Happy Independence Day Sri Lanka !!!

Prior to the year 1972, Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon. For more than a century Sri Lanka was a British crown colony but on 4 February, 1948 the country achieved its independence to officially become the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka Flag

Don Stephen Senanayake became Sri Lanka's first Prime Minister.

Since the attainment of freedom from British rule, Sri Lanka has enjoyed a stable democracy and steady economic growth in spite of the conflict with a separatist military group called LTTE in the recent years.

The independence day of Sri Lanka is a great national occasion celebrated with parades and pageants combined with the spirit of patriotism and national pride. The celebrations begin with the hoisting of the national flag and singing the national anthem, followed by the traditional lighting of the lamp ceremony. Subsequently there are various cultural programs as well as serving of refreshments.

This national day holds much significance for the people of Sri Lanka as it reflects the history of great sacrifices made by many Sri Lankans in the Attainment of its freedom.

It is the day to pay tribute to the armed forces that played a major role in the country's freedom struggle.

එක මවකගෙ දරු කැල බැවිනා, යමු යමු වී නොපමා ප්‍රේම වඩා සැම භේද දුරැර දා, නමෝ නමෝ මාතා!

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Maligawila...

MALIGAWILA - Was found fallen and broken in to pieces in 1951. An attempt was made in 1974 to raise this statue and failed. But in 1980 a local engineering team was able to raise this statue and restore it back to the ancient glory...

This free-standing 11 meters (36 ft 1.1 in) or 12 meters (39 ft 4.4 in) tall limestone Bodhisattva staue, claimed in some quarters to be the tallest free-standing statue of Buddha in the world, though the Avukana Buddha Statue is also said to be taller.This statue draws many tourists to the region. It also boasts the Avalokitesvara statue, a 10 meters (32 ft 9.7 in) limestone portrait. These statues, which were discovered in the 1950s and restored between 1989 and 1991, are believed to have been commissioned by the 7th century prince Agghabodhi. There is additionally a 10th century historical pillar placed in the 10th year of the rule of Mahinda IV (956-972 AD).

*How to reach

You can reach the site from either Wellawaya or from Kataragama depending on which route you take.

You can reach Wellawaya in through many roads. If you are coming from Badulla or Bandarawela you must tale the Ella Road which lies between Badulla-Bandarawela Road. On the way you will also pass the beautiful Ravana Ella too on the way. There is a another road from Koslanda. Taking this road will take you through the 220 metre high waterfall Diyaluma. Koslanda lies between the Balangoda – Haputhale Road.

If you are coming from Kataragama, use the Buttala Road and the turn off is just before the Butala main junction. The temple is about 20 kms form the turn off from Buttala. From Buttala any person can direct you to the temple.

ource : http://www.buddhanet.net

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Kelaniya Temple (PART TWO)

To Read about kelaniya Temple -
http://digitaltalking.blogspot.com/2013/08/kelaniya-temple-part-one.html

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Kelaniya Temple (PART ONE)

*Kelaniya Temple - One of the Ancient Buddhist Temples in Sri Lanka-

Historically, Kelaniya is older than the great cites of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa. When Lord Buddha first visited Mahiyanganaya, Sri Lanka , after the 9th month of the Enlightenment, Maniakkitha, the Naga King of Kelaniya was one of the kings who has come there to pay homage, the Mahawamsa states.

It is described in the chronicles that the ancient Stupa first built at Kelaniya enshrined a gem-studded throne on which the Buddha preached the sermons to the Maniakkitha, the Naga king, on whose invitation the Buddha had visited.

in 1769 AD , the temple was reconstructed by the patronage of King Keerthi Sri Rajasinghe. There are paintings belonging to Kandyan period , showing Jathaka stories .There is a large gold plated reclining Buddha Image in the Image house.

*The Sthupa at Kelaniya Temple-

The Kelaniya stupa is about 90 feet high and has a diameter of 98 feet at the base. This is the most well known paddy heap shaped stupas in Sri Lanka. Embedded inside the Stupa is the gem studded chair or the carpet that Lord Buddha made the sermons sitting on , to Chulodara and Mahodara Naga Kings and the followers during the Third visit of the Lord Buddha. This Dageba had been renovated several times by kings Uttiya,Yatalatissa and the Parakramabahu IX. 

 *Awalokitheshwara Bodhisathwa Statue, Kelaniya Temple-

  

* Naga guardian figure - One of wall paintings at the Aluth Vihara ge or the New Image House at Kelaniya Temple-

 

*Kelaniya Temple building-

**Some other images i took at the Kelaniya Temple-

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Avukana Buddha Statue

The colossal statue of the Buddha carved out of living rock is situated to the west of Kalawewa, an artificial reservoir built by king Dhatusena in the fifth century. It is one of the five colossal standing statues of the Buddha found in Sri Lanka. Situated on a hilltop it is in a state of perfect preservation. From the lotus seat to the top of the head it is 11.36 meters in height.

         





Opinion is divided among scholars about the date of the statue. Stylistically, it is believed to belong to the period between the fifth and the eighth century. The statue is unusual not only in size, but also in its expression. The massiveness of the statue suggests the transcendental quality of the Buddha that is in essence a basic ideal in the Mahayana from of Buddhism.

      


The right hand is in Abhaya Mudra (Fearlessness) and the left hand holds the end of the robe, which is depicted as clinging to the body outlining the limbs. Although the face displays prominent thick lips, it somehow express calmness and fortitude. Bronze statuettes Brahma and four directional divinities within the chamber of the lotus pedestal suggests the Buddha's supreme position above gods and Brahmas as opined by Prof Senerath paranavitana.

Stupa of Avukana Viharaya

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Sources-

A Guid to The Cultural Triangle of Sri Lanka 

by Edmund jayasuriya

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Happy Independence day SRI LANKA !!!

ශ්‍රී ලංකා භූමී නමදිමූ සැවොමා..
වන්දේ ලක් මෑණී සැමදා.......

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අවුකන බුදු රුව - 2

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අවුකන බුදු රුව

ගිය සතියෙ හදිසියෙ ගෙදර අයත් එක්ක අනුරාධපුරේ ගියානෙ. ඒ ගමනදි ගත්තු පින්තූර වලින් එකක් මේ..
ඔක්කොම එකට බ්ලොග් එකේ දාන්න අමාරු නිසා එක එක ස්ථානය ගැන වෙන වෙනම මගෙ Travel Blog එකේ විස්තරත් එක්කම පල කරන්න හිතුවා..

ඉතින් මෙන්න මුලින්ම අවුකන බුද්ධ ප්‍රතිමාවෙ පින්තූරයක්.. අවුකනදි ගත්තු තව ෆොටෝස් ගොඩාක් විස්තරත් එක්කම බලාගන්න පුලුවන් මෙන්න මෙතනින්.. => The Avukana Budhdha Statue

ඒ එක්කම මගෙ ෆෑන් පේජ් එක පැත්තෙ ගිහින් ලයික් පාරක් දාලම යන්න ඉතින්.

පොඩි එකාගෙ ආසාවනෙ .. :ඩී 

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Tooth Temple

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සිංහ ගිරි ! High dynamic range photo of Sigiriya!

ළගදි සීගිරි ගියාම ගත්තෙ. පඩිපෙලේ හිටපු කීපදෙනෙක්ව මකල දාල, HDR effect එක දාල හදපු පින්තූරයක් මේක.

This photo was taken at Sigiriya, Sri Lanka. I used a Nikon L100 camera to capture the shot & used Photomatix Pro to get the HDR effect.

• Camera    - Nikon L100
• ISO           - 80
• Exposure  - 1/110 sec

HDR effect එක දැම්මම උඩ පින්තූරෙ අහස පේන හරියෙ අමුතු අලු පාට අදුරු ගතියක් ඇවිත්. හරියට යකඩ වල ඔක්සයිඩ බැදෙනව වගේ. HDR ෆොටෝ හදද්දි සුදු පාට ප්‍රදේශ වල මෙහෙම වෙනවා සමහර වෙලාවට. ඉතින් ඒක ෆොටෝ එකේ ලස්සණට බාධාවක් නිසා මම අනවශ්‍ය කොටස Crop කරල පහල තියෙන විදිහට හැදුවා.
As the oxidized zone (upper area) reduced the value of the photo, I had to crop the image to get a better output.

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KELANIYA TEMPLE

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