Hindagala Temple - Kandy, Sri Lanka

The Hindagala Temple - Kandy, Sri Lanka

The Hindagala temple is an ancient cave temple famous for the art which adorns its ceilings and walls. Most of the paintings date back to the 18th century but there are a few poorly preserved paintings which are said to be from the 5th century. The temple itself was a hermitage used by meditating Buddhist monks for centuries.

More photographs inside.

Paintings at the Hindagala Temple - Kandy Sri Lanka

The main building, seen in the first image, houses a Buddha statue and a Dagoba. Unfortunately when I got there the priest was away and I was unable to photograph the interior of the cave as the doors were locked. Fortunately there were only a few people visiting the temple when I got there. This gave me plenty of time to set up the tripod photograph the exterior of the main building.

Paintings at the Hindagala Temple - Kandy Sri Lanka

There are two entrances to the main temple. The first is a flight of steep stone stairs that lead to the temple from the main road below. The stairs are easy to miss as there are no signs indicating the whereabouts of the temple. The second entrance is a small path accessed from a side road that is some distance away. The path winds its way through a number of large boulders and overgrown properties but is not as steep as the stairs. The photograph below is the  entrance to this path from the temple.

An entrance to the Hindagala Temple - Kandy, Sri Lanka

All photographs on this post were taken with a Canon 7D and the 24-105mm lens. No flash were used to photograph the paintings but the tripod did come in handy! I will try and photograph the interior of the temple on my next visit.

Common Sailor - Thalangama, Sri Lanka

Common Sailor (Neptis hylas) - Thalangama, Sri Lanka

The wetlands in Thalangama are best known for the bird life around the marshes but they are also home to a large number of butterflies. I have seen and photographed the Common Sailor (Neptis hylas) at Thalangama on numerous occasions but, for some reason, never got around to posting them on the blog.

More photographs inside.

Common Sailor (Neptis hylas) - Thalangama, Sri Lanka

The Common Sailor is found throughout India, Sri Lanka and Burma. Its range is said to extend to Indomalaya as well. It has a wet and dry season form which only differs in the narrowness of the white markings on the wings. This species has been observed making sounds by clicking its foremost pair of legs. However, the reason for this behaviour has not been identified.

Common Sailor (Neptis hylas) - Thalangama, Sri Lanka

I did find photographing this species relatively easy as they let me get quite close to them. Most of my trips to Thalangama are early in the morning so this may have helped. The Common sailor is known for settling on damp patches, a behaviour I witnessed in Kandy (photograph below).

Common Sailor (Neptis hylas) - Kandy, Sri Lanka

All photographs on this post were taken with the Canon 7D and the 100-400mm lens. I didn't have to use flashes to light the images as the ambient light was sufficient. I did have to bump up the ISO to 400 though.

Tickell's Blue Flycatcher - Kandy, Sri Lanka

Tickell's Blue Flycatcher - Kandy, Sri Lanka

One of the best sightings that I have had of the Tickell's Blue Flycatcher was in Kandy in July. The bird made several appearances and spent quite a bit of time around the house, allowing me to photograph it. I would have liked to get a lot closer to it but unfortunately this was not possible.

More photographs inside.

 Tickell's Blue Flycatcher - Kandy, Sri Lanka

The Tickell's Blue Flycatcher is a relatively common resident and is often seen from the wet lowlands to the mid hills of Sri Lanka. It may also be found in suitable forests in the dry zone. The female is duller in colour and has a lighter throat and breast. Based on this, I believe the bird pictured in this post is a male.

Tickell's Blue Flycatcher - Kandy, Sri Lanka

This species breeds in tropical south Asia and its range extends east from India and Sri Lanka to Indonesia. It shows regional variations in plumage and size with several of these variations being designated as subspecies. The Sri Lankan population is a separate subspecies named jerdoni.   

Tickell's Blue Flycatcher - Kandy, Sri Lanka

All photographs on this post were taken with the Canon 7D and the 100-400mm combo.

Oriental Garden Lizard

An Oriental Garden Lizard

The Oriental Garden Lizard is widely distributed throughout Asia and has also been introduced to many other parts of the world. It is an insectivore which is often incorrectly referred to as the bloodsucker due to it's red throat. More images and info after the jump.

An Oriental Garden Lizard

The coloration of these lizards vary from an uniform brownish or greenish olive or yellowish. The ground colour of the lizard is generally a light brownish olive but the lizard can change it to bright red or black or even a mixture of the two. This change is sometimes confined to the head but can also be distributed throughout the body and tail. Black streaks radiate from the eye and some of them are continued over the throat, running obliquely backwards. These bright changeable colours are peculiar to the male during breeding season. 

It is very common in Sri Lanka and the specimens found on the island seem to be relatively large. A specimen measuring 16 inches has been recorded in Sri Lanka. 

An Oriental Garden Lizard

Males are highly territorial during the mating season. They are known to discourage intruding males by brightening their red heads. The males try to attract females by inflating their throats and drawing attention to its coloured head. About 10 - 20 eggs are laid and buried in moist soil. The eggs are long, covered with leathery skin and are known to hatch in about 6 - 7 weeks. 

The lizard is known to feed on insects, and small vertebrates, including rodents and other lizards. The lizards teeth are designed to grip prey and not to tear it up. Prey is swallowed whole after it has been captured and stunned by shaking it vigorously. 

 

A male Oriental Garden Lizard

These images were shot in Kandy, with the Canon 7D and the 100 - 400mm lens.

Portraits of two Kandians

A self appointed tour guide at the Embekke temple in Kandy

This post contains two portraits of people I met while I was in Kandy.

The photograph above is of a man who was at the Embekke temple when we visited in January. He was at the gate having a conversation with some other people when we walked in. A little while later he came  up to our group and started giving us a "tour" of the temple. It was a bit of a surprise to all of us as no one had indicated that we needed a guide.  

I took this photograph of him on our way out. I thought he had an interesting face and an impressive moustache (which was completely white). The sun, falling on one side of his face, accentuated the wrinkles around his eyes and on his forehead. In hindsight, I should have used a reflector of some sort to lighten up the area around his eyes. I decided to convert this image to black and white as colour didn't really add anything to it. I also felt that a black and white image would highlight the different textures on his skin. 

The second portrait is after the jump.

A woman who was drying coves at the Lankathilaka temple in Kandy

This woman was drying cloves at the Lankathilaka temple when we visited. The temple itself is built on a massive rock which the people of the area use to dry their spices on before sale. We visited the temple at around mid day and found that it was almost impossible to walk around without some form of foot wear as the rock had got heated up by the sun. The woman was quite friendly and was more than happy to strike a pose when I showed her the camera. She was thrilled to see the image on the LCD! 

I spoke to her for a few minutes while waiting for the others and found out that she lived in the village near the temple. She also told me that she would have to sit around for three whole days, in the burning hot sun, and watch over the cloves until they dry and are ready for sale. I'm glad I was able to capture an image of her kind face and her smile.

These images were captured using a Canon 7D and a Canon 50mm f1.8 lens.

Indigo Dropwing

These shots of a male Indigo Dropwing were taken in Kandy. I found it flying around near the swimming pool and noticed that it kept settling in the same place at the edge of the water. It allowed me to get quite close to photograph it but I was limited by the 1.4 meter minimum focusing distance of the lens. More images and info inside. 

The Indigo Dropwing (Trithemis festiva) is an Asian species which is found near flowing water. They are frequently seen on rocks or on vegetation near water ways guarding their territory. Mature males are entirely dark overlaid with a fine whitish pruinescence. Young males look similar to females sporting extensive yellow patches on their abdomen. Females have dark patches at the wing tips and lack the amber spot at the base of their hind wings.

The Indigo Dropwing is often mistaken with the Restless Demon (Indothemis limbata) because both of them are dark blue in colour and they are both similar in size. The orange streaks on the abdomen distinguish it from the Restless Demon which also has dark wing tips.

 

All the images on this post were taken with a Canon 7D body and the 100-400mm lens. It's a good lens for macro work but the only drawback is the nearest focusing distance of 1.4 meters.

Embekke Devalaya - Kandy

Embekke Devalaya (temple), which is famous for its elaborate wood carvings, was built in the 14th century during the reign King Wickremebahu III who ruled in Gampola from 1357 to 1374. UNESCO has identified these carvings as "the finest products of woodcarvings to be found in any part of the world". Many of the carvings depict legends which describe the origin of the devalaya. More images and info after the jump.

The temple was supposed to have been built by queen Henakanda Bisobandara in association with a drummer named Rangama. This temple, dedicated to Kataragama deviyo (god), is supposed to have been housed in a three story building which no longer exists. Currently, only the drummer's hall and the dancing hall remain besides the temple itself. Each of the 32 columns in the drummers' hall, shown in the first image, have square carvings on all four sides. The columns end in a carving designed on a leaf (second image above). Every carving on the columns is different and it is believed that they were created by an artisan named Devendra Mulachari. Some of the square shaped carvings found on the columns can be seen below. Click images for larger versions.

 

 

The carvings found on the roof are also in good condition and the intricate details are still visible. The shot below is of one of the beams which appears between the two rows of columns on either side of the drummers' hall. The midday light helped define the detail in all the carvings. 

 

The roof of the Embekke Devalaya is a masterpiece in classic carpentry. The "Madol Kurupuwa", a wooden pin, is used to hold together 26 rafters at the hipped end of the roof. The pin is shown in the image below. 

The doors which lead into the main devalaya itself have two big brass locks. The first door is made of a dark heavy wood. The inner door is covered with a painting. 

  

The bells of the devalaya can be found between these two doors. I was unable to photograph the inner sanctum of the devalaya as it was closed when we got there. 

Legend of the Embekke Temple

In 14th century Sri Lanka there was a small village named Araththanna which was famous for producing dancers and drummers. In this village lived a drummer named Rangama who had a skin disease. He tried every possible medicine to try and rid himself of the skin disease but was unable to do so. He then decided to make the pilgrimage to Katharagam, in the southern part of Sri Lanka, to ask the god of Katharagama to cure him of his illness, promising to make the pilgrimage annually if he was successful. His illness was then cured and, as promised, he made the annual trip to Katharagama for several years.

After many years Rangama realised that he could not physically make the long journey to Katharagama and on his last pilgrimage, he prayed that he could no longer make his annual journey as he was too old. The god of Katharagama then spoke to him in his dreams and told him that in a few days a miracle would occur and gave him instructions on what he was to do.

There was a flower garden named Ambakka which belonged to queen Henakanda Bisobandara. A few days after Rangama returned from the south,  a gardener was trying to remove a "Kaduru" tree from the garden and he noticed that a stream of blood was flowing from where he had cut the tree. When Rangama heard of this, he went to the garden and started performing the rituals as instructed by god Katharagama. Rangama built a small temple around the tree and ever since it has been referred to as the Ambakka (Embekke) Devalaya.

When the King heard of this, he built a three story temple on the land and gave land and elephants as gifts to the temple.  Some of the queen's jewellery was also give to the temple as a gift.

To this day, the drummer's descendants are said to perform rituals at the temple.  

Views from the verandah

I hadn't been up to our place near Kandy, in central Sri Lanka, for over three years and I was determined to go up there for a couple of days in January, when I was last at home. Read on for more images and details of how they were taken.

Our place is up in the hills beyond the Peradeniya University. It's fairly high up from the nearest village and  therefore we don't have too many neighbours (thank God). Above us is a forest reserve which is home to Black Eagles, Wild Boar, Muntjac Deer and an abundance of bird life. Needless to say, I love getting up there and spending a few days away from the city. 

From the house we see layer after layer of mountain ranges stretching away for miles. Some of the prominent land marks that you can see include Adams Peak, Bible Rock, the Mahaweli and the Kotmale power station. I've been planning to create a panoramic image of the view but I don't have a decent wide angle lens to capture the required images... yet. The best time to photograph the view, in my opinion, is very early morning or at sunset. Mist rolls into the valleys during the night and early morning, and at these times, only the peaks of the mountains are visible. The early morning light is great for photography. The whole place looks like a chain of islands in a massive, swirling sea. During sunset, the sky is stained with shades of orange, pink and deep purple-blue. The light at that time of the day defines and separates the different mountain ranges.      

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't the best while we were up there in mid January. It either rained in the evenings or was just very gloomy. The clouds were fairly low and as a result the sunsets were not as vibrant as usual. However, the dark clouds with the sun shining through did make an interesting sky line. Since the light didn't really add anything to the images I decided to convert them into black and whites. 

I'm still not sure if these images "work" or not so please let me know what you think of them in the comments.

Both images were taken with the Canon 7D and the 100-400mm lens.

Lankathilaka Viharaya, Kandy

 

The Lankathilaka temple, situated on the outskirts of Kandy, is one of the finest examples of Sinhalese temple architecture. More info and images inside.

 

The temple was completed in 1334 by king Buwanekabahu IV, who had chosen Gampola as his kingdom. The five kings who ruled from Gampola made significant contributions to art and culture. The Gadaladeniya and Embekke temples, which will be covered in future posts, are also from this period.

 

The Image house contains devales to the four guardian deities of the island, each with his consort. A Pali inscription can be found on the rock which the temple is built on and it is supposed to be a record of the valuable gifts given to craftsman who worked on the temple. The exterior of the image house is decorated with sculpted elephants and other decorative designs.

 

The arched passage of the image house leads into an inner sanctum which is decorated with floral designs. The two side walls and the ceiling are covered with paintings and the inner sanctum contains a huge statue of the seated Buddha under a "Makara Thorana". I was unable to go into the image house as the priest was not around and the image house was locked. However, I was able to take a few shots of the artwork that decorated the main door to the image house.

 

 

The shot below shows the wooden carvings found on one of the windows.

Yellow-fronted Barbet

The Yellow-fronted Barbet is an endemic bird found in the well wooded area in the wet lowlands and mid hills of Sri Lanka. More info and images after the jump.

This is the second largest Barbet found on the Island (the Brown-headed Barbet is the largest). It is unmistakeable with its yellow forehead and blue face. It frequents tall trees but descends to lower branches, especially when these are in fruit. It mainly feeds on fruit but is known to occasionally eat insects as well.

The breeding season is during February and May with a secondary season form August to September. The nest hole is similar to that of the Brown-headed Barbet but is slightly smaller in size. The cavity is oval in shape and, if new, is 8 inches in depth. The Yellow-fronted barbet uses its nest for several years running, digging it deeper each year.

I came across this bird at our place in Kandy where it was seen feeding on these flowers at around 7.00 am every morning. Getting the shots above wasn't hard. All I had to do was make sure I was around at the correct time. To capture these images I increased the ISO to 640 with the hope of getting a faster shutter speed. In hind sight, I should have used an ISO of 400 and a bit of fill flash. This would have reduced the noise. Something to keep in mind for next time....

Other images / info on Barbets

• Brown Headed Barbet
• Yellow Fronted Barbet
• Crimson Fronted Barbet