Day 54 The Pidurangala monastery in Sri Lanka

DAI

At the foot of a mountain in the center of the island of Sri Lanka is the Buddhist monastery Pidurangala from the 4th to the 7th centuries AD. It consists of several buildings. The chapter house at the monastery was also an important part of the religious center of the royal fortress of Sigiriya, a few miles south of Pidurangala.

Pidurangala Temple (Photo: Ji-Elle – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Numerous cave dwellings stretch across the steep slope above the monastery. Just below the top of the mountain is a terrace for meditating with several monk’s cells and a thirteen-meter-long, reclining Buddha statue under a rock ledge.

From 1988 to 1991, the DAI Commission for Archaeology of Non-European Cultures researched the monastery and its surroundings.

  • Under an outcrop near the monastery is a 13-meter-long, reclining Buddha figure (Photo: DAI KAAK)
  • The examination of a 13-meter-long reclining Buddha statue under a rock ledge near the monastery (Photo: DAI KAAK)
  • Stairs in the chapter house (Photo: DAI KAAK)
  • Remains of the chapter house (Photo: DAI KAAK)