Dimbulagala also known as Gunner's Quoin or Gunner's Rock during the

British colonial The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

period, is a rock formation in the

Polonnaruwa District Polonnaruwa District ( si, පොළොන්නරුව දිස්ත්‍රික්කය; ta, பொலன்னறுவை மாவட்டம்) is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of ...

of Sri Lanka. By the time anthropologist

Charles Gabriel Seligman Charles Gabriel Seligman FRS FRAI (24 December 1873 – 19 September 1940) was a British physician and ethnologist. His main ethnographic work described the culture of the Vedda people of Sri Lanka and the Shilluk people of the Sudan. He was ...

visited the location in 1911, a cave within the rock had become a refuge of the indigenous

Vedda people The Vedda ( si, වැද්දා , ta, வேடர் (''Vēḍar'')), or Wanniyalaeto, are a minority indigenous group of people in Sri Lanka who, among other sub-communities such as Coast Veddas, Anuradhapura Veddas and Bintenne Veddas, ...

. During the 12th century AD, The Sinhalese people had constructed a Buddhist monastery within the rock formation. The

Dimbulagala Raja Maha Vihara Dimbulagala Raja Maha Vihara is situated 16 kilometres south east of the ancient city of Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka. The Dimbulagala range houses a number of caves cut into the rock with Brahmi inscriptions over their drip ledges. This forest hermita ...

monastery was restored in the 1950s. The villagers around the rock are of mixed Vedda and Sinhalese ancestry.

References

* *{{cite book, last=Samarasinghe, first=S. W. R. de A., title= The Vanishing aborigines : Sri Lanka's Veddas in transition, publisher=International Centre for Ethnic Studies in association with NORAD and Vikas Pub. House, date=1990, isbn=978-0-7069-5298-8 Landforms of Polonnaruwa District Vedda

See also

References