Kurulangala Paintings - a 5000 years old mystery..?

Tips and Special Notes:

 

• • This is a tough hike. Not suitable for the ones who are not-so-fit or for the ones with fear for heights
  • Be prepared and well equipped. Good hiking ropes and harnesses required.
  • Wear suitable attire to protect from sun burns, thorns, scratches and bruises.
  • Shoes with good grip will be useful. Bare foot is recommended. DO NOT wear flip-flop slippers
  • DO NOT attempt this during the rainy season. Not even in a drizzle nor until the rocks are totally dried up after the rains
  • DO NOT attempt without informing the temple and NEVER go alone. Always get a good guide. Chief monk will introduce a good guide to you.
  • Please Do Not damage the drawings. Avoid from touching or using flash lights when photographing.
  • Please do not litter. Minimize carrying plastic and polythene products. Bring back all your garbage and dispose them properly.

“A set of mysterious paintings have been found from a mountain slope which are believed to belong to the pre-historic era” – news. We were more than curious as soon as we saw this on TV Derana news and later on one of their feature programs. The paintings certainly looked unfamiliar to all of us and they refused to mention the place where they found these.

We desperately needed to know where this is and to go and have a look at those. While many of our attempts failed, Ashan managed to get a lead on its location within a very short time. The area was somewhat familiar to him, so he gave it a shot and was successful on his attempt. We received the call from him upon his return – all his details about the paintings and the difficulty of the journey boosted our temptation.

On a clear morning in the following week five of us were travelling towards Wellawaya from Bandarawela. We knew the journey is going to be a difficult one but what we didn’t know was how difficult it would be. So we were prepared as much as possible.

passing Ella

Ella gap

We reached Karandagolla junction and turned to the road which goes towards the Uma Oya Hydro Power Plant project. A little later we reached the trail head near Karandagolla Rakhitthakanda Raja Maha Viharaya which is a very ancient and interesting temple, met the priest and our guide and then started the hike.

Rakkhiththakanda RMV

the pagoda

interesting

 

paintings at RMV

paintings at RMV

paintings at RMV

paintings at RMV

paintings at RMV

paintings at RMV

paintings at RMV

Our destination from the base

off we go

It was a steep ascend from the beginning. Initially we walked through an intermediate zone forest and reached a dried up stream. The second part was along this stream. The steepness kept getting higher and higher as we marched along. It was a tiring and hectic climb. Though the tree canopy provided the shade it was warm inside the jungle and we were sweating due to the heat and tiredness.

along the dried up stream

I decided to check how hard my head against a tree trunk... Ouch...!

Then we reached the next part of our climb which was the most difficult. First we had to climb along a very narrow passage between two rock boulders along a slope of about 70 degrees. At one place we had to reach a tree trunk about 20-30 feet directly above us. The passage was too narrow and there was no way of walking upwards. We had to push our hands and backs against one rock wall, keep our legs on to the other to get the grip and do back-crawling carefully up the rock wall to reach the tree trunk to get hold of it. (We used a rope tied to the tree when we were getting down).

the angle of the rock surface

looking back on our path

our path ahead

climbing

while getting down

while getting down

while getting down

while getting down

while getting down

Then we reached a huge rock surface – still the same difficult angle – and climb with the support of some vines along it. However all these were a piece of cake to our guide and one of us was a trained rock climber. So we had assistance and guidance to climb safely. After much effort and climbing a slanted tree to get to another rock we reached our destination.

climbing hanging on to the vines

along the slanted tree

along the slanted tree

What we saw was unbelievable. It was a huge rock wall stood tall in front of us facing towards the Southern plains of Sri Lanka. The rock surface was smooth and visible that it has had taken some battering from the nature for many thousands of years. The lower part of the wall which looked like a long rock gate had hundreds of drawings on it.

behold..!

the rock wall

The drawings were not like any of the ancient drawings found in Sri Lanka. Obviously those weren’t weddah paintings (primitive drawings). They were the work of skilled artist(s) for sure. All of the drawings were of animals – more precisely almost all the figures were of flying creatures. Only a little area contained clear drawings while rest are faded. Every single image was carefully drawn with fine details.

And there were hundreds of human hand prints on the wall. Those looked like imprints and were a little larger than the size of our palms. None of the creatures drawn on the wall were the ones we could identify. Only one figure resembled a peacock but still had differences. Personally I felt like those figures resemble the creatures that we have learnt to have occupied the earth during the Jurassic Age. The sharp looking heads, the eyes, the long and sharp claws – all resembled the figures of Jurassic Age’s flying creatures.

hand prints

view towards Wellawaya

There was one big figure. The top part of it was faded. The remaining part certainly looks like a rear leg – a leg that bent backwards and very strong. It reminded me of legs of a Kangaroo instantly (or may be a T-Rex..?).

any similarities..?

We are more than amazed by these paintings. No one had any idea of what’s what. We were too busy giving our opinions, clarifications and trying to understand the mystery in front of us. According to what we heard from our guide and the chief monk of the temple, archaeologists have taken some samples of the paintings (not sure whether they came with the TV Derana media team or later) and later announced – unofficially – that the sample could be of an age of 5000 years! We still do not know if this is true or not. It is up to the Department of Archaeology to do a proper study and reveal those age.

This journey left a lot of questions with us. Who drew these figures and why? Would an artist choose a rock surface where no one can reach to show his talents? Which civilization had such skilled artists –artist(s) with totally different skills than all the other lived throughout the history? What provided the basis for these figures – not single evidence (as per our knowledge) have found of such creatures in Sri Lanka.


Watch this short video clip of our journey (sorry for the poor quality. recorded using the mobile phone)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHubfSg2iwE


If these are 5000 years old, is there any connection with the mysteries of Sri Lanka’s mighty legend – King Ravana..? Would this be the key to unlock the mysteries of Ravana..? We had only questions – too many questions in our minds. But we don’t possess the knowledge to answer those. We are neither archaeologists nor experts in drawings to define these. It is up to the Archaeologists to explore this site and evaluate how old these paintings are – up to the experts to study those paintings and define what those are – up to the geologists to examine the site and determine its geological history – up to the historians to find its link to our history. All we can do is wish they would not turn the blind eye to these marvellous drawings and start working on them at their earliest – wish for the day we would get to know what these paintings are – wish this site would be spared by the treasure hunters...

Thank you for reading.