Sigiriya or Sinhagiri (''Lion Rock'' si, සීගිරිය, ta, சிகிரியா/சிங்ககிரி, pronounced see-gi-ri-yə) is an ancient rock
fortress
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
located in the northern
Matale District
Matale District ( si, මාතලේ දිස්ත්රික්කය, ta, மாத்தளை மாவட்டம்) is a district in Central Province, Sri Lanka. It is one of 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administra ...
near the town of
Dambulla
Dambulla ( si, දඹුල්ල ''Dam̆bulla'', ta, தம்புள்ளை ''Tampuḷḷai'') is a town situated in the north of Matale District, Central Province of Sri Lanka. It is the second largest populated and urbanised centre aft ...
in the
Central Province,
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
. It is a site of historical and archaeological significance that is dominated by a massive
column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...
of rock approximately high.
According to the ancient Sri Lankan chronicle the ''
Cūḷavaṃsa'', this area was a large forest, then after storms and landslides it became a hill and was selected by King
Kashyapa
Kashyapa ( sa, कश्यप}, ) is a revered Vedas, Vedic Sage (philosophy), sage of Hinduism., Quote: "Kasyapa (Rudra),(Vedic Seer)..." He is one of the Saptarishis, the seven ancient sages of the ''Rigveda''. Kashyapa is the most ancien ...
(AD 477–495) for his new capital. He built his palace on top of this rock and decorated its sides with colourful
frescoes
Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster ...
. On a small plateau about halfway up the side of this rock he built a gateway in the form of an enormous lion. The name of this place is derived from this structure; ''Sīnhāgiri'', the Lion Rock (an
etymology
Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...
similar to ''Sinhapura'', the Sanskrit name of
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
, the Lion City).
The capital and the royal palace were abandoned after the king's death. It was used as a Buddhist monastery until the 14th century.
Sigiriya today is a UNESCO listed
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
. It is one of the best preserved examples of ancient urban planning.
History
Historical past
It is likely that the area around Sigiriya may have been inhabited since prehistoric times. There is clear evidence that the many rock shelters and caves in the vicinity were occupied by Buddhist monks and ascetics from as early as the 3rd century BC. The earliest evidence of human habitation at Sigiriya is the Aligala rock shelter to the east of Sigiriya rock, indicating that the area was occupied nearly five thousand years ago during the
Mesolithic Period
The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymously ...
.
Buddhist monastic settlements were established during the 3rd century BC in the western and northern slopes of the boulder-strewn hills surrounding the Sigiriya rock. Several rock shelters or caves were created during this period. These shelters were made under large boulders, with carved drip ledges around the cave mouths.
Rock inscriptions are carved near the drip ledges on many of the shelters, recording the donation of the shelters to the Buddhist monastic order as residences. These were made in the period between the 3rd century BCE and the 1st century AD.
In 477 AD,
Kashyapa I, the king’s son by a non-royal consort, seized the throne from King
Dhatusena
Dhatusena was a king of Sri Lanka who ruled from 455 to 473 AD. He was the first king of the Moriyan dynasty. In some records, he is also identified as Dasenkeli. Dhatusena reunited the country under his rule after twenty six years, defeating t ...
, following a coup assisted by Migara, the King’s nephew and army commander. The rightful heir,
Moggallana
Maudgalyāyana ( pi, Moggallāna), also known as Mahāmaudgalyāyana or by his birth name Kolita, was one of the Buddha's closest disciples. Described as a contemporary of disciples such as Subhuti, Śāriputra ('), and Mahākāśyapa ( pi, ...
, fearing for his life, fled to
South India
South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...
. Afraid of an attack by Moggallana, Kashyapa moved the capital and his residence from the traditional capital of
Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura ( si, අනුරාධපුරය, translit=Anurādhapuraya; ta, அனுராதபுரம், translit=Aṉurātapuram) is a major city located in north central plain of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of North Central ...
to the more secure Sigiriya. During King Kashyapa’s reign (477 to 495 AD), Sigiriya was developed into a complex city and fortress.
Most of the elaborate constructions on the rock summit and around it, including defensive structures, palaces, and gardens, date from this period.
The ''
Cūḷavaṃsa'' describes King Kashyapa as the son of King
Dhatusena
Dhatusena was a king of Sri Lanka who ruled from 455 to 473 AD. He was the first king of the Moriyan dynasty. In some records, he is also identified as Dasenkeli. Dhatusena reunited the country under his rule after twenty six years, defeating t ...
. Kashyapa murdered his father by walling him up alive and then usurping the throne which rightfully belonged to his half-brother Moggallana, Dhatusena's son by the true queen. Moggallana fled to
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
to escape being assassinated by Kashyapa, but vowed revenge. In India he raised an army with the intention of returning and retaking the throne of Sri Lanka, which he considered to be rightfully his. Expecting the inevitable return of Moggallana, Kashyapa is said to have built his palace on the summit of Sigiriya as a fortress as well as a pleasure palace. Moggallana finally arrived, declared war, and defeated Kashyapa in 495 CE. During the battle Kashyapa's armies abandoned him and he committed suicide by falling on his sword.
The ''Cūḷavaṃsa'' and folklore inform us that the battle-elephant on which Kashyapa was mounted changed course to take a strategic advantage, but the army misinterpreted the movement as the king's having opted to retreat, prompting the army to abandon him altogether. It is said that being too proud to surrender he took his dagger from his waistband, cut his throat, raised the dagger proudly, sheathed it, and fell dead. Moggallana returned the capital to Anuradhapura, converting Sigiriya into a Buddhist monastery complex, which survived until the 13th or 14th century. After this period, no records are found on Sigiriya until the 16th and 17th centuries, when it was used briefly as an outpost of the
Kingdom of Kandy.
![Sigiriya Luftbild (29781064900)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Sigiriya_Luftbild_%2829781064900%29.jpg)
Alternative stories have the primary builder of Sigiriya as King Dhatusena, with Kashyapa finishing the work in honour of his father. Still other stories describe Kashyapa as a playboy king, with Sigiriya his pleasure palace. Even Kashyapa's eventual fate is uncertain. In some versions he is assassinated by poison administered by a concubine; in others he cuts his own throat when deserted in his final battle.
Still further interpretations regard the site as the work of a Buddhist community, without a military function. This site may have been important in the competition between the
Mahayana
''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing bra ...
and
Theravada
''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...
Buddhist traditions in ancient Sri Lanka.
In Professor
Senarath Paranavithana's book ''The Story of Sigiriya'', King Dathusena is said to have taken the advice of the Persian Nestorian Priest Maga Brahmana on building his palace on Sigirya. According to Paranavithana, during this period over seventy-five ships carrying Murundi soldiers from Mangalore arrived in Sri Lanka and landed in Chilaw to protect King Dathusena, most of them Christians. King Dathusena's daughter was married to Migara, a Christian and the commander of the Singhalese army.
Archaeological remains and features
![Sigiriya lion gate 04](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Sigiriya_lion_gate_04.JPG)
In 1831 Major Jonathan Forbes of the 78th Highlanders of the British Army, while returning on horseback from a trip to Pollonnuruwa, encountered the "bush covered summit of Sigiriya". Sigiriya came to the attention of antiquarians and, later, archaeologists. Archaeological work at Sigiriya began on a small scale in the 1890s.
H.C.P. Bell
Harry Charles Purvis Bell, CCS (21 September 1851 – 6 September 1937), more often known as HCP Bell, was a British civil servant and the first Commissioner of Archaeology in Ceylon.
Early life
Born in British India in 1851, he was sent to En ...
was the first archaeologist to conduct extensive research on Sigiriya. The Cultural Triangle Project, launched by the
Government of Sri Lanka
The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) ( si, ශ්රී ලංකා රජය, Śrī Lankā Rajaya; ta, இலங்கை அரசாங்கம்) is a parliamentary system determined by the Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the is ...
, focused its attention on Sigiriya in 1982. Archaeological work began on the entire city for the first time under this project. There was a sculpted lion's head above the legs and paws flanking the entrance, but the head collapsed years ago.
Sigiriya consists of an ancient citadel built by King Kashyapa during the 5th century. The Sigiriya site contains the ruins of an upper palace located 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 palaces clings to the slopes below the rocks. The moats, walls and gardens of the palace extended for a few hundred metres from the base of the rock. The site was both a palace and a fortress. The upper palace on the top of the rock includes cisterns cut into the rock.
Site plan
Sigiriya is considered to be one of the most important urban planning sites of the first millennium, and the
site plan
A site plan or a plot plan is a type of drawing used by architects, landscape architects, urban planners, and engineers which shows existing and proposed conditions for a given area, typically a parcel of land which is to be modified. Sites pl ...
is considered very elaborate and imaginative. The plan combined concepts of symmetry and asymmetry to intentionally interlock the man-made geometrical and natural forms of the surroundings. On the west side of the rock lies a park for the royals, laid out on a symmetrical plan; the park contains water-retaining structures, including sophisticated surface/subsurface hydraulic systems, some of which are working today. The south contains a man-made reservoir; these were extensively used from the previous capital of the dry zone of Sri Lanka. Five gates were placed at entrances. The more elaborate western gate is thought to have been reserved for the royals.
Frescoes
John Still
John Still (c. 1543 – 26 February 1607/1608) was Master of two Cambridge colleges and then, from 1593, Bishop of Bath and Wells. He enjoyed considerable fame as an English preacher and disputant. He was formerly reputed to be the author of an ...
in 1907 wrote, "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, an area long and high. There are references in the graffiti to 500 ladies in these paintings. However, most have been lost forever. More frescoes, different from those on the rock face, can be seen elsewhere, for example on the ceiling of the location called the "Cobra Hood Cave".
Although the frescoes are classified as in the
Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura ( si, අනුරාධපුරය, translit=Anurādhapuraya; ta, அனுராதபுரம், translit=Aṉurātapuram) is a major city located in north central plain of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of North Central ...
period, the painting style is considered unique; the line and style of application of the paintings differing from Anuradhapura paintings. The lines are painted in a form which enhances the sense of volume of the figures. The paint has been applied in sweeping strokes, using more pressure on one side, giving the effect of a deeper colour tone towards the edge. Other paintings of the Anuradhapura period contain similar approaches to painting, but do not have the sketchy lines of the Sigiriya style, having a distinct artists' boundary line. The true identity of the ladies in these paintings still has not been confirmed. There are various ideas about their identity. Some believe that they are the ladies of the kings while others think that they are women taking part in religious observances. These pictures have a close resemblance to paintings seen in the
Ajanta Caves in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
.
1967 vandalism incident
On 14 October 1967, an incident of vandalism took place where paint was splashed on the frescoes.
Luciano Maranzi, an expert trained at the
in Rome, assisted the restoration, which took until 11 April 1968. It was considered the most challenging effort undertaken by the Chemical Preservation Division of the
Department of Archaeology. There is continued concern that the original colours of the frescoes are fading, with a report presented in 2010 suggesting that the 22 frescoes have been fading since 1930.
Mirror wall
![The Mirror Wall & Spiral Stairs leading to the Frescoes](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/The_Mirror_Wall_%26_Spiral_Stairs_leading_to_the_Frescoes.jpg)
Originally this wall was so reflective that the king could see himself as he walked alongside it. Made of brick masonry and covered in highly polished white plaster, the wall is now partially covered with verses scribbled by visitors, some of them dating from as early as the 8th century. Most, however, date from the 9th and 10th century. People of all walks of life, from poets to provincial governors to housewives, wrote on the wal
Even
Bhikkhu, bhikkhus were not exempt; they wrote poetry on varying subjects such as love, irony, and experiences of all sorts. This is the only evidence of poetry found in the
Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura ( si, අනුරාධපුරය, translit=Anurādhapuraya; ta, அனுராதபுரம், translit=Aṉurātapuram) is a major city located in north central plain of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of North Central ...
period.
These poems are of high literary value because of their intricate use of symbolism and word-play techniques. One such example is;
This lovely couplet shows that the Sinhalese of old were great poets. They not only had a wonderful sense of rhyme and metre, but also resorted to a poetic device we call ‘play on words’ as we see in the combination of ''hasun'' (message) with ''hasun'' (geese). The poet’s eagerness to hear from his lady love is compared to the bee’s fascination for lotus blooms, whose large petals provide it an easy landing pad to drink its nectar and frolic if it wishes.
Out of the 1500 plus poems, most are addressed to the ladies on the frescoes. Men praised their beauty and women shared their envy. A contemporary female, clearly less enamoured with the frescoes, records different, if equally passionate emotions:
"A deer-eyed maiden of the mountain side arouses anger in my mind. In her hand she holds a string of pearls, and in her eyes she assumes rivalry with me
Further writing on the mirror wall now has been banned for the protection of the old writings. The
Department of Archaeology (Sri Lanka)#Archaeological%20Commissioner, Archaeological Commissioner of Ceylon,
Senarath Paranavithana, deciphered 685 verses written in the 8th, 9th and 10th centuries CE on the mirror wall. One such poem from these long-past centuries,
:බුදල්මි
:සියොර ආමි සිහිගිරි
:බැලීමි ගි බොහො ජන
:ලිතූයෙන් නොලිමි
Roughly translated from ancient Sinhala, is: "I am Budal
he writer's name
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
Came with hundreds of people to see Sigiriya. Since all the others wrote poems, I did not!"
Gardens
The gardens of Sigiriya are one of the most important aspects of the site, as they are among the oldest landscaped gardens in the world. The gardens are divided into three distinct but linked forms: water gardens, cave and boulder gardens, and terraced gardens.
Water gardens
![Sigiriya garden from top](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Sigiriya_garden_from_top.jpg)
The water gardens can be seen in the central section of the western precinct. Three principal gardens are found here. The first garden consists of a plot surrounded by water. It is connected to the main precinct using four causeways, with gateways placed at the head of each causeway. This garden is built according to an ancient garden form known as ''
char bagh
Char Bagh is an area within Laghman Province, Afghanistan and is observable from the Jalalabad-Kabul Road.
History
According to some sources, when Alexander the Great entered the region, he built a town between Char Bagh and Mandrawar after the ...
'', and is one of the oldest surviving models of this form.
The second contains two long, deep pools set on either side of the path. Two shallow, serpentine streams lead to these pools. Fountains made of circular limestone plates are placed here. Underground water conduits supply water to these fountains which are still functional, especially during the rainy season. Two large islands are located on either side of the second water garden. Summer palaces are built on the flattened surfaces of these islands. Two more islands are located farther to the north and the south. These islands are built in a manner similar to the island in the first water garden.
The third garden is situated on a higher level than the other two. It contains a large, octagonal pool with a raised podium on its northeast corner. The large brick and stone wall of the citadel is on the eastern edge of this garden.
The water gardens are built symmetrically on an east-west axis. The outer moat connects them on the west and the large artificial lake to the south of the Sigiriya rock. All the pools are also interlinked using an underground conduit network fed by the lake, and connected to the moats. A miniature water garden is located to the west of the first water garden, consisting of several small pools and watercourses. This recently discovered smaller garden appears to have been built after the Kashyapan period, possibly between the 10th and 13th centuries.
Boulder gardens
The boulder gardens consist of several large boulders linked by winding pathways. The gardens extend from the northern slopes to the southern slopes of the hills at the foot of Sigiris rock. Most of these boulders had a building or pavilion upon them; there are cuttings that were used as footings for brick walls and beams. They used to be pushed off from the top to attack enemies when they approached.
Terraced gardens
The terraced gardens are formed from the natural hill at the base of the Sigiriya rock. A series of terraces rises from the pathways of the boulder garden to the staircases on the rock. These have been created by the construction of brick walls, and are located in a roughly concentric plan around the rock. The path through the terraced gardens is formed by a limestone staircase. From this staircase, there is a covered path on the side of the rock, leading to the uppermost terrace where the lion staircase is situated.
In popular culture
* Some scenes from the music video for the 1982 single "
Save a Prayer" by
Duran Duran
Duran Duran () are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger ...
were filmed at the top of Sigiriya.
* Sigiriya was featured in the eleventh episode of ''
The Amazing Race 6
''The Amazing Race 6'' is the sixth season of the American reality television series ''The Amazing Race''. It featured eleven teams of two racing around the world.
The season premiered on CBS on November 16, 2004, and concluded on February 8, 20 ...
'' in 2005.
See also
*
Mapagala fortress
Mapagala fortress was an ancient fortified complex of the Anuradhapura Kingdom long before Kasyapa I built his city, Sigiriya. It is located to the South of Sigiriya and closer to Sigiriya tank.
It was built by using unshaped boulders to about ...
*
Masada
Masada ( he, מְצָדָה ', "fortress") is an ancient fortification in the Southern District of Israel situated on top of an isolated rock plateau, akin to a mesa. It is located on the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert, overlooking the Dea ...
, plateau top fortress in Israel
References
Further reading
* ''The Story of Sigiriya'', by Senani Ponnamperuma (; ;).
* ''Sigiriya'', by Senake Bandaranayake ().
* ''Story of Sigiriya'', by Professor Senerath Paranavitana.
* ''The Mystique of Sigiriya: Whispers of the Mirror Wall'', W.J.M. Lokubandara ()
*
External links
*
Official UNESCO website entrySigiriya Official Website
{{authority control
Anuradhapura period
Archaeological protected monuments in Matale District
Grama Niladhari divisions of Sri Lanka
Houses in Matale District
Inselbergs of Asia
Landforms of Sri Lanka
Natural monoliths
Palaces in Sri Lanka
Rock formations of Asia
Sri Lanka dry-zone dry evergreen forests
Terraced gardens
Tourist attractions in Central Province, Sri Lanka
World Heritage Sites in Sri Lanka