A temple with glimpses of Buddhist history
The Kandyan image house
Hidden in the foothills of Dumbara is the Bambaragala Raja Maha Vihara. All around Theldeniya, where you catch glimpses of the Victoria reservoir glinting amidst the Knuckles range from the winding hilly roads, many an ancient vihara dots the landscape, but Bambaragala is easily the most intriguing.
We had driven in from Mahiyangana, passing Hunnasgiriya. The temple stands on land amounting to 15 square kilometres in the village of Wewegama, which, according to archaeologists, has been inhabited by humans for 8,000 years, beginning with prehistoric troglodytes.
We walked up the modern staircase with its decorated thorana arch. The modern structures of Bambaragala are a mixture of Kandyan and later architecture, with the main image house dating back to the days of Kirti Sri Rajasinghe of the 18th century, when the vihara itself was built.
Within the musty, dark image house are Buddhas recumbent and sedant against a spread of stylized Kandyan flora.
Indrasala Guhava- chief amidst 79 caves
There is a tiny stupa in the verandah of the cave image house. Called Salumini Seya, legend says it contains the Buddha’s robe and begging bowl.
The dragon arch from Kirti Sri Rajasinghe’s days in the image house is a fine sight, while murals on the roof and walls depict four jataka stories, 58 arhants, and the twelve sacred sites. A smaller image house built in the 1920s is also to be seen.
All these buildings cluster ground a little up the mountain, properly called Pettigala, which soars up clad in verdant jungle and is a popular hike for mountaineers. After a two-hour climb from the level of the vihara, the summit of Pettigala, while a bit of a desperate scramble near the top, rewards you with a vast panorama dwarfed at your feet.
There is the Victoria reservoir, and in the dry season, the bones of the old Theldeniya town that went under the reservoir can be seen. The Knuckles range is sketched in bluish green in the distance.
Salumini Seya- the stupa looted
But the temple of Bambaragala has also a panoramic religious history- glimpses of which are gleaned if you bother to look. The caves have been occupied by saffron robed hermits as far back as two thousand years ago, when this was a monastery.
Amidst such caves is the Indrasala Guhava- one among as much as 79 caves said to be scattered around but rather special given its drip ledges and a Brahmi inscription dating back to two millennia. The inscription reads ‘Idashala Guha Saghasha’ meaning ‘the Indrasala Cave- given to monks’.
Another inscription reads that one cave was donated to the clergy by “Dattaa, the wife of the Pocini (Pracheena) Raja (king)”- denoting a regional ruler.
The Sithuvam Lena, the cave with paintings, is another large cave where the roof still retains ancient murals of a floral pattern. Two other caves contain Brahmi inscriptions.
The temple being in the Kandy district had been saved from the jungle tide by the time Dr. John Davy describes the structures in the early 19th century—picturesque against the wild hills—in his An Account of the Interior of Ceylon and of Its Inhabitants.
According to local legends, the Buddha himself rested during one of his visits to Lanka in the Indrasala Cave. A sannas (royal grant) records that the sacred tooth in the Maligawa in Kandy today was kept in this temple for 21 days in troubled times.
Today, having fallen prey to looters and treasure hunters, the temple has suffered a lot. The stupa was recently broken into and remains with a gash.
The temple has much to yield to the trowel of the archaeologist. The precarious jungle track that clambers up Pettigala and its many caves can yet reveal many insights into the Buddhist history of the island.
The wild track up the Pettigala mountain
Ancient murals on the roof of Situvam Guhava
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