The sacred geography of the Indic world — every site mapped, dated, storied, and cited.
Wellawaya, Monaragala District, Uva Province · 6.6869°, 81.0783°
A group of seven colossal figures carved into a rock face near Wellawaya in southern Sri Lanka, dated by most authorities to the 9th or 10th century. The central standing Buddha is the island's tallest, and the flanking bodhisattvas mark the site as a rare surviving Mahayana monument in a Theravada country.
What follows is the temple’s own traditional account, transmitted through liturgy and local memory. It is recorded here as tradition, not as attested history.
A hollow carved into the same rock is said to weep a mustard-scented oil that no one has been able to trace to a source.
coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-28 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: Undetermined
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