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by Nimal Wijayatunga

Situated between two rows of hills about four kilometres off Kuruwita town, is the famous 'Batadomba Lena' majestically hiding many secrets of the origin of "Balangoda Ape-Man" or "Balangoda-Manawaya" whose fossilized skeleton was discovered in a 30 feet deep pit sometime ago.

Batadomba Lena is regarded as the second largest natural cave in the Province of Sabaragamuwa.

With the, discovery of Balangoda Ape Man's skeleton from a pit excavated by the Department of Archaeology inside the large-main cave the name 'Batadomba Lena became famous as the fossil-carbon-analysis was done in California, USA.

According Scientists, there the skeleton is more than 28,000-years-old. The route to Batadomba Lena begins from Kuruwita town situated along the Colombo-Ratnapura main road.

One has to travel along the Kuruwita-Eratna road about one kilomitre to Ekneligoda from where there is another one mile walk along 'Guruluwana' road to a hamlet called Sapugastenna.

From there, the most difficult part of the journey begins climbing the foot path by the boundary of the hill 'kirigalkanda' through a forest.

The rock where the cave is nearly 300 feet tall and 400 feet long. Inside the main cave, visitors have to be cautious of snakes. The most common poisonous snake there is 'Maapila'.ther's also snake danger, the bad smell of the bats inside the cave is unbearable.

There are three other sub caves situated parallel to the main cave. One is called 'Ananda-Lena' where a Buddha statue is kept in a glass case. Next to this there is another cave where an absent-minded Buddhist monk who lived there alone for sometimes is said to have committed suicide by setting fire to his robes after throwing kerosene oil all over the body in the year 1986.

On the top of the large rock bushes, trees and creepers of different sizes adds an extra beauty to the environment. Several small man-made caves also can be seen around the cave complex used by the jungle-habitat Bhikkus.

K. G. Jayantha, the cave guard said that apart of the skeleton of Balangoda ape man some other ancient fossilized instruments used by the ape-man were also discovered from the pit by the Archaeological Department.

"Parts of a stone-bow, some drilled sea-shells, animal skin straps as well as a needle-like instrument were among the findings", he explained.

In the year 1949, a skull of a rhinoceros was also found from a gem-pit at Gonapitiya paddy field close to Batadomba-cave.

Lack of information related to the route to Batadomba lena as well as the difficulty in knowing the data in connection with the excavation work carried to discover the skeleton has become a loss for the foreign and local visitors to this place of historical importance.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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