1847-] The rock temples of Dambool, Ceylon. 347 



nues uninterrupted, making a right angle with the former one, but on 

 the left, where a similar line also extends, his view is intercepted by a 

 well proportioned dagobah, the top of which touches the roof above. 

 The sketch beneath may give some idea of its proportions. 



The Maha Wihare is upwards of one hundred and seventy feet long 

 by seventy- five feet broad, and contains within its spacious dimensions 

 forty-six images of the prophet god, none of them being smaller, and 

 the majority much larger than life. Besides these, which stretch in 

 the manner described round the cave forming three sides of a parallel- 

 ogram, there are also statues of Walagambohu and Kirti Nissanga, the 

 two great benefactors to the caves — the former the excavator of the 

 first and second caves (the Maha-Deva-Devale and the Maha Wihare), 

 the latter the embellisher of the " great temple," and the excavator 

 of the third. Kirti Nissanga appears also to have been the restorer 

 of the first two caves to their original condition after they had been 

 pillaged and defaced by the Malabar s. In one corner of the Maha 

 Wihare there is a depression in the floor of the cave, about two feet 

 deep, into which water is continually dropping from the rock above. 

 This water is considered sacred, and is used only for sacred purposes. 

 A few young cocoanut trees in jars are placed around it, which present 

 a yellowish, sickly appearance from the want of light. 



One can hardly walk through the spacious cavity of the Maha Wihare 

 without feeling involuntary awe at his situation. The great size of the 

 cave itself, the strange echoing of his footsteps, number of gloomy and 

 shadowy statues with which he is surrounded, the gentle dropping of 

 the water in the distant corner, the noiseless tread of the yellow-robed 

 priest who attends him, with the death-like stillness that pervades 

 all around, are calculated to impress upon him a kind of religious or 

 superstitious awe of which he may in vain endeavour to divest himself. 



The entire of the roof of the Maha Wihare is covered with cloth, on 

 which are represented countless images of Buddhu with a few attempts 

 at historical paintiug. The latter I consider much poorer than Major 

 Forbes' description* led me to expect. I could not perceive any 

 superiority in them to the various Ceylonese paintings I have seen in 

 other parts of the island. In painting, the ancient Ceylonese seem to 

 have been very imperfect, and although we occasionally find a correct 



* Vol. I. page 371. 



