It is believed that Rangiri Dambulu Vihara was built by King Valagamba (43 – 17 B.C.). According to the folklore a vedda who went hunting had found this cave and had informed the king. It goes on to say that the king had caused to cut the drip-ledges on the brow of the caves and had built the image house of five images, Maha Raja Vihara and Dev Raja Vihara. Only Rajaratatnakara and the palm leaf manuscripts written about this vihara mention that it was built by King Valagamba. The inscriptions of King Nissankamalla (1187- 1196 A.D.)state that King Nissankamalla renovated the vihara, gilt the images and named it the Rangiri Dambulu Vihara. It has been mentioned elsewhere that there were five cave temples, and that the new Maha Vihara was built by King Kirti Sri Rajasimha and the second new temple was built by Dulleve Adikarama in the 18th century. Apart from these, the statues of Kings Valagamba, Nissankamalla, Kirti Sri Rajasimha, the statues of God Upulvan, Goddess Tara, God Natha and God Vishnu are there. All together there are 153 images and can be named as the  Emporium of wall paintings of the Kandyan period in Sri Lanka. The paintings had been done by the artists of the Silagama Tradition.