Dambulla Things to Do

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The Raja Maha Vihara at the village of Dambulla is the most impressive. It consists of a series of five caverns. The temple is on the summit of a huge slope rock face that rises more than 350 feet above the village.

The most interesting is the largest cave, as ceiling of this cavern is fully illustrated with paintings. Among the cave’s numerous statues are the earliest devala statues to appear in a Buddhist image house.

You CAN'T use Cultural Triangle Ticket in Dambulla cave temple, which charges Rs500. (Feb 06)

Just outside the entrance to Dambulla Caves is a large pond and a few buildings. The monkeys are everywhere and are very used to tourists. It is best to not get to close, but they are happy to pose for photos!

The cave temples open daily from 07:30-19:00 (admnission fee) are located 2 kms south of Dambulla town centre. Thre is steep 10 minutes climb up from the street level to the caves.
These are man-made granite outcrops which rise 160m above ground offering splendid views across the surrounding countryside.
It is believed that these caves were inhabited in prehistoric times and later on they served as shelter and Buddhist shrine by king Vattagamani Abhaya (1st century BC) who lost his throne at Anuradhapura and hide himself here. There have been much later restorations and remodellings carried out by Kandian kings in the 17th and 18th century.
There are 5 caves which best visited in reverse order (from cave No 5 to the biggest and most magnificent cave No 2)

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Don't keep yourself occupied only with the caves' interior. Sit down a while before departure and enjoy the majestic landscape of the plains extending as far as Sigiriya.
I was lucky enough to witness a gigantic lizard slopping down from the rocks!!

Before climbing up the stairs to the caves, stands the undoubtly kitsch Golden Temple. This new building is topped by a huge (around 30meters high) seated golden Buddha. Though it claims it is the largest Buddha statue in the world, this is not true.
The buidling houses the Golden Temple Buddhist museum in a building below, entered through the golden mouth of an enormous lion-like beast. I read in my guidebook that the exhibition is rather modest limited to copies of cave paintings and Buddha staues from around the world, so I saved my money.
There is also an ninternet shop where you can check your e-mails.

Along with Buddha images, in the center of the room there is a dagoba (Buddhist shrine that looks like small stupa). When the dagoba was contructed one of Sri Lanka's kings supposedly placed jewels deep inside the structure.

This is one of the nicest temple caves. This is the Temple of the Great King-since there are two statues of past kings. In the middle of the cave, there is a locked area that contains an urn that collects water that drips down from the top of the cave. The water is used during droughts and sacred rituals.

This is the smallest of the five caves. This cave is the Temple of the King of the Gods. It contains a large reclinning Buddha. There are other Buddhas and Ananda(Buddha's loyal disciple) inside the cave. This is the darkest cave, so it may be difficult to take good photographs. Flash is not allowed.