SRI LANKA: THE GOLDEN TEMPLE AND THE CAVE TEMPLES OF DAMBULLA

It wasn't until I started writing this post that I realized that the next two sites we visited were related to each other.

First, we drove past this big, upside-down bell-shaped stupa, and I asked to stop. For some reason, Bob wasn't interested, so Sanjay pulled over and let me run across the street to take a few photos.  

I'm not sure how I feel about this figure over the entrance. It looks like an animal (maybe a lion?) with either a very long tongue or one throwing up:

I entered the complex through this gate. When the main writing is English, you know it is a tourist site:

The structures are very new, especially by Sri Lankan standards. They were built in 2000 with mostly Japanese donations.

Behind the stupa is an enormous Buddha sitting cross-legged on what looks like the fun house at an amusement park entrance:

He is 98 feet tall and is in what is called the dharmachakra, or wheel-turning, pose.

He is sitting on the head of what looks a little too much like Chuckie of horror films. Chuckie's mouth is the entrance to a museum:

I didn't have time to go to the museum, so I started back to the car. Here is a back view of the Golden Temple:

. . . a beautiful golden gazebo:

. . . a shrine with a Buddha figure inside:

. . . and elephants, of course:

Only in doing some research for this did I learn that behind that huge Buddha are steps that lead up to the more famous part of the Dambulla site: the cave temples. For some reason, Sanjay elected to have us take a different set of stairs, or maybe the same stairs but a different entrance.

When we began our journey up the stairs, it was the hottest part of the day. Even though we climbed only about half the number we had climbed the previous day at Sigiriya/Lion's Rock, we tired more quickly because of the heat.

At the top of the stairs is a series of five caves with a colonial-era facade built to protect them from the elements. It immediately reminded us of the Mogao Caves we had visited a year-and-a-half before in Dunhuang, China.

The Dambulla Cave Temples, which date back to the first century, were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991. The king during the first century was exiled from Anuradhapura and hid in these caves for 14 years before regaining his throne. At that point he converted the caves into temples as a way of expressing his gratitude to the monks who had given him sanctuary there. His royal successors made their own additions and improvements over the years. With everyone's contributions, the caves have the feeling of a grandma's over-crowded curio cabinet.

Four of the five caves are open to tourists.

We entered Cave 1, Devaraja Viharaya, or Cave of the Divine King, aka Temple of the Gods:

The impossible-to-miss centerpiece is a 46-foot-long reclining stone statue of Buddha:

There is an eerie, almost nightmarish quality to that face. I can imagine it showing up in my bad dreams:

It was impossible to get a picture of the whole figure, so I had to settle for sections:

My favorite part was the feet:

Apparently this is supposed to represent the last moments of the Buddha and so at Buddha's feet are his favorite student, Ananda, and another Buddha figure that appears to have wings:

Paintings cover every inch of the cave's walls:

There was what looked like an ancient armoire, something they might have kept their television in (if they had had one):

The Hindu god Vishnu puts in a couple of appearances:

We noted the requisite floral offering:

Back outside, we walked down the long hallway to the next cave:

The ceiling was our first view of Cave II, Maharaja Viharaya, or Cave of the Great Kings. It is the largest and grandest of the five caves:

This cave also has a reclining Buddha . . .

. . . along with forty seated and sixteen standing statues of Buddha:

The paintings on the ceilings include scenes from Buddha's life and events from Sri Lanka's history:

Back outside--a beautiful, peaceful lily pond:

Cave 3, Maha Alut Viharaya, or The Great New Monastery, was next. Much of its ceiling and wall painting was done in the 18th century.

I like this Lady Macbeth pose (blood on the hands, guilty look on the face):

Lots of bloody hands:

More and more and more seated Buddhas, 50 in this cave, each one unique in some way:

Aha! There is the king!

About a thousand seated Buddhas are painted on the ceiling:

Cave #4, Paschima Viharaya, or Cave of the Western Temple, was getting some renovation/conservation work done:

Here is a Buddha waiting in line for his new make-up:

Back outside, we looked up and could see how the front facade fits against the stone face of the mountain:

Another view:

Looking at the courtyard we crossed on our way in, we could see pilgrims just arriving:

. . . and on the rock face next to the caves, tourists were doing what they were forbidden to do--feeding the monkeys so they could take some close-up pictures:

This shot shows the courtyard, the entrance to the cave area, and the monkey hill:

The view from the high places in Sri Lanka always has an Eden-esque quality:

Time to head back down the mountain:

A skink/lizard/alien lifeform was sunbathing alongside the trail:

Next stop: Kandy