Tirtha Atlas

The sacred geography of the Indic world — every site mapped, dated, storied, and cited.

3031 sites15 countries4 traditions30 centuries
Early modern · Buddhist · Sri Lanka

Degaldoruwa Raja Maha Vihara

Kandy, Central Province · 7.3044°, 80.6639°

Gautama Buddha (large reclining image)Kandyrock-cut cave temple
Sacred since
1771 CE
first attestation / structure
Standing structure
begun 1771 (Kandyan)
Kandy

History & significance

A rock-cut cave temple near Kandy, begun in 1771 during the reign of Kirti Sri Rajasinha and completed by his younger brother Rajadhi Rajasinha after he came to the throne. Behind two roofed ante-chambers the shrine cut into the rock holds a large reclining Buddha, and its walls carry celebrated murals of the Jataka stories and the Buddha's former births.

Sthala katha — the traditional account

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 farmer is said to have found golden sickles in a cleft between the boulders and to have borrowed one each day for his harvest until he tried to keep it, whereupon the guardian sealed the gap — and the king ordered a temple raised on the spot.

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Sources

coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-28 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: Kandy