#viharaya

Three Stupas

This photograph will feature on A Celebration 'thru Light - An Exhibition of Learning - PSSL.

A friend told me about this place, he said it was ruins of a king. My first thought after walking up a gazillion stairs was “hey where are the ruins, it looks more like a temple”.

I headed out with some of my friends 120 km from Colombo to a town called Kuruwita. There we went to a temple; it’s called “The Historical Cave of Rajamaha Viharaya (temple)”.

The temple being in such a height from the sea-level probably shows the importance of it. Rebuilding of some areas in the lower part of the temple was going on, and there were a few shrines of Buddha scattered around the lower part. A steep staircase (this was after the one too many stairs I had to climb) took me to the cave.

First thing that caught my eye was a statue of a huge frog in the middle of a wishing well (deduced this from the coins that were thrown into the well). I’ve been to two other Buddhist temples before but this was the first time I have seen a frog statue.

There were statues and paintings of other deities which looked similar to Hindu gods. A typical dome like shrine which is seen in all the other temples and a standing Buddha statue (it might be the statue of Rajamaha) was there too. Stories or parts of the same story were painted on the uneven walls of the cave mostly near the entrance to the main chamber which had a huge (around 20 ft) statue of the resting or sleeping Buddha inside it. Some of these paintings were reliefs.

At the entrance to the main chamber there was a sign which said “It’s not allowed to take pictures inside”. So no pictures of inside the chamber. From the looks of it the huge statue was carved out from the walls of the cave itself. The workers who made it must have cut the rocky walls and made the statue. The walls behind the Buddha statue had an aura painted in blues, yellows, reds, and greens which continued all the way to the other side of the chamber. For me this aura was confusing, because I couldn’t decide if it was a protective shielding or energy radiating from the Buddha statue. This was because the first four aura lines came closer the last one to the previous as they got away from him, suggesting it’s a barrier but from the fifth the aura lines goes far apart suggesting it’s being radiated.

The Department of Archaeology has started research on an Ola Leaf Scripture found in a land near Pilikuttuwa Raja Maha Viharaya. An Ola Leaf Scripture containing Pre- Brahmi Scriptures was also found near the Viharaya.

The Viharaya is situated in a 200 acre area in Gampaha district and it has been confirmed that there had been pre-historic settlements in the area. The forest surrounding the area contains many medicinal herbs. The historical texts state that when King Walagamba fled from Anuradhapura and was hiding Queen Anula, he had hid her Royal costumes in this place.