DAMBULLA CAVE TEMPLE, Dambulla, Sri Lanka, 2019.12.09

Day 5 (2 of 3).

We arranged a taxi from Sigiriya to Kandy, and made a stop at Dambulla to visit Sri Lanka’s largest cave temple complex. The UNESCO World Heritage site is usually visited along with Sigiriya or Kandy nearby.  About 80 caves are found in Dambulla, with most of the highlights found in five caves.  The 153 statues and 2,100 sq.m of murals of the Dambulla Cave Temple represent the finest example of Buddhist cave art on the island.

King Valagamba of Anuradhapura concerted earlier caves into a Buddhist temple in the 1st century BC.  Later kings continued to expand the cave complex.  By the 11th century, the caves had become an established religious centre on the island.  This significant religious hub remains to the present.  The white verandas and colonnades outside of the caves were added in 1938 as an embellishment to the two thousand year old cave temple network.

The 10 minute climb up to the rock temple prepared us spiritually for the visit.

Near the cave temple, a family of monkeys greeted all visitors with funny looks.

At the temple entrance stairway, a cat was busy chewing onto grass.

The 1938 verandas gave the ancient cave temple an elegant facade to greet visitors.

The Cave of the Divine King is dominated by the 14m long reclining Buddha.

Above the reclining Buddha, the walls and ceiling of the cave are covered with Buddhist murals.

The statue of Ananda, favourite pupil of the Buddha, stand next to the feet of the reclining Buddha.

A rather Western appearance of the 1938 veranda give the cave temple an elegant look, contributing to the fact that the cave temple is continuing to evolve as time goes by.

Reinforcement were added to the cave entrances.

Antique wooden booth inside the Cave of the Great Kings.

In Cave of the Great Kings, the largest cave of the temple, a small stupa and a “healing” spring dripping from a ceiling crack are two of the distinct features apart from the collection of statues and murals.

Every inch of the cave is covered by murals.

In this cave, King Nissanka Malla of Polonnaruwa was responsible for gilding of 50 statues in the 12th century.

Artificial lighting have been installed to replace candles from the past.

Statue of what could have been King Vattagamani Abhaya or Valagamba, the first patron of the temple.

Throughout history, these caves have been repainted over and over again.

Lighting at some of the other caves are dimmer than the Cave of the Great Kings.

We loved the tranquil atmosphere of the lotus pond, white veranda and rock caves.  After checking out the caves of Dambulla, we moved on to Kandy, the last historical capital of Sri Lanka before the colonial era.