Dhanigala / Kandegama the Alien Mountain

It was few months back when I saw a lovely documentary on Derana TV which was done by Chatura Alwis. The documentary featured a mountain called Dhanigala and its temple. Though I had been to the temple in 2013 I couldn’t explore the region much and this documentary made me recall a forgotten expedition. In recent years there has been some news about some UFO sightings in Aralaganwila area but who knows if these were true or not. But one thing is for sure the vegetation found on this semicircular mountain looks suspicious and the Arial views provided by the documentary brought up some question marks too.

The map – click to enlarge

As seen from Pimburuththawa

as seen from the temple

as seen from google earth – click to enlarge

copyrights Derana 7°40’50.69″N 81°12’49.02″E

copyrights Derana

News paper article – click to enlarge

I was so tempted that I decided to go ahead and explore the area with Amila. We were able to find the same person who took Chatura to the top and his name was Herath appu. At around 10am we met the head chief and granted permission. Afterwards we started climbing up towards the left of the pagoda. We did come across few caves out of 70 plus which could found in this reserve and after about 30 minutes we reached our main target which was the cave with the reclined Buddha statue. It was a huge statue which was similar to Pidurangala & other statues built during a similar era. Unfortunately the statue had been vandalized by treasure hunters in post war era.

Quote from Kishanie Fernando , Daily mirror.

The caves here have been dated earliest to the 2nd century. The monk informed us that wild elephants also took this precipitous path and it was only recently that one such lone pachyderm had made its way down the rock passing the present temple.

The cave houses a large recumbent Buddha image said to measure 38.9 feet in length done in brick and stucco and placed on a platform. The image has been sadly vandalised by treasure hunters. The image is thought to have been like the one at Pidurangala near Sigiriya.

At the foot of the image a brick wall separates a little room where there is evidence of the existence of another image. However, today only the brick platform where this image was placed remains. Ven . Ellawela Medananda writing on the Kandegama Kanda Lena Vihara, gives the dimensions of this cave as 80 feet in length and about 25 feet in width.

Many inscriptions carved on the rock have been found here. An inscription referring to King Saddhatissa and his son is of importance. Names of donors of these caves have also been found cut into the caves.

One of the caves have been inscribed with the name of an ancient port of India. This is a very interesting finding, says Ven. Ellawela Medhananda ,which indicates that the ancients residing here were aware of this Indian port. At the bottom of the rocky cliff are the foundation remains of an ancient building.

The modern cave temple of Dananjaya Raja Maha Viharaya is tucked into the large boulders forming the base of the outcrop and shelters huge images of the Buddha. These statues and the few murals on the wall were incomplete due to lack of funds. The rock cave formations at the bottom have been fully utilised to home the present day temple where the chief priest and some young priest lived.

the cave image house with pagoda

Herath appu leading the way

one out of 70 odd caves

a star mark

capturing

piece of pottery

archeology survey department has recorded the inscription

shelter

under another cave

sheer cliff

image house of Kandegama

vandalized

a window

note the adjoining shrine

been reconstructed by many kings

one last look

After hanging around a bit we started heading left and then started to climb along a stream until we reached an open area. It was a continuous climb up to this point and there after it was a walk in the park. This circular part of the mountain is actually a small part of a massive range which forms the northern pillar of Maduru oya dam. In this mountain range there are 7 ponds and a mysterious cave with paintings which we left behind for another day. Herath Appu guided us towards the bare circular area where we walked along just like walking along a highway. The drop towards the east was the most astonishing scenery for us and I wished we had camped on top of the hill to experience a superb sun rise over the eastern shore of Sri Lanka. One could easily appreciate reaches of North central, Eastern & Uva provinces clearly from this point (For detailed landmarks check the images). We did have some biscuits and rested for a half an hour on the rock before deciding to descend back towards the temple. There were no water springs on top of the hill because it was the dry season and during the North – East monsoons there may be few elephants roaming around who enjoy munching newly sprouting grass. This was one satisfying hike to a hardly explored region is Sri Lanka and credit should be given to Derana crew for introducing it.

having a break

last ascend

on the top

view points

dry zone

barons cap on the left and narakamulla on the right

last of the mountains before the eastern shore

nearby tank

Pimburuththawa reservoir & Dimbulagala

Kandegama

showing us landmarks

the east

NDK tank

along the mana circle

mighty dimbulagala

walking along the circular trail

what a place to spend the night

wow

NDK = Nagolle Dee Kodiunne tank

Omnugala the giant

Hennannegala rock seen

lovely

the temple seen below

more scenery

the drop

breathtaking

Maha oya side

Gala pita gala the funny looking peak

maha oya road

Maduru oya reservoir dammed by these two mountains

lovely

savanna

a pano

Aralaganvila – Maha oya rd seen

good bye

Thank you for reading