Ras wehera Buddha Statue,Sri Lanka
Ras wehera Temple built by king Dewanampiyathissa,King Valagamba and Mahasen.There are 99 caves in the beautiful jungle where 360 Buddhist monk where medetated.There is a Buddhist statue made by stone like Aukana and its Sivura made by natural thread 2000 years before.There also two Vihara Geya like Dambulu Viharaya.There is a buddha statue which is similar to the ‘Aukana Buddha statue’, which has height about 13 meter. And there is a recline statue of Lord Buddha inside the shrine room of the temple which has about 36 feet length. Resvehera has its derivation that the patriarch Bo tree standing there had originated from a sapling that was brought from the Sri Maha Bodhiya in Anuradhapura. As when the Bo sapling was planted there, the rays (halo) of Lord Buddha illuminated around the place. From Aukana to Raswehera
A few 16km away from Galnewa via Meegalewa in Mahaweli System H. Sesuruwa means what is similar, as the Resvehera statue bears similar profiles to the Aukana Buddha statue. But there is a world of difference between the sculpturing structure of these two Buddha statues. While the Aukana Buddha statue is 46 feet high, the Sesuruwa/Resvehera one is 36 feet high. This Resvehera statue is carved into a rectangular frame in the rock boulder itself. The Aukana Buddha statue stands on a stone pedestal in the form of an exquisite lotus symbol. While that of the Resvehera statue stands on a plain rectangular stone pedestal. The symbolic mudras (gestures) depicted here differ from each other. The Aukana Buddha statue has the Ashiva Mudra (giving of a blessing), while in the Resvehera one, the Mudra is in the form of Abhaya Mudra (meaning freedom from fear or fearlessness). For all visual purposes, from the sculptured features on the Resevera Buddha statue it appears that it was left in an unfinished state of sculpturing for some unknown reason.
