Aukana and Sasseruwa the finished masterpiece and the abandoned twin

Kala Wewa man with both statues in my parish so to speak The legend first because every visitor hears it master and pupil carved in competition the first to finish would ring the temple bell the master completed Aukana rang the bell and the pupil abandoned Sasseruwa in defeat heartbroken It is a beautiful story and almost certainly false the scholarship reads the two as separated by centuries and intent Aukana likely fifth century commissioned mastery Sasseruwa an older monastery site where the colossus was plausibly abandoned for a flaw in the rock seam not a lost race The visits differ exactly as finished and unfinished should Aukana stands free of the cliff except at the back crisp in every robe fold the rain water still channels off the nose tip to fall precisely between the feet which is the carvers flex the site is groomed ticketed a few hundred LKR and receives pilgrim flow especially mornings Sasseruwa eleven kilometers of village road away remains attached to its rock rough in the lower body face complete enough to move you the monastery around it holds cave shelters with old paintings and a recumbent Buddha and the resident monk community welcomes the trickle of visitors warmly entry by donation The pairing is the point seeing process and perfection in one afternoon teaches more about the craft than either alone And the sunset whisper is earned walk the Kala Wewa bund the fifth century reservoir embankment in the last hour the water mirrors fire fishermen pole home and Aukana catches the horizontal light a kilometer away the entire scene unchanged in its essentials for fifteen centuries