Sri Padaya

Sri Pada: Buddhism’s Most Sacred Mountain

Sri Pada soars upwards to a height of 7360 feet from the very edge of the central highlands and viewed from the southwest looks like a pinnacle on a verdant castle wall. For about half the year it is often hidden in cloud and the torrential rains that rush down its steep sides during this time makes visiting the summit almost impossible. This abundant precipitation feeds Sri Lanka's four main rivers which all have their sources on the mountain's lower slopes. Over the aeons these rains have also washed nearly a thousand feet of rock and soil off Sri Pada and its surrounding peaks and the alluvial deposits that extend from its foot towards the south and east are one of the world's richest gem mining areas. Here are found rubies, topaz, garnets, cats eye, aquamarine, Alexanderite and sapphires ranging in colour from yellow to blue. Like the mountain itself many legends are told about these gems. The Arabs believed they were the crystallised tears Adam and Eve shed when they were expelled from Paradise. The story the Chinese told about them was even more beautiful. They said that when the Buddha visited Sri Lanka he found the people poor and given to theft. So out of compassion and to turn them to virtue he sprinkled the island with sweet dew which crystallised into gems thus freeing the people from poverty by giving them a commodity to trade with.
Sri Pada is surrounded by exceptionally dense forest, much of it now making up the Peak Wilderness Sanctuary. This is not the lush steamy cover one usually associates with the tropics but a cool misty forest similar to that found in the lower reaches of the Himalayas. Giant trees hang heavy with moss, rhododendrons put forth large red blossoms and rare orchids like the Regal and the Chandraraja grow in the dark moist loam.In the past Sri Pada's forests were the home of numerous elephants and the animal was so identified with the mountain that it came to be seen as the mount of Samanta. In 1840 Major Skinner, the famous engineer, actually reported finding elephant droppings on the very top of Sri Pada early one morning. But with the establishment of the coffee plantations in the 1850's these majestic creatures were completely shot out although pilgrims still occasionally report seeing Samanta's white elephant as they make the nocturnal journey up the mountain. Of the two animals still associated with Sri Pada the first is the butterfly.Today the jungle besides the paths that lead up the mountain is cut back at the beginning of each the pilgrim season thus lessening this problem.
However it not Sri Pada's geological particularities or natural beauty that has made it so famous but something else altogether. On the summit of the mountain is a boulder with a mysterious mark or indentation on it resembling a human footprint. Since from perhaps as early as the first century BCE the Sinhalese believed this mark to be the footprint of the Buddha himself. According to the Mahavamsa, the Buddha visited the island three times. During his last sojourn he flew from Kelaniya to Sri Pada, leaving the impression of his foot on the mountain top, and then left for Dighavapi. Whether the Buddha's journey to Sri Lanka is true or not as a metaphor it is very true. The Buddha's teaching has left its impression on every aspect of Sri Lankan life as surely and as indelibly as if it had been engraved in stone. Legend says that after King Valagambha was driven from his throne in 104 BCE, he lived in a remote forest wilderness for 14 years. On one occasion while stalking a deer he was led up the mountain and discovered the sacred footprint. The gods revealed to him that it had been made by the Buddha. The legend of the Buddha's visits to Sri Lanka is not, it should be noted, confined to the Theravada tradition. The Lankavatara Sutra, the seminal text of the Ch'an and Zen schools of Buddhism, was supposedly taught by the Buddha while residing on Malayagiri, "which shone like a jewel lotus, immaculate and shining in splendour". The Chrakasamvara Tantra mentions the Buddha flying to Lanka and leaving the impression of his foot on a mountain which it doesn't name but which at least one contemporary Tibetan scholar has mistakenly identified as Mount Kailash in the western Himalayas. While Buddhists knew that this mysterious footprint had been made by the Buddha in succeeding centuries other faiths, Islam, Hinduism and Christianity were to lay claim to it also. A 15th century Chinese work says the footprint was made by Pwan-ko, the primordial man of Chinese mythology. South Indian Hindus believed it had been made by Shiva. Moses of Chorene never saw the footprint himself but proclaimed that it had been made by the Devil. The Portuguese could never quite make up their minds whether it had been made by Adam, St Thomas or the eunuch of Candace, Queen of Sheba, although they never doubted its veracity. Ibn Batuta mentioned that sometime before his visit the Chinese had come and cut the mark of the big toe out of the rock and enshrined in a temple in China "where it is visited by people from the farthest parts of the land". An early Thai king sent monks to Sri Lanka to make an impression of the footprint and then had copies made in bronze and distributed all around his kingdom. (see above: copy of the Buddha's Footprint from Sri Pada, Sukhodaya style, 14th century). The famous statue of the Buddha from Sukhodaya with its beautiful flowing lines, does not depict him walking, as is commonly supposed, but him making the mark of his foot on Sri Pada.
Macro Polo did not visit Sri Lanka specifically to make a pilgrimage to Sri Pada; he was on a diplomatic mission for Kublai Khan at the time, although he was the earliest European to leave a reasonably accurate account of it. "In this island there is a very high mountain, so rocky and precipitous that the ascent to the top is impracticable, as it is said, excepting by the assistance of iron chains employed for the purpose. By means of these some persons attain the summit, where the tomb of Adam, our first parent, is reported to be found. Such is the account given by the Saracens. But the idolaters assert that it contains the body of Sogomon Barchan ( Sakyamuni Buddha), the founder of their religious system, and whom they revere as a holy personage". Some 35 years after Marco Polo, Friar Odoric of Postenau returning to Europe from China broke his journey in Sri Lanka to make a pilgrimage to the sacred mountain. While climbing up he was shown the famous Fountains of Paradise, said to have been formed by the tears of Adam and Eve. However, the good friar was not impressed. The fountains looked to him like ordinary mountain springs and although the water was crystal clear, it was full of leeches. In about 1348 another European monk, the legate of Pope Clement V1 to China, Goivanni de Marignolli, climbed Sri Pada. He wrote of it, "It is a pinnacle of surpassing height, which, on account of the clouds, could rarely be seen; but it lighted up one morning just before the sun rose, so that they beheld it like the brightest flame. It was the highest mountain on the face of the earth and some thought that Paradise existed there". Coming from his cold gloomy medieval cloister to the eternal spring of Sri Lanka, de Marignolli had no difficulty believing that Paradise was nearby but he was not one to swallow everything he was told. He estimated that Paradise was in fact 40 miles further north of the mountain. The climate of religious tolerance in Sri Lanka was also very different to what de Marignolli was used to. "The Buddhist monks on the mountain and elsewhere are very holy, though they have not the Faith... They welcomed me into their monasteries and treated me as one of their own".
The area of the summit of the peak is 72 feet long and 54 broad, and is enclosed by a parapet wall five feet high... in the middle of this area is a large rock of Kabooe or iron-stone upon which is the mark of Adam's left foot, called Sri Pada by the Singhalese; but it requires a great deal of help from imagination to trace it out. This sacred footprint is covered over with a small building formed of the most durable wood 12 feet long, 9 broad and 4 to the tiles with which it is surmounted. Upon the inside it is enclosed by a frame of copper fitted to its shape, and ornamented with numerous jewels set in four rows, but not of the best or most precious gems the island has been known to produce, for to me they looked very like glass. We were not, I regret to say ,provided with an 'Union Jack' but we fired three volleys, to the great astonishment of the Buddhists as a memorial to them that a British armed party had reached the summit... Sound lungs and hard feet are indispensable to the performance of such a trip, for in many places we had climbed barefoot over the iron-stone. As to palankins, they are quite out of the question. There may be some risk in ascending Adam's Peak in heavy rain but surely not in fine weather".
Hindu reverence for Sri Pada and its sacred footprint was mainly confined to South India and even there does not seem to have been very strong or widespread. Ibn Batuta was accompanied on his pilgrimage by four Hindu yogis who went yearly, four Brahmins and ten companions of the king of Jaffna, indicating that at least in the 14th century it was popular with Hindus living in the northern part of Sri Lanka. Hindus actually controlled the shrines on the sacred mountain at one time. In 1581 the crown prince of Kandy murdered his father and proclaimed himself King Rajasinghe I. When he asked the Buddhist monks how he could expunge the evil kamma he had made they, to their credit, told him that like everyone else he would have to take responsibility for his own actions. This was not what he wanted to hear. The brahmin priests on the other hand were only to willing to perform a puja to help the king ease his guilty conscience and so he converted to Hinduism. The Buddhist monks were driven off Sri Pada, it was handed to the brahmin priests and they administered it for the next 160 years.
The most famous such work is the Sumantakutavannana, a Pali poem composed in the 13th cent by Veheda Thera. Some twenty of the poems' verses are devoted to praising the mountains silvan beauty. The Salalihini Sandesa (15th cent) is a similar work but in Sinhalese while the Suvul Sandesa (16th cent) is a poem beseeching Samanta to protect Sri Lanka and her king. Sri Pada often figures in the Sanskrit literature of India. The Anargharaghava, a 9th century retelling of the Ramayana, has Rama in his magic chariot flying back to Ayudha pointing towards the south and saying to Sita, "There appears to view the Island of Simhala, a blue lotus arising from the ocean, made even more beautiful by the filaments of the Mount of Jewels". There is a delightful verse in the Sukitmuktavali where gems from the foot of the mountain, about to be carried away to be made into king's crowns and queen's diadems bid a cheerful farewell to the mountain. In the 9th century play the Balaramayana, the king of Sri Lanka is called "the Lord of the Mountain of Jewels, Rohana". The Rajataragani, written in Kashmir in the 11th century, includes a tale about the mythological King Meghavahana who came to Sri Lanka to receive homage from Vibhisana the lord of the Raksasas and then climbed Sri Pada. In other works Sri Pada is used as an exotic destination or a colourful backdrop. In The Thousand and One Nights, written in Persia between the 9th and 13th centuries, it is one of the strange places that Sinbad visited. "I made, by way of devotion, a pilgrimage to the place where Adam was confined after his banishment from Paradise, and had curiosity to go to the top of the mountain". In the Tamil epic Manimekela one character describes her pilgrimage to Sri Lanka "where stands the lofty Mount Samanta, on whose summit are the footprints of the Buddha, that ship of righteousness for traversing the ocean of birth and death". The sacred mountain also gets a mention in the old Malay version of the Ramayana, in Buzurg Ibn Shahriyar's Book of the Wonders of India and even in the 14th century apocryphal Voyages and Travels of Sir John Manderville. Sri Pada's most recent appearance in literature is in Arthur C Clarks science fiction novel Fountains of Paradise.

Pothgul Vihara

Polonnaruwa

taking inspiration from their Hindu conquerors the resurgent Sinhalese kings moved to this city, triggering an amazing artistic renaissance.Polonnaruwa was the medieval capital of Sri Lanka. In its prime, the city was protected by 6km (3.5miles) of strong encircling walls. Strategically it commanded all the crossing over the Mahaweli River, guarding the increasingly powerful southern Province, Ruhuna. In AD 993 the Cholas looted and burnt Anuradhapura and used Polonnaruwa as their military base for 77years, resulting in an interesting blend of south Indian Hindu culture and Sinhalese Buddhist art and architecture.

Around the Tank

"Not even a drop of water from the rain must flow into the ocean without being made useful to man", declared the Grand Monarch parakrambbahu when he constructed the Parakrama Samudra which covers an area of 2,430 hectares (6,000acres). This monumental feat of engineering had 11 channels leading water off in different directions to feed a network of irrigation canals and minor tanks. The government run rest house is right on the shoreline of the tank, the rooms opening onto a veranda with beautiful views.
Close to the rest house is the Archaeological Museum. it may not look impressive but it is interesting for its superb chola bronzes and other artefacts. On apromontory by the lake is the Dipuyyana (the Island Garden) which was Parakramabahu's royal retreat. The chronicle compares its splendour to the Versailles palace of Louis XIV. The surrounding water must have kept the gardens wonderfully cool through out the year.
Among the pleasures to be enjoyed in the gardens were the baths, a collection of circular and square pools which were fed by underground pipes from the tank. Parakramabahu's instrusive successor built the windowlwss stone Mausoleum next door, now an uninspiring sight due to neglect, although some of its red, white and blue painted plaster is still intact. Even less remains of a wooden columned Audience Hall that was built beside it. However, one of Nissanka malla's buildings is of great importance, though not for its architectural merit. The columns of his royal Council Chamber were inscribed with the positions to be occupied by the King's Council, following a strict protocol, giving us a picture of the political scene at the time.There is an island pavilion in the lake where brick couches provide rest and views across the vast expanse of water. On a peninsula projecting from the northern shore is the Summer Palace of Parakramabahu, which has become home to a variety of birds.
A detour south along the bund to see the Pothgul Vihara (southern Monastery) is worthwhile particularly if you like puzzles. Here you will find four small dagobas surrounding a circular brick building on the central platform. The acoustics of this enigmatic building are excellent, even without the corbelled roof that it would have had when it was built. This has led to a suggestion that it was a lecture theatre where the tents of Buddhism were read aloud. A little further north there is further evidence to back up this theory.
The Statue of Parakramabahu / Agastaya is a huge 12th - century rock sclpture of great quality. A bare foot figure, clad only in a sarong, steps forward out of the wall of rock from which he was carved. His broad face, with its beard and walrus moustache has a look of seriousness softened by spirituality, as he holds a sacred manuscript from which he appears to be reading aloud. It seems certain that he is a religious teacher, which would coincide nicely with the theories about the function of the Pothgul Vihara.

Kataragama devaleya

Kataragama is a common place of worship for both Buddhists and Hindus. Hindu devotees fill the precincts of the Kataragama devale to participate in the numerous offerings and seek the protection of God Skanda, to whom the devale has been dedicated. Buddhists too partake in the 'poojas' offering 'pooja vatti' – mainly filled with fruits, and also conduct their own devotions at the Bo tree and the temple within the devale premises. There has always been a close relationship between Buddhist and Hindu faiths to the extent that in most Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka, there are also devales dedicated to different deities.
Close to the Kataragama devale is Kiri Vehera, the imposing stupa built in the 1st century B.C., which the Buddhists venerate as one of the sixteen places in Sri Lanka visited by the Buddha.
According to the legend, King Dutugemunu (161 – 137 B.C.), who unified the country having won the war with Elara, the South Indian king ruling in Anuradhapura, was the first patron of Kataragama. It is said that he had made a vow to construct a shrine in honour of God Skanda if he succeeded in winning the war against the South Indian invaders. He kept to his promise and built the shrine which then dates back to the 2nd century B.C. God Skanda is considered Sri Lanka's guardian deity and is identified as one who can bring prosperity and protection.
As he is described in the popular Sinhala verse – 'Muhunu sayaki – ath dolasaki – Mayura pita vaahane' – meaning he possesses six faces and twelve hands and his vehicle is the peacock. He is depicted in this form in paintings and drawings.
The offerings to the deity can be made at specific times during which the religious observances are conducted. Devotees gather in numbers with the baskets of fruits in their hands to be handed over to the 'kapurala' (he is addressed as 'kapu mahattaya') – the lay official in charge – and his assistants all clad in white. The offerings are taken inside and a portion is returned for the devotee to consume.
The 'kapurala' applies ash on the forehead of each devotee who also picks up a little coconut oil from the tall brass lamps and applies on the head. Many believe this oil helps to cure illnesses. Many, in fact, collect the oil into small bottles to take home for use later.
Kataragama is one place where the devotees observe strict discipline. This is possibly because in the old days, it was an arduous journey. The area in and around was jungle. Wild animals roamed the countryside. There were hardly any proper roads.
Most devotees walked the distance. In fact, one could not be certain whether he would return home safely. The saying went 'Denagena giyoth Kataragama – Nodena giyoth ataramaga'. (If you know the way you will reach Kataragama – if not, you will be stranded). The result was that devotees developed a feeling of fear.
To get over this fear, the 'nade gura' (head of the pilgrim party) would lay down some strict guidelines. Abstain from eating fish or meat. Be strict vegetarians. Alcohol is forbidden. Above all, guard your tongue – you are going to the 'deviyange rata' – land of the gods. Beware! This code of conduct is followed to this day.
Once you reach Kataragama, all the devotees are advised to take a dip in the Menik Ganga which flows alongside the shrine and cleanse themselves.
They then proceed to the devale clad in white clothes. As you enter the devale premises, it is a common practice to break a coconut on a stone fixed on the soil for the purpose.
Fire-walking is one of the highlights during the Kataragama festival. Hindu devotees perform the act. They walk on a pile of logs which keep burning for around two hours when the embers are evenly spread out to cover an area of around three to four metres in length and about two metres in breadth. Some tend to run or hop along but others walk leisurely to prove that their feet don't get burnt. Often this is to fulfill a vow.
Mild or extreme forms of penance are commonly at Kataragama. It is a common sight to see devotees with silver needles piercing their cheeks and tongue. Some can be seen with a cobra made of silver foil protruding from the mouth.
There are others with small silver spears pierced through the skin in the upper portion of the body. This is in addition to small hooks. Another form of penance is walking on nail hooks.
A not so common sight is a pilgrim hanging on a tall scaffold with eight hooks. The scaffold is made of iron poles and fixed in the shape of two triangles, one placed on top of the other so as to form a diagram of Skanda.

Udawalawe National Park

udawalawe park has more than 600 elephants now & can see leapord although rarely
Uda Walawe National Park is an important national park in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka. The reserve covers 306 km² and was established in 1972 to protect the catchment of the Uda Walawe reservoir. The habitat is open parkland, with some mature teak trees along the river.
This popular reserve has more than 400 wild Asian Elephants, which are relatively easy to see in this open habitat. Udawalawe also has a dozen or so Leopards, although seeing this largely nocturnal carnivore requires considerable luck.There are good numbers of Crocodiles, Golden Jackals, Water Buffalo and Grey langurs amongst other large animals.
The open parkland attracts birds of prey such as White-bellied Sea Eagle,Crested Serpent Eagle, Fish Eagle,Booted eagle, Changeable Hawk Eagle and the wetlands have waders and Painted Storks.
Landbirds are in abundance, and include Indian Roller, Indian Peafowl, Malabar Pied Hornbill, Pied Cuckoo ,
Uda Walawe lies South of the central hills of the island, and it surrounds the man made reservoir of Uda Walawe, which is part of the park. It is a mixture of abandoned teak plantation, scrub jungle & grassland. The dry season is best to watch the many herds of elephant that roam the park; which is usually between May & September.
Almost the entire park is covered with tall, reedy Pohon grass, which grows all year round, except during the months of June and October.
Uda Walawe is a superb place to watch elephants. An estimated 500 elephants in herds to up to 100 live here. One of the reasons is the elephant-proof fence that surrounds the perimeter of the park, which keeps the elephants in and the cattle (and humans) out

Yala National Park

Yala National Park is geographically located in Sri Lanka at latitude 06°16' - 06°42' North and longitude 81°15' - 81°42' East. The Park can be visited via the town of Tissamaharama in the Hambantota District of the Southern Province.
While Block I has good access roads, access to Blocks II and III is limited mainly to dry weather. There are eight Park bungalows all of which are within Yala Block I. Another has been constructed at Katagamuwa Sanctuary, and one more is now ready for occupation in Yala Block IV. Accommodation is available for 8-10 people in each bungalow on the basis of prior reservations with the Department of Wildlife Conservation. Apart from resident visitors occupying the bungalows, a large number of day visitors enter the Park.
The Block I boundaries of the Park, take in 19 kilometers of sea coast in the southeast from Amaduwa to Yala, 19 kilometers from Yala up the Menik Ganga to Pahalahentota, 19 kilometers from Pahalahentota to Bambawa, and 3 kilometers from Bambawa to Palatupana.

Early History
The earliest epigraphic "Brahmi" inscriptions discovered in Sri Lanka and in this region date back to the 2nd century B.C. Prior to this the Indo-Aryan settlers from Northern India as represented,in the legend of Vijaya, were well established and in full control of the area. Edifices of the earliest Buddhist cave monastery type began to be constructed wherever there was human habitation and in suitable rock outcrops, of which there are many in the area. There are to this day innumerable and very interesting remains of cave dwellings from the pre-Christian era."
This region was part of the Rohana (Ruhuna) Kingdom, having an advanced civilization as evinced by remains of dagabas and ancient artificial reservoirs (tanks), built by clever hydrological engineers, to irrigate large extents of cultivable land.
After the 10th century, historical evidence draws attention to the absence of inscriptions later than the 10th century A.D. "Architectural and sculptural remains of the medieval period are absent. It would appear to be a justifiable inference that some sudden de-population of the region occurred. The ancient chronicles supply no information whatsoever and the jungle tide spread covering the past with a mantle of secondary forest. These have matured to the climax stands seen in Yala today.

Sinharaja Rain Forest

Sinharaja rain Forest
Located in south-west Sri Lanka, Sinharaja is the country's last viable area of primary tropical rainforest. More than 60% of the trees are endemic and many of them are considered rare. There is much endemic wildlife, especially birds, but the reserve is also home to over 50% of Sri Lanka's endemic species of mammals and butterflies, as well as many kinds of insects, reptiles and rare amphibians.
Sri Lanka's tropical rain forest, the Sinharaja is a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. One of the few virgin forests left in the world. Visitors are required to obtain permits from the Wildlife Department in order to visit this sanctuary. Streams, springs, rivers, waterfalls, leopard, monkeys, butterflies and moths, rare trees, valuable shrubs and medicinal herbs are all found within its green canopy. A trek along prescribed paths would provide nature lovers with a never to be forgotten experience of sights and sounds.
The largest mammal in the forest is the rarely spotted leopard, also infrequently glimpsed are the rusty spotted and wild fishing cats. Sambhur, barking deer and wild boar browse on the forest floor. The more common troops of purple-faced langur monkeys will chatter and move through the trees above you, but you're more likely to hear them than actually see them. There are also rats, shrews, giant squirrels, porcupines, civets, mongooses, venomous snakes, 20 species of birds and 45 species of reptiles!

The Histroy Of Lion Rock,the Sitadel Of Sigiriya

Nothing in Sri Lanka captures the imagination more than a 200 meter lump of granite that rises starkly above the flat central plains about three and a half hours' drive from Colombo. Sigiriya (say see-gih-REE-yah) has it all -- a blood-stained history full of intrigue, astonishing frescos of bare-breasted maidens painted 15 centuries ago, a wall covered in graffiti that is more than 1,000 years old and, to top it all, Asia's oldest surviving landscape garden.
Dark deeds led to the establishment of Sigiriya as the center of the ancient Sinhalese Kingdom for a period of 18 years in the late 5th Century. The reign of King Dhatusena came to an abrupt end in 477 A.D. when his throne was seized by Kasyapa, his son by a wife of unequal birth.
Kasyapa's action was prompted by the fear that his younger half-brother Mogallan, who was born of the anointed queen, would take over the throne. Kasyapa was convinced that his father was hiding a cache of treasure from him, and demanded that the King reveal where this wealth was hidden. Dhatusena took the young usurper to the bund of the Kalawewa, the greatest of his irrigation works, below which lived a venerable monk who had been his teacher and companion of many years. There, the old King pointed, was the sum of all his wealth. In a fit of pique, Kasyapa ordered the old man to be walled up alive and naked in his own tomb. Meanwhile, Mogallan survived an assassination attempt by his brother and fled to India to raise an army. Paranoia, arrogance and delusions of divinity drove Kasyapa to leave the traditional Sinhalese capital of Anuradhapura and construct his palace on the peak of Sigiriya Rock, a perfect lookout which could be easily defended; a huge lion was carved out of the rock. Seven years after ascending the throne, he moved into his new home.
Visitors to the palace entered via a stone stairway that took them into the lion's mouth and through its throat -- hence Sigiriya's alternative name, "Lion Rock." Only the lion's massive paws remain today, but they indicate how gigantic the rest of the carving must have been. A new stairway has been attached to the side of the rock to allow access to the summit, enabling visitors to stroll around the ruins of the palace and gasp at the panoramic views. Two water tanks, used for bathing and drinking, still fill with rain water, but in Kasyapa's day a sophisticated pumping system was used to fill the tanks from a lake at the foot of the rock.
Sigiriya is approached from the west over a moat that encloses an elaborate water garden that runs up to the foot of the rock. A stone stairway takes visitors past caves and hollows, where early Buddhist monks lived and worshipped, to a gallery half way up the rock which is enclosed by a three-meter high wall. Large sections of the so-called Mirror Wall are still intact, and is here that graffiti artists have inscribed their neat messages, many of them more than ten centuries old and some, alas, partially obscured by the scrawled initials of modern egoists. Most of the ancient graffiti refers to the Sigiriya Maidens, who are to be found up a spiral staircase about 14 meters above the Mirror Wall gallery in a natural pocket in the rock which has been protected for centuries from the rain by an overhang. Nobody knows who painted these amazing frescoes, but the Maidens testify to a highly advanced Sinhalese civilization at a time when Europe was in the Dark Ages. It is not known whether Kasyapa knew of the existence of the beauties hidden just below his eyrie, but what is known is that the King came to a sticky end, perhaps deservedly. In 495, his brother Mogallan at last returned from India with an army of combined Chola and Sinhalese troops behind him and Kasyapa descended from his impregnable stronghold to meet him in battle. At a crucial stage in the battle, the King's elephant balked at a hidden swamp before him and momentarily turned aside, making his troops believe he was retreating. His army broke in confusion, leaving Kasyapa defenseless. Flamboyant to the last, he drew his dagger, slashed his own throat, raised the blade high in the air and sheathed it again before falling down dead. Sigiriya's halcyon days ended with Kasyapa's death. But the grandeur of this astonishing rock lives on.

About Sigiriya

Sigiriya dates back from over 7,000 years ago, through Pre-Historic to Proto-Historic to Early Historic times, then as a rock-shelter mountain monastery from about the 3rd century BC, with caves prepared and donated by devotees to the sangha.
The garden city and the palace was built by Kasyapa 477 - 495 AD. Then after Kasyapa's death it was a monastery complex upto about the 14th century.
The Mahavamsa, the ancient historical record of Sri Lanka, describes King Kasyapa as a parricide, who murdered his father King Dhatusena by walling him up alive and then usurping the throne which rightfully belonged to his brother Mogallana. To escape from the armies of Mogallana, Kasyapa is said to have built his palace on the summit of Sigiriya, but Mogallana finally managed to get to Kasyapa and he committed suicide.
However, there is also another version of the Kasyapa story, related by one of the most eminent historians of Sri Lanka, Prof. Senerat Paranavitana. He claims to have deciphered the story of Sigiry, written by a monk named Ananda in the 15th cent. AD. this work had been inscribed on stone slabs, over which later inscriptions had been written. Till to date no other epigraphist has made a serious attempt to read the interlinear inscriptions.
The two conflicting versions have been the basis for the historical novel Kat Bitha by daya dissanayake, published in 1998. The book won the state literay award for best English novel in 1999.Sigiriya is also the location for Arthur C Clerks 'Fountains of Paradise'.

Sri Lankan architectural tradition is well displayed at Sigiriya, the best preserved city centre in Asia from the first millennium, with its combination of buildings and gardens with their trees, pathways, water gardens, the fusion of symmetrical and asymmetrical elements, use of varying levels and of axial and radial planning.
The Complex consists of the central rock, rising 200 meters above the surrounding plain and the two rectangular precincts on the east (90 hectares) and the west (40 hectares) surrounded by two moats and three ramparts.
The plan of the city is based on a precise square module. The layout extends outwards from co-ordinates at the centre of the palace complex at the summit, with the eastern and western axis directly aligned to it. The water garden, moats and ramparts are based on an 'echo plan' duplicating the layout and design on either side. This city still displays its skeletal layout and its significant features. 3 km from east to west and 1 km from north to south it displays the grandeur and complexity of urban-planning in 5th century Sri Lanka.
Built in the 5 century AC this magnificent complex of geometrically laid gardens, pools, fountains (still working today) as well as oldest surviving murals of maidens has been a palace of the King Kasyapa.

Built in the 5 century AC this magnificent complex of geometrically laid gardens, pools, fountains (still working today) as well as oldest surviving murals of maidens has been a palace of the King Kasyapa.

I hope You are get lot of informations about sigiriya. Hurry Up Come To Srilanka and Watch Sigiriya
Thank You All Of You.