Golden Temple of Dambulla: What is it?

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The Dambulla Golden Temple, also known as the Dambulla Cave Temple, is a temple in central Sri Lanka. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and has been since 1991. It is the most preserved of Sri Lanka’s various cave temples and is a popular tourist attraction as well as a religious site.
There are five main caves that make up the Dambulla Golden Temple, although there are more than 80 caves in the surrounding area, all with their own attractions. Each cave is covered with various paintings and filled with statues, representing Lord Buddha and showing his life and events surrounding the pantheon of Buddhism. The five caves that make up the Golden Temple of Dambulla are the Cave of the Great Kings, the Great New Monastery, the Cave of the Divine King and two other smaller caves, which are usually not given their own epithet.

The caves had been occupied long before Buddhism arrived in Sri Lanka, with the oldest tombs dating back to around 700 BC. Buddhists arrived around 100 BC and began creating the artwork that now lines the caves. The Dambulla Golden Temple is located just 12 km from the Sigiriya site, another Buddhist World Heritage site.

The Cave of Great Kings is the largest of the caves in the Golden Temple of Dambulla. It contains 40 statues representing the seated Lord Buddha and 16 others of the standing Lord Buddha. It also contains statues representing Vishnu and Saman, as well as statues depicting benefactors of the Golden Temple of Dambulla, King Nissanka Malla and King Vattagamani. It is these latter statues that give this cave its name, Maharaja lena, the Cave of Great Kings. A spring drips water from the ceiling into the cave and is said to have healing properties. Paintings also adorn the walls, mostly from the 18th century, showing various scenes from the life of Lord Buddha as well as scenes from the history of Sri Lanka.

The Great New Monastery is a cave painted in the late 18th century. It is made in what is referred to as the Kandy style, under King Kirti Sri Rajashinha. The Grand New Monastery contains more than 18 statues of Lord Buddha, which were placed as part of King Rajashinha’s revival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka.

The Cave of the Divine King is the first of the caves in the Golden Temple of Dambulla. There is an inscription above the cave entrance which tells of the founding of the temple. The cave is almost entirely filled with a huge statue of the reclining Lord Buddha. At the head of the Lord Buddha is the god Vishnu, who according to legend created the caves, and at his feet is Ananda, the favorite student of the Lord Buddha.

The Dambulla Golden Temple contains more than 150 statues of Lord Buddha, kings and related deities, and thousands of paintings of Lord Buddha. While there is a small cost to visit, it is one of the best deals in terms of World Heritage Sites to be found in Asia. Many hours can be spent exploring the caves and the work on both the paintings and statues is of a consistently high standard. With a number of other Buddhist sites found nearby, this is an area worth visiting for travelers to Sri Lanka.

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