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| The entrance to one of the cave temples. |
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| A corridor outside the cave temple. |
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| Statues of Lord Buddha inside the cave temple. |
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| 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
Click on web-link below to see
some still photographs taken by me on a trip there in October 2013:-
