Dambulla Buddhist pilgrimage site, which give this spot big name, are portions of a huge cave in the west side of the stone, at the tallness of around 300 and fifty feet over the plain. Regardless of whether the cave wherein these sanctuaries are shaped, is by and large regular, or just mostly normal, or just somewhat normal and halfway counterfeit, it is currently difficult to decide. The likelihood is, that it is primarily normal, and that man has had next to no to do in uncovering it. The practice has it that a portion of the caverns were uncovered by ruler Vattagamani Abhaya in the main century B. C. It very well may be induced that this lord and his replacements, in gift to this spot needed to extend and smoothen the caverns and cut the dribble edge (Katarama) along the stone to shield the caverns from water.
The Caves and canvases of Dambulla.
There are five caverns in the Dambulla sanctuary. These caverns are brimming with sculptures of Buddha and different personages of the Buddhist Order or History. There are 150 Buddha pictures in these caverns. Cavern No. 5 (the rearward all together) has no verifiable worth as it was done in the second decade of this century. The entirety of different caverns contain sculptures and compositions addressing different ages of Sinhalese model and painting. The early compositions of Dambulla are accepted by some to have a place with the eighth century A. C. However, this can’t be demonstrated at all on account of overpainting. By the by, this spot is a mine of ornamental plans, the examples of which take after those of Sigiriya. To an understudy of the historical backdrop of Buddhism, a cautious investigation of the canvases of Dambulla gives a decent arrangement of source material. It is by and large acknowledged by Polonnaruwa that the traditional school of Sinhalese artistic creation stopped to exist after the fall of the realm toward the finish of the twelfth century. There are no surviving instances of this style after the thirteenth century. It is from the seventeenth and eighteenth hundreds of years that we have, by and by, instances of crafted by a school of native painters. This new school doesn’t appear to have had its underlying foundations in the imaginative practices which made the magnum opuses of Sigiriya and Polonnaruwa. Its style is simply two-dimensional; in sytheses, it doesn’t show the expertise of the bosses of prior ages. In its shows, especially in the beautifying plans and in the portrayal of trees and creepers, it doesn’t appear to have any association with the prior specialty of the Island. This School appears to have been affected by the Schools of painting that prospered in the Deccan (Southern India) under the support of Muslim rulers. The frescoes which decorate the cavern of Dambulla address this new school of Sinhalese artistic creation, Inside the instances of this sanctuary the entire surface of the stone is totally covered with compositions, The soonest stage is accepted to be on Cave No. 2, and these comprise of ornamental plans as gathered above, it is absurd to expect to recognize any of these as really having a place with a particularly prior period. All things considered, the actual plans show close fondness to Sigiriya roof ornamentation. There may have been old artworks at this spot yet maybe these are lost or have been covered up later. It tends to be derived that the plans of the improving examples, encapsulate antiquated thoughts and may even be considered as a proceeding with custom of the plans at Sigiriya. Be that as it may, as the Dambulla Tudapata alluded to above obviously uncovers buckles No. 1, 2, and 4 of Dambulla were painted by the Kandyan craftsmen of the seventeenth century by the request for ruler Senarat (1604-1635 A.C). In the rule of Kirti Sri Rajasinha, the artistic creations of Dambulla were remodeled and overpainted once more. Compositions in Cave No. 4 unmistakably address the new school of Sinhalese artistic creation which thrived in the Kandyan areas after the seventeenth century.