Central Province Videos

These cave temples are the best preserved and biggest in Sri Lanka. The rock rises to a height of 160 m (520 ft.) from the surrounding plains and houses more than 80 documented caves along its 2000 feet length. However, the most important are 5 caves, which contain priceless statues and paintings relating to the life and times of Buddha. I counted over 150 statues of Buddha in various poses, one statue each of Vishnu and Ganesh and a few of the Kings of Sri Lanka. The paintings on the walls of the caves are unique and include Buddha's first sermon. Cave 1 contains a huge statue of the Buddha in a recumbent posture on a pillow with the right hand; Cave 2 is a larger one and joined with Cave 3, which contains over 55 statues of the Buddha, an image of the future Buddha (Maitreya Buddha) and a dagoba in the middle of the shrine; Cave 4 houses 10 images of the Buddha and two dagobas. There is also a huge bo-tree outside the vihara.

twice a day the elephants from the orphanage are brought to bath in the river. If you buy a pass from the orphanage, you can view them from the restaurant terrarces

Some of the dancers and Caparisoned Elephants, 16 AUG 2008.