Cave Temples in Sri Lanka

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.