Sights at the Kandalama tank bund, Sri Lanka.

Water lily flower.

The highway over the Kandalama tank bund and the distant hills.

The 'Kandalama Hotel' complex across the tank at the foot of the hills.

A lone fisherman in an outrigger canoe on the Kandalama tank.

Peace and tranquility is what you get here. The hours will slip by as the wind caresses your body and you dream at this site.

Cave temples at Dambulla, Sri Lanka.

The entrance to one of the cave temples.

A corridor outside the cave temple.

Statues of Lord Buddha inside the cave temple.

Note the paintings on the roof of the cave.

'The ensemble of Dambulla is an outstanding example of the religious art and expression of Sri Lanka and South and South-East Asia. The excavated shrine-caves, their painted surfaces and statuary are unique in scale and degree of preservation. The monastery includes significant masterpieces of 18th century art, in the Sri Lankan school of Kandy.

The rock of Dambulla is the centre of a Buddhist cave-temple complex established in the 3rd century BC and occupied continuously until today. Its location has marked a transportation node between the Eastern and Western Dry Zones and between the Dry Zones and the central mountains throughout the history of Sri Lanka. The cave-temple complex is established on an inselberg or erosional remnant of importance in the study of the island's geological history. The site also includes evidence of human occupation going back to the prehistoric period, including the megalithic cemetery at Ibbankatuwa.

The site has been in continuous use for over 22 centuries, when it was occupied by a Buddhist monastic establishment, following the arrival of Buddhism on the island. Remains of 80 rock-shelter residences established at that time on the site have been identified. Most probably in the 1st century BC, the uppermost group of shelters on Dambulla's south face was transformed into shrines. These transformations continued and were intensified between the 5th and 13th centuries: cave-temples were extended into the sheltering rock, and brick walls constructed to screen the caves. By the end of the 12th century, with the introduction by King Nissanka Malla of sculpture to the caves on the upper terrace, echoing the rock carving that had preceded it, the caves assumed their present general forms and layout.

The next major phase of development took place in the 18th century when, following a long-standing tradition, the upper terrace was restored and refurbished. All the painted surfaces within the caves were painted or overpainted in a style characteristic of the Kandy school of the late 18th century. At that time, the modest Buddhist figures in the caves were repainted, maintaining original details and iconography; the fronting screen walls were rebuilt and roofed to form an outer veranda. Throughout the 19th century, following the loss of royal patronage in 1815, periodic repainting of sculptures and deteriorating surfaces continued. In 1915, thanks to the efforts of a local donor, cave No 5 was entirely repainted. In the 1930s, the veranda was rebuilt incorporating a mixture of European and Asian detailing, and the complex's entrance porch was reconstructed in a conjectural 18th century style.

This cultural landscape is an extraordinary and unique complex: the cave-temple, rock paintings in five caves and 157 statues of various sizes. Dambulla bears witness in its richly layered composite nature to the use of the entire site for close to four millennia. The larger site incorporates a set of individual units reflecting all phases of site development from the megalithic period to the present day, including a monastic chapter house, bo-tree temple, dagoba and the earliest known village revealed by archaeological research in Sri Lanka. Those are located within a site of considerable natural beauty and power.

Particular care has been taken in developing approaches to conservation which are in tune with the site's qualities, and the capacities of available conservators. One of the site's distinguishing characteristics is the regular renewal of decorated surfaces over time; conservation measures devoted to stripping back layers of later painting on wall surfaces or sculpture to reveal earlier images, would be ignoring the worth of the ongoing tradition which has regularly ensured complete repainting of surfaces.

As well, the physical nature of the cave setting, with its latent moisture and migrating salts problems, has prompted much of the painting 'repair' that has taken place. Equally, limited tests, during conservation efforts, suggest that little earlier work survives, most later overpainting having prompted reinstatement of new base surfaces and obliteration of the old. The Jeevan Naide family, charged with care of the wall paintings since early in the 18th century BC, is still employed, working with ola leaf manuscripts which provide a clear idea of the complex layout and associated painting techniques. Technical missions to the site in 1990 and 1991, working with local apprentices and the Jeevan Naide family, brought science and tradition together in treatment of the site.'

Source: UNESCO/CLT/WHC

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/561

Click on web-link below to see some still photographs taken by me on a trip there in October 2013:-

http://youtu.be/qctKZjy05qo

We wish you a Merry Christmas, 2013.

http://youtu.be/5RO1jNJcWas

http://youtu.be/CWqgu6EalzM

Kanthaka Chaithya, Mihinthale, Sri Lanka.

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Kanthaka Chathya, Mihinthale, Sri Lanka.

Kantaka Chethiya was renovated in 1930′s to the current status. When this stupa was discovered, it has been a just a mound of earth covered by various debris. This has been known as the Kiribadapavu Dagaba, Kiribat Vehera, or Giribhanda during this time. But a stone inscription found close by has identified the original name of this stupa as Kantaka Chethiya.

It is unknown who built this stupa but it is said that the King Lanjatissa (119-109 BC) has built a stone mantel built for this stupa. Therefore we can assume that the stupa was built prior to 119 BC. The present stupa is 425 feet in diameter and is about 40 feet high. This stupa is most popular for one of the most well preserved vahalkada which can be seen today.

http://amazinglanka.com/wp/kantaka-chethiya/

Mihinthale sights, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.

Sights at Mihinthale, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.