Journey to the cave temple

 Journey to the cave temple

 T

he Dambulla Cave Temple, also known as the Golden Temple, is a very important temple for Buddhists located in the Dambulla area of ​​Sri Lanka.  This Royal Stone Temple was declared a World Heritage Site in 1991 in the Central Province.  There are five separate caves in this temple.  There are about 150 stone paintings and about 150 Buddha statues in the five caves.  This reflects a more important and unique art form than Sri Lanka.  Dambulla Cave Temple is a must visit place if you are traveling in the Central Province.

 The Dambulla Cave Temple provides a wealth of information on ancient Buddhist religious activities.  Dambulla Cave Temple has been believed to be a place of worship since the first century BC.  It is said that King Walagamba (also known as Wattagamini Abhaya) came here after his expulsion from the Kingdom of Anuradhapura.  After his demise in Dambadeniya, Dambulla Cave Temple was transformed into a glorious temple by creating paintings like this inside these caves.  Later kings also created more paintings in these caves.  King Keerthi Sri Nissankamalla made a great contribution to the restoration of these paintings and statues and he named this place Ran Giri.

When we enter the tempele we can see a huge golden Buddha statue.  This Buddha statue with the blue sky is a great creation.  When we enter the temple there are two stone steps.  One goes to the gold statue and the other to the stone cave.  First you have to worship the Buddha and secondly you have to go to the cave.  We have to be very careful when going to the rock. The reason for that is the abundance of Rila herds in this area.  So do not take out any food or flowers.  If they see these, they will surely come.  Enjoy the behavior of these animals.  If we do them no harm, they will do us no harm.  They just wan something to eat.  But do not feed these puppets.  Because of the abundance of parrots in this area, we would not be able to survive on food.  .

After paying homage to the Buddha statue we can go to see the cave.  For this we can choose two paths.  One can walk up the stairs and the other we can walk freely.  Before visiting these caves, there are a few things to keep in mind.  The first is to go to the rock in the morning or in the evening.  This is a good time to get sunshine.  Don’t forget to bring us an umbrella or hat here.  Also carry a bottle of water.

Halfway up the rock we can see local vendors selling ice cream, mangoes, water, flowers and more.  At this place we can relax and enjoy this food too.  As mentioned earlier, beware of herds of monkeys.  Do not carry any food or flowers.  If we buy food, make sure they are hidden from view.  Here we can buy different types of local stones, local clothing styles and various statues.  We can retain these as great Sri Lankan memories.

 As we climb to the top of the rock we can see an amazing view.  From the top of the cliff we can see the surrounding scenery.  We can see Sigiriya from a distance of about 20 km.

 Otherwise we would not be able to enter the Dambulla Cave Temple dressed in casual attire.  So wear long pants / skirts that cover the upper body well.  Otherwise we have to buy some cover fabrics from that place.  Dressed in that manner, we can enter the Dambulla Cave Temple, worship the Buddha statue and observe the paintings in the caves.

 The ubiquitous tourism policy applies here as well.  Make sure the polythene is plastic and does not carry any non-corrosive material.  We also contribute to the preservation of the natural beauty of this place for future generations to experience