Mulgirigala Rock Temple

Mulgirigala is an isolated granite outcrop rising 200m from the flat coastal plains of Hambantota District, its rock faces carved with cave shrines by Buddhist monks beginning in the 3rd century BC. Five levels of cave temples are accessible by climbing stone steps cut into the rock face, each containing painted reclining and seated Buddhas surrounded by 18th and 19th-century Jataka murals. The summit is crowned with a small dagoba and a resident population of grey langur monkeys entirely accustomed to visitors. The British scholar George Turnour used palm-leaf manuscripts kept here in 1826 to produce the first accurate English translation of the Mahavamsa, the 6th-century chronicle that is the primary historical record of Sri Lanka. Few visitors make the detour, and both the climb and the panoramic coastal views are genuinely rewarding.