Lankathilaka
Thivanka
Vidhyadara cave Galvihara
Jaya Mahavihara
Aim of the tour- To visit some selected temple painting sites in Polonnaruwa.
What you need- A pair of sandals, a pair of sunglasses, A hat and plenty of water.
Ideal for- People interest in Painting and medieval art, History and Buddhism.
Sigiriya painting are world famous due to many reasons. Master brush strokes and the technique involved, color selection and the subject matter are few to mentioned. According to some art critiques, paintings of Polonnaruwa also belong to the same master tradition. But the attention it deserves is not received as not many people are aware of the Polonnaruwa painting. Thivanka image house is in the school text books but the location of this site is away from all the other popular sites.
In Sri Lanka all almost all the Buddhist villages we find a temple and, in every temple, there is an image house. As a rule, all the interior walls of these image house are painted with key incident of Buddha’s life and his reincarnation stories.
This is the reason for concentration of painting to Buddhist temple of the village.
Lankathilaka
Lankathilake is the biggest image house in Polonnaruwa and it is tall as a five storied building of modern day. Entire surface of the interior walls had colorful paintings and what remains now is just a fragment only. The dominant color of the painting is yellowish brown and it reminds us the paintings of Thivanka image house.
Tivanka Image House
Thivanka image house is considered as the best place to see the medieval paintings. These 133 feet long building has a vaulted roof and all the interior walls are adorn with paintings to illustrate the present and past lives of Buddha. Most of the paintings are damaged over the time but there are some paintings that are preserved well.
There are some painting facing toward Buddha statue and they are in the attitude of veneration and the painter has managed to express the respect and reverence these divine figures have extended to their teacher, Buddha.
Built by King Parakramabahu the great in 11th century, this image house, has a very large buddha statue with a three (thi) curves (vanka) and it explain the name of the site.
Pulligoda and Danigala painting.
Pulligoda Paintings.
Pulligoda is about 28km East of Polonnaruwa and its is part of Dimbulagala archaeology complex. There are many different opinions about the age of the paintings. Dr,Ananda Kumasaswamy and Richard Smith date it to 4th century and Dr Raja de Silva date them to 8th century. Prof Senarat Paranawithana date it back to 12th century and them it matches with the time period of Thivanka paintings.
Daanigala cave paintings.
Danigala cave is about 20.0km East of Dimbulagala and it has an entirely different rock painting that is engraved into the rock surface. Danigala has not get the attention it deserves but a very interesting place to visit.
