06/04/2026
As an integral part of lotus-Roots art project ( India and Sri Lanka )it was imperative to experience the culture of SriLanka up and closethrough visits to historical, cultural places.
The Dambulla Cave Temple, or Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in central Sri Lanka. It is the largest and best-preserved cave temple complex, featuring over 150 Buddha statues, ancient murals, and five main shrines housed within a 160-meter high rock face.
At the very first sight Dambulla caves generated curiosity- made me linger on the thought that even hardest of rocks can carry so much history and memory within each atom of sediment which makes it. A step into the very first cave evoked a sharp sigh of awe and wonderment... the frescos on the walls and roofs along with sculptures still bright and alive whisperng stories only if you care to have the ear and the eye and can transport yourselves to the times when they were being painted and enlivened.
Its easy to get rooted to the magnanimity and the depth of the artistic creation. The delicate patterns and designs - geometrical and floral - are nothing short of magnificent and artistic extravagance . A realization cuts you through and transports you to the monumental vision, efforts and focus the artists then would have been driven by to breathe life, create stories, engrave messages, carve mannerisms, sculpt figures into these rocks so effectively that even 2000 years later we can feel and see stories ,hear whisper in the winds howsoever faint.
And Don't foget ...its about one's receptivity too!!