Visiting Dambulla cave temple

The Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple is a living Buddhist site that is focused on a series of five cave shrines. Inhabited by forest-dwelling Buddhist monks since the 3rd century BCE, these natural caves have been transformed continuously throughout the historical period into one of the largest and most outstanding Buddhist complexes in the Southern and South Eastern Asian region, showcasing innovative approaches to interior layout and decoration.

Source: UNESCO World Heritage listing

Dambulla Cave Temple consists of five caves carved into a massive rock. Each cave contains Buddha statues and is decorated with intricate murals and frescoes. In total, the temple houses over 150 Buddha statues and statues of Sri Lankan kings, Hindu gods, and guardian deities.

So we’re climbing another hill for today’s Sri Lankan Monday Walk, and it’s a steep one, with about 364 steps (accounts differ slightly). After my efforts yesterday at Ritigala I wasn’t sure I was in the mood for another climb. But something told me it would be worth it, and it was!

A very brief history

Dambulla was established in the 1st century BCE by King Valagamba. He had taken refuge in these caves after being exiled from his throne in Anuradhapura, by Indian invaders. After fourteen years in hiding here, he reclaimed his kingdom and capital. He built a temple within the caves as an act of gratitude. Other kings who followed him added to the complex and by the 11th century the caves had become a major Buddhist centre. In the 12^th century King Nissanka Malla gilded the caves and added about 70 Buddha statues. And during the 18th century, the caves were restored and painted by the Kingdom of Kandy, adding detailed murals and more Buddha statues.

Visiting the caves

At the top of the steps we left our shoes in the storage area (I was thankful that we hadn’t needed to do that at the foot of the hill!) We’d dressed sensibly but I noticed other visitors in shorts were renting sarongs to wrap around their legs. By the way, if you visit do keep your socks on as the rocks get very hot!

A local guide, Dissa, gave us a comprehensive tour of all five of the temples, for which I was grateful. After a couple of frustrating visits to sites such as Ritigala and Isurumuni Rock Temple with Champi, who while a lovely guy had limited knowledge of the various places, we’d had a conversation with the local tour company. They had helpfully offered to provide expert guides at the remaining sights on our itinerary.

Dissa explained that the ceiling paintings in the caves had been renewed 300 years ago. As we explored he pointed out the characteristics of the different Buddha positions. For instance, cave five’s reclining Buddha is a sleeping or resting one, whereas the one in cave one is the dying Buddha. He also told us that caves one, two and four were the oldest, dating back 2000 years, while cave three was 300 years old and cave five only went back to 1915.

Initially we skipped the first temple as there was a tour group in there, so we started at number two. However for the purposes of this post I’ll describe the caves in the order you will come to them if you visit Dambulla. Unfortunately I didn’t make detailed enough notes at the time to be sure which photo I took in which cave. They all blended into one, so many were the statues in each! I’ve spent a lot of time down various internet rabbit holes, attempting to identify them. However although I think I found some, I’d rather not place them precisely in case I get them wrong. So the photos here shouldn’t be taken as representing individual caves but rather intended to give you a sense of the scale and level of detail of the vast number of Buddha, and other, statues here.

Devaraja Lena: the Cave of the Divine King

The main highlight here is a 14-metre-long reclining Buddha carved directly into the rock. The Buddha’s feet are beautifully painted with lotus flowers, and small statues of Ananda, Buddha’s chief disciple, stand beside him. At his head is a statue of the Hindu god Vishnu, said to have used his divine powers to create the caves.

Maharaja Lena: the Cave of the Great Kings

This is largest cave, holding sixteen standing and forty seated statues of Buddha, as well as the gods Saman and Vishnu. There are also statues of King Valagamba and King Nissanka Malla. These two rulers played key roles in the temple’s history, hence the cave’s name.

Maha Alut Viharaya: the Great New Monastery

The third cave is newer than the first two, dating from the eighteenth century. It has fifty Buddha statues.

Paccima Viharaya: the Western Temple

This is a smaller cave, and one of the older ones. Its main feature is a Buddha seated under a cobra-shaped hood, symbolising protection. There are also statues of the Hindu gods Vishnu and Saman, an indication of the mixed religious heritage of Sri Lanka.

Devana Alut Viharaya: the Second New Temple

This is the newest cave, and according to Dissa dates only from 1915. It features a large reclining Buddha image nearly ten metres long. Unlike the granite rock statues found in the other caves, all the images in this cave are constructed from brick and plaster.

The way back

After we’d seen all five caves Champi suggested we went down by a longer but easier route while he would return the way we came, collect the car and meet us at the foot. As it turned out his idea of easier was an odd one! Yes, for the most part it was less steep. But there were some tricky areas of bare rock slope which I found much more challenging than steps would have been. However our walk was enlivened by the antics of some very cheeky macaques who clearly had no fear of the visiting humans. One girl ascending the slope was almost mobbed because of the flower and fruit offerings she was carrying.

Dambulla Golden Temple

At the bottom of the hill is a huge Golden Buddha statue. It is thirty metres high and was built between 1998 and 2001. Beneath it is a modern temple and a museum, neither of which we visited. After the wonders of the ancient temples above this one looked rather showy and garish, but definitely eye-catching.

I visited Sri Lanka in February 2026