Elayapattuwa - Sculptural Wonder

Take a virtual tour in Elayapttuwa which nestles the Siri Sambuddha Pancha Sathika Shrawaka Charikaramaya (roughly translates to.. 'Temple of Lord Buddha and his 500 disciples on travel'). A religious site in the process of constructing a one of a kind sculptural wonder.

* Click on images to expand them



Sign board beside the road. Flanking the road were a row of thatched shops selling various items such as offerings and local refreshments.

The founder of this temple has visited another country and was inspired by a sight there and has decided to build our own religious spectacle.. to recreate the wonderful sight of Lord Buddha and his disciples journeying on foot.




The beginning of the walkway beside these lifelike sculptures. The first sculpture is of Lord Buddha.. the rest 500 sculptures are of his disciples, following one after another in a winding line.

Notice the sign board at the foot? Nope, I didn't break the very rule and take pics! =D Almost all who entered the premises had a cam with them.. and they all took pics.

What the sign says is, that we should not pose in front or beside the sculptures and take pics of us, treating the sculptures as a mere backdrop. Yet.. some people did break the very rule not far from this warning sign. -__-

People entered the sculpture path after removing their shoes and caps, just like they enter a Buddhist temple.




Portion of a lil bridge that we had to cross. Through the thin gaps we could see the pond beneath. If I remember right, part of it was made in wood while this portion was in concrete, designed like logs.




Portion of the small pond that sits beneath the lil bridge. It was infested with 'Nil Manel' or blue water lilies (Nymphaea stellata), the National Flower of Sri Lanka.

The 2nd pic shows a finely crafted ready-to-soar-hawk and a pig right behind. *I think it was a pig, if not a dog*

Now let's take a closer look at the sculptures while walking along the paved path.




From a distance these sculptures seem like they are all the same, but they are not! Each sculpture is designed to represent different disciples. And these sculptures portrayed their unique features.. as described in Buddhist literature. We were able to easily identify the sculptures of Arhant Mugalan and Maha Kashyapa theros.

The second and third pics captured the vista between each sculpture. We were able to see rows and rows of sculptures overlapping in the distance.

*by the way don't mind about the different color tones, as I had tweaked the cam settings and ended up with them* -__-




See how these statues neatly line up as far as the eyes can see. Notice the trees in the background of the third pic? The big oval shaped blots are actually bird nests, probably of Sunbirds or kin of them. And almost all trees here snuggled these nests! The area echoed with the lil birdies' chirps and we caught a glimpse of a few, during our long stroll.

It took us a lil more than 1 hour to cover the distance twice, as we returned through the same path. But we walked at a snail's pace, especially since I was pausing every five minutes to take snaps! So it might take about 15 mts or so, to cover the path at a normal pace. =D




These sculptures were there before the last portion. About 50 - 75 statues, have not yet been painted. As they've been short of funding. The third pic shows the final lap of sculptures that sits on an artificial slope, that will take shape of a rockscape once completed.

Hopefully in few months time the whole area will be developed into a wonderful spectacle.