The site, where a cool lake breeze blows, is idyllic. The only stone-built Buddhist temple, Nalanda Gedige perfectly echoes the style of South Indian temples. Until the late 1970s, it stood in the middle of rice fields. When a dam on the Mahaweli River flooded the land, the gedige was dismantled and reassembled stone by stone on higher ground. It is also the only shrine on the island to depict an erotic scene.