Another fag was swing. The vehicle stopped for a while obeying the signal again. None of passengers could remember how many times that were practiced from the beginning of the journey. No one could be set free from the hospitality of Buddhists youth in Sri Lanka, because that was the Vesk full moon day. No other community in the world who feed unknown passengers as them for charity.

Our first travel location, the historic temple at Thalagama was located at a distance less than a kilometer from Ambepussa, the first train destination of Sri Lanka. The temple was consisted with three levels. The Sangawasaya, Dharma Shalawa and other general buildings used by Bhikku are located at the lower level.

In the middle of the stepped path to the second level

Reaching the second level where the house of statues is located

The house of statues & Bodhi (sacred Bo tree) were located at the second level which was located 100ft above the first. A stepped path was there to reach the second. The houses of statues were built using rock caves few centuries ago.

House of statues in rock cave

Towards third level

The most important part was the Pagoda built to imitate the famous pagoda at Sanchi-India. There was a stepped path to the third level which was located not less than 200ft from the second. A Gal kema (rock based pond) and an inscription, stone were also there.

Reaching the summit	Pagoda built to imitate the famous pagoda at “Sanchi” -India
abyss

Our next travel location was the Kota vehera (Short pagoda) at Dedigama. This was also known as the “Suthighara” (the birth place) pagoda. It was believed that the king Parakramabahu the great, was build this when he ruled the western part of the country as a regional ruler (Mapa) to memorize his birth place. And also it was popular as one of the three short pagodas of the country.

Information	Kota Vehera at Dedigama
Kota vehera

The most spectacular item was the ඇත් පහන  (The lantern of tusker) which was displayed at the museum in nearby. That was identified as a wonder of hydraulic in Polonnaruwa era. The lantern was made with bronze and decorated with fine craftsmanship. It was important to notice that one of the same lanterns found was displayed at the general museum at Colombo.

Information

The Museum

The lantern was consisted with to main components, a hollow tusker (the oil storage) and a lighting dish (a dish consisting lighting nozzles). At the beginning you have to fill the tusker with oil & put it on the dish, putting some oil in to the dish and light the lantern. When the flame consumed oil, the oil level of the dish would be reduced. Then an air hole on the tusker’s leg was exposed and let some air to get in to the abdomen of the tusker. As a result some oil would be poured to the dish showing the tusker was passing urine. When the oil level of the dish was increased, the air hole would seal with oil until a new cycle was begin.

ඇත් පහන ( the lantern of tusker)

Details on “ඇත් පහන” (Click Image to Enlarge)

Afterwards we moved towards Narangoda and had a cool dip in the Gurugoda oya at a nice safe bathing place showed by a villager. On our way back, we stopped a while at Bataleeya, but we found that cashew nuts were too expensive to be given for charity.