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howa rock Temple is one of the great
heritage showing temple in Sri Lanka.
The temple situated in Uva province. Dhowa is a beautiful small village which
is situated on Badulla, Bandarawela main road. Previously it was known as kumbaltispaha
Ariyagala viharaya. It was the name given by the instructor who got
initiated to build this temple on behalf of a huge Cave.
This temple is thought to be done
by King Walagamba in the in first century BC. This is one of the
many temples built by the king while taking refuge in the Uva province after an
Indian invasion. King Walagamba had so many hiding places to get protection
from enemies. Some believe that the Dowa Rock temple is also such a place that
used by King Walagamba.
The temple has gain popularity
mainly due to its massive 38 feet uncompleted Buddha Statue carved in the
granite rock; it can be identified as Mahayana iconography. But this temple
also hides some secrets that time has forgotten. King walagamba was
unable to complete the construction of the temple. Therefore it was completed
during the Kandyan kingdom. Reference sources reveal that the statue was carved
by King Walagamba himself while hiding in the temple. Unfortunately he had to
leave the place remaining a half completed sculpture.
Passing through the ornamental
gateway you will find a newly built stupa. is stupa is the on the same level as
the road and it is the only indication of a temple to a traveler on the road.
Further a sacred Bo tree and a natural water pond are located in front of the
Vihara Geya. The Gal Vihara Geya or the image house is also adorned inside a
rock cave.
The Image house built inside the cave is full of colourful
murals and Buddha Images and consist of 3 chambers with kandyn style. The cave constitutes of 28
buddha statues, Samadhi Buddha statue, God statues and paintings On the sides
of the main entrance to the image house is two guardians, one with a elephant
in its mouth and the other with a bull in its mouth. It is said to be they are
Watuka and Kuvera, two Rakshasa tribal leaders, guarding the entrance to the
shrine room. The door frame of the Image House in the temple is made out of
solid rock and has a inscription to say it was built in 1880. The outer most
chamber is filled with murals from the Kandyan Era. Entrance to the second
chamber is decorated with a elaborated Makara Thorana . In the second chamber
is a row of Buddha images along with paintings.
At the rear of the image house is a small stupa inside a
cave. Behind this stupa, inside the cave is a tunnel called the Ravana Guhawa
guarded by a figure of a Clay King Cobra. Eventually this secret tunnel, a
kingdom of bats, was supposed to be used by king walgamba to escape. No one has
got the permission to enter the tunnel .This 11 km long tunnel is said to be
connecting the Ravana Maha Viharaya at Ella and the Bogoda Raja Maha Viharaya.
But unfortunately this tunnel entrance has been sealed off with cement by the
temple due to various vandalism acts by treasure hunters. It said that the king
walagamba disappeared from the area overnight using the the tunnels and thus
the working on the Buddha Statue was abruptly stopped.
On the way you will get feelings of peace and tranquility
when visiting the Dowa temple. Even today the ending point of the tunnel is
unknown. Due to the folktale’s hided among the people, believe that the tunnel
is being guarded by a huge snake. The 38 feet Buddha statue and the beautiful
gateway to the temple are the most valuable attractions of the temple. Hence a
beautiful river was flown near the temple. But today the river has turned into
a stream due to the lack of water resources.
