Batathota Lena – බටතොට ලෙන

Found Divaguhawa - දිවාගුහාව සොයා ගැනේ

Tuesday, 11 December 2012 07:32

Written by Purohitha

වසර 2593 කට පෙර බුදුන් වැඩ සිටි දිවාගුහාව සොයා ගැනීමට හැකි වූ බව ශ‍්‍රි පාදස්ථානාධිපති බෙන්ගමුවේ ධම්මදින්න නායක හිමියෝ පැවසූහ. දිවාගුහාව බුදුන් වහන්සේ ශ‍්‍රිපාදස්ථානයට වැඩම කළ අවස්ථාවේ දිවා විවරණ ලැබු ස්ථානය බව පැවසේ. ශි‍්‍ර පාද පත්මයට මීටර් 100ක් පමණ පහළින් පිහිටා ඇති දිවාගුහාව තුළ සෙල්ලිපියක් හා නිශ්ශංකමල්ල රජුගේ ශෛලමය රුවක්ද  ඇත. සෙල් ලිපියේ නිශ්ශංකමල්ල රජු ශ‍්‍රි පාදය කරුණා කිරිමට පැමිණි බව සදහන් වේ.
බුදුන් වහන්සේ සමනොල ගිරට වැඩි අවස්ථාවේ සුමන සමන් දෙවියන් විසින් බණක් කියන්නට බුදුන්වහන්සේට ආරාධනා කර තිබේ. නමුත් එම අවස්ථාවේදිම තමන්ට දිව්‍ය දේව සභාවට සහභාගි වීමට තිබූ බව සමන් දෙවියන්ට අමතක විය.

ඒ නිසා එකම තැනකදී දෙතැනක පෙනී සිටින්නේ කෙසේද යන ප‍්‍රශ්නය ඇතිවු නිසාත්, බුදුන් වහන්සේට වූ පොරොන්දුව කැඞීමට නොහැකි නිසාත් සමන් දෙවියන් එයට කදිම උපක‍්‍රමයක් යෙදු බව පොත් පත් වල ස`දහන් වේ. එ් අනුව බුදුන් වහන්සේගෙන් බණ ඇසීමට තමන්ගේ රූපයට සමාන රූපයක් මවා දිවාගුහාවට යවා ඇති අතර එය දැනගත් බුදුන් වහන්සේද තමන්ගේ රූපකායට සමාන ශරීරයක් මවා බණ කියන්නට තබා දඹදිව වැඩි බව ස`දහන් වේ.

Batathota Lena – බටතොට ලෙන

Posted on October 28, 2013 by amazinglanka — 0 Comments

 

Batathota Lena Map

The Batatota cave temple which had been neglected in a dense jungle has now become famous as one of the religious sites. It is also held in high esteem by the Buddhist community in Sri Lanka. This cave temple located on a mountainous forest is visited by thousands of pilgrims daily with great devotion and respect.
It was the initiative of the Batatota Ancient Cave Temple Renovation Society (BACTRS) to commence a speedy renovation programme of the cave temple which has been of religious significance to the Buddhist order of the country. Batatota cave temple lies on a rocky mountainous range in a tiny village called Batatota in Kuruwita, in the Ratnapura district.

Entrance to the Shrine Room

To visit this temple, devotees, have to travel seven kilometres on a narrow Erathna-Kuruwita road, that leads to Adam’s Peak. This road devotees can reach Batatota junction where visitors can proceed half a kilometre arriving at the foot Batatota mountain. A flight of beautifully carved stone steps lead to the Batatota cave temple.
Legend says that this cave temple was built by King Nissankamalla (1178-1207) during the Polonnaruwa period in which the King had accidently discovered the temple, on his way to Sri Pada (Adam’s Peak). Batatota cave temple is also venerated for ‘Diwaguhawa’ where Lord Buddha is said to have spent the rest of his day with 500 disciples on his return from the Sri Pada (Adam’s Peak). Legend also cites that Lord Buddha has taken rest in this cave after placing the footprint on Sri Pada (Adam’s Peak) on the invitation of God Sumana Saman.

Makara Thorana of the Polonnaruwa Period

It is said that King Nissankamalla had visited this cave temple in the course of his religious expeditions to Sri Pada (Adam’s Peak) and had built the temple which stands majestically with religious as well as cultural grandeur. The most impressive architectural feature in this cave temple is its magnificent ‘ Makara Thorana ‘ that dates back to the Polonnaruwa period and a part of it has been renovated by the villagers, as it had been disfigured.
The cave shrine consists of cross-legged, reclining and standing Buddha statues that belong to the Polonnaruwa period. Most of the statues and paintings in this cave temple have been exquisitely renovated several times, and retouching has also been done at later stages.

Damaged statue

In 1908, this cave which had been isolated had been rediscovered by the erudite monk called Sri Subethi, who took great care to renovate it and built a devale outside the cave shrine. After Ven. Sri Subethi’s demise, this religious site was abandoned in the midst of overgrowth. As a result this site had become a haven for treasure hunters who destroyed most of the invaluable statues in the cave.
In 1995 the most Ven. Balangoda Ananda Maithreya Mahanayake Thera identified this ancient cave temple as ‘Diwaguhawa’ hidden in the thick jungle of Batatota. During my short stay at the cave I could experience a sense of Buddhist traits in a serene atmosphere.
The most remarkable feature in this cave temple is that drops of water dripping from the ceiling even in dry weather. There is also a water pond in the cave itself and the sun’s rays fall inside the cave from dawn to dusk. In clear weather condition, the Adam’s Peak can be viewed from the cave site.
Apart from the Batatota cave, ‘Streepura’ is another cave situated 200 metres away from the cave site. This cave is believed to be one of the shelters for God Saman’s relative.
There is another belief that the Veddha community is of the view that this cave belongs to their forefathers. Archaeological excavations have found traces of human inhabitation pertaining to pre-Christian era.
Although Batatota cave temple’s original architectural designs are not to be seen at present, the the old Sal trees surrounded by different kinds of vegetation can still be seen with flowers in full bloom.

by by Mahil Wijesinghe
Sunday Observer

Also See

• Batathota Lena – Is This The Site Of Divaguhawa?
• List of Ancient Heritage Sites of Sri Lanka

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Other Nearby Attractions within 25 Kilometers

(straight line distance is given)

• Batathota Lena Temple and Streepura Caves [ 0 km ]
• Berendi Kovila [ 21.49 km ]
• Budulena Rajamaha Viharaya [ 23.13 km ]
• Ratnapura Fort ( Remains of ) [ 15.58 km ]
• Sitawaka Fort and the Palace of King Rajasinghe I [ 21.31 km ]
• Delgamuwa Raja Maha Viharaya [ 6.46 km ]
• Ehelapola Wewa [ 18.34 km ]
• Pahiyangala Caves [ 26.78 km ]
• Maniyangama Raja Maha Viharaya [ 16.43 km ]

Map of Batathota Lena

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Travel Directions to Erathna batatota Caves

Route from Colombo to Erathna batatota Caves	Route from Kuruwita to Erathna batatota Caves
Through : Kaduwela – Avissawella – Kuruwita Distance : 95 km Travel time : 2.5 hours Driving directions : see on google map	Through : Kuruwita Erathna Road Distance : 12 km Travel time : 30 minutes Driving directions : see on google map