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Mulkirigala, Hambantota District, Southern Province · 6.1230°, 80.7364°
A cave temple cut into a 205-metre rock inland of Tangalle in the Hambantota District, credited by the Mahavamsa to King Saddhatissa and later enlarged under Dhatusena (461–479) and Kirti Sri Rajasinha (1747–1782). Its terraces of caves hold many Buddha images, among them the great reclining Buddha of the Paduma Rahath Vihara, and a Bodhi tree held to be one of the thirty-two saplings of the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi.
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.
The rock is linked to the Jataka in which the Buddha, in an earlier birth, gave flesh from his own body to ransom a dove.
coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-28 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: Anuradhapura
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