"Dambulla cave temple" Dambulla cave temple (Tamil: Tampuḷḷai Poṟkōvil Sinhalese: Dam̆būlū Len Vihāraya, ) also known as the Golden Temple of Dambulla is a World Heritage Site "1991" in Sri Lanka, situated in the central part of the country. This site is situated 148 kilometers east of Colombo and 72 kilometers north of kandy. There are a total of 153 Buddha statues, three statues of Sri Lankan kings and four statues of gods and goddesses. The latter include Vishnu and the Ganesha. The murals cover an area of 23,000 sq ft ( 2,100 square meters) . Depictions on the walls of the caves include the temptation by the demon Mara, and Buddha's first sermon. Prehistoric Sri Lankans would have lived in these cave complexes before the arrival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka as there are burial sites with human skeletons about 2700 years old in this area, at Ibbankatuwa near the Dambulla cave complexes.