Embekka Gadaladeniya Lankatilaka the three temple craft loop west of Kandy

Carver from the village itself so this is home ground Your friend is right and the emptiness is our open secret Embekka Devalaya fourteenth century the digge the drummers hall carries the carving the columns hold over five hundred distinct panels no two alike the famous ones every visitor should find the wrestling pair locked mid throw the entwined swans the double headed eagle the mother nursing her child the soldier on horseback and the rope and bo leaf lattices that look machine impossible in hand carved wood The craftsmen worked without nails the entire hall is joinery The loop logistics from Kandy or Peradeniya tuktuk drivers know the circuit 3500 to 5000 LKR for the half day Embekka first then Lankatilaka ten minutes on a massive brick temple rising off a rock outcrop with Kandyan period paintings inside and valley views from the terrace then Gadaladeniya on its own rock built 1344 in South Indian granite style the stone carved dancing figures at the entrance and the moonstone are the highlights Each site charges a few hundred LKR or runs donation entry photography fine outside ask inside shoulders and knees covered shoes off on the rock which bakes by noon so morning loop always The craft survival question warms my heart to answer yes the Pilimathalawa workshops around the temples still carve and the brass and silver craft villages continue the Kandyan tradition visit any open workshop the demonstration costs nothing and the buying if you choose is direct from the chisel hand