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Dharmaraja Gala Rock is a rocky outcrop close to the Sri Pada peak. A neatly cut flight of steps on the rock takes you to the top of this rock, providing a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains. The trail to this rock lies from Getthampahana on the Palabaddala-Sri Pada trail.
On its western side, the rock descends steeply into a deep precipice. On a clear day, standing atop Dharmaraja Gala Rock offers a striking view: to the north, the towering Kunudiya Parwathaya displays a square, rocky summit reminiscent of a massive pillar with its top broken off, while to the south, the Bena-Saamanala mountain rises with its legendary twin peaks. Between these imposing landmarks, numerous smaller mountain tops gracefully encircle the area.
At the base of the rock, there are 21 steps, followed by an additional 9 steps a little further up, and finally 100 carved steps leading to the top. Ancient tradition holds that counting these steps is futile—if a hundred different men were to count them, each would arrive at a different total (Skeen, 1860, p. 171).
To the left of the steps on the last flight of steps, along the ascending rock face, there is an outline of a man with his hands joined above his head, pointing toward the distant Foot-print. Approximately 6 feet above this figure, a weathered Sinhalese inscription is carved.
The script is carved in 15th century and the characters (Paranavitana, 1958, p. 37), roughly 3 inches wide, are arranged in 16 lines, with the first line spanning about 7 feet and the entire inscription covering 4 feet in width; the length of the lines decreases gradually as they descend (Gnanawimala Thero, 1942, p. 24).
According to this inscription, the series of steps was built by the Buddhist ascetic Dharmaraja—who hailed from the Brahmin clan of Girimahala in the village of Kahawatta—with the assistance of an Arachchi (village leader) named Vedavanapperamal, whose quest was for enlightenment (Gnanawimala Thero, 1967, p. 69).
Ven. Gnanawimala Thero (1967) has documented the part of the inscription which he was able to read as follows;
- ස්චස්ති ශ්රී සද්ධර්ම චක්රව
- ර්ති ගෞතම සර්වඥරාජොත්ත
- ම යාණන් වහන්සෙගෙ බුද්ධ වර්ෂ
- යෙන් දෙදහස් . . . . . . . . . . .
- . . . . . . . . . . .
- . . . . . . . . . . .
- . . . . . . . . . . . රජ්
- ජූරුවන් වහන්සෙට සවන්
- නෙ හි . . . . . විට කසා වතු නම් බමු
- ණු ගම ගිරිමහලා නම් බ්රාහ්ම
- ණ වංශයෙහි උපන් සර්වඥ ශ්රී පති
- භක්ත ධර්මරාජතාපසයන් බුදු
- බව පතා වෙදවනප්පෙරූමාලා නම් වූ
- කඬත් . . . . . තා ආරච්චින්
- ගෙ සහයෙන් කෙ
- ට වූ පිය ගැට මාලාවයි
References
- Skeen, W. (1860). Adam’s Peak: Traditional And Historic Notices of the Samanala And Sripada with a Descriptive Account of the Pilgrims’ Route from Colombo to the Sacred Foot-Print. W.L.H. Skeen & Co.
- Gnanawimala Thero, K. (1942). සපරගමුවේ පැරණි ලියවිලි. Ginalankara Press.
- Gnanawimala Thero, K. (1967). සපරගමු දර්ශන. Shastrodaya Printing Press.
- Paranavitana, S. (1958). The God of Adam’s Peak. Artibus Asiae Publishers.
Also See
Map of Dharmaraja Gala Inscription
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Travel Directions to Dharmaraja Gala Inscription
| Hike from Palabaddala to Dharmaraja Gala Inscription |
| Though : Distance : 7.8 km Travel time : 3-4 hours. Driving directions : see on google map |
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