This imposing Buddha makes the abhaya mudra gesture with his raised right hand, conveying compassionate protection to devotees, while his left hand supports the sweeping fall of the monastic robe (uttarsanga). The monumentality of this icon is exceptional for the period. It provides an important bridge between the great eighth-century late-Anuradhapura-style rock-cut Buddha at Avukana, which it consciously imitates, and the full-bodied, robed figures with stylized water-patterning folds of the successive Kandyan period.
