| Metadata | |
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| Object ID | OB03007 |
| Title | Vessagiri Rock B Cave 1 |
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| Inscription(s) | IN03008 |
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| Responsibility | |
| Author | Don Martino de Zilva Wickremasinghe |
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| Description | |
| Material | Rock / gneiss |
| Object Type | Cave |
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| Details | A cave underneath a boulder at the north end of Rock B at Vessagiri. The boulder (which is approximately 6m high) has been undercut to form the cave; the undercutting is rougher but more horizontal than in Rock B Cave 2, which is under a neighbouring boulder (see OB03008). There is a dripline all the way across the brow of the cave (two driplines at the north end) and an inscription beneath the dripline. The cave-face has square mortice holes to hold beams for a lean-to roof. |
| History | |
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| Place | Vessagiri |
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| Place | Vessagiri |
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| Details | Vessagiri, or more commonly in Sinhalese Vessagiriya, is the traditional name of a forest-bound cluster of rocks in Anurādhapura. The site features three hummock-boulders of gneiss rock in a line from north to south (Rock A, Rock B and Rock C). The hummocks are surrounded by the ruins of a monastery, which had its cells in the caves of Rocks B and C (twenty-three caves in total). Some of the caves are inscribed with dedications to the Buddhist priesthood. The site is traditionally identified as that of Vessagiri Vihāra, stated to have been built by King Dēvānampiya Tissa in the third century B.C. This identification is supported by the probable age of the cave inscriptions, the style of the ruined buildings and the relative position of the site, in respect to the neighbouring Isurumuṇiya (Issarasamaṇaka) Vihāra, also built by Dēvānampiya Tissa. |
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