Place · rock-cut Buddhist temple · Sri Lanka
Dambulla Cave Temple
The Dambulla rock-cave temple complex at Dambulla, Matale district, Sri Lanka — the largest cave temple in Sri Lanka, with five main caves containing 153 Buddha statues, three statues of Sri Lankan kings, and painted surfaces covering 2,100 square metres of ceiling and walls. The caves were originally used as refuge by King Valagamba (reigned 103 BCE and again 89-77 BCE) during his exile from Anuradhapura; after his restoration he converted the caves into Buddhist temples. The painted surfaces were extensively renovated during the Kandyan period (18th century) under Kings Rajadhi Rajasinha and Sri Vikrama Rajasinha. The 1938 restoration under the British preserved the paintings; the 2000 Sri Lankan government conservation programme stabilised the structures. UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1991.
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Tradition
- Sri Lankan Buddhist heritage
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 7.856, 80.649
Connections (1)
- Architectural modelAjantā caves
Dambulla and Ajantā are the two great surviving bodies of South Asian cave painting, and they differ in one decisive way: Ajantā was abandoned about 480 and its paintings are fifth-century, while Dambulla has been repainted continuously, so its walls are a living surface rather than a preserved one. Dambulla's five caves hold some two thousand square metres of painting over a hundred and fifty Buddha images, and the earliest layers are under later ones rather than beside them.
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Sources
Wikipedia, “Dambulla cave temple”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
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