Known as the Kuda-sigiriya for its drip ledged caves adorned with murals Kudagala had been a monastery for the last two thousand years. Situated few miles away from Dehiattakandiya Kudagala is a three hundred meter tall mountain in a range that governs the horizon on the Weheragala road.

Although most of the caves had been designed as abodes for the meditating monks and had been sponsored by a group of merchants, in the area, according to a rock inscription found on a rock table, one cave carries the remnants of murals drawn on a specially laid plaster inside a cave designed to be a shrine room. The murals drawn with natural colors mainly illustrate red, orange, green and brown and have been polished over with a natural wax to safeguard then from rain and glare. 

The design created with lotus flowers and vines is the only remaining part of a mural, which had once covered the whole ceiling of the cave. A new plaster had been laid over some parts of the mural while some parts, alleged to be comprising a picture of a bodhisattva had been covered with a white paint, done by the ignorant at the beginning of the last century.The entrance to the cave faces a steep slope and has a natural rock terrace which affords a view of the Mahaweli River and the Hunnasgiriya mountain range. The small holes on floor of the cave would have been made to support the wooden roof, which would have sheltered the cave entrance and the Buddha statue, which lay in ruins today. Remnants of a stupa, which would have been once visible to the whole valley below, stands on the top of the mountain, pillaged by treasure hunters while it’s top and bricks lay strewn around.

Archeology, photography, hiking, wildlife, sightseeing, pilgrimage.