A view of the statue of King Parakrama with a Sinhalese standing beside it to indicate scale (the statue stands about 14 feet high): 'In this rock is a striking statueof King Parakrama carved, like that of the recumbent Buddha, in the solid rock. The monarch, who raised most of the temples and monuments of the city, stands with his back to his great works holding an ola, or palm leaf book, in his hands as if at the end of his glorious reign he had found in the study of the Buddhist scriptures his final consolation.' (Cave 1897, page 120).