Matale Aluviharaya rock cave temple can be seen when looking towards Kandy to Dambulla (34km from Kandy,3km from Matale). This temple is located in the Matale district of the central province in sri Lanka. This temple is a religious, cultural, historical and archaeological site for Buddhist people.
This temple was donated to Maha Sangha by king Devanampiyathissa in the 3rd century BCE. This temple occupies a prominent place among the temples devoted to the Buddha sasana. Because the main reason for this is the place where the Tripitaka (The book of Buddhism) was first written.
After the lord Buddha's death Buddhist Damma was keep memorizing by students monk. In the 1st century BCE during the reign of king Walagamba there was a severe famine called "Baminithigoosa". It lasted about 12 years. Due to the famine, the Buddhist monks had a difficult to getting food and water. Under these circumstances, the Dhamma was difficult to keep memorizing. Seeing the threat pose by Buddhism, about 60 monks travelled to Malaya Rata (Up country) and the other monks travelled to north India. Due to the difficulty of obtaining food and water, many Buddhist monks in the Up country were living in very difficult condition. As a result, they realized that there was a risk of Buddhism being destroyed.
Tripitakaya
Then the twelve years of famine was over. King Walagamba who had been in hiding for 15 years became the king of Sri Lanka again. The monks returned who went to Malaya Rata and North India. Then all of them assembled in the colony of Kalallagama. They discussed the writing of the tripitaka to preserve Buddhism for the future generation. With the patronage of King Walagamba the Aloka Lena (cave named Aloka) in Mathula colony was chosen as the best place for this task. This place is presently known as Matale Aluviharaya rock cave temple. Thereafter, they completed this Tripitaka in pali language on talipot leaves (palm tree leaves). In 1956 this Tripitaka was translated into Sinhala Language by Buddhist Monk. First Tripitaka had minor flaws and rewritten in talipot leaves at Matale Aluviharaya rock Cave Temple. It took ten years (1981-1991) for rewritten.
Dragon Pandal (Makara thorana)
The elephant wall (Athpaura)
Entrance
A stone stairway has been created to enter the temple premises.
Caves
This is a temple made of caves and paintings can be seen throughout the walls and ceiling.
Wall paintings
These paintings depict the Huridaththa jathakaya, Dahamsonda jathakaya, Vessanthara jathakaya, Anothaththa pond, Maithree Bodisathwa and few others.
Statues
There are lot of statues inside this temple.
Bo tree
On one side can see a bo tree planted on a rock.
Two oil lamps
Climb another rock there are two shapes of oil lamps.
Dagoba (Sthupa)
After passing it up a few steps can see the sthupa. In this place shows a wonderful view of the valley below.
There is 13 caves in this temple area. But today only three of them are available for public inspection. Those every caves has lord Buddha's statues and beautiful wall and ceiling paintings.
In the centre of the mountain behind the Aluviharaya rock cave temple a large gold statue of lord Buddha can be seen. Its called Serugala Lord Buddha statue.
And many more such things are found in Aluviharaya rock cave temple. If you ever come to visit Sri Lanka don't forget to visit this Aluviharaya rock cave temple.
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