After climbing the Rock, we retreated to our lovely room, went for a swim and generally verged out for a few hours. We asked the tuktuk to come back for us at 3:00. Next on the agenda were the Buddha caves at Dambulla. Our tuktuk driver turned out to be an exceptional guide as well. What I didn't realize was that the caves were 160 meters above the road. OK, no big deal, but it did come right after that climb up the rock. The caves may be from the first century BCE. King Valagama was driven from Anuradhapura and took shelter here. He regained his throne and had the temples carved into the rock. Later kings continued to add to them.
The largest cave has over a 100 Buddhas - a very impressive sight. There is a special enclosure where water drips from the cave roof even during droughts and is used for sacred rituals. Nishantha, our guide, took us to a small room where a monk continually prayed for safety and blessings and tied white thread to our wrists as a sign of the blessing. I'm always happy to receive blessings, and particularly happy to not have to climb numerous stairs.
No comments:
Post a Comment