340 The rock temples of Dambool, Ceylon. [April, 



The rock temples of Dambool, Ceylon, by William Knighton, Esq. 

 author of the "History of Ceylon" and late Secretary to the 

 Ceylon Branch, Royal Asiatic Society. 



The large mass of rock which goes by the name of Damboolla-galla, 

 is situated about forty-five miles to the north of Kandy. It is of pri- 

 mitive formation, being chiefly composed of gneiss and mica- schist, and 

 is in many places rapidly advancing to disintegration. There can be 

 little doubt that it has either been elevated to its present position by 

 successive upheavings of its mass, or that by the action of the sea when 

 it was at the surface of it, or on a level with its bed, the surrounding 

 earth had been washed away, leaving its naked mass prominently and 

 permanently elevated. 



At the village situated at its base, four lines of roads, or more properly 

 traces, diverge in various directions. One running in a north-westerly 

 direction through Anuradhapura to Aripo and Manaar, another in a 

 north-easterly course to Trincomale, a third in a southerly direction to 

 Kandy, and a fourth south-westerly through Kurneyalle to Ambapusse, 

 where it meets the great road from Colombo to Kandy. To this cir- 

 cumstance, and to the existence of a tappal-station there, the village 

 owes its origin, and as the traffic on these various lines of roads increases, 

 there can be little doubt the village will increase likewise. A large and 

 commodious rest-house is already in existence, and requires but a greater 

 number of visitors to become much more comfortable than at present. 



The accompanying rough and badly executed sketch, may give some 

 idea of the appearance which the rock presents on its northern side as 

 seen from the verandah of the rest-house. Somewhat of the shape of 

 the hinder part of a gigantic human skull, it raises itself bare and 

 naked, unvariegated over a very considerable extent, by a vestige of 

 vegetation. To the south it spreads out into a less elevated and naked, 

 but more extended mass, affording an easy access to that part hollowed 

 out by religious zeal or fanatical enthusiasm into cave temples. Imme- 

 diately above those temples the rock rises in a perpendicular mass, 

 probably to a height of one hundred feet more, and affords by means 

 of a disjected ledge, a dangerous and fearful road to the highest summit. 

 The excitement of climbing blinds one at first to the difficulties of 



