Kataraya

Katâraya (Sinhala: කතරයා) are a unique feature of monastic caves (guhā-vihāra) and cave temples in Sri Lanka. It refers to a drip line or ledge carved around the mouth of a cave shelter to preserve the interiors and meditating monks from rainwater.[1]

This ledge protected the interior of the cave from rain water runoff flowing down the external face of the rock.[2] The donor's name or religious inscriptions were often carved on the face of this ledge.[3][4] These inscriptions have then been used to date when the temples were established. The earliest cave temples have been dated to the Anuradhapura period, around the 2nd century CE.[5] Immediately below the kataraya, a timber framed, terra-cotta tiled, lean-to roof supported on carved wooden pillars or stone columns (kuluna) with wooden brackets (pekada) forming a protected walkway or verandah (pilla) would be erected.[2]

R. L. Brohier in his 1973 work, Discovering Ceylon described it as being a "primeval gutter serving as a run-off for the rain which would otherwise trickle down the rock to its base, making the cave inhabitable during the wet season of the year."[6]

References
  1. Mahadevan, Iravatham (2003). Early Tamil Epigraphy from the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. Harvard University Press. p. 133. ISBN 9780674012271.
  2. De Vos, Ashley (September 1973). "International Symposium and Training Workshop on the Conservation of Adobe". A Survey of the Painted Mud Viharas of Sri Lanka. Lima, Peru: UNESCO Regional Project on Cultural Heritage and Development.
  3. Burrows, Stephen Motnagu (1885). The Buried Cities of Ceylon: A Guide Book to Anuradhapura and Pollonarua : with Chapters on Dambulla, Kalawewa, Mihintale, and Sigiri. A.M. & J. Ferguson. p. 20.
  4. Madhyama Saṃskr̥tika Aramudala (2004). The cultural triangle of Sri Lanka. UNESCO Publishers. p. 140. ISBN 9789231028748.
  5. Coningham, Robin (1999). "Anuradhapura: The British-Sri Lankan Excavations at Anuradhapura Salagha Watta". Archaeopress: 26. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. Brohier, Richard Leslie (1973). Discovering Ceylon. Colombo: Lake House Investments. p. 90.
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