Vattagamini Abhaya became king in 103BC , but lost the throne after 5 months to invaders. For 14 years, he lived in the caves until he regained the throne in 89BC. The caves were built below an overhang in the rock by building walls to separate the space. Later kings have renovated and added to the temples and what we see today is from the 17th and 18th centuries.
At the entrance to the site of the cave temples is the golden Buddha.
We climbed the steps up to the cave temples with our guide, removed our shoes (and put on thick socks!). On the way up
We started at cave 1, the Devarja Viharaya, which is the oldest. The statue of Budddha is 14m long.
Cave 2 , Maharaja Vihara, is the largest and most impressive of the five caves.
The caves are not really caves, but shelters built into a rock overhang.
The remains caves are still impressive, but are not so well restored.
After visiting all five caves, we came down the steps to the golden temple and the on to the car to return to our hotel.
- Pat and John on tour
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