Buduruwagala Temple | Image Courtesy: By BluesyPete (Own work) [<a href="//creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>], <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABuduruwagala_-_Vue_g%C3%A9n%C3%A9rale.JPG">via Wikimedia Commons</a>
Buduruwagala Temple | Image Courtesy: By BluesyPete (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
The island of Sri Lanka is a historic location and has a tremendous amount of to offer where heritage is concerned in relation to Buddhism.

 

Background

The temple is ancient, and consists of a complex that features seven large statues. These belong to the Mahayana school of Buddhism which is interesting since Sri Lanka is a primarily Theravada Buddhism oriented country. The Baduruwagala area is quite popular with many nearby hotels in Wellawaya such as the Jetwing Kaduruketha.

 

The Statues

The most remarkable aspect of the temple is the statues, which are massive. The main statue is of the Lord Buddha and stands at a height of 51 feet. There’s a long orange stain on the statue which suggests that ages ago it was once painted orange, which is the colour of the monks’ robes.

 

History

It is unclear exactly how old the temple complex is, but it is believed to have been built sometime during the 9th or 10th centuries. There are no historical records concerning the temple, and no one even knows of its original name.

 

The Mustard Oil Lamp Mystery

On the very same rock that features the carved statues, there is a 3-foot wide and 4-foot high carved shape resembling a flame, and this carving is always wet with a fluid that smells like mustard oil. To this day, no one can determine the origin of this fluid.

Roland Lefevre is a travel writer who specializes in creating features on leisure as well as business travel destinations across the globe. Google+