Sigiriya

ADMIN
Aug 3, 2021
25 min read

Updated: Aug 30, 2021

Senarath Dissanayaka

Location

‘ Sigiriya rock is reached traversing 8km to the left from the Inamaluwa Junction on the Dambulla - Habarana main highway. This world heritage site is located in the Dambulla Divisional Secretary’s Division of the Matale District.

History

King Dhatusena of Sri Lanka who ascended the throne in 459 C.E. and reigned from the capital at Anuradhapura had two sons named Mugalan from a peer queen and the other son Kashyapa from a commoner queen. Prince Kashyapa who was avaricious for power and wealth, not withstanding that Prince Mugalan was the heir apparent, usurped power and surreptitiously put his father to death. It is said that the monks of Mahavihara abhorred King Kashyapa having heard of the fratricidal act of the king, which according to the Buddhist Canon is an unredeemable sin. It is mentioned in the great chronicle Mahavamsa that King Kashyapa who in a failed attempt to assassinate his brother, fled to Sigiriya to clean the Sigiriya Rock of vegetation and built a flight of rock hewn steps through a lion’s head to the

top of the rock and a palace, where he lived like the Kuvera in the mythical city of Alaka. Owing to the flight of steps through the Lion fascia carved into the rock, it was named Sinhagiri or the Lion rock, which with time, evolved to the likable form of Sigiriya. The reign of King Kashyapa from this city was limited to a period of 18 years from 477 to 495 C.E.

Prince Mugalan, who fled to India to raise an army, returned to the country to lay siege to the rock fortress Sigiriya and challenged King Kashyapa to war. King Kashyapa realizing defeat at the hands of Prince Mugalan, committed suicide by severing his head with a sword. Thereafter Prince Mugalan donated Sigiriya and the two monasteries in the vicinity to the Bhikkhus of Abhayagiriya and Jetavana monasteries and having cremated King Kashyapa’s remains with royal honours, returned to Anuradhapura to rule the country righteously.

Layout ofSigiriya City

City of Sigiriya

To consider Sigiriya with its inner walls and moats, gardens, inner and outer cities, the palace atop the rock and the Sigiriya Lake to be the epitome of a Sri Lankan example of design combining, simultaneously, the attribute of a city is unequivocal. While the ramparts are fortified by the moats, the rock rises to a height in the midst of the city like a stout obelisk. The area on top of the rock in its entirety is covered with structures belonging to the palace. The area to the west of the rock, when taken as a whole, could be considered to have been used as the royal park. The area enclosed by the outer wall on the eastern side of the rock is believed to be the outer city. Sigiriya Lake is in the south west of the rock. The honour of designing and construction of the above mentioned features of the Sigiriya City can be wholly attributed to King Kashyapa. Before the occupation of Sigiriya by King Kashyapa. the caves located on western slopes of the hill adjoining the Sigiriya rock were used as a monastery by Buddhist monks. The monastic complex consists of 38 caves, which were in use from the 3rd c B.C. to 2nd c. C.E. as evidenced by the epigraphs found inscribed in these caves.

According to the great chronicle Mahavamsa, after the overthrow of King Kashyapa, the caves together with the Sigiriya itself reverted to be used as a monastic complex. Moreover, it is stated in the Mahavamsa that Sigiriya remained as a centre for activities of governance from the 5- 7th c. C.E.

Ramparts and Moats

The sightseer approaching the rock in the easterly direction from the car park of the new Sigiriya village will set his sight on the moat encircling the Sigiriya rock and the rampart leading to the western entrance to the city. Before approaching the western entrance, the visitor has to traverse the middle rampart, constructed in brick. Beyond the middle rampart it could be surmised from the ruins found in its vicinity that a moat had been in existence. When approaching the western entrance, an inner moat and an inner rampart are visible. Roughly cut stone

blocks had been used to pave the banks of the inner moat and the foundation of the earthen inner rampart. The length of the ramparts all round the Sigiriya rock add up to about 10km while the total length of the moats is in the region of 8km. Apart from the western entrance to the Sigiriya city, there are entrances across the ramparts and moats on the northern and southern sides as well. During King Kashyapa’s time, there appears to have been a drawbridge to cross the moat leading to the western entrance.

Western Middle Rampart

Western Inner Moat

Western Entrance between the Inner Rampart and the Moat

Southern Entrance of Sigiriya City

Northern Entrance of Sigiriya City

Royal Pleasure Garden

When entering the City from the Western Entrance, one sets foot on the Royal Pleasure Garden, built for the recreation of the king, his concubines and the royals. The Royal Pleasure Garden consists of three major sections, namely, the Water Garden, the Rock Garden and the Terrace Garden. No sooner entering the City from the Western Entrance, one steps into the Water Garden. The ponds, the associated pavilions and the parapets surrounding them are the main features of the Water Garden. It is divided into four subunits, each enclosed by a boundary wall. The striking feature of the Water Garden is that its components are designed to be located in perfect geometrical symmetry. A sightseer proceeding in a straight course towards the rock, after entering the City through the Western Entrance, will observe that the ponds and the pavilions seen on one side are symmetrically located on the other side as well. The first subunit that strikes the visitor’s eye, when entering the City through the Western Entrance of the Water

Water Garden of the Royal Pleasure Garden

Layout of the Water Garden

Garden is the Miniature Water Garden. This could be unequivocally identified as the most attractive constituent of the Water Garden. Three building complexes with pavilions and shallow ponds with water up to ankle depth comprise this subunit. In addition, at the far right end of the Miniature Water Garden are two deep water ponds.

The boundary walls around the Miniature Water Garden and the other subunit of the Water Garden show evidence to have had eaves in the past.

Though it is certain that to the left of the visitor, a structure identical to the one on to his right would have been located symmetrically opposite the Miniature Water Garden, evidence to confirm the same has not been revealed from the excavation conducted in this archaeological site so far.

The subunit of the Water Garden, the visitor confronts, when entering the door way is referred to by the same name. This subunit of the Water Garden is divided into three sections by cross walls.

The path that lay ahead through the centre of the Water Garden runs through its central section. The central section has four ponds. As these four ponds are in the shape of the letter L, a square shaped island remains at the centre. Evidence indicates that a large pavilion had existed in this island. Generally as all the pavilions in Sigiriya are open and free of walls with their roofs supported on columns, the pavilion on this island may have had a similar construction. Steps have been constructed from the pavilion leading to the water in the ponds to facilitate the royals to reach the water in the pond for bathing. Adjoining the North East and the South West ponds adjacent to the boundary wall are two seats hewn in limestone. One could surmise that the king seated on these seats would have enjoyed sensual pleasure, observing the females of his royal entourage engaged in water sports.

On to the north and south of the subunit with four ponds are the two remaining subunits, each having sixteen ponds, totaling up to thirty two ponds. Apart from these, there are four open pavilions, two on each side surrounded by water. Most of the ponds are lined with limestone implying that the bottom of the pond may have been shined with polished marble. Four of the ponds on the side are

Layout of the Miniature Water Garder

excessively deep, quite inappropriate for bathing or to be used for water sport. However, the other ponds are shallow with water up to little over ankle depth. Although it is difficult to speculate as to what purpose these ponds were put to use, the presence of these ponds in the Water Garden undoubtedly enhances its beauty. From each of the four ponds in the central area are subsurface paths, which provided access to the areas on either side of each pond. The visitor next emerges from the Water Garden subunit into the Fountain Garden subunit, consisting of two long ponds located opposite to each other. These could be the Dirghika or Diguvil, a variety of long ponds, referred to in the ancient times. The flights of steps constructed to facilitate access into them indicate that these ponds had been used for bathing. Proceeding further, one comes across broad and shallow water courses on either side flowing over the surface. Within these water courses are four fountains, two on each side formed by allowing water to squirt through holes constructed in circular sandstone slabs.

Pond at the North East Corner of the Central Square of Water Garden Subunit

Sub Surface Land Access to the North East Pond

The fountains derive their water from two moats, each located on either side of the Fountain Garden. The water from the moat passes through a subsurface drain to the sandstone slab and the hydrostatic pressure of the water squirts vertically up from the opening on the slab in the form of a fountain. Proceeding further, one comes across two sets of twin ponds placed symmetrically on either side of the walkway and two pavilions beyond them. From there onwards one climbs by way of a flight of steps up to the upper precinct of the Fountain Garden to behold a magnificent site of a shallow natural broad expanse of water meandering right across the earth surface.

To the north and south of the Fountain Garden are two islands, each surrounded by a moat. Of the two islands, the south island is in good preservation and is known as the Sitala Maligaya. As this island encircled with a moat is at a higher elevation than the surrounding land, it takes the appearance of a small hillock. The island is square in shape and its banks bordering the moat are hewn of stone blocks. It could be surmised by the presence of column foundations made of brick work, found all over the island that a huge pavilion had existed on this island. The structure of the pavilion is designed as a rectangle and there is no doubt that the roof of the pavilion had been supported on wooden columns. As usual this pavilion is open and being on top of the island above the surrounding land of the Fountain Garden would have given ventilation in abundance. As at present the description of it as a Sitala Maligaya or a summer palace could be most appropriate for the reason that the royals engaged in sport would have used to cool off the fatigue in the breeze after their bodily exertions. Though the island to the north of the Fountain Garden is similar to the one in the south, the building has a slightly different design. At the extreme end of the Fountain Garden is a flight of steps giving access to the Water Garden sub unit, which has an octagonal shaped pond. The geometrical symmetry, described regarding the previously mentioned three garden subunits Jacks in this garden subunit. Though the visitor would see to his left an octagonal shaped pond, he would observe on his right, a square shaped pond with earthen banks, while the banks of the octagonal shaped pond are made of stone blocks.

The Inner City Rampart and the Rock Garden

The wall on the eastern limit of the Water Garden is identified to be the Inner City Rampart. This rampart may have provided added security to the palace atop the rock escarpment. Prof. Senake Bandaranayake is of the impression that on entering through the Inner City Rampart, one sets foot on the land belonging to the boulder Garden. Huge boulders with and without caves are commonly found here. Almost all the boulders have furrows cut on top at their edges to provide foundation construction joints giving the impression that, each boulder had a pavilion built on it. Brick walls have been built using these construction joints and the pavilions were erected on the leveled and enclosed surface. As found in many places in the Sigiriya Garden, there had been open pavilions, erected on timber columns. There may have been sixty such open pavilions in the Sigiriya Gardens, as indicated by the chiseled marks found on the boulders. The structures in the boulder Garden are the Monastery, Deraniyagala Cave, the Audience Hall, Cistern Rock, the Asana Cave or the Cave with a Seat and the Cobra Hood Cave.

Fountain of the Water Garden Subunit in the Rainv Season

The South Summer Palace

Octagonal Pond

Furrows Engraved on Rock for the Erection of a Pavilion - The Boulder Garden

Water Garden, Boulder Garden, Terrace Garden & the Main Rock

The Monastery

As one enters the Inner City from the Water Garden, one sees the ruins of a monastery of the later Kashyapa period.

It is said that after the demise of King Kashyapa, King Mugalan constructed a temple in Sigiriya and donated it to Thera Mahanama of the Diksanda Seneviya Pirivena. It could be assumed that this monastery had been constructed in the Sigiriya Inner City as it is said that the monastery was constructed on the Sigiriya Rock. Since this is the only structure in Sigiriya City that could be identified as a monastery, it is obvious that it could be the aforementioned monastery. The land occupied by this Pabbata Vihara type Monastery is hemmed between the rampart of the Inner City and a cluster of large boulders. On the eastern side of the monastery premises is a cave presently converted to an image house with a drip-ledged inscription of the pre Christian era under its brow. The cave covered by a wall made of brick had a headless image hewn in lime stone, which is presently lying

The Cave Image House of the Monastery

Bodhighara

in the Archaeological Museum as an exhibit. The Dagoba of the monastery is located on a rocky outcrop near the ramparts of the Inner City. The Dagoba is small in size and in its proximity to the south of the rocky outcrop, a Bodhighara of circular design, paved with stone blocks on an elevated terrace exists. Though Bell surmised it to be a vatadage, the recent excavations conducted by the Central Cultural Fund confirms it to be a Bodhighara. From the Monastery the path leads gradually to a higher level reaching the foot of the rock. Travelling beyond the monastery and climbing a flight of steps one comes across a cave situated on a plane on the left. This cave was named after the scholar named Deraniyagala who recorded its presence originally. I .

Deraniyagala Cave.

Although the caves in Sigiriya formerly had been prepared with drip-ledges for the use of the Buddhist monks, the conversion of the caves together with the land to take the form of a pleasure garden and the intension to adapt them as a pleasure garden can be observed in the fragments of paintings, which do not appear to be of Buddhist origin. The Sigiriya Asana cave and the Deraniyagala Cave together with the rock face of one of the rocks forming a natural archway of the path leading from the Deraniyagala Cave had figures of damsek painted on them. The aforesaid painting was discovered in the year 1983 by Professor Anura Manatunga. Though these cave paintings are not highly artistic as the frescoes on the Sigiriya rock face, they can be considered clearly as imitations and equivalent in form and style. Hence, these cave paintings could be presumed to have had a worldly origin. A significant number of female figures remain in the Deraniyagala Cave. P.E.P Deraniyagala believed that these frescoes were of the same period as the famous Sigiriya frescoes. Having studied the paintings on the face of Sigiriya and those of the caves, he has brought to light, their similarities and dissimilarities.

Though the subject of the paintings in the Deraniyagala Cave is controversial, it is possible to discover some features that demonstrate the connection between the female figures depicted in the paintings and water. In the paintings one finds a damsel having the lotus on a lotus leaf and some damsels holding the lotuses in their hands. It could be assumed that Deraniyagala may have conjectured the connection between the damsels and water being portrayed in these paintings. Deraniyagala states that a pond would have been constructed in the vicinity of the cave by obstructing the flow of water with the aid of the boulders connected with the cave and the paintings depicting the damsels being near this pond confirm his belief. If these damsels could be identified as the damsels of the king’s court engaged in aquatic frolicking, then it equals what was expected from the garden associated with the paintings. It could be surmised that the description in the poem Kavsilumina of the damsels in the king’s harem donning flowers and carrying aquatic flowers while engaged in various water associated activities, not only portrayed by the beautiful bodies of these damsels carrying flowers in the paintings, but also their postural stance. Fragments of twenty two paintings of female figures were discovered by Deraniyagala in 1948. Therefore, the cave was known as Deraniyagala Cave. The technique used in these paintings does not differ from the technique used on the paintings of the main rock. Only ten paintings are in a reasonable state of preservation. The rest are incomplete

parts of paintings of female figures. The paintings differ from the paintings of the main rock, which depict only the busts whilst three of these paintings show the full figure representations from head to toe. The rest of the paintings in this cave, unlike those in the main rock, show bodies below the waist of the female figures and at times even up to the knees. The bodies of the females painted in the Deraniyagala Cave are smaller in size than the bodies of those painted on the main rock. Though these females like the ones in the main rock paintings carry flowers in their hands, one painting

Deraniyagala Cave and its Paintings

showing a female carrying flowers placed on a lotus leaf in her left hand is unique. This feature could be considered more closer to the assumption that they are women engaged in frolicking in water in the midst of aquatic plants rather than celestial nymphs.

Paintings of female figures are distributed throughout the inner surface of the cave at various heights. Closer to the cave floor is a painting depicting a type of flora. This factor contributes more to the conclusion that these women are not celestial nymphs with connections to the sky but women of the king’s court frolicking in water sport. One of the paths that lay near the Deraniyagala Cave leads directly to the Main Rock while the one to the right leads to the Cobra Hood Cave.

Cobra Hood Cave

The Cobra Hood Cave is named thus due to its rock face bearing a cobra headed shape. At a high point on the cave roof, a magnificent and an extraordinary ceiling painting can be seen. The ceiling painting of the cave, which was considered by Bell to have been used as a monastery,

Ceiling Painting of the Cobra Hood Cave 32

contains a remnant of a painting similar to the Viyan redder (ceiling cloth) quite a common design found presently in many temples. The painting composed of geometrical motifs and botanical motifs has the image of a rooster or a similar fowl in one location of the design.

This painting, a creation of a harmonious combination of the exquisite colours, has some relation to the Anuradhapura period painting on the ceiling of the Situlpavuva cave. Professor Senake Bandaranayake believes that the painting in the Cobra Hood Cave belongs to the late 5th c. CE or early 6th c. CE.

By proceeding past the Cobra Hood Cave through a stone archway along the route that radiates upwards from the cave, one comes across three striking monuments, the first of them being the Asana Cave.

Asana Cave

Next to the rock escarpment of the Royal Audience Hall is the Asana Cave with its picturesque look of rock-cut half walls demarcating its boundary and the raised rock-cut seat inside the cave.

Ground Plan and the Cross-sectional Elevation of the Asana Cave (ASCAR 1895)

On the back wall of the cave, from a point just near the floor is a tree sculpted on rock, which acts as a back drop to the rock-seat. On the roof of the cave are parts of paintings of female figures probably belonging to King Kashyapa’s reign. On top of the layer of paintings is a slaked lime plaster layer applied during a latter period, on which are two male figures drawn freehand in black. One figure has clasped hands while the other has his right hand in some sort of ritualistic gesture (mudra) and carries in his left hand some indefinable object. These two figures had been drawn long time after the original paintings were drawn probably between the 10th and the 12th centuries.

Bandaranayake conjectures from the graffiti written on them that the fragments of female figures may belong to the latter part of the 5th c. CE or early 6th c. CE. He says from the paleographical analysis of the script of one of the graffiti that it may be dated to the 6th c. CE.

Audience Hall and the Cistern Rock

The two monuments, the Cistern Rock and the Audience Hall Rock are the structures that had been created adjoining the Asana Cave of the boulder Garden. Whether these monuments make up a section of the garden activities is questionable. The Cistern Rock is an indentation chiseled out of a rocky outcrop from the top, vertically down to form a tank with rock pieces placed bonded to each other on edges to form its banks. The banks comprising the bonded rock pieces protrude out of the rocky outcrop. The tank is 13 feet X 10 feet and is 6 feet deep and to allow the surplus water to drain out when the tank is full, overflowing drains have been engraved on top of the rock and on its slopes. The Audience Hall is formed on the second part of the same rocky out crop, on which the Cistern Rock stands and that had been split into two parts in the past. To chisel a smooth textured floor, creaseless half walls and sleek seats on top of a naturally even block of rock, split from the parent rock would have been undoubtedly an easy task.

Audience Hall

Terrace Garden, Audience Hall and the Cistern Rock after the Excavations done by Bell

The Audience Hall comprises a well leveled stone floor with a raised stone seat 15 feet 10 inches wide, 7 feet 10 inches long and 1 foot 9 inches high on its west edge. A half wall is cut in rock on the west, north and south sides of the rock surface having a total area of 60 feet x 37 feet in length and breadth. A flight of limestone steps gives access to the Audience Hall from its south-east corner. The column orifices in the east edge of the hall floor without a half wall infer that a timber fence like structure existed along this edge. This structure was given the name Audience Hall by Bell. He may have come to this conclusion owing to the presence of the large stone seat. The existence of stone seats and halls with a stone seat where the performances of the dancers and singers were watched in the royal gardens suggests, that this may not be an Audience Hall but an appendage of the Royal Garden. When considering the issue in another angle from the evidence available in Sri Lanka that Audience Halls were located in close proximity to the Royal Palaces and the fact that King Kashyapa’s palace was at the top of the main rock, it would be safe to assume that his Audience Hall was closer to his palace.

The Sigiriya Frescoes

The path with the steps that goes past the Deraniyagala Cave and the flight of steps near the Audience Hall are met at a point near the Mirror Wall. From that point onwards the path leading to the top.of the rock is along the precipitous western edge of the rock. This path from its beginning extends for about 100 meters flanking the Mirror Wall. Having reached the Mirror Wall path and proceeding a short distance on it, one comes across a steel spiral stair case ending up to the rock pocket, containing the world famous Sigiriya Frescoes. The two rock faces above the Mirror Wall containing the frescoes have images of 19 well preserved female figures and 4 partially faded ones. However, from the remnants of plaster and paint visible on the western face of the rock, it could be surmised that a large area of the rock face would have been covered with frescoes. Accordingly an area of 5600 square meters of rock face originally covered with paintings may have prompted John Still to conjecture that this to be the largest painted space in the ancient world.

The Spread of Paintings in Pockets A and B and their Numbers, ASCAR 1896

Paintings A 3 and A 4

Paintings B 3 and B 4 - after demaging in 1967

Paintings B7 and B8

Painting B9 Painting BIO

Paintings Bit and B12

It is mentioned in three of the graffiti, that there had been 500 paintings. Considering the extent of the surface covered with paintings, this statement is surely not an exaggeration.

The colours used in the paintings are limited to red, yellow and green and only the area of the female body above the waist had been the subject of the paintings. The part below the waist is shrouded in a cloud like stratagem. Their complexions are in two categories; golden and the bluish hues. In a number of graffiti, the colour of the bodies of the female figures is described as golden or bluish colour (dark) of the blue lily.

While all the women wear a choli to cover their bodies below the waist, some have their bosom exposed. Some of them cover their bosom with veils and some in jackets. Their necks and hands are bedecked in jewelry. Their heads are adorned with headdresses decorated with flowers and floral garlands. All the women carry flowers in Hands of flowers in hands. Some of the identifiable flowers they carry are the lily, the lotus, the campaka and the temple flower. One elderly female carries a garland made of flowers.

Generally all the female figures in the frescoes have beautiful faces, full bosoms, slim waists and broad hips as described in ancient literature. The artist has been skillful enough to show the curves of the body and make the figures light and dark. The lines used in the paintings; particularly those used for outlining the drawings are enlivening. These paintings can be placed in the category of the finest examples of paintings of the ancient South Asian art tradition. Although it is acclaimed that the paintings have been executed by those artists trained in the Ajanta art tradition or by the Ajanta artists themselves, scholars such as Benjamin Roland emphasizes the fact that the Sigiriya Frescoes stand out on their own and are no second to Ajanta paintings. Many interpretations have been brought forward about the female figures in the frescoes. Bell was the first to suggest that the frescoes depict ladies from the Audience Hall together with their attendants making a pilgrimage to the Pidurangala temple, situated north of Sigiriya. He also stated that all these damsels in the frescoes had been drawn with their heads pointing to the north.

Coomaraswamy was of the opinion that these damsels were celestial maidens. Benjamin Roland endorsing Coomaraswamy stated that the damsels whether as single individuals or as duets represented nymphs or celestial maidens. Dr. Senarat Paranavitana had a completely different theory. He interpreted the damsels with a golden complexion as lightning princesses (vijju-kumari) and those with a bluish complexion as cloud damsels (rnegha-latd). Expanding on the allusion in the Mahavamsa to King Kashyapa as Kuvera living in Sigiriya referring to Alaka, the abode of Kuvera, Paranavitana states that Alaka pur a or Alakamandava being constantly engulfed in clouds and lightening and in an attempt to personalize this sentiment, King Kashyapa had the figures of the damsels in gold and dark shades. Dr. Raja de Silva taking the qui from the German Swamy Gauribala believed that the damsels represented Goddess Tara. Martin Wickramasinghe opines that these damsels portrayed ladies of the Audience Hall engaged in water sport. Considering the poses, attires of these paintings of the damsels and the fact that these paintings are on the western rock face, which is the back drop of the Sigiriya Garden, Wickramasinghe’s theory seems to be more acceptable

Just after Kashyapa’s period when most of the original paintings at Sigiriya were available, the poets who incised graffiti at Sigiriya hardly knew about the story behind the Sigiriya frescoes and had not come to any conclusion. Many of the poets addressed them as those they had met in their everyday life or described them as the ladies grieving the demise of the King. Some had no hesitation to call them goddesses. However, from the graffiti on the Mirror Wall, one could glean that after the demise of King Kashyapa, as at present, hordes of people have thronged Sigiriya to see the Frescoes, the Mirror Wall and the Lion’s Head. Having seen the Frescoes, they had inscribed as graffiti on the Mirror Wall, the sensuous thoughts the damsels would have engendered in their minds.

The Mirror Wall and the Graffiti on the Mirror Wall .

Mirror Wall, presently remains 100m in length. On the sheer surface of the rock face where the slope was less acute, ledges were cut to provide the foundation for the brick mirror wall. The gap between the wall and the rock face had been judiciously filled to provide an alleyway to the rock. The average width of this alleyway is about 7 feet. The Mirror Wall, constructed in brick and plastered with lime mortar is about 9 feet 6 inches in height. The top surface of the alleyway is paved with smoothened Limestone slabs. The Mirror Wall got this name from the high sheen on its inner surface. The sheen on the surface of the mirror wall had been done so skillfully and to an optimum finish, to date it acts like a mirror reflecting the images of the passerby. From the graffiti inscribed on it, the Mirror Wall then was known as ketabita, katbita and kedapat pavura (mirror wall) and presently as ketapat pavyra, all indicating to the term “mirror wall”.

While Paranavitana read 685 graffiti appearing on the Mirror Wall and transliterated them, Benil Priyanka read and published 800 of them comprising whole poems, parts of poems and single sentences. The graffiti read by them belonged to the period from 6-7 c. C.E. to the 13 c. C.E. However, as the bulk of the graffiti belongs to the period from 8 c. to 9 c. C.E., it could be assumed that most of the visitors to Sigiriya rock had arrived to admire frescoes during this period.

According to the poems in the graffiti there appears to have been frescoes on the rock face below the Mirror Wall. Of the Frescoes, one of the damsels with a veena in her hands, another damsel carrying Asoka leaves in her hands and many carrying flower garlands in their hands as described in the graffiti have been obliterated and not available today for viewing. Those who came to admire the damsels in the Frescoes having seen the Mirror Wall, the Lion’s Head and the Palace on top of the rock may have had the extreme bliss of happiness. It is regrettable to observe the wanton damage some of those of the present generation who visit Sigiriya are causing to the Mirror Wall when they scratch on it, in huge deep letters their name or their initials when comparing the visitors of the yesteryear with sharp instruments inscribed in small letters their poems with the intension of causing least harm to the glazed surface. The other matter of importance regarding the graffiti inscribed on the Mirror Wall in Sigiriya is that the poems of the graffiti can be placed as the oldest poetic literature on record discovered up to the present time.

A photograph showing the outside view of the Mirror Wall and the Rock Surface covered with Frescoes in the ancient times

In order to give some insight into the language, the subject matter, the writers of the Sigiriya Graffiti and the period they were inscribed, the lines and the translations of a few poems are given below.

No. 360 Svasti,

TT salami labu kara sii m[ehi] -abuyu-ni [gala] (Vana niva)si Sival-mf ti yaha ko[] mam a gatmi

TRANSLATION Hail! *0 damsel; (you) who stood here on the rock. I shall shake your hand which is hanging down; you (who reside in the forest) are (like unto) forest honey’. (Thus). I accepted her as good. The poem belongs to the 8 c. CE. No. 577 Svasti. Kuma a giye vida mata gosin dT gl ri [si sey] Ba[li vi] mehi hindi mun [tay] balimi ata mal gat[ten] TRANSLATION Hail! "Wherefore have you gone to the summit? Having gone (there), wherefore did you. according to your wish, give a song and look at these (ladies) who remained here?’ "I looked at (them) because (they) have taken flowers in (their) hands". Poem belongs either to the 8 c. or 9 c. CE. No. 555 Vidu-ki[da] mata [a]ti da ebimo [di]si-tak di[ i] vT Viyevun band=un beyadihi ran-[vanu]n no [me-vT] bu a TRANSLATION I am Kitala. who came from Mahana-vuta. We peeped (to see) whether there was a streak of lightening above, (and then) was seen all that is worth seeing, (namely) the golden-coloured one who stood on the mountain side, without speaking, in the manner of those separated (from their lovers). Poem belongs to the early 9 c. CE. No. 417 Svasti. E raj'hu a gnak [ballmo] a apa [a]sni Balamin her sey in ba a[nni] at[nen] a hay

TRANSLATION Hail! We, who came here, looked at a damsel of that king with our (own) eyes. Looking at (them) in the manner of a roguish woman, she speaks with those who come here by means of her hands.(That is by a gesture of her hands or by hasta mudra) Poem belongs to the 9 c. CE. No. 556 Ve ava a vasi Sivala-batimi bala ba{da gT] Balanana a rama T ahasa poku a ka a biti Gehinuhu sitatama gT-rasa p ke[naka] men no TRANSLATION The sky. the pond and the mirror-wall are delightful to look at. Are not the women in the painting like those who have drunk the nectar of songs? The poem belongs to the 8 c. CE. It starts with. “I am Sivala Bati. a resident of Ve ava a. Having looked at (Sihigiri. this) song was composed (by me)”. No. 19 Tana-ran-malT ve a atani gat ho ran-van li Niridu melen ekal no me be[ ey] anna hay yavat TRANSLATION She. the golden coloured damsel, who (wears) a golden chain on her breast and has taken a lute in her hand, does not speak to anyone else whomsoever, as the king died at that time. Laya Sivala recited this song and I. Mahamet, wrote this. Poem belongs to the 8 c. CE. No. 187 Rata-ata-palu-[ma]lena abula Ia-pataka seyi li me [Bi i]vi me saba[vina] himabuyii no ba anano kT no-vadana

branched out through the lion’s mouth. The gigantic size of the Lion’s Head could be gauged from the cut marks left on the rock face at that time to indicate the limit of its construction. The two paws, which remain now of the lion had been constructed in brick and plastered with a thick layer of lime mortar.

The visitor commencing his vertical ascent of the rock surface from the lion’s paws, having climbed a short distance assisted by a steel flight of steps enters a section with a slight declivity. The recesses cut on the rock face indicate that an easy route had been created then to climb the rock face similar to the access constructed to reach the mirror wall. By traversing this path, one reaches the flight of steps that leads to the rock summit.

Rock Summit and the Royal Palace

The summit of the Sigiriya Rock is 3.5 acres in extent. Covering the whole area of the summit are the ruins of the palace and the attached residential park. As the Mahavamsa quite categorically reports of a resplendent palace built by King Kashyapa and the only magnificent structure fit for a king, built in Sigiriya is the one on top of the summit, then undeniably this structure is the royal palace. The graffiti contains a number of poems mentioning a palace in Sigiriya but one such poem was written seemingly when the palace was in the process of decay. The rock summit slopes from west to east and less steeply from north to south. The palace had been designed by taking into account this surface profile. Although most of the structures had been done during King Kashyapa’s time, H.C.P. Bell in his excavations conducted in 1895 on top of the rock has revealed that some of the structures had been done in the later periods. The massive rectangular structure at the highest elevation of the rock could be the main part of the palace. It is quite evident that the building would have had another floor, considered from the remnants of a number of flights of steps originating from the ground floor. Walls of both the ground and the floor above may have been in timber. The rectangular structure on the terrace below the main building could undoubtedly be a part of the palace. On the east of the buildings is a huge pond of 90 feet in length and 68 feet in width, excavated in rock. The north east and south sides of the pond could be identified as the Palace Graden Park. The seat carved in rock adjacent to the pond could be a part of the Palace graden. The foot paths around the palace are paved with Limestone slabs.

Layout of the plan palace complex

Method of supplying water to the palace on rock summit is uncertain. However, one can be certain that the 5 ponds on top of the summit may have rendered invaluable service in satisfying, to some extent, the water requirement.