Dambulla Cave No. 2 (Maharaja Vihara) painted ceiling: King Nissanka Malla gilded inscriptions?
What gilded historical records and ancient Battle of Vijithapura mural panels cover the 23-meter granite ceiling of the "Temple of the Great Kings"?
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5 Answers from travellers
Cave No. 2 at Dambulla (Maharaja Vihara) is the largest and most magnificent rock shrine in the complex, measuring 52 meters long, 23 meters wide, and 7 meters high. The cave encloses 56 statues, including life-size painted statues of King Valagamba (who founded the temple in the 1st century BC) and King Nissanka Malla (who gilded the statues in 1190 AD). The undulating rock ceiling is completely blanketed in exquisite tempera murals depicting early historical epics: the arrival of Prince Vijaya, the preaching of Arhat Mahinda at Mihintale, and the heroic single-combat duel between King Dutugemunu and King Elara at the Battle of Vijithapura.
A natural spring drips constantly from a rock crevice in the ceiling; the water drops fall into an ornate brass pot set inside a sunken square stone basin and are used exclusively for sacred rituals.
King Nissanka Malla’s long Sinhala inscription incised near the entrance records his royal donation of gold leaf to gild 73 Buddha statues across the five caves.
Low-intensity indirect museum illumination preserves the natural tempera pigments without causing photochemical fading of organic yellow and red binders.
White stone archways and timber colonnades fronting the cave entrance were restored in the 1930s to shield interior shrines from windblown rain.
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