Kele Dambulla Viharaya

Not to be confused with Dambulla Viharaya Dambulla Raja Maha Viharaya (popularly known as Kele Dambulu Viharaya ) (Sinhala: කැලේ දඹුලු රජ මහා විහාරය) is a Buddhist temple situated in Dambulla in Kegalle District, Sri Lanka. History Locals link the history of this temple to King Valagamba [(103, 89-77 B.C.) Abeyawardana, 2002]. King Kirti Sri Rajasinghe (1747-1782 A.D.) is said to have contributed to the development of the temple (Abeyawardana, 2002). The old text Sangaraja Sadhu Cariya mentions offerings made to the temple by the king (Abeyawardana, 2002). A Sannasa issued in Saka Year 1668 (1746 A.D.) records about lands (paddy fields) offered to the temple by Lewke Disawa upon instructions from the Kandyan Court  (Abeyawardana, 2002; Bell, 1904). The temple is said to have served as a security frontier in ancient times (Abeyawardana, 2002). The cave temple The cave temple is 52 ft. 3 in. long and 16 ft. 4 in. wide (Bell, 1904). The front wall of it does not rise up to the rock but at 9 f…