colombo, July 27 : The Government of Sri Lanka has announced plans to develop and convert the country’s popular Dambulla region into a tourist hub.
Disclosing this, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe said Dambulla, a historic Central Province city, would be promoted as a hub for high-end tourists, and added that in turn, this initiative would create jobs for the unemployed.
The Colombo Page web site quoted Wickremasinghe, as saying that the “Cultural Triangle” would be converted into a high economic zone that it would include more hotels and restaurants.
He said that these initiatives are possible because of good governance.
Dambulla is a big town, situated in Matale District, and is 148 kilometers north-east of Colombo. It is the centre of vegetable distribution in the country.
Its major attractions include the largest and best preserved cave temple complex of Sri Lanka, and the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, famous for being built in just 167 days.
The area also boasts the largest rose quartz mountain range in South Asia, and the Iron Wood forest, or Na Uyana Aranya.
The Ibbankatuwa pre-historic burial site near the Dambulla cave temple complexes is the latest archaeological site of significant historical importance in the area, which is located within three kilometers of the cave temples providing evidence of the presence of indigenous civilisations long before the arrival of Indian influence on the Island nation.
There are more than 80 documented caves in the surrounding. The major attractions are spread over five caves, which contain statues and paintings.
This paintings and statues are related to Lord Buddha and his life. There are a total of 153 Buddha statues, three statues of Sri Lankan kings and four statues of god and goddess.
The latter four include two statues of Hindu gods, Vishnu and Ganesh. The murals cover an area of 2,100 square meters.
Depictions in the walls of the caves include Buddha’s temptation by demon Mara and Buddha’s first sermon. (ANI)