Tag: cave

No Fighting over Food, or Else!

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The Kaludiya Pokuna Forest, Sri Lanka #6 by Son of the Morning Light on 500px.com
A medieval Sinhalese inscription on the wall of a “kutti”, a shallow rock niche used by meditative Buddhist monks, in the Kaludiya Pokuna Forest, in north-central Sri Lanka. The script declares that the rice and buffalo curd donated to the Dakkinagiri Viharaya by a certain Mr Dathanaga in the 9th century would be given instead to the cows and dogs if the priests were to fight over the food. Shot for my photo story, “A Mountain Monastery Forgotten by Time“, which ran in the March 2018 issue of Serendib magazine.

Interior of the Aluvihare Rock Temple, Matale #2

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Interior of the Aluvihare Rock Temple, Matale #2 by Son of the Morning Light on 500px.com
Famous as the place where the ‘Tripitaka’ was first written down as the ‘Pali Canon’ in the 1st Century BC, the temple has been destroyed several times over the centuries. Sri Lanka, May 2017.

The Batatotalena Cave Mouth

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Entrance to Batatotalena Cave Temple, Sri Lanka by Son of the Morning Light on 500px.com

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.

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    • The Cave in the Jungle: Visiting Batadombalena, the Home of Balangoda Man

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    Screen Shot 2016-03-04 at 8.32.46 AM

    I had two articles in the March 2016 Serendib mag, the cover feature was on heritage rice, and this second one on Batadombalena, the cave close to Kuruwita, in Sri Lanka, where several skeletons of Balangoda Man were found. Examination of these remains last year have changed opinion on the movements of prehistoric humans. Follow the link to read all about it, and see more pictures.

    A Bell and a Mountain

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    A Bell and a Mountain by Son of the Morning Light on 500px.com

    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.

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