Cave Temples in Sri Lanka
Dimbulagala Cave
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Province
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North Central
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District
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Polonnaruwa
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Nearest Town
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Manampitiya
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Period
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12th century AD
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Ruler
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Unknown
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Dimbulagala also known as Gunners Rock during the British colonial period is a rock
formation in the Polonnaruwa District of Sri Lanka. By the time anthropologist Charles
Gabriel Seligman visited the location in 1911, a cave within the rock had become
a refuge of the indigenous Vedda people. During the 12th century AD, The Sinhalese
people had constructed a Buddhist monastery within the rock formation. The Dimbulagala
Raja Maha Vihara monastery was restored in the 1950s. In 1990’s villagers around
the rock are of mixed Vedda and Sinhalese ancestry. They all speak Sinhalese language
and the Vedda language is extinct.
History
Dimbulagala Raja Maha Vihara
Dimbulagala Raja Maha Vihara is situated 16 kilometres south east of the ancient
city of Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka. The Dimbulagala range houses a number of caves cut
into the rock with Brahmi inscriptions over their drip ledges. This forest hermitage
of medieval times and holy abode since time immemorial, home to some of the most
valued fragments of early frescoes was called the Gunners Quoin by the British
The frescoes at Pulligoda were reported by Bell in 1897, a series of fragmentary
remains of old paintings in a shallow cave shrine. Today we see a fragment of what
once may have been a larger scene of devotees in the attitude of veneration, consisting
of five male figures seated on lotus cushions placed on a broad seat.
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