MHS Site No.: MAHS-MDV-LAM-MUN-4
Atoll: Laamu
Island: Mundhoo
Address: Budhdhage
Interlocutor: Ali Adam (55)
Interviewer: Mohamed Shamran
Date: 01-10-2018
My name is Ali Adam, my neighbors usually call me Alifulhu (a common nickname for Ali in the Maldives). I am 55 years old and currently going through 56th year.
When I was a child, my parents and grandparents used to call this place "Budhdhage".
Back then we did not think much about the name. however, when I got older, I came to understand the word "Budhdhdage" as it was used by Ibn Battuta and then had more of a sense of what type of monument this was. According to tradition, the reason why people call this place "Budhdhage" is that in former times when idol worshipers used to live in this island, they would build huge bathing tanks (veyo) for ablutions and mounds for their rituals here. This is what we have heard from our forefathers.
During my last year of college, when I was home on holiday in mid-1983, the then Indian High Commissioner visited this island, together with four colleagues. Also traveling with him was the ‘Great Luthfee’ (Bodu Luthfee, a friend of Sagaru Nasir). The High Commissioner inspected the area around the bathing tank, which still had water in it at that time. Then, he went to the front of the bathing tank, performed a Hindu prayer, and cried.
After that he ordered the men who came with him to get shovels and dig the area in front of the bathing tank. At that time they found was a gold locket, which probably weighed about 2.5 to 3 kilograms.
They did not linger long on the island after that. We later learned that they had left quickly, taking the gold locket with them. The Maldivian government officials said that they did not know anything about the find.
The 2004 tsunami did considerable damage to the site, and to the island as a whole. Even the football ground you see in front of this site was full of water. People here say that when the wave hit the island, it was about 10 feet in height. I came to the island after three days. I was sent as the head of a team to analyze the damage to the islands of the atoll by the government.
Traditionally, Mundoo is believed to have been one of the first inhabited islands of the Maldives. There were many artefacts and statues found in the area around where the school is now. Some of those pieces are now in the National Museum. However, many locals here believe that many artefacts are still buried underground. A student also found the head of a statue from a pile of rock in the school compound, which is now safely stored in the Island Council Office. You can view the database record of the found statue head here (MAHS-MDV-LAM-MUN-4-SO1) and the 3D model on the MAHS Sketchfab account.
https://maldivesheritagedata.oxcis.ac.uk/report/6024b66b-9e2d-4d94-ab28…
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/lam-mun-4-so1-33eddf2f7f3946738f8a7da62…
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