Sigiriya

Sigiriya Rock Fortress Sri Lanka

What is Sigiriya ?

Sigiriya is an ancient rock fortress and palace built by King Kashyapa during the reign of 473 – 495 which is standing majestically 660 feet straight up. It is located in the northern Matale district near the town of Dambulla in central province of Sri Lanka. The word Sigiriya or the Sinhagiri means the Lion’s Rock where you have to climb up 1200 steps before you reach the Lion Rock Fortress on top of Sigiriya. There are several platforms that break up the steps and allow for a little break if you need it. Today Sigiriya rock fortress is one of the most famous Archeological Treasure and UNESCO named Sigiriya rock as a World Heritage in 1982 under the name “Ancient City of Sigiriya Sri Lanka”.

THE SIGIRI FRESCOES

    The walls of Sigiriya are believed to have originally been plastered and painted white to convey the idea of purity, similar to the manner in which the city of gods was depicted in the ancient world. But Kashyapa was more intent on creating a magnificent spectacle that would stand out and capture the attention of anyone who visited the citadel.

The king possessed a harem of more than 500 concubines, who were admired for their sensuous and exotic beauty. Therefore, it is widely believed that they were the inspiration for the golden skinned, bare breasted women that make up the ‘Sigiri Frescoes’. The intricate and lavish gem studded jewellery that adorns the women in these paintings also suggest that they may have been members of the royal family, namely Kashyapa’s daughters. There is also a belief that the paintings depict apsaras, or goddesses, that are emerging from the heavens to bless the citadel. This is corroborated by similar depictions in the Ajanta Caves of the Gupta period in Maharashtra, India. Some historians even believe that the drawings are really depictions of celestial nymphs who are believed to have been protectors of the Rock Fortress. What we see now is just part of what was supposed to be one of the oldest and most intricate picture galleries in the ancient world.

 

The Architecture of Sigiriya Lion Rock 

    This fortified garden city of Sigiriya rock fortress is an exceptional master piece of ancient urban planning / landscape & architecture / construction technology /exceptional hydraulic engineering & management / ancient fine art with unique harmony between nature and human imagination and all these living examples proved that it was a Well Planned City & Palace in 5th Century AD. Sigiriya rock fortress is recognized as one of the best preserved surviving ancient urban sites in Asia from the 1st millennium or simply it’s a Living Museum. Sigiriya World Heritage Site is versatile and many-faceted appeal, and it is one of Sri Lanka’s ancient political capitals and Sri Lanka’s most sensational heritage site.

THE BOULDER GARDENS AND TERRACE GARDENS

    Beyond the Water Gardens the main path begins to scale up through the unusual Boulder Gardens, constructed out of the huge boulders which lie tumbled around the foot of the rock, and offering a naturalistic wildness as opposed to the neat symmetries of the water gardens. Many of the boulders are notched with lines of fissures — they look rather like rock-carved steps, but in fact they were used as footings to support the brick walls or timber frames of the numerous buildings a which were built against or on top of the boulders – complex to imagine now, although it must originally have made an extremely picturesque sight.

    The gardens were also the centre of Sigiriya’s monastic activity before and after Kassapa: there are approximately twenty rock shelters hereabouts which were used by monks, some containing inscriptions dating form between the third century BC and the first century AD. The caves would originally have been plastered and painted, and traces of this ornamentation can still be seen in a few places; you’ll also notice the dripstone ledges which were carved around the entrances in many of the caves of to prevent water from running into them. The Deraniyagala cave, just to the left of the path shortly after it begins to ascend through the gardens (there’s no sign), has a well-preserved dripstone ledge and traces of old paintings including the faded remains of various Apsara figures very similar to the famous Sigiriya Damsels further up the rock. On the opposite side of the main path up the rock, a side path leads to the Cobra Hood Cave, named for its strange decoration and a very faint inscription on the ledge in archaic Brahmi script dating from the second century BC.

Follow the path up the hill behind the Cobra Hood Cave and up through “Boulder Arch No.2” (as it’s signed), then turn left to reach the so-called Audience Hall, where the wooden walls and roof have long since disappeared, but the impressively smooth floor, created by chiseling the top off a single enormous boulder, remains, along with a five-meter-wide “throne” also cut out for a hall, though it’s more likely to have served a purely religious function, with the empty throne representing the Buddha. The small cave on the path just below the Audience Hall retains colorful splashes of various paintings on its ceiling (though now almost obliterated by contemporary graffiti) and is home to another throne, while a couple of more thrones can be found carved into nearby rocks.

Carry on back to the main path, then head on up again as the path – now a sequence of walled – in steps – begins to climb steeply through the terrace gardens, a series of rubble – retaining brick and limestone terraces that stretch to the base of views back down below.

The Mirror Wall

The ‘Mirror Wall’, was once so highly polished, that when the king walked along the drip ledge, he could see his own reflection in it. Subsequently, the wall functioned as a stone tablet, recording the thoughts and experiences of those who came to visit the fabled rock. Prof. Senarat Paranavitana’s work in deciphering these inscriptions is foremost. The poetry and prose carved into the ‘Mirror Wall’ describe the culture, lifestyle and environs of Sigiriya. Referred to as ‘Kurutu Gee’, these words have fascinated both history and literature enthusiasts throughout the generations.

Over 1000 unique words stemming from the main languages of the country – Sinhala and Tamil, have been identified from these writings. However, there are also prose written in the ancient language of Sanskrit, showing that visitors from the main continent ventured to see this sentinel. More than 850 individuals’ names have been inscribed on the wall, of which 12 of them were women.

The importance of the Sigiri ‘Kurutu Gee’ in Sri Lankan culture cannot be stressed enough as these act as primary sources to understand just how life was back in the day, and how this rock functioned after the death of King Kashyapa.

An intriguing passage of prose that depicts the beauty of the Sigiri Frescoes reads:

Wet with cool dew drops

fragrant with perfume from the flowers

came the gentle breeze jasmine and water lily

dance in the spring sunshine

side-long glances of the golden hued ladies stab into my thoughts

heaven itself cannot take my mind

as it has been captivated by one lass

among the five hundred I have seen here.

Another reads:

Like a Luffa flower entangled in a blue Clitoria flower, the golden-complexioned one who stood with the lily-coloured one will be remembered at eventide

A poem that embodies the joy of the traveller venturing through the rock fortress reads:

May you remain for a thousand years, like the figure of the hare the King of the gods painted on the orb of the moon, though that to my mind be like a single day

The ingenious planning and building of the ‘Mirror Wall’, allowed visitors to access the Boulder Gardens or climb up to the Lion’s Paws from it.

The Lion Staircase

The Lion’s Paws are all that is left of the magnificent Lion Staircase which was the only entrance to the palace at the summit. Chiselled out of the natural rock itself, it is believed to have depicted a crouching sphinx-like lion that guarded the entrance, intimidating visitors who dared venture forth. The fingernails on the lion’s paws, which are as tall as a man, provide a clear indication of the size of the gargantuan feature that gave Sigiriya (Lion Rock) its name.

From this point of the citadel, it is possible to see the splendid views Kashyapa would have enjoyed during his reign. A royal view, now to be enjoyed by all who brave the summit.

Vihanga Prabhashana