Beautiful spaces in Sri Lanka:

Dambulla cave temple

by Husna Inayathullah

Dambulla cave temple, also known as the Golden Temple of Dambulla, is a World Heriatge Site in Sri Lanka. It is in the central part of the country. This site is 148 km east of Colombo and 72 km north of Kandy.

It is the largest and best-preserved cave temple complex in Sri Lanka. The rock towers 160m over the surrounding plains. There are more than 80 documented caves in the surrounding area. Major attractions are spread over five caves which contain statues and paintings.

These paintings and statues are related to Buddha and his life. There are 153 Buddha statues, three statues of Sri Lankan kings and four statues of gods and goddesses. The latter include two statues of Hindu gods, Vishnu and Ganesh.

The murals cover an area of 2,100 square metres. Depictions on the walls of the caves include the temptation by Mara and Buddha's first sermon.

Prehistoric Sri Lankans would have lived in the cave complexes before the arrival of Buddhism as there are burial sites with human skeletons about 2,700 years old at Ibbankatuwa near the Dambulla cave complexes.

The temple is composed of five caves which have been converted into shrine rooms. The caves built at the base of a 150m high rock during the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa eras are by far the most impressive of the many cave temples found in Sri Lanka.

Access is along the gentle slope of the Dambulla Rock offering a panoramic view of the surrounding flat lands which include the rock fortress Sigiriya which is 19 km away. Dusk brings hundreds of swooping swallows to the cave entrance. The largest cave measures about 52m from east to west and 23m from the entrance to the back. This spectacular cave is 7m tall at its highest point.

The cave temple has five caves under a vast overhanging rock, carved with a drip line to keep the interiors dry.In 1938 the architecture was embellished with arched colonnades and gabled entrances.

Inside the caves, the ceilings are painted with intricate patterns of religious images following the contours of the rock. There are images of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas as well as various gods and goddesses.

The first cave is called Devaraja lena or "Cave of the Divine King."

In the second and largest cave in addition to 16 standing and 40 seated statues of the Buddha are the gods Saman and Vishnu which pilgrims often decorate with garlands and finally statues of King Vattagamani Abhaya who honoured the monastery in the 1st century BC and King Nissanka Malla 12th century for the gilding of 50 statues as indicated by a stone inscription near the monastery entrance.

The cave is accordingly called Maharaja lena, "Cave of the Great Kings." The Buddha statue which is out of the rock on the left side of the room is escorted by wooden figures of the Bodhisattvas Maitreya and Avalokiteshvara or Natha.

There is also a dagoba and a spring which drips its water said to have healing powers out of a crack in the ceiling.Valuable tempera paintings on the cave ceiling dating from the18th century depict scenes from the Buddha's life from the dream of Mahamaya to temptation by Mara. Further pictures relate important events from the country's history.

The third cave, the Maha Alut Vihara, the "Great New Monastery" acquired a ceiling and wall paintings in the typical Kandy style during the reign of King Kirthi Sri Rajasinha (1747-1782), the famous Buddhist revivalist. In addition to the 50 Buddha statues, there is also a statue of the king.

Within the shrine rooms is representative of many epochs of Sinhala sculpture and Sinhala art.The Buddha statues are in varying sizes and mudras. The largest is15 metres long. One cave has over 1,500 paintings of the Buddha covering the ceiling.