Serene Path Travels
Gallery 33 PHOTOGRAPHS · ALL FREELY LICENSED

The island,
as it is.

No filters, no staging, no borrowed marketing photography. Every image here is a real, freely-licensed photograph of the actual place, credited to its photographer.

Sourced from Wikimedia Commons under CC0, CC BY, CC BY-SA and Free Art licences. Full credits.

Anurādhapura THE ANCIENT CAPITAL

Anurādhapura

The white dome of the Ruwanwelisāya stūpa at Anurādhapura rising above its elephant-wall terrace.
Ruwanwelisāya — the Mahā Thūpa
The Jaya Sri Mahā Bodhi at Anurādhapura, the sacred fig tree on its walled terrace, hung with prayer flags.
Jaya Sri Mahā Bodhi
Thūpārāmaya at Anurādhapura, the oldest stūpa in Sri Lanka, ringed by its surviving stone pillars.
Thūpārāmaya — the first stūpa
The vast brick stūpa of Jetavanārāmaya at Anurādhapura.
Jetavanārāmaya
The brick dome of the Abhayagiri dāgaba at Anurādhapura seen across the surrounding monastic ruins.
Abhayagiri
The Mirisawetiya stūpa at Anurādhapura, restored and white, on its square terrace.
Mirisawetiya
The Samādhi Buddha at Anurādhapura, a fourth-century seated stone figure in meditation posture.
The Samādhi Buddha
A sandakaḍa pahana moonstone carved in concentric bands of flame, animals and lotus.
Sandakaḍa pahaṇa — the moonstone
The Isurumuniya rock temple at Anurādhapura, cut into the rock beside a bathing tank.
Isurumuniya
Mihintale, Dambulla, Polonnaruwa ROCK, CAVE AND CARVING

Mihintale, Dambulla and Polonnaruwa

A shrine on the rock terraces of Mihintale, the hill where Buddhism was first taught in Sri Lanka.
Mihintale — where the Dhamma landed
A reclining Buddha carved from the living rock inside the cave temple at Dambulla.
Dambulla — the reclining Buddha
Painted rock ceiling in the Dambulla cave temple, following the natural contours of the stone.
Dambulla — the painted ceiling
The reclining Buddha at Gal Vihāra, Polonnaruwa, carved from a continuous face of granite.
Gal Vihāra, Polonnaruwa
The Aukana Buddha, a twelve-metre standing figure carved from a single face of living rock.
The Aukana Buddha
The forest and ruined terraces of Ritigala, an ancient hermitage of ascetic monks.
Ritigala — the forest hermitage
The rock fortress of Sīgiriya rising from the surrounding plain.
Sīgiriya
The rock-cut Buddha figure at the Dowa rock temple in the Sri Lankan hill country.
Dowa rock temple
The sixteen, elsewhere NORTH, SOUTH AND EAST

The sixteen, elsewhere on the island

The white stūpa and shrine buildings of the Kelaniya Rāja Mahā Vihāra near Colombo.
Kelaniya Rāja Mahā Vihāra
Twentieth-century murals by Solias Mendis inside the Kelaniya Rāja Mahā Vihāra.
Kelaniya — the Solias Mendis murals
The Nāgadīpa Purāna Vihāra on Nainativu island off the Jaffna peninsula.
Nāgadīpa, Nainativu
The conical summit of Śrī Pāda, Adam's Peak, seen across water at dawn.
Śrī Pāda — Adam's Peak
The Tissamahārāma dāgaba in the deep south of Sri Lanka.
Tissamahārāma
The entrance to the sacred precinct at Kataragama in the deep south of Sri Lanka.
Kataragama
The Somawathiya Chaitya on the Mahaweli floodplain, a large white stūpa.
Somawathiya Chaitya
The Seruwila Mangala Rāja Mahā Vihāra between Trincomalee and the Mahaweli river.
Seruwila
The rock hermitage of Sithulpawwa on the edge of Yala, a stūpa on a bare rock summit.
Sithulpawwa
The seven rock-cut figures at Buduruwagala, the central standing Buddha nearly sixteen metres tall.
Buduruwagala
The Mulkirigala rock temple rising above the coconut country north of Tangalle.
Mulkirigala
The Sri Dalada Māligāwa in Kandy, the temple housing the tooth relic of the Buddha.
Sri Dalada Māligāwa, Kandy
Practice THE LIVING TRADITION

Practice and the living tradition

A file of bhikkhus in saffron robes carrying their alms bowls down forest steps on the morning alms round.
The Saṅgha
A file of bhikkhus in saffron robes carrying their alms bowls down forest steps on the morning alms round.
The monastic community
A flower stall outside a temple in Kandy, its counter laid with pink lotus blooms and jasmine sold as offerings.
Lotus offerings
A large white stūpa at a Sri Lankan Buddhist monastery in the hill country.
A hill-country monastery
All pilgrimages Photography credits
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