Archaeological Department Archives

MAHAYANA SITE OF BUDURUWAGALA-by Mahil Wijesinghe Source:Sundayobserver “Wary of guides, I always preferred to look at ancient sites for myself rather than through a haze of verbiage. In this instance what my eye look afresh, was something more like fantasy of colossal figures carved on the base of rock which rose to a height of 70 feet. They were giant size, upright human figures which in their eerie forest setting and with the marks of weathering they had undergone through a thousand years or more by exposure to the elements, produced a subtle aura of reverential wonder.” “The central panel was dominated by a gigantic statue of the Buddha sculpture in high relief on the natural rock with details finished off in stucco. This Buddha statue rose to a height of 51 feet – nearly 13 feet higher than better known Buddha image of Avukana and Sessuruwa in the Raja ...

Discovering Budugala- BY MAHIL WIJESINGHE The Dagaba built on the rock boulder of adjoining the Budugala temple seen through the forest of the Budugala hermitage Source:Sundayobserver The sylvan surroundings of this ruined hermitage is also home to extensive archaeological findings. Strewn in the entire hill of the precincts are remnants of large stone tablets on stone pillars. All around us lurked stone hulks of every shape and size. The rock cuts seemed to link us with the monastic bhikkhus who dwelt and perhaps attained Nirvana here The meandering Walawe Ganga begins as a spring in the Horton Plains and flows down across several provinces until it meets the sea at Godawaya in the Southern city of Ambalantota. An extensive land area in Sabaragamuwa is known as the valley of Walawe, and hidden in this heartland are some very impressive prehistoric ancient stone beauties from the classical Anuradhapura period. ...