Dambulla Caves - Sri Lanka

Dambulla cave temples was one of our highlights in Sri Lanka.  It is an ancient (1st century BC) Buddhist temple that is composed of five individual caves containing over 150 Buddha statues and paintings as well as few statues of ancient Sri Lankan kings. The temple is on the road between Kandy and Sigiriya in the central part of the country.  The site is the best preserved cave temples in Sri Lanka and is a World Heritage Sight.  The complex is a 10 minute walk up from the road on a steep set of stairs that takes you up 160 m.  

On our way up.

Reaching the top of the stairs the view is far reaching.

Once up at the rock temples you are not immediately awed since from the outside the complex is not very remarkable.  It is only once you step within the rocks that the awe unfurls.

The temples are built into a substantial rocky overhang.  The entrances are protected behind the white walls which provide a corridor to walk between some of the caves.  The five caves are all different sizes with the largest measuring 50 m X 20 m and 7 m tall at its highest point. It is jaw dropping.

Stepping into the caves is to enter a mystical place.  Every inch is covered in paintings, the colours still vibrant in spots and evocatively faded in others.  The statues are numerous and include large reclining Buddhas and seated Buddhas hewed out of the rock.  Earlier in the trip we had talked with the kids about how to behave respectfully in different sacred spaces, including never to turn your back to a statue of Buddha.  As we started walking around the first large cave which is filled with dozens of statues of Buddha V asked "How do we walk in here so we don't have our back to Buddha?"  It was a great question that showed he was paying attention to what we've been talking about!  And I didn't have a great answer for him either, as it seemed virtually impossible.

The murals cover walls and ceilings.  Reportedly the murals cover over 20 000 square meters and have been added to and retouched over the past 2000 years.  The painted ceilings were a favorite of mine because you could see the undulations of the rock under the paint.  It was clear we were in the rock, that the temple was part of the rock, and the natural formations of the rock were part of the beauty and sacredness of the space.

Being in the caves inspired reverence.  The cool air, the undulating walls and ceilings that reminded you that you were in a space carved of rock, the colours, the size of the reclining Buddhas and the abundance of statues and paintings was overwhelming.  To think of the hundreds and hundreds of years that this existed was mind blowing.  More amazing to me was that we had never heard of these caves.  How can that be?  They are incredible!  It is so fortunate that they were not damaged during the 30 year civil war.

We walked down the other side of the temple complex to exit via the other entrance.  The monkeys kept us company along the way.

 At the base of the rock that houses the cave temples there is a large golden Buddha that was built around 2000.   I wonder if someone will be looking at it in a thousand years?