Cave Temples in Sri Lanka
Kudumbigala Monastery
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Province
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Eastern
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District
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Ampara
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Nearest Town
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Panama
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Period
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Ruler
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Introduction
This is believed to have been established in the 1st century and located on a range
of rocks. On top of the Kudumbigala rock you can visit two Dagobas. There are some
two hundred caves around here. This temple was abandoned for many years since it
was under threat but now there are Buddhist monks meditating here. Kudumbigala is
the name of an abandoned region in Sri Lanka in the jungle belonging to the villagers
of Panama, situated close to the Kumbukkan Oya estuary in Yala East National Park.
Nearby is Okanda Devale, a temple shrine dedicated to Skanda-Murukan, situated on
a rocky outcrop along the seacoast. The Park is visited via the Eastern Province
through the town of Pottuvil (Arugam Bay), the village of Panama and then along
a gravel road through Helawa to Kudimbigala and Okanda.
History
Kudimbigala is an old monastery which had been re-discovered in recent past. Most
fascinatingly, it has become one of the most interior monasteries, where Theravadhi
Buddhist monks are occupying under very basic facilities. They just focus on their
meditation and ignore the life threats that would come at anytime through a wild
animal, especially from sloth bears. They just live a very basic life in the monastery,
which is surrounded by bushes and beasts. They say that they are not attacked by
any of the animals since they practice the meththa of Buddhist teaching all the
way. Kudumbigala is a very beautiful place with extraordinary tranquility and peaceful
surrounding. It had been built in a land of boulders that provides caves, which
had been converted into isolated facilities for meditation. Apart from what monks
are using currently, there are ruins of very big constructions all over. The whole
site is an artistic creation. Historical value of this site is to be revealed by
historians and take the necessary steps to protect those artifacts.
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