Padaviya is the uppermost idol in a mountain cave.
Padaviya wewa is one of the largest tank in Sri lanka.Padaviya tank is belived to have been built by King Mahasen in the 3rd Century amd restored by Kinh Parakramabahu the Great in the 12 th century. The reservoir cover kilometers. The total camacity is 85,000 acre feet or 3.7 million square feet.
There are three archeologically important sites associated with this reservoir . Deyanne kanda,Elephant viewing Mountain is surrounded by water in three directions to enter the Lake. Later the bungalow of the lrrigation Department wasbuilt here. There fore,nothing of archaeological significance remains.
Deiyyanne Kanda was located adjacent to the tank bund. Excavation on this forested rocky mountain are rare. But in 1969, L.A. that. Aditya has published an important scholarly article on his reserch on mount Deiyyanne in the journal of the ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society .
The first preport of a statue of God in a cave on mount God was made in 1924 by N.J.P By Surveyor Ranasinhe. His finds are included in the survey Topographic map as the "Bust of a king in a Rock Cave"
In 1966, L.A. that Aditya searched for the cave mentioned in the survey map and found only a dilapidated stupa may be the mound of the temple in the Thapovanaya Temple. After a few days of hard work he was able to find this cave in the dense forest.
The cave is about 4 feet wide,7 feet high and is feet deep. The statue is carved and the end of the cave faces the westerance. The statue faces the western part of the reservoir and the Mukunuoya area of the reservoir. The carving of the has started at a height of about 30 feet from the ground level. This rock protruding inwards . The arms of this statue are well raised. The face is in the early stages and the torso is partially finished . The right ear of the statue head is not raised and the left ear is not raised. For some reson the architect of this statue seems to have spopped work here halfway.
Adithya says this is a royal statue . After examining a Deva statue or a Buddha statue , it was decided that it was a Buddha statue .
On his next vogage, he discovered a 44-foot-long by 14-foot-wide cave northwest of Deiyyanne Mountain . The cave had two ditches 9 feet and 11 feet long , but was devoid of inscriptions . But Bricks and tiles have been found in the cave. Three mor caves have been found to the south. The original cave is 26 feet long and 17 feet deep. It has 2 holes 8 and 5 inches long. There was a fadedinscription under the second drip. This 4-line latter was written in ancient sinhala script in the 5th or 6th century and reads about the release of man named kinijithi from slavery. This letter is documented as letter No.2730 of the Departmemt of Archeology .
To the right of this cave is another cave with two ditches. Dr. Senarath Pranawithana recognized that the letter found here belongs to the 3-4th century and mentions a land offering made to the forest by the philanthropist . This letter is docoumented as letter No.2731 of the Department of Archeology ....................................
As they passed this group of caves, they came across a group of ruined buildings. He mentions largr boulders that still stand upright.......
He further that a part of this rock has been dug up and destroyed for the raw material required for the reconstruction of the broken bund of the Padaviya Tank
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