Aluviharaya Rock Cave Temple

Aluviharaya (also Alu Vihara) is a Buddhist cave monastery at Matale, 30 kilometres north of Kandy on the A9 highway. The site is significant in Buddhist history as the location where, in approximately 30 BC, the Tripitaka (the complete canon of Theravada Buddhist scripture) was first written down on ola palm leaves during a council of 500 monks. Prior to that, the texts had been transmitted entirely by oral recitation. The cave complex includes a series of rock shelters and man-made caves housing reclining and seated Buddha statues, frescoes, and models of the Buddhist hell. The original manuscripts were destroyed during a colonial-period conflict but the work of transcription has been ongoing at the monastery since the 19th century. Monks still hand-write Buddhist texts at the site.