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| Buduruvagala - Stone carvings of Maitreya, Vajrapani and an unidentified Bodhisattva |
Buduruwagala is an ancient buddhist temple, which consists of seven statues carved on the eastern side of an impressive cliff, belonging to the Mahayana school. Its name is derived from the words for Buddha (Budu), images (ruva) and stone (gala). The statues date back to the 10th century, but nothing is known about their history or why someone would choose to make such huge images in such a remote place. The largest of them, a Buddha with the right hand in the gesture of fearlessness, has 16m from head to toe, being the largest standing Buddha statue of the island. For some reason the sculptor was reluctant to cut deep into the rock and even if he had finished his work the image would have been rather flat.
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