Sigiriya
Encyclopedia : S : SI : SIG : Sigiriya
Sigiriya is an archeological site in Central Sri Lanka. It contains the ruins of an ancient palace complex, built during the reign of King Kasyapa (477 – 495 AD). It is one of the seven world heritage sites in Sri Lanka and is one of its most popular tourist destinations.
The Setting
Sigiriya rock is the hardened magma plug from an extinct and long-eroded volcano. It stands high above the surrounding plain, visible for miles in all directions. The rock rests on a steep mound that rises abruptly from the flat plain surrounding it. The rock itself rises 370m and is sheer on all sides, in many places overhanging the base. It is elliptical in plan and has a flat top that slopes gradually along the long axis of the ellipse.
Archeological Remains
The Sigiriya site consists of the remains of an upper palace sited on the flat top of the rock, a mid-level terrace that includes the Lion Gate and the mirror wall with its frescoes, the lower palace that clings to the slopes below the rock, and the moats, walls and gardens that extend for some hundreds of metres out from the base of the rock.
The site is both a palace and fortress. Sufficient remains to provide the visitor with a stunning insight into the ingenuity and creativity of its builders.
The upper palace on the top of the rock includes cisterns cut into the rock that still retain water. The moats and walls that surround the lower palace are still exquisitely beautiful.
The History Of Sigiriya
Sigiriya may have been inhabited through prehistoric times. It was used as a rock-shelter mountain monastery from about the 3rd century BC, with caves prepared and donated by devotees to the Buddhist Sangha. The garden and palace were built by Kasyapa. Following Kasyapa's death, it was again a monastery complex up to about the 14th century, after which it was abandoned. The ruins were discovered in 1907 by British Explorer John Still.
Story of Sigiriya
The Mahavamsa, the ancient historical record of Sri Lanka, describes the Sinhalese King Kasyapa as the son of King Dhatusena. Kasyapa murdered his father by walling him alive and then usurping the throne which rightfully belonged to his elder brother Mogallana. Mogallana fled to India to escape being assassinated by Kasyapa but vowed revenge. In India he raised an army with the intention of returning and retaking the throne of Sri Lanka which was rightfully his. Knowing the inevitable return of Mogallana, Kasyapa is said to have built his palace on the summit of Sigiriya as a fortress and pleasure palace. Mogallana finally arrived and declared war. During the battle Kasyapa's armies abandoned him and he committed suicide by falling on his sword. Chronicles and lore say that the battle-elephant on which Kasyapa was mounted changed the course just to get to a better fighting position/place but the army misinterpreted it as the King fleeing. Thereafter the army abandoned the king altogether. Moggallana returned the capital to Anuradapura and turned Sigiriya into a monastery complex.
The irony of this story is that had Kasyapa stayed inside the high walls of Sigiriya, Mogallana would have never been able to defeat Kasyapa. Some people believe that the years of waiting for an invasion had driven Kasyapa over the edge, some think that Kasyapa had developed a guilty consoncience after what he had done and wanted to fight his brother on an equal level. No matter what, had Kasyapa stayed inside Sigiriya not many medeival armys would have been able to occupy a defended Sigiriya
Alternative stories have the primary builder of Sigiriya as King Dhatusena, with Kasyapa finishing the work in honour of his father. Still other stories have Kasyapa as a playboy king, with Sigiriya a pleasure palace. Even Kasyapa's eventual fate is mutable. In some versions he is assassinated by poison administered by a concubine. In others he cuts his own throat when isolated in his final battle.
Still further interpretations have the site as the work of a Buddhist community, with no military function at all.
A Tour Of The Site
Visitors arrive outside the outer moats, with the rock rising above the trees in the mid distance. Paths through the complex of moats and gardens lead to the foot of the slope. Stone stairways climb the steep slope at the base of the rock, winding through the remains of the lower parts of the palace, reaching a terrace that traverses along the lower edge of the vertical face of the rock. The rock above this terrace, known as the mirror wall, was onc time adorned with frescoes, some of which can still be seen, though unfortunately now much faded. At the end of the terrace beneath the highest part of the rock, the terrace opens out into a substantial courtyard.
From here the climb to the top of the rock is via a modern iron stairway that reaches the rockface through the remains of the original brick gateway, the Lion Gate, now degenerated to a massive pair of brick paws. The ruined paws are all that remain of a huge head and fore paws of a lion, whose open mouth served as the entrance to the royal palace. The route continues around, across and up the cliff face via a rather airy iron staircase, a modern replacement for the original brick stairway, that vanished along with the lion's head during the 1400 years since the palace was constructed.
The stairway ends at the highest point of the rock, the upper palace falls away in gentle tiers towards the opposite end of the rock from this point. The ruins of the palace buildings rise only perhaps half a metre above the surface of the rock, but the extensive works cut into the surface of the rock have endured better.
The Outer Gardens And Moat
The complex is surrounded by an extensive set of walls and man made pools.
The Gardens
The Lower Palace
The Mirror Wall and the Lion Gate
The Top of the Rock
The Mirror Wall And Its Frescoes
John Still in 1907 had observed that; "The whole face of the hill appears to have been a gigantic picture gallery... the largest picture in the world perhaps".The paintings would have covered most of the western face of the rock, covering an area 140 meters long and 40 meters high. There are references in the Graffiti to 500 ladies in these paintings.
See Also
External links
- [The History of the Lion Rock]
- [The Story of Sigiriya]
- [The Mary B. Wheeler Collection, University of Pennsylvania Library]
- [Sigiriya Narratives]
- [The Citadel City]
- [Sigiriya - The Lion Mountain]
- [Sri Lanka Tourist Board - Ancient Cities]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.