Kumana and the Yala East National Park at the southernmost corner of the Eastern Province, Kumana is the most picturesque area of the dry zone coastline of Sri Lanka.
 |
| The cave seen at a distance |
The very name Kumana brings visions of our great wealth of avifauna (aquatic or water birds) in all its plumed splendour and archaeologically rich outcrops of rock with their many caves and inscriptions.
Four kilometres north of Kiripokuna in the Yala East National Park better known Kumana, a jeep track terminates at Bambaragastalawa, is perhaps the most extensive of the ruined sites in this area.
The main rock capped by an unscalable rock face is 368 feet high. Spread out in all directions into the surrounding jungles from its base are numerous boulders of immense size beneath most of which are caves where bhikkhus meditated centuries ago. In one large cave-the main pilimage (image house) - is a renovated recumbent image of the Buddha, 18 feet in length. Scattered around are 21 caves with inscriptions. Be wary of hornets at the summit.
This area is also a haunt of the Sri Lankan sloth bear.
 |
The drip-ledge (Katarama) of the back side of the cave |
The renovated Buddha image in the cave |
| The Buddha image was vandalised by treasure hunters before it was renovated recently |