Monday, February 06, 2006

Dambulla

Day 2 - Dambulla

Any article on Srilanka is incomplete without the image of the Golden Buddha. Most travel agents, when they suggest a travel itenary for Srilanka, include only Colombo, Kandy, Bentota and some other beach destination. They never suggest the places in the interior, which are so full of history and culture.

Next time anyone wishes to go to Srilanka, I suggest that they look beyond the ordinary shopping in Colombo and the beach destinations. There are so many beautiful historical places in Srilanka, and the kind of architecture that you would get to see there is truly mind blowing.

Srilanka is a 69 % Buddhist country, and therefore all the historical places are full of Buddhist monasteries, stupas and places of worship with exquisite statues of Buddha.

I have not visited the Buddhist sites in India like Sanchi, Sarnath or Gaya. But, this trip to Srilanka, I ensured that I will visit every Buddhist cultural site.

After my night at Negembo and the early morning walk by the beach, Mathow was ready to pick us up. We left Negembo at about 9.30 am.

The next destination Dambulla is just about 148 kms from Colombo / Negembo, on the Mathale – Anuradhapura Road , but, this short distance was going to take about 3 hours to cover. The reasons being the maximum speed at which anyone can drive is just 50 kms per hour. You will find the best imported Japanese cars, but, there is no fun at this slow speed. Just for information, Dambulla is 72 kms from Kandy is 18 kms from Sigiriya.

Also, driving through Srilanka heart land, is like driving through Kerala and Goa - very green and beautiful, with the road winding slowing through the jungle.

Srilanka is not divided into states like in India. It is divided into smaller administrative units called Zones. There are 52 zones in all. Each of the zones, have their local administrative body or government.

Now, regarding Dambulla, it homes the famous cave temples. It is called the Golden Temple at Dambulla. The complex has a museum, library, a huge Golden Buddha which is painted in gold, a Golden stupa and several caves.

The caves are on top of a hillock. There are about 80 caves, the most famous ones are the 5 caves that are called the Maha Raja Vihara. They contain in all exactly 157 statues – 153 Buddha’s and statues of kings and Hindu Gods. The Buddha statues are in sitting, standing and reclining positions, large ones and small ones.

The first cave had a large reclining Buddha who is dying. You can make this out from the position of his toes on his feet. When the toes are not together, the Buddha is considered to have died. The frescos on the wall show the life if Buddha and of Sinhalese history, these frescos were added much later.

The 2nd cave is impressive with 150 Buddha statues and has idols of Ganesh and Vishnu.

There are several mural paintings depicting the life of Buddha.

Dambulla has been a cultural and religious center for about 22 centuries. Dambulla region had a lot of caves and many monks used to practice Buddhism here. Going into the history of this place, Srilanka was contantly under attack by the Chola kings of South India. These caves were the refuge of King Walagamba also called as Vattagamini Abhaya in the 1st Century BC. He was the king from Anuradhapura. When attacked, to escape defeat, capture and ill-treatment, he took refuge in these caves along with the princess. Till this day, one can see the secret door inside the caves, in which the princess stayed. There is a stupa in the cave. The king is supposed to have put all his treasure into it and closed it up. King Walagamba returned to Anuradhapura after 14 yrs, and then he ordered the magnificient rock temple to be build from 104 to 76 BC. This temple was built in thanksgiving.

Successive kings had added to it. The site was repaired and repainted several times in the 11th, 12th and the 18th Century. The paintings are said to be new, they are about 200 yrs old. The statues of the Hindu gods, Vishnu, Ganesha and Saman date back to the 12th century, when Hinduism took root in Sri Lanka and started influencing the arts.

Dambulla was designated a World Heritage Site in 1991. It is a point on the golden triangle. Sigiriya and Kandy are the other 2 places. Dambulla site is indeed very unique as this site has seen additions made to it over the last 22 centuries, and has proof of material used in all the years, and also shows clearly the influence of each religion and culture across various time periods, under different rulers.

We reached Dambulla at about 12 noon. The sun was bright and we started sweating as we were going up the hillock. Any amount of trekking expertise is useless here, cos the sun shines sharper in Srilanka and can sap your energy.

The large Golden Buddha, the minute your eyes fall on it, you instantly cool off. The gold paint for this large statue that over looks the entire town is supposed to be donated by the Japanese. When I get to historical places like this I feel calmness within myself. And, the Buddha statues are a added bonus.

We reached the complex at the top of the hillock. The entrance of the caves is modified into a concrete structure – latest addition I guess. But, this is an absolute must, to protect the murals from rain water and sunlight. The dents in the rock, am sure helped keep rain water from entering the caves, but, what can withstand time. The concrete shelters will surely protect the paintings inside in the future.

Just outside the caves, is a lake, with purple lilies. The king is said to have washed his feet here, and used these flowers for his prayers.

The complex excursion was done in 1 hr. I clicked a lot of pictures.

It was about 2 pm now. The site seeing agenda for the day was done. We next had to reach Hotel Giritale in Giritale district. Giritale was to be our place of stay for the next 4 days, from where, we were to visit the other places.

We were terribly hungry. We stopped by a Habarana and had lunch in the tourist guest house. The food was sumptuous, spicy, just the right kind of flavor for my taste buds. We had a sumptuous meal and proceeded to Giritale.

The drive to Giritale is fabulous. The road is good. Giritale is a large artificial lake. It is in the Minneriya National Park, which also has the Northern command of the Srilankan army. We saw army cadets sweating out and doing their workouts by the lake.

We reached our hotel by about 4 pm. We got to our room, freshened up and settled in the open bar, which faces the Giritale lake for our evening cocktail. The sunset drama was about to begin, and I had my camera fully to capture the spectacle.
Also Read Day 1 - Negembo