The Maha Saman Devale, Ratnapura is very impressive - the grandest in size and setting of all the devales I have seen. Approached up long stone steps flanked by dug out boats on either side (ready for the annual goods) one senses at once that one is entering a place of myths and legends and style and historic Importance. Here a king at war must have been a king indeed and the palatial walauwas in the province seem a right and proper architectural support to the central place of worship of its people. The devale compound is bound by a low, tiled and windowed, wall within which its space is ordered and emphasised by pavilion roofs, culminating in a three tiered tower at one point, with two other deeply eaved shrine roofs for balance on the vast flat quadrangle. The impression is of triangular weight airborne on carved pillars on a flat sandy expanse, glimpsed through ever changing frames as one walks through the cloisters."
Barbara Sansoni

Dedication of the Maha Saman shrine
The shrine was dedicated to God Maha Sumana Saman, one of the four guardian deities (Sakra, Saman, Natha & Upulvan) of the island. One of the oldest routes up Adam's peak (guardian of which also is God Saman) the Gillimali Road, starts from the splendid Maha Saman Devale complex, 4km west of the city. It's a handsome temple, with a series of broad courtyards & whitewashed buildings in the Kandyan style, with some Portuguese influence. The major festival here is Perahera procession on Esala poya. Being held in the same period (July/August) as the great gorgeous Kandy perahera, the Saman Devale perahera procession is not known internationally.

Built & rebuilt by the Sinhalese kings, then destroyed by the Portuguese, again rescued & rebuilt by a Sinhalese king.

The shrine, Saman Devale was first built by King (Pandita) Parakramabahu the 2nd in 1270 AD. The handsome devale & stupa was rebuilt by Parakrambahu the 4th in the 15th century but then unfortunately destroyed by the Portuguese & a church was constructed on top of it in 1618. King Rajasinhe the 2nd who defeated the Portuguese & rescued Ratnapura had the Portuguese church razed to the ground and the Saman Devale shrine rebuilt in the beginning of 17th century. Interesting features include the remains of a Portuguese fort. On the temple wall is a Portuguese soldier sculpted in stone while a slab bearing their coat of arms was also found here.

God Maha Sumana Saman
During Buddha's first visit to Lanka, prince of the Devas tribe (other pre-historic tribes of Lanka being Yakka & Naga) Mahasumana of the Sumanakuta mountain (Adam's Peak) attained the first fruit of path (Sovan or Sotapatti Phala-a stream entrant) of Nirvana (permanent release from the cycle of suffering of birth & rebirth by virtue of merits demerits, virtues & vices). At the request of the Prince Sumana Saman for an object for veneration, Buddha offered him a lock of hair from his head. The bluish black lock of hair was enshrined in the Mahiyangana Stupa, the first stupa constructed in Lanka. Mahiyanaga stupa is the only dagoba built in the Buddhist world during the life time of Buddha.

At the last visit of Buddha to the island, at the request of Prince Sumana Saman, Buddha left his footprint at the summit of the Mount Sumanakuta. Following his death, Prince Sumana Saman became a god (another being, a resplendent one, in another world & definitely, infinitely inferior to Buddha) by the name God Maha Sumana Saman.

God Maha Sumana Saman is depicted crowned & bejewelled & holding a lotus flower in his right hand & accompanied by a white elephant.

Ancient Sinhalese chronicles proclaim guardianship of Lanka was entrusted to four gods Sakra, Saman, Natha & Upulvan. God Saman is also the guardian of Mount Sri Pada (Adam's Peak). The deities have temporal power, but no spiritual attributes, which only the triple gems, Buddha, Dhamma (the Buddhist doctrine) & the Sangha (the order of monks) have.

Contrary to the Buddhist doctrine (salvation is only by way of right conduct - four noble truths & eight fold path) the Buddhists of Lanka have formed a habit of first paying obeisance at Buddhist temples & then flocking to the shrines of the gods. The reason being, unlike Buddha in his state of Nirvana, the gods dispense favours & boons. It is said even the staunch critics such as Illustrious Buddhist monk venerable Vidagama Maithreya of Sri Lanka had acknowledged the worldly power of the deities.

God Maha Sumana Saman is depicted in human form accompanied by a white elephant, the ancient bulldozer & bulldog of Lanka, the great noble beast of royal & Buddhist significance, in the background of Sri Pada (Adam's Peak). The resplendent god, a divine being in every sense of the word, holds a red lotus, a flower of Sinhalese Buddhist significance. His noble beast too holds a red lotus.


Pre-historic caves
Discoveries of pre-historic animal bones as well as of a variety of stone tools have made it clear that the area is probably one of the first sites to have been occupied by humans in Sri Lanka

Pompakelle Forest park lies behind the Rest house. There are walking trails through this lush forest.

Kalawathi Holiday & Health Resort
The tranquil Hotel Kalawathi is kitted out with antique furniture. Its main showpiece is an extensive rare herb garden. Try herbal baths made from indigenous species. There's a vegetable garden too.

Rathnaloka Tour Inns
This is an upmarket hotel built by a gem magnate. There's a large garden, an inviting pool & attentive service. Deluxe rooms. A good restaurant. Rooms have air-con & hot water.

Rest house
Rest House has the best site in the town, right on top of the hill that dominates Ratnapura. The Colonial rooms are large. The place has heaps of charms with its spacious veranda, bar & grassy garden

Excursions from Ratapura
Ratnapura is a very convenient base for a day trip to Lion King (Sinharaja) Tropical Rain Forest as well as to Uda Walawe National Park.


Routes to/from Ratnapura too are scenic to the hilt.

1. Ella / Haputale / Belihul Oya (Central Highlands) / Ratnapura route descend through abundantly beautiful scenery
From Haputale the main road goes past the Stassen Bio Planataion, to reach Beragala 10km) where it connects to the main road to Colombo which winds & hugs the southern rim of the highlands. West of Beragala is some of the most rugged scenery in Sri Lanka. Walls of Black rocks tower above the road towards Belihul Oya & much of the route is very windy with many blind bends to the boot. Let's switch off the CD player & concentrate on the wheel.

(Travelling east from Beragala, the fine views through the Haputale Gap continue, & the road leads through a marvellous area of flora-teak, rubber, pepper, cacao & coffee trees - to Koslande and past Diyaluma waterfall to Wellawaya & to south coast.)

2. Lion King (Sinharaja) Tropical Rain Forest (WHS) / Deniyaya / Rakwana / Ratnapura
This is a scenic main road. Rakwana offers panoramic views across the plains of Uda Walwe National Park (reservoir, reserve, elephants), with the escarpment of the Peak Wilderness Sanctuary (19207ha part of the Central Massif is recommended to the listing of World heritage Sites) where Adam's Peak is located in the north. From Rakwana the road reaches a southern spur of the hill (& tea) country before Pelmadulla, an important junction town between Ratnapura & Haputale.

3. Ratnapura / Avissawella / Colombo

4. Ratnapura / /Kalawana / Matugama / Bentota Beach Resort

5. Ella / Beragala / Balangoda / Pelmadulla / Ratnnapura

6. Ratnapura / Aheliyagoda / Dehiowita / Kitulagala

7. Ratnapura / Pelmadulla / Embilipitiya/ Tissamaharam