The remote ancient Buddhist site of Bururuvagala (which means ‘stone Buddha images’ in Sinhalese) is thought to date from the 10th century, when Mahayana Buddhism dominated parts of Sri Lanka. Carved into the rock face is a huge 16m-high Buddha figure, with three smaller figures on either side. These are thought to represent the Maitreya Buddha, Avalokitesvara and his consort Tara, as well as the Hindu god Vishnu.

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Photo credit: © Pictures From History / Alamy / Afripics
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Keywords: 1997, asia, asian, buddha, buddhism, buddhist, buduruvagala, ceylon, ceylonese, chaweewan, chuchuay, lanka, lankan, mahayana, monk, photograph, religion, serendib, sri, taprobane