Mihintale 1896

This is a photograph of Mihintale in Sri Lanka, taken by Henry William Cave in the late 19th or early 20th century. Cave was a British author and photographer known for his extensive documentation of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, during the British colonial period. The image captures a landscape imbued with layers of history and cultural significance. Mihintale is revered as the place where Buddhism was introduced to Sri Lanka, making it a site of pilgrimage and national identity. Cave's photographs, while visually stunning, also reflect the power dynamics inherent in colonial representation. As a Western photographer, he frames the landscape through a lens that both admires and exoticizes. How might the act of photographing a sacred place transform its meaning, both for the colonizer and the colonized? And how do we negotiate the complex legacies of such images today?