DAMBULLA GALGE

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

The most famous underground temple (note 1) of Sri Lanka (note 2) is a row of five or six, up to 50 m wide and up to about 6 m high rock shelters beneath the undercut Dambulugala (CEYLON TRAVELLER 1983: 351) or Dambulla Galge (note 3), a rounded rock of red gneiss, carved with a drip line to keep the interiors dry, and segmented by partition walls into five (LECLERCQ 1898) or four major and two smaller (CEYLON TRAVELLER 1983: 352) compartments called caves (sic). Since 22 centuries the rock shelter is used as a cult spot sacred to Buddhists. Till today, the inhabitable shelter is exploited as a religious show cave (listed as a UNESCO world heritage site) complete with souvenir shops and a variety of rock art in the shape of cave paintings (note 4), inscriptions (note 5), and sculptures. According to CEYLON TRAVELLER (1983: 387), Dambulla is the largest cave monastery in Sri Lanka and its history goes back to the 2nd century B.C. on the evidence obtainable from the inscription under th dripledge of the main cave recording the dedication of the cave to Buddhist monks. The paintings on the walls and roofs inside the cave date back to the 3rd century B.C. to the 18th century A.D.: The cave contains perhaps the largest area of painted surface in any Buddhist shrine in the world. SITUATION (CEYLON TRAVELLER 1983: 351): The village of Dambulla (N07°51'36”: E080°39'06” WGS84) at the foot of Dambulugala (sic), the rock, lies 45 miles (72.5 km north along highway A9) from Kandy (N07°17'47”: E080°38'06” WGS84) and not far (about 5 km south) from where the the Kurunegala road meets the Kandy road. You cannot miss this huge, dark, whale-hump of rock and there are Archaeological Department signboards to guide you. APPROACH 1840 (FORBES 1840, vol. 1: 867-868): The rock of Dambool, in which are the celebrated Buddhist cave temples, appears to rise about five hundred feet above the surrounding forests … The only easy ascent to these is from the eastern side; and the steep ath first passes over a bare shelving rocks then lies through a narrow patch of jungle, from which you again issue upon the bare rock near the miserable gateway which forms the entrance to the platform in front of the ancient fanes of Dambool. APPROACH 1974 (CEYLON TRAVELLER 1983: 351): To reach this store house of Sinhala Buddhist art you can either take the the road from Colombo [N06°55'55”: E079°50'52” WGS84] via Kurunegala [N07°29'12”: E080°21'53” WGS84] to Habarana [N08°02': E080°45'] or the road from Kandy to Habarana. CAVE DESCRIPTION: Flights of steps, arched colonnades and gabled entrances are attached to the rock shelter (according to PINTO 2004 between 6 and 50 m deep) but the architecture of the rock shelter itself has been modified only to a certain extend (note 6). The decorated interior is partitioned into a series of about five distinct temple caves. CEYLON TRAVELLER (1983: 352): Before entering the caves is a pleasant -midula- or yard and ranged along the ength of it is the cavern, extending about 175 feet [53.5 m]. The breadth [probably of the rock shelter] is about 75 feet [23 m] and the height about 20 feet [6 m] in front, receeding at the back till it meets the ground. There are four major caves and two smaller ones, the most important being known as the Raja Maha viharaya. CAVE 1, Deva Raja viharaya (Devarajalena, Cave of the Divine King): An account of the founding of the monastery is recorded in a first-century Brahmi inscription over the entrance. Devarajalena is dominated by a statue of the reclining (recumbent) Buddha, 14 m long. At his feet is Ananda, Buddha's favorite pupil, and at his head (upon approaching on the left-hand side) is a statue of the Hindu god Vishnu (said to have used his divine powers to create the caves) identified by others as Upulvan, the patron deity of the Sinhalese. The interior has been repainted countless times in the course of its history, and probably received its last coat of paint in the 20thcentury. CEYLON TRAVELLER (1983: 352) confirms that … there is little doubt that the paintings of the caves of Dambulla have been touched and retouched by succeeding monarchs and patrons and it is not too fanciful to imagine that underneath it all might lie the first artistic efforts of Lankan cave man. CAVE 2, Maha Raja viharaya (Maharajalena, Cave of the Great King), is the largest, measuring about 52 m from east to west, 7 m tall at its highest point, and 23 m from the entrance to the back. FORBES (1840, 1: 370-371): The next temple into which I entered is by far the largest and the most imposing in Ceylon; it is all painted in brilliant colours, and every part is in good repair. I believe its name of Maha-raja wihare, (temple of the great King) arises from its founder King Walagam Bahoo, having personally assisted in its formation; it is one hundred and seventy-two feet in length [52.4 m], seventy-five [22.9 m] in breadth, and twenty-one feet [6.4 m] in height near the front wall.The height from this place gradually decreases in the arc of a circle towards the floor on the interior side; hot the bad effect of this formation is much diminished by a judicious distribution of the statues, and the drapery hung up to protect them from dust, or the gaze of the vulgar. Put up are 16 standing and 40 seated statues (carbed out of the living rock or made of wood and stucco) of Buddha, the gods Saman and Vishnu, which pilgrims often decorate with garlands, and finally statues of King Vattagamani, who honored the monastery in the first century B.C., and King Nissanka Malla, a farmer king of Polunnaruwa in the 12th century responsible for the gilding of 50 statues, as indicated by a stone inscription near the monastery entrance. The Buddha statue hewn out of the rock on the left side of the room is escorted by wooden figures of the Bodhisattvas Maitreya (left) and Avalokiteshvara or Natha (right). Valuable tempera paintings (rock art) on the cave ceiling date from the 18thcentury and depict scenes from Buddha's life, from the dream of Mahamaya to temptation by the demon Mara. There is also a dagoba and a spring which drips its water, said to have healing powers, out of a crack in the ceiling. CEYLON TRAVELLER (1983: 352): From a crevice in the ceiling a drop of water falls with unerring regularity … This comes from a pool at the summit of the rock, a pool which never dried up even in the severest draughts. In the cave, the dripping water is caught in a vessel and regarded as sacred. CAVE 3, Maha Alut Vihara (Great New Monastery), acquired ceiling and wall paintings in the typical Kandy style during the reign of King Kirti Sri Rajasinha (1747-1782), the famous Buddhist revivalist. In addition to the 50 Buddha statues, there is also a statue of the king. CAVE 4: Pacchima Vihara (western monastery) is said to translate into the German Westliche Höhle (Western Cave) and contains a seated Buddha as the central statue and a small dagoba, which is supposed o contain the crown jewels of an ancient queen (REICHENBACH et al. 1995: 71).CAVE 5: Davana Alut Vihara (second new monastery) is said to translate into the German Zweiter Neuer Tempel (Second New Temple) was developed in 1915 and contains 11 Buddha statues constructed from bricks and plaster (REICHENBACH et al. 1995: 71). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1821 (DAVY 1821: 467) needs to be checked. CAVE DESCRIPTION 1840 (FORBES 1840, 1: 367-376; 1840, 2 frontispiece): … The first of the excavated chambers which we entered is generally called the Maha-deiyo-dewale, or temple of the great god. … This chamber is long, narrow, and dark. … The fronts of all the temples at Dambool are formed by a wall raised under the beetling rock, and these sacred caverns are partly natural and partly excavated. The next temple into which I entered is by far the largest and the most imposing in Ceylon; it is all painted in brilliant colours, and every part is in good repair … it is one hundred and seventy-two feet in lengh, seventy-five in breadth, and twenty-one feet in height near the front wall. The height from this place gradually decreases in the arc of a circle towards the floor on the interior side … In this temple are fifty figures of Buddha … and in a small square compartment, railed in and sunk two feet below the level of the floor, a vessel is placed to receive water, which constantly drops from a fissure in the rock, and is exclusively kept for sacred purposes. … The Passpilame (western), and two alut (new) wihares are formed on the same plan, but are inferior in size and ornament to the Maharaja wihare … CAVE DESCRIPTION 1847 (KNIGHTON 1847: 340-350, plate VII): … A rough tiled building, built principally of wood, affords a passage to the more immediate precincts of the caves, and on entering this the visitor finds himself standing on a ledge of rock covered with a slight coating of mould … Tothe right rises the perpendicular mass of the rock, which to a height of about thirty feet [9.15 ] has been excavated, partly by human labour and partly by nature, a wall being built up in front of the caves, which reaches to the overhanging mass of rock above. To the left the hill descends very steeply … The ledge of the rock, covered with a slight mould on its eastern side, on which I am now supposing the visitor to be standing, runs in front of the caves, a distance of about five hundred feet [152.5 m] , varying much in breadth, but gradually becoming narrowers towards the wesetern side, where are situated the two aluth or new caves. In front of all the temples a narrow verandah extends, which projects from their front wall, and above which may be seen the marks of wedges used in excavating them … The caves themselves are five in number, the first three stretching from east to west, are the older, and more laboured structures, the remaining two, forming an obtuse angle with the others, being much more recent and comparatively insignificant. The excavations are separated from ech other partly by remaining portions of the rock, and partly by artificial walls, and they stretch into the mountain to various distances from fifteen to one hundred and thirty feet [4.6 to 39.7 m]. In height they vary from ten to thirty feet [3 to 9.15 m] being generally more lofty at the entrance, and gradually decreasing in height as they advance into the rock. The cave usually called the first, as being the first the visitor reaches, is also the most easterly … is called the Maha-Deva-Devale … Leaving the Maha-Deva-Devale, and proceeding to the westward, the visitor ascends a few steps, and finds himself in front of the Maha Wihare or Great Temple, by far the largest of the five … a spacious apartment, the floor of which … is quite level, whilst the roof gradually descends fron the entrance to the further side, being twenty-one feet [6.4 m] high near the front wall and only four [1.2 m] at the opposite quarter … The Maha Wihare is upwards of one hundred and seventy feet [52 m] brad, and contains within its spacious dimensions fourty-six images … In one corner of the Maha Wihare there is a depression in the floor of the cave, about two feet deep, into which water is continually dropping from the rock above … One cane hardly walk through the spacious cavity of the Maha Wihare without feeling involuntary awe at his situation … On leaving Maha Wihare the visitor finds little in the three remaining caves to excite his wonder or admiration. They are so inferior in size … CAVE DESCRIPTION 1857 (TENNENT 1859, 4th revised edition 1860, 1.IV.vii: 489): … in Ceylon the earliest rock temples were merely hollows beneath overhanging rocks, like those still existing at Dambool, and the Aluwihara at Matelle, in both of which advantage has been taken of the accidental shelter of rounded boulders, and an entrance constructed by applying a façade of masonry, devoid of all pretensions to ornament. CAVE DESCRIPTION 1872 (RHYS DAVIDS 1872: 139) has a wonderfull hill of stone -undeneath which the temle has been hollowed out, which from its antiquity, its magnitude, and the richness of its decorations, is by far the most renowned in Ceylon. CAVE DESCRIPTION 1898 (LECLERQ 1898b): Le plus céöèbre temples souterraines de Ceylan sont à Dambulla, et au nombre de cinq, dans un roc de gneiss rouge : dans le premier est taillé â même roc un Bouddha couché, long de quinze metres; le souterrain a été peu transformé; on n'y a taillié ni colonne, ni façade comme dans les temples souterraines de l'Inde (GOBLET D'ALVIELLA, Inde et Himalaya, p. 64, Paris, 1877). … Le plus grand et le plus beau de ces temples est le Maha-Viharé, avec un cinquantaine des grandes statues de Bouddha et de curieuses fresques restaurées à différentes époques. Les trois autres cavernes sont moins intéressantes. CAVE DESCRIPTION 1907 (BEYLIÉ, L. de 1907: 375) needs to be checked. CAVE DESCRIPTION 1947 (GLENNIE (1947a: 42) entertains with a narrative of a passage said to lead on for 10 miles or mre which, upon exploration, turned out to be a natural passage about 5 ft. wide and 15 ft. long, which, turning at right angles, continued for about 5 ft in a narrow joint. So ended the passage. Covering the floor in rows and heaps were dozens of beer bottles, some full and some empty. I had intruded upon some strange secret cult. CAVE DESCRIPTION 1958: KUKLA (1958: 167): Nejznamejsize vsech jsou cejlonské pseudokrasové jeskyne. Jsou to vetsinou hluboká abri, ktera vznikla vyvetranim méne vzdornych partií ruly obvykle na upati nejakého skalnatého vrcholu. Snad nejvetsí jsou jeskyne v Dambulle, umelerozsírené v buddhisticky chram. Abri je kryto zdí, takze vnitrek sesochami Buddy, vytsanymi z ruly, je temny. Jen nekolikr´st v roce, za nábozenskych slavností, se dze rozzehnou pochodne. Podobne mensí abri je v Mihintale. KUKLA (1958: 169): Well known are the pseudokarst abris in Ceylon, such as Dambulla Cace and Mihintale Cave used as the buddhist sanctuaries. CAVE DESCRIPTION 1968 (TRIMML 1968 after KUKLA 1958): Natürliche Felsdächer in Gneis, wie die Dambulla Cave, sind zu buddhistischen Höhltentempeln umgestaltet. CAVE DESCRIPTION 1988: WILSON (1988: 22) decided not only to mislead with claiming that … the only accessible caves on the island … are rock shelters and small caves … but also to confuse cave temples with temple caves before drawing attention to Sigiria (see Kutsch 1973) (note 7), Mulkirigala, and Dambulla, complete with spectacular frescoes and recling golden statues of the Buddha as much as 15 m long. CAVE LIFE: Dusk brings hundreds of swooping swallows to the cave entrance.re which, upon exploration, turned out to be a natural passage about 5 ft. wide and 15 ft. long, which, turning at right angles, continued for about 5 ft in a narrow joint. So ended the passage. Covering the floor in rows and heaps were dozens of beer bottles, some full and some empty. I had intruded upon some strange secret cult. CAVE DESCRIPTION 1958: KUKLA (1958: 167): Nejznamejsize vsech jsou cejlonské pseudokrasové jeskyne. Jsou to vetsinou hluboká abri, ktera vznikla vyvetranim méne vzdornych partií ruly obvykle na upati nejakého skalnatého vrcholu. Snad nejvetsí jsou jeskyne v Dambulle, umelerozsírené v buddhisticky chram. Abri je kryto zdí, takze vnitrek sesochami Buddy, vytsanymi z ruly, je temny. Jen nekolikr´st v roce, za nábozenskych slavností, se dze rozzehnou pochodne. Podobne mensí abri je v Mihintale. KUKLA (1958: 169): Well known are the pseudokarst abris in Ceylon, such as Dambulla Cace and Mihintale Cave used as the buddhist sanctuaries. CAVE DESCRIPTION 1968 (TRIMMre which, upon exploration, turned out to be a natural passage about 5 ft. wide and 15 ft. long, which, turning at right angles, continued for about 5 ft in a narrow joint. So ended the passage. Covering the floor in rows and heaps were dozens of beer bottles, some full and some empty. I had intruded upon some strange secret cult. CAVE DESCRIPTION 1958: KUKLA (1958: 167): Nejznamejsize vsech jsou cejlonské pseudokrasové jeskyne. Jsou to vetsinou hluboká abri, ktera vznikla vyvetranim méne vzdornych partií ruly obvykle na upati nejakého skalnatého vrcholu. Snad nejvetsí jsou jeskyne v Dambulle, umelerozsírené v buddhisticky chram. Abri je kryto zdí, takze vnitrek sesochami Buddy, vytsanymi z ruly, je temny. Jen nekolikr´st v roce, za nábozenskych slavností, se dze rozzehnou pochodne. Podobne mensí abri je v Mihintale. KUKLA (1958: 169): Well known are the pseudokarst abris in Ceylon, such as Dambulla Cace and Mihintale Cave used as the buddhist sanctuaries. CAVE DESCRIPTION 1968 (TRIMML 1968 after KUKLA 1958): Natürliche Felsdächer in Gneis, wie die Dambulla Cave, sind zu buddhistischen Höhltentempeln umgestaltet. CAVE DESCRIPTION 1988: WILSON (1988: 22) decided not only to mislead with claiming that … the only accessible caves on the island … are rock shelters and small caves … but also to confuse cave temples with temple caves before drawing attention to Sigiria (see Kutsch 1973) (note 7), Mulkirigala, and Dambulla, complete with spectacular frescoes and recling golden statues of the Buddha as much as 15 m long. CAVE LIFE: Dusk brings hundreds of swooping swallows to the cave entrance.