The hill-range of Riṭigala is located about twenty-five miles south-east of Anurādhapura and eighteen miles north-east of Dam̆bulla. This commanding position, as well as the shelter which the mountain’s numerous rocks and caves afford, may account for its importance in ancient times, both as a stronghold of contending clans and as a place of refuge for fugitive princes and religious devotees. The name of the mountain range may be derived from the site’s trees (Sinh. ‘riti’), from the Pali name ‘Arittha’ (‘safety’, in reference to the range’s function as a place of shelter) or even from Maha Arittha, the chief minister of King Devanampiya Tissa (reg. c. 250-210 B.C.). The range has numerous caves, rocks, ruins and inscriptions. Two of the inscriptions name the area as ‘ariṭa-gama’, confirming the identification of the site as Ariṭṭa-pabbata (or -sēla), a mountain range mentioned in the Sri Lankan chronicle, the ‘Mahāvaṁsa’. The range has also been associated with Mt Aristha of the Indian epic the ‘Rāmayana’.
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| Object ID | OB03028 |
| Title | Riṭigala Āṇḍiyā-kanda Caves |
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| Inscription(s) | IN03033 IN03034 IN03035 IN03036 IN03037 IN03038 IN03039 IN03040 IN03041 IN03042 IN03043 IN03044 IN03045 |
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| Author | Don Martino de Zilva Wickremasinghe |
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| Description | |
| Material | Rock |
| Object Type | Cave |
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| Details | A cluster of at least twenty-one caves formed beneath boulders in the eastern spur of the Riṭigala mountain range. All of the caves lie within a quarter of a mile radius of each other but at different levels. Some of the caves contain the remains of brick and mud-built rooms, which served as Buddhist monastic dwellings. More than half of the caves are inscribed beneath their drip-lines with dedications to the Buddhist priesthood. |
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| Place | Riṭigala |
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| Place | Riṭigala |
| Authority | Wickremasinghe, Don Martino de Zilva. (1904-12). ‘No. 10. Riṭigala Inscriptions,’ Epigraphia Zeylanica 1, pp. 135-153. |
| Details | Discovered for scholarship by H. C. P. Bell (the Archaeological Commissioner of Ceylon) in 1893. |
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