The afternoon was spent visiting the historic temple of Sri Lankathilaka - Rajamaha Viharaya dating back to 1344, under the rule of King Bhuwaneka Bahu IV and built on the summit of a rock in the village of Rabbegamuwa, in one of the districts of Kandy.
This stone, brick and lime plaster temple is a fine example of an Hindu shrine of the fourteenth century with the Buddhist shrine facing east and the dewalaya oriented towards the west.
The exterior of the image house had four storeys originally, but as the masonry structure colapsed there is only the groundfloor left. This is where we started our visit.
This temple has also a devale with five Hindu Deities, Ganesha and Kataragama facing East and Saman, Vishnou and Vibishana turned towards North, West and South respectively. The fact that the wooden painted representations of theses Deities were in niches covered by curtains created quite a mysterious atmosphere made even more spectacular as they were drawn ... We were all impressed, I must say.
As we walked out there was a huge Dagoba in front of which a couple of buddhist children enthusiastically ran a kite.
(to be continued)
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