Hotels, Resorts, & Travel Reservations
Up to 75% Discount

Dambulla is a small market town that is the location of undoubtedly the most impressive of all the many cave temples in Sri Lanka. The series of five caverns comprising the Raja Maha Vihare is reached by climbing up a huge whale hump of rock above the town. Before you reach the temple, pause and admire the view the rock commands across the blue-hazed plain to Sigiriya. 

At the entrance to the first cave, the Deva Raja viharaya, there is a Makara Torana - an archway embellished with mythical figures - and inside there is a 16-metre long reclining statue of the Buddha. All the caves are full of Buddha images in a variety of positions and frescoes showing scenes from the Buddha's life and events in Sinhalese history. The frescoes, however, are comparatively modern and are not of significance.

The second cave, the Maha Raja viharaya, has many large images of Hindu gods carved out of the living rock. The ceiling, which is covered with colourful murals, has a small crevice from which water has dripped for thousands of years. This comes from a pool at the summit of the rock that has never dried up. The water collected inside the cave is considered sacred.

The area is thought to be inhabited from as early as the 7th to 3rd century BC. Statues and paintings in these caves date back to the 1st century BC. But the paintings and statues were repaired and repainted in 11th, 12th, and 18th century AD. The caves in the city provided refuge to King Valagamba (also called Vattagamini Abhaya) in his 14 year long exile from the Anuradapura kingdom. Buddhist monks meditating in the caves of Dambulla at that time provided the exiled king protection from his enemies. When King Valagamba returned to the throne at Anuradapura kingdom in the 1st century BC, he had a magnificent rock temple built at Dambulla as a gratitude to the monks in Dambulla. Ibbankatuwa Prehistoric burial site near Dhambulla, where prehistoric (2700 years old) human skeletons were found according to scientific analysis gives evidence on civilisations in this area long before arrival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Evidence of ancient people living on agriculture have been detected in this area for over 2700 years according to archaeological findings. (750 BC)

It is the largest and best preserved cave temple complex in Sri Lanka. The rock towers 160 m over the surrounding plains.There are more than 80 documented caves in the surrounding. Major attractions are spread over 5 caves, which contain statues and paintings. This paintings and statues are related to Lord Buddha and his life. There are a total of 153 Buddha statues, 3 statues of srilankan kings and 4 statues of god and goddess. The latter 4 include two statues of Hindu gods, Vishnu and Ganesh. The murals cover an area of 2,100 m². Depictions in the walls of the caves include Buddha's temptation by demon Mara and Buddha's first sermon.

The area is thought to be inhabited from as early as the 7th to 3rd century BC. Statues and paintings in these caves date back to the 1st century BC. But the paintings and statues were repaired and repainted in 11th, 12th, and 18th century AD. The caves in the city provided refuge to King Valagamba (also called Vattagamini Abhaya) in his 14 year long exile from the Anuradapura kingdom. Buddhist monks meditating in the caves of Dambulla at that time provided the exiled king protection from his enemies. When King Valagamba returned to the throne at Anuradapura kingdom in the 1st century BC, he had a magnificent rock temple built at Dambulla as a gratitude to the monks in Dambulla.