Alawala Pothgul Len Rajamaha Viharaya

Three caves across sixty acres — Vihara Lena, Pothgul Lena and Thapo Lena. The first holds a large reclining Buddha of the Kandyan era, and two seated figures, one Anuradhapura and one Kandyan. The murals are good, and were restored about a hundred and fifty years ago.

Pothgul Lena lies up the slope from the temple, and it is the one that matters to archaeologists rather than pilgrims. Human remains have been found in it that are believed to date to around 13,000 BCE.

Fifteen thousand years of people using the same three holes in the same hillside. The Buddha statues are the most recent thing here by a very wide margin.