SIGIRIYA ROCK
King Kashyapa constructed the ancient rock fortress and palace known as Sigiriya, which towers majestuous 660 feet straight up. In Sri Lanka's central province, it is situated close to the town of Dambulla in the northern Matale district. The Lion's Rock, also known as Sigiriya or Sinhagiri, is where you must ascend 1200 steps before reaching the Lion Rock Fortress at the summit of Sigiriya. There are a number of platforms that divide the steps and give you the option of taking a brief rest if necessary. In 1982, UNESCO designated Sigiriya rock as a World Heritage Site under the name "Ancient City of Sri Lanka," making it one of the most well-known archaeological treasures in existence today.
Sigiriya Lion Rock's architectural design
This fortified garden city of the Sigiriya rock fortress is a remarkable example of ancient urban planning, landscape architecture, construction technology, exceptional hydraulic engineering and management, and fine art with a special harmony between nature and the imagination. All these tangible proofs show that it was a well-planned city and palace in the fifth century AD. The Sigiriya rock fortress, also known as a Living Museum, is one of Asia's best-preserved first-millennium ancient urban sites. The Sigiriya World Heritage Site is one of Sri Lanka's former political capitals and the country's most spectacular heritage site. It has a versatile and multifaceted appeal.
Sigiriya Rock Fortress History
The results of historical research conducted at the location provide proof that Sigiriya's origins date back to prehistoric times. Aligala (Elephant Rock), a monadnock, is located at the foot of Sigiriya Rock on its eastern side. Remains of prehistoric human settlements that existed here around 5,500 years ago have been found in a cave beneath this. Additionally, there is proof of human habitation in this region dating back to the 9th and 10th centuries B.C.
A Buddhist monastery had been established at the Sigiriya rock fortress in the third century B.C. The base of the large rock has so far been home to thirty drip-ledged cave shelters that can house monks. Eight of them have Brahmi script inscriptions with information about cave shelter donations.
King Kasyapa (A.D. 477–495), who chose to make Sigiriya his seat of government, had all the major buildings that can be seen in Sigiriya today built during his reign. Sigiriya, according to renowned archaeologist Prof. Senerath Paranavithana, reflects the sensuality of a pleasure-loving king who based the city on the legend of god Kuvera's Alakamanda. The discovery of Indian and Roman coins and pottery from the Sassanian dynasty of Persia (Iran) in the Sigiriya rock fortress, as well as the similarity of the creation of pleasure gardens to Persian styles, all point to the existence of trade and cultural ties with foreign nations during this brief period.
7th century AD Sigiriya Lion Rock Fortress
But later, in the 6th and 7th centuries A.D., Sigiriya lost its political significance and once more turned into a monastery for Buddhist monks. The drip-ledged cave shelters from the earlier monastic phase were further improved during this time. Additional shrines were built, including a stupa, an image house, and a bodhi tree shrine. Up until the 12th and 13th centuries A.D., the monastic development was still in its second stage.
Sigiriya Rock from the 19th century
Sigiriya was completely forgotten for centuries until the 19th century, when the kings of Kandy used it as a military outpost. Later, Jonathan Forbes, a British military officer, was the one to resurrect Sigiriya from historical obscurity in 1832. The Archaeological Department started conducting archaeological work in Sigiriya in 1894 under the direction of H.C.P. Bell. The Central Cultural Fund took over the task nearly a century later, in 1982, and has been doing so successfully ever since.
Urban Design at Sigiriya Rock
A lion's rock The western precinct of Sigiriya, which covers 90 hectares, and the eastern precinct, which covers 40 hectares, are both fortified precincts. The western region was known as the "royal park area," a symmetrically planned pleasure garden with elaborate water-retention structures and surface and subsurface hydraulic systems. The rectangular area's inner precincts measure roughly 700 meters from east to west and 500 meters from north to south. It is surrounded by three ramparts and two moats.
The eastern region, which is on the opposite side of the Lion Rock in Sigiriya, appears to have been a ceremonial precinct with only a large central pavilion as a permanent structure. Within these walls, Kasyapa and his family led their lives. There are a number of boulder gardens and then terraced gardens that extend ever-increasingly inward from the two precincts before reaching the entrance to the Sigiriya rock. A lengthy passageway leading to the rock starts on the terrace gardens' western side and extends northward along the Mirror Wall to the Lion Platform.
Sigiriya's Water Garden and Landscape and Gardening
The Water Gardens stand out among Sigiriya's noteworthy characteristics. Although the Water gardens initially appear to be a single garden system in concept, there are actually four distinct parts that can be seen in their creation. At the moment, these parts are known as the Water Garden Nos. 1, 2, and 3, as well as the Miniature Water Garden.
Four large ponds in the shape of a "L" are symmetrically arranged in the Water Garden No. 1, creating an island in the center. It is known as "Char-Bagh" and is regarded as a special element in ancient garden designs. The example in Water Garden No. 1 appears to be the oldest example still existing in the modern world. The Fountain Garden is another name for the Water Garden No. 2, which has fountains. This Fountain Garden is bordered on either side by two summer palaces. Visitors will be curious about the water supply used for the fountains.
The summer palaces' moats, which are connected to secret underground channels that cleverly and unobtrusively feed the fountains, are where the solution can be found. The balance and symmetry present in the other garden system sections are absent from Water Garden No. 3, which is situated at a higher elevation and has an asymmetrical layout. The Miniature Water Garden is a miniaturized improvement of the other three garden systems, sort of a micro scale model of the overall idea. The interdependence of the various Water Gardens' components, as well as their overall symmetry and integration. It is a victory that this was accomplished.
Kingdom to colony
The native Sinhalese dynasty, the Moriya, was controlled by Kashyapa I in the fifth century, who also constructed Sigiriya. Up to Kashyapa's defeat in A.D. 495, the formidable castle served as the Sinhalese kingdom's capital. (Watch: An historic palace fortification in Israel overlooks this desolate desert.)
After Kashyapa, dynasties flourished and perished as a result of internal strife and battles between the indigenous Sinhalese and Indian invaders.
Several places, including Polonnaruwa, had the title of capital after Sigiriya. However, total control over Sri Lanka gradually deteriorated by the 12th century. The Rajarata region was abandoned as Sinhalese dominance withdrew to the southwest of the island, and the ancient administrative hubs, notably Sigiriya, began to fade from use.
Due to its location in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka was exposed to European attempts to increase their level of dominance in the area. By the middle of the 1500s, the Portuguese had effectively exploited dynastic rivalries among Sri Lanka's ruling class and were in complete control of most of the island.
The Portuguese were succeeded as colonial rulers by the Dutch a century later; the Dutch were then succeeded by the British in the late 1700s. The last native, autonomous state on the island, the Kingdom of Kandy, joined the British Empire by 1815.
Knowledge is power
George Turnour, a civil worker, arrived on the island during the British colonial era. Turnour, an aristocrat, scholar, and enthusiastic historian, collaborated with a Buddhist monk to translate the Mahavamsa, a fifth-century chronicle written in Sri Lankan Pali, into English. He recognized Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura as the two ancient capitals based on this and other literature.
Turnour also examined the Culavamsa, a later history of Sri Lanka that detailed the reign of King Kashyapa. This Sinhalese prince assassinated his father, King Dhatusena, in the late fifth century and took the kingdom, usurping his brother, who had fled to India. He constructed the castle Sigiriya out of fear of retaliation, but in vain because his brother later defeated Kashyapa and Sigiriya lost its brief reign as the capital.
When Jonathan Forbes, a Scottish officer, became friends with Turnour in 1827 and learned about the legend surrounding Kashyapa and his castle, he made the decision to search for it. He left in 1831 in search of the ancient city's ruins, as predicted by locals.
"The rock of Sirigi [sic],... frowning defiance over the scant fields and the far-extending forest of the surrounding plain," he writes in his memoir, Eleven Years in Ceylon. He could see galleries and platforms carved into the rock as he got closer. Although two members of his company were able to scramble some distance upward, they also moved rocks, "which crashed among the boughs of trees at a great depth below."
Forbes ended the expedition because he was unsure if he had discovered the Sigiriya mentioned in the Buddhist texts. A few years later, when he returned, he followed the moat that encircled the gardens at the base of the rock but refrained from attempting to scale its face. He didn't think the name Sigiriya had anything to do with lions because he couldn't find any evidence to back up that theory.
Fabulous frescoes
British mountaineers finally made it to the summit in 1851, but Harry C.P. Bell, the Archaeological Commissioner of Ceylon, was tasked with surveying the location. The foundation for all subsequent studies has been his survey from the turn of the 20th century.
Bell painstakingly determined the layout of Kashyapa's fantastical city and provided detailed descriptions of the magnificent lion's paw carving at the entrance that Forbes had been unable to see.
Bell's survey lavished attention on the galleries on the rock face in addition to the elaborate water gardens at the base of the rock. Beautiful wall paintings that have become some of the most coveted pieces of Sri Lanka's artistic heritage are used to decorate these. Apsaras, celestial singers and dancers, may be shown in a total of 21 still-existing frescoes. (See also: The world's oldest animal drawing may be found in 40,000-year-old cave art.)
There are well over 1,000 graffiti pieces nearby that were scratched on the rock face by pilgrims and monks who visited the location between the eighth and the thirteenth centuries. When visitors from today read these old messages, they might feel a little uneasy. One of them says, "At Sigiriya, of abundant splendor, situated on the island of [Sri Lanka], we saw, in a happy mood, the rock that captivates the mind of all people who come here."
The Sigiriya rock foreigners entrance
The Sigiriya Rock Fortress is derived from two words - 'Simha' meaning Lion, and 'Giri' meaning Mountain.
The site consists of the beautifully planned fortress, ruined halls, a citadel, the Mirror Wall, and many ancient paintings on the walls called 'Frescoes'.
Beautiful gardens and moats surround this fortress.
King Kashyapa built it after he shifted his capital to Sigiriya.
The entire climb takes about an hour and has the most ethereal looking views of the land below.
The climb is quite steep in some areas and is not recommended for the elderly.
The site opens at 7:00 AM from Monday to Saturday and is easily accessible from nearby towns.
The price is worth it, and you are sure to witness many breathtaking views.
Timings
The site is open from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM from Monday to Saturday.
Entry Fee:
The entry fee is LKR 4500 per person.
Best Time To Visit Sigiriya Rock Fortress
The best time to visit this place is from January to April.
The climate would be pleasant and not too hot.
