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Throughout the 2550 years of unbroken & recorded civilization of the Sinhalese,
the Buddhist temples have been built all over the island. Two great events in the
early history of Buddhism in Sri Lanka contributed to the continuous development
of temples in Sri Lanka. Those were the transplantation of a branch of the Sacred
Sri Maha Bodhi tree from India & the arrival of The Sacred Tooth Relic of Buddhafrom
India. Today there are over 8,000 temples in Sri Lanka. These could be categorized
according to the period of construction. Sri Lankan Buddhist temples (viharas) exist
in a broad range of shapes or sizes, ranging from temples Golden Dambulla Rock,
Mulkirigala Rock Monastery to the enormous monastic complexes of the great kingdoms
of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa. Buddhist temples are adorned with wealth of symbolic
decorative carvings & paintings
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