Current belief is that Batatotalena is the Divaguhawa of legend, though the argument on its authenticity goes on.
Special Feature — Mysteries in the Jungle: the Batatotalena Cave Temple
Tag: Batatotalena
Detail of the Batatotalena Cave Temple, Sri Lanka
The Batatotalena Cave Mouth
The Batatota Lena (or cave) in the foothills below Adam’s Peak, is one of the sixteen Solamasthana, Buddhism’s holiest sites in Sri Lanka, and one of the places believed to have been personally visited by the Buddha, who rested in the cave after descending from the mountain. The cave contains a temple and ancient wall paintings and carvings, some over two-thousand years old. Shot on assignment for Serendib, the inflight magazine of SriLankan Airlines, for my piece Mysteries in the Jungle, which ran in the February 2016 issue.
A Bell and a Mountain
Batatotalena, close to Adam’s Peak (visible on the horizon), is said to be one of the sixteen solamasthana, the places the Buddha visited during his travels across Sri Lanka. While the other fifteen have been identified, the site of the Divaguhawa or Daylight Cave, where the Buddha rested after his descent from Adam’s peak, remains in doubt, though Batatotalena is believed to be the place.
The bell at Batatotalena has a twin at the summit of Adam’s Peak, and it is said that when the wind blows in the right direction in the predawn quiet, the sound of that distant bell being rung by pilgrims at the top of the mountain can be heard faintly as far as this cave.
This was shot as part of my piece, Mysteries in the Jungle: the Batatotalena Cave Temple which appeared in the February 2016 issue of Serendib, the inflight magazine of Sri Lankan Airlines.
Banished to the Jungle
The Kantamari Shrine, overlooking the Kuru Ganga Valley, below Batatotalena, Sri Lanka. In the 1980s, when the Batatotalena cave temple once more became a pilgrimage site for Buddhists, it was decided to exorcise a female demon named Kantamari from the cave she was believed to have occupied for over seven hundred years. During the exorcism, it was agreed that in exchange for her eviction, she would be provided with a shrine in the jungle below the cave. The shrine attracts worshippers too, but seemed forlorn and deserted on my visit, with a palpable air of eeriness, its crumbling balustrade holding back the encroaching jungle. The shrine was shot as part of my piece Mysteries in the Jungle: the Batatotalena Cave Temple, for the February 2016 issue of Serendib, Sri Lankan Airlines’ inflight magazine.
Meditative Chores
A Buddhist monk begins the day by sweeping the compound below the Batatotalena cave temple, close to Kuruwita, Sri Lanka. Shot for my piece, Mysteries in the Jungle: the Batatotalena Cave Temple, in the February 2016 issue of Serendib, Sri Lankan Airlines’ inflight magazine.
Girl on the Edge
Kantamari shrine, Batatota, Sri Lanka. December 2015.
Son of the Morning Light 