Hindagala near Kandy - Buddhist temple with ancient murals
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Hindagala, though a suburb of the touristical must-see Kandy, and situated very close to the much visited Royal Botanical Gardens of Peradeniya, is still rarely visited by foreign travelers, it's truly deserving to be called a hidden treasure. This is all the more surprising as the Hindagala temple is not a cultural attraction of a somewhat minor catgory. Quite the opposite, in and around Kandy it's one of the best places - if not the very best in an an area of 10 km surrounding - to experience the charm of a Buddhist cave temple fully covered with an abundance of murals in the Kandyan style. And more than that, historically the Hindagala Raja Maha Viharaya is one of the very few places in Sri Lanka, where paintings from the Anuradhapura period have survived, the most famous contemporary frescos being those of Sigiriya. But the Hindagala paintings are the largest from that classical era that actually depict the Buddha. So one might wonder why the Hindagala temple is not on every cultural traveler's shortlist. The answer might be trivial: There is so much to see in Kandy that visitors of our highland capital have simply not enough time to look for a temple the location of which, admittedly, is a little bit hidden.
Location
Hindagala is a village on the right bank of the Mahaweli River, at the road from Peradeniya to Galaha. Just like Kandy City and Peradeniya, it belongs to the Gangawata Korale (looped in by the Mahaweli Ganga and bordered by Hanthana Range), which is the centerpiece of the Kandy District in Sri Lanka's Central Province.
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The Buddhist temple called Hindagala Hindagala Raja Maha Viharaya is situated in 9 km (5.5 miles) distance from the center of Kandy city and only 3.5 km (2 miles) south of the main entrance gate of the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens. The main campus of the famous University of Peradeniya is located in between the Royal Botanical Gardens and Hindagala village.
The Hindagala Temple is situated at the western slope of a hill at the foot of Hanthana range. The access to the small car parking opportunity is short but very steep. From there, visitors have to walk further uphill. First they cross the modern buildings of the monatery's living quarter. From there, in a bow to the right an idyllic jungle path with some flights of steps leads further uphill to the ancient cave temples, which are on a level which is rougly 50 m (150 feet) higher. To the north of the main shrine is the historical Bo-Tree on a raised ground, the terrace of which is in a dilapidated condition. The old Bo Tree of Hindagala is believed to be one of the Dethis Pala Ruha bodhi, the 32 first saplings grown from the Anuradhapura Bo-Tree according to the Bodhivamsa chronicle. |
Further uphill is the Hindagala Meditation center, which otherwise can be reached via a 2 km long dirt road, which branches off from the B365 main road 1.5 km (1 mile) south of the Hindagala Raja Maha Viharaya.
uphill path to the ancient caves
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History and Legends of Hindagala
A first cave temple at Hindagala is said to have been founded by King Valagambha (Vattagamani Abhaya) in the 1st century BC. However, there is almost no cave temple in and around Sri Lanka's hillcountry that is not attributed to this king, who had to live 14 years in hiding, when the capital Anuradhapura was in the hands of foreign invaders. The Hindagala episode of the numerous Valagambha legends has it that the king Walagamba shot an arrow in the jungle and then found the arrow near a large rock that looked like a seated elephant. From the Sinhalese terms used for shooting an arrow and for rock the place earned its name "Vidigala", which later became "Hindagala". But an alternative interpretation of the toponym is that it originally referred to the form of the rock resembling a kneeling elephant.
Another interpretation of the toponym Hindagala is the appearance of the rock resembling an elephant in kneeling position.
Sri Lanka's most famous historian, Prof. Senarath Paranavithana, was of the opinion that the name ‘Hindagala’ is a derivative of "Indrasala", which refers to the cave where God Indra visited Lord Buddha to receive instructions from the latter. This Indrasala scene is among the depictions of the large ancient rock paintings above the main cave.
Hindagala's historical records are two rock inscriptions from the mid Anuradhapura period, dated to the 6th or 7th century BC, the same period as the abovementioned rock painting. One of the inscriptions, of only fragments can be deciphered, has the word "Vataka-Vahara" in the first line, which was probably the name of this cave hermitage during that period. The other inscription has 5 lines, which refer to a grant for the purpose of building a shrine for a Bo-tree.
A new stage of development took place in the Gampola period in the 14th century, when the cave seems to have been converted from a hermitage to an image house or at least was adorned with sculptures and murals. Only few traces of paintings from that period have survived in the interior of the cave.
Legends attribute a land gift to the temple to the consort of King King Vikramabahu III of Gampola. It was this historical king who conveyed the Sacred Tooth Relic to Gampola and constructed the famous Gadaladeniya Viharaya. His consort, Queen Henekanda Biso Bandara, is credited with having donated the recumbent Buddha in the cave of Hindagala. Her name refers
This queen is said to have founded the Hendeniya Raja Maha Viharaya (also known as Galgane Vihara) aqs her resting place when travelling in this region to visit the temples of Lankatilaka and Gadaladeniya. However, when she came through the village of Hindagala at night, she was upset by a sacriledge. So the story goes: She had asked the servants of the local chief for torches. The servants, aunknowing that she was the queen, advised her to obtain the torch from the "old man" in the cave, referring to the Buddha statue enlighted with candles. The Queen was annoyed and as a punishment ordered to confiscate the lands of the local chief to gift them to the disregarded temple. However, other versions of the story say this queen lived in the late Anuradhapura period or call her Lilavati, who was a reigning queen in the late Polonnaruwa period, or claim that the local chief did know that his guest was a queen and arbitrarily showed his disrespect and that the brave queen herself ordered the erection of the reclining or a seated Buddha in the Hindagala cave.
In the 18th century, the last century of the Kandy period, the main cave definitely was such an image house, called Pilimage in Sinhala.
When the British finally conquered and abolished the Kandy Kingdom with the help of the revolting highland nobility, Hindagala became a tooth temple for one night. During the war period, the Tooth Relic had been brought to Kotmale for safekeeping. After the British guaranteed to respect Buddhism and the Tooth Relic, it was transferred in a grand procession back to Kandy, but the procession took several days, so places such as Hindagala, which was the 4th and last, were honoured to house the Tooth Relic on its way to its final destination. The clay casket in which the Sacred Relic was placed during that night is still in the Hindagala Raja Maha Viharaya.
That in the early years of colonial rule the British respected their duties to protect the Buddhist religion of the island more observantly can be seen from the fact that Edward Barnes, gouvernor from 1824 bis Oktober 1831, contributed to the restoration of the Hindagala Templein the 1820’s. By the way, it was Edward Barnes who initiated the construction of the road to Kandy and the cultivation of coffee on the island.
In the ealy 20th century, the outer walls of the Pilimage were decorated with aditional murals. In 1960, parts of the temple were estroyed by a bush fire. The buildings have been restored. But the famous rock painting from the Anuradhapura is decimated ever since, though most of the interior murals were not affected.
Administrationally, the Hindagala Raja Maha Viharaya is affiliated to the Malwatha Chapter of the Syam Nikaya, which is the main branch of the Buddhist Sangha in the hillcountry in particular. The temple is a monument protected by the civil authorities, too.
Another interpretation of the toponym Hindagala is the appearance of the rock resembling an elephant in kneeling position.
Sri Lanka's most famous historian, Prof. Senarath Paranavithana, was of the opinion that the name ‘Hindagala’ is a derivative of "Indrasala", which refers to the cave where God Indra visited Lord Buddha to receive instructions from the latter. This Indrasala scene is among the depictions of the large ancient rock paintings above the main cave.
Hindagala's historical records are two rock inscriptions from the mid Anuradhapura period, dated to the 6th or 7th century BC, the same period as the abovementioned rock painting. One of the inscriptions, of only fragments can be deciphered, has the word "Vataka-Vahara" in the first line, which was probably the name of this cave hermitage during that period. The other inscription has 5 lines, which refer to a grant for the purpose of building a shrine for a Bo-tree.
A new stage of development took place in the Gampola period in the 14th century, when the cave seems to have been converted from a hermitage to an image house or at least was adorned with sculptures and murals. Only few traces of paintings from that period have survived in the interior of the cave.
Legends attribute a land gift to the temple to the consort of King King Vikramabahu III of Gampola. It was this historical king who conveyed the Sacred Tooth Relic to Gampola and constructed the famous Gadaladeniya Viharaya. His consort, Queen Henekanda Biso Bandara, is credited with having donated the recumbent Buddha in the cave of Hindagala. Her name refers
This queen is said to have founded the Hendeniya Raja Maha Viharaya (also known as Galgane Vihara) aqs her resting place when travelling in this region to visit the temples of Lankatilaka and Gadaladeniya. However, when she came through the village of Hindagala at night, she was upset by a sacriledge. So the story goes: She had asked the servants of the local chief for torches. The servants, aunknowing that she was the queen, advised her to obtain the torch from the "old man" in the cave, referring to the Buddha statue enlighted with candles. The Queen was annoyed and as a punishment ordered to confiscate the lands of the local chief to gift them to the disregarded temple. However, other versions of the story say this queen lived in the late Anuradhapura period or call her Lilavati, who was a reigning queen in the late Polonnaruwa period, or claim that the local chief did know that his guest was a queen and arbitrarily showed his disrespect and that the brave queen herself ordered the erection of the reclining or a seated Buddha in the Hindagala cave.
In the 18th century, the last century of the Kandy period, the main cave definitely was such an image house, called Pilimage in Sinhala.
When the British finally conquered and abolished the Kandy Kingdom with the help of the revolting highland nobility, Hindagala became a tooth temple for one night. During the war period, the Tooth Relic had been brought to Kotmale for safekeeping. After the British guaranteed to respect Buddhism and the Tooth Relic, it was transferred in a grand procession back to Kandy, but the procession took several days, so places such as Hindagala, which was the 4th and last, were honoured to house the Tooth Relic on its way to its final destination. The clay casket in which the Sacred Relic was placed during that night is still in the Hindagala Raja Maha Viharaya.
That in the early years of colonial rule the British respected their duties to protect the Buddhist religion of the island more observantly can be seen from the fact that Edward Barnes, gouvernor from 1824 bis Oktober 1831, contributed to the restoration of the Hindagala Templein the 1820’s. By the way, it was Edward Barnes who initiated the construction of the road to Kandy and the cultivation of coffee on the island.
In the ealy 20th century, the outer walls of the Pilimage were decorated with aditional murals. In 1960, parts of the temple were estroyed by a bush fire. The buildings have been restored. But the famous rock painting from the Anuradhapura is decimated ever since, though most of the interior murals were not affected.
Administrationally, the Hindagala Raja Maha Viharaya is affiliated to the Malwatha Chapter of the Syam Nikaya, which is the main branch of the Buddhist Sangha in the hillcountry in particular. The temple is a monument protected by the civil authorities, too.
Rock of the Hindagala temple
The main cave of Hindagala Raja Maha Viharaya is picturesquely situated below an an overhanging rock. This is the rock which carries the above-mentioned the rock inscriptions from the Anuradhapura period. An drip-ledge (a so-called Katarama) can be seen chiseled out at the upper end of the rock. Drip ledges kept the rock shelter dry, because moisture will dropp of from the drip ledge instead of flowing along the rock surface. Such drip ledges are an indicator of an early use of a cave or rock shelter as a hermitage of Buddhist monks. As said, such residences were often transformed into a image houses for purposes of lay devotion in the Kandy period.
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Temple paintings of the 6th (or 7th) century
Regrettably, large parts of the old rock paintings below the drip-ledge are not preserved well. Nonetheless, what remains is still the second largest painting that survived from the Anuradhapura, the largest, of course, being the Sirigiriya frescos. The Hindagala rock paintings resemble those of Sigiriya regarding the mineral pigments used and the techniques followed. Hence, they are attributed to roughly the same period (late 5th century) are maybe up to one century later.
The Hindagala frescos, however, differ completely with respect to the theme. The Sigiriya paintings depicting the so-called cloud-maidens are now (by most archaeologists) believed to be representations of Apsaras, the semi-goddesses inhabiting the royal palaces of the divine mount Meru. Apsaras are known from Hindu and Buddhist art alike. In contrast, the themes of the Hindagala rock paintings are purely Buddhist. Though not well discernible any more at their original place in Hindagala, the themes are known from photos taken by UNESCO before the bush fire in the 1960s devastated the (already weathered) ancient paintings in large parts, so that only an estimaed 10% of the original painting is now still in situ. One of the scenes from Buddhist mythology depicted here is the visit of God Indra (known as Sakka or Sakra Deiyo in Sri Lanka) to the Buddha in the cave of Indrasala in the ancient northern Indian Kingdom of Magadha. The god posed questions to the Buddha and by his fully satisfactory answers Indra became convinced of his enlightenment and asked for further instructions. This encounter at the Indrasala cave is narrated in the Sakkapanna-Sutta of the Sutta Nikaya in the Tipitaka, the sacred scriptures of Theravada Buddhism. Senarath Paranavitna, the first Sinhalese Archaeological Commissioner, believed that the name "Hindagala" derives from "Indrasala".
Another theme is the encounter of the laymen Tapassu and Bhalluka with the Buddha in the seventh week after his enlightenment. The merchant brothers offered alms to the Buddha and listened to a sermon and became convinced that he is an enlightened being and asked for a relic and received hairs of the Buddha. Tapassu and Bhalluka are held in high regard as the first two lay disciples, though they were not so-called Upasakas (Buddhist laymen) in a full sense, because at that point in time they could only take refuge to only two of the three "jewels", viz. to the Buddha and the Dhamma, but not yet to the Sangha, because the latter had not yet come to existence at that point in time. That laypeople (besides gods such as Indra) were the first to follow the Buddha is remarkable insofar this episode signals, that the first followers of the Buddha were lay people and not monks.
The Hindagala frescos, however, differ completely with respect to the theme. The Sigiriya paintings depicting the so-called cloud-maidens are now (by most archaeologists) believed to be representations of Apsaras, the semi-goddesses inhabiting the royal palaces of the divine mount Meru. Apsaras are known from Hindu and Buddhist art alike. In contrast, the themes of the Hindagala rock paintings are purely Buddhist. Though not well discernible any more at their original place in Hindagala, the themes are known from photos taken by UNESCO before the bush fire in the 1960s devastated the (already weathered) ancient paintings in large parts, so that only an estimaed 10% of the original painting is now still in situ. One of the scenes from Buddhist mythology depicted here is the visit of God Indra (known as Sakka or Sakra Deiyo in Sri Lanka) to the Buddha in the cave of Indrasala in the ancient northern Indian Kingdom of Magadha. The god posed questions to the Buddha and by his fully satisfactory answers Indra became convinced of his enlightenment and asked for further instructions. This encounter at the Indrasala cave is narrated in the Sakkapanna-Sutta of the Sutta Nikaya in the Tipitaka, the sacred scriptures of Theravada Buddhism. Senarath Paranavitna, the first Sinhalese Archaeological Commissioner, believed that the name "Hindagala" derives from "Indrasala".
Another theme is the encounter of the laymen Tapassu and Bhalluka with the Buddha in the seventh week after his enlightenment. The merchant brothers offered alms to the Buddha and listened to a sermon and became convinced that he is an enlightened being and asked for a relic and received hairs of the Buddha. Tapassu and Bhalluka are held in high regard as the first two lay disciples, though they were not so-called Upasakas (Buddhist laymen) in a full sense, because at that point in time they could only take refuge to only two of the three "jewels", viz. to the Buddha and the Dhamma, but not yet to the Sangha, because the latter had not yet come to existence at that point in time. That laypeople (besides gods such as Indra) were the first to follow the Buddha is remarkable insofar this episode signals, that the first followers of the Buddha were lay people and not monks.
Upper Cave with Kandyan Murals
The cave shrine just below the overhanging rock of Hindagala is called Len Viharaya, a general term that simply translates to Cave Monastery. The main object of veneration in this Kandyan-style image house (Pilimage) is a reclining Buddha just opposite the doorway. This recumbant statue and two seated Buddha statues are said to date back to the Gampola period (second half of the 14th century).
Only the upper of the two caves is decorated with Kandya paintings. The murals in the Len Viharaya (which translates to "Cave Monastery") date mainly from the second half of the 18th century, but were restored in the 18th century under British colonial rule. Only few traces of murals from the medieval Gampola period have survived.
Only the upper of the two caves is decorated with Kandya paintings. The murals in the Len Viharaya (which translates to "Cave Monastery") date mainly from the second half of the 18th century, but were restored in the 18th century under British colonial rule. Only few traces of murals from the medieval Gampola period have survived.
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Most of the typical themes of Kandyan murals can be seen in the Len Viharaya of Hindagala, namely rows of seated white figures under trees, representing previous Buddhas, and Jataka stories from the pervious lifes of the Buddha Shakyamuni, narrated in bands on different levels. The large scene above the reclining Buddha depicts the Mara Parajaya, the moment of enlightenment of the Buddha and death of the illusions of Mara, whose attacking forces of threatening demons and temptations did not succeed in diverting the mind of the Buddha.
Verandah with 20th century Murals
The cave shrine has an outer verandah with timber upright, beams and a tiled roof. The outer wall is decorated with paintings dating from the last 20th century, some of them are said to have been done in 1917. The entrance to the shrine room is decorated with a typical so-called Makara Thorana, a Dragon arch. Further above is a painting representing the Lord of the Totisabhavana heaven, fanned by two heavenly females. The other wall paintings depict not only scenes from the life of the Buddha, but also stupas and, as a warning to lead an honest life, hell punishments of evil-doers such as "Katu Imbula" (torture on thorny tree) and "Lohakumba" (pouring of melted metal into the mouths). In contrast to Christian believes, hell punishment in Buddhism are not eternal, a rebirth in a better world will follow afterwards.
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Lower Cave at Hindagala
There is a second cave on a lower level. Actually, this is the first cave visitors will be passing when climbing the stairway to the terrace of the upper cave. The second cave is usually not accessible. The lower cave is not decorated with paintings but houses a small stupa.
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