Sigiriya Rock Fortress

According to inscriptions found in the caves which honeycomb the base of the rock fortress, Sigiriya served as a place of religious retreat as far back as the third century BC, when Buddhist monks established a refuge in the locale. It wasn’t until the fifth century AD, however, that Sigiriya rose briefly to supremacy in Sri Lanka, following the power struggle which succeeded the reign of Dhatusena (455-473) of Anuradhapura. King Dhatusena had two sons, Mogallana, by one of the most desired and finest of his queens, and Kassapa, by a less significant consort. Upon hearing that Mogallana had been declared heir to the throne, Kassapa rebelled, driving Mogallana into exile in India and imprisoning his father, King Dhatusena. The legend of Dhatusena’s subsequent demise offers an enlightening illustration of the importance given to water in early Sinhalese civilization.

Threatened with death if he refused to reveal the whereabouts of the state treasure, Dhatusena agreed to show his errant son its location if he was permitted to bathe one final time in the great Kalawewa Tank, of which the construction he had overseen. Standing within the tank, Dhatusena poured its water through his hands and told Kassapa that this alone was his treasure. Kassapa, none too impressed, had his father walled up in a chamber and left him to die. Mogallana, meanwhile, vowed to return from India and reclaim his inheritance. Kassapa, making preparations for the expected invasion, constructed a new dwelling on top of the 200-metre-high Sigiriya rock – a combination of pleasure palace and indestructible fortress, which Kassapa intended would emulate the legendary abode of Kubera, the god of wealth, while a new city was established around its base. According to folklore, the entire fortress was built in just seven years, from 477 to 485 AD.

The long-awaited invasion finally materialized in 491, Mogallana having raised an army of Tamil mercenaries to fight his cause. Despite the benefits of his indestructible fortress, Kassapa, in an act of fatalistic bravado, descended from his rocky abode and rode boldly out on an elephant at the head of his troops to meet the attackers on the plains below. Unfortunately for Kassapa, his elephant took fright and bolted leading the battle. His troops, thinking he was retreating, fell back and left him to face off the battle. Facing capture and defeat, Kassapa killed himself. Following Mogallana’s quest, Sigiriya was handed over to the Buddhist monks, after which its caves once again became home to religious ascetics seeking peace and solitude. The site was finally abandoned in 1155, after which it remained largely forgotten, except for brief periods of military use by the Kingdom of Kandy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, until being rediscovered by the British in 1828

Landmarks of Sigiriya

The Rock itself has its unique identity due to its shape not found anywhere else on the island and can be recognized miles away from the distance.

Sigiriya was rediscovered during the rule of the British, by Major H. Forbes in 1831. Climbing to the Sigiriya summit was achieved by A.H.Adams and J.Bailey in 1853.

Sigiriya being a fortress, had been well designed for its defences by having ramparts and moats built around it. There are several approaches to the inner city and the most prominent is the Western entrance. From the summit of the rock, the land areas up to distances of tens of miles can be watched making it hard for the enemy to make a surprise attack to the kingdom.

King Kassapa had reverted his fortress to an ecological wonder by having Royal Pleasure Gardens, Water Gardens, Fountain Gardens and Boulder Gardens made inside the inner city as well as at the palace premises on the Rock summit.

The most renowned is the Sigiriya Rock Paintings or Frescoes of Sigiri Damsels locally called as ' Sigiri Apsaras' painted on a Western Rock face cavity about 100 meters high from the rock base. There now remains around 21 paintings of Sigiriya Damsels but there had been around five hundred paintings during King Kassapa's time along with several other places of the same Western Rock face

The Sigiriya Frescoes

The Sigiriya Paintings are found on about the halfway height of the Sigiriya western rock face, or about 100 meters from the base of the rock. These are found on the rock face cut inside to create a depression about 70 feet lengthwise. A spiral iron staircase takes the visitor about 44 feet from the gallery below and an iron platform runs throughout the length of the frescoed rock depression. There are around 21 paintings in this area and it is believed to be the Fresco-Lustro method used for these paintings. All these paintings are of young and old female figures and there are no two similar figures among them. These figures are popularly called as 'Sigiri Apsara' [ Celestial nymphs ] or Sigiri Damsels.

Another interesting construction is the Mirror Wall, which is covered with graffiti from the 7th to the 10th centuries AD. These were written by the people who came to see Sigiriya during those long years. Coming along the path of the mirror wall, one finds the Lion Paw Terrace or Platform. Only two huge Lion's paws are remaining now but earlier there had been an enormous Lion figure or statue at the entrance. Through Lion's paw stairway, the summit can be reached taking the iron stairway built on to the rock face. On the summit are the remains of the Palace building foundations and few ponds on an area of about 3 acres of rock summit. The largest pond was made by cutting out the rock and it is assumed that utilizing the great wind force occurring on the summit, water was brought up to fill this tank by a hydraulic system using wind power from the ground level.

The Boulder Gardens and Terrace Gardens

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

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

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

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

Water Gardens

Passing the moat will bring you up to the massive inner rampart which runs parallel to the moat. These ramparts were heavily guarded day and night so penetrating inside was not an easy task during the Rule of King Kassapa. Coming over the rampart brings the splendid view of the Sigiriya Rock at the distance ahead. Also coming into the view is the Royal Pleasure Garden. The Sigiriya Water Garden with a variety of ponds, fountains and remains of structures are unique since water technology that had been used to distribute water in conduits by pressure works even today, when there is enough rainwater accumulated in the upper ponds. There are about ninety-five pools or ponds found at Sigiriya altogether.

Audience Hall

The Audience Hall is a part of the royal complex constructed on a rock boulder. The surface had been flattened out of the rock and the stone seat has been carved out of the rock boulder. Earlier this had a roof section where the sockets for columns that support the roof structure dug in the rock can be seen.

The Mirror Wall

Shortly after reaching the base of the rock, two inconsistent nineteenth – century metal spiral staircases lead to and from a sheltered cave in the sheer rock face that holds Sri Lanka’s most famous sequence of frescoes, popularly referred to as the Sigiriya Damsels (no flash photography is entertained). These busty beauties were painted in the fifth century and are the only non-religious paintings to have survived from ancient Sri Lanka; they’re now one of the island’s most iconic- and most reproduced – images. Once described as the largest picture Gallery in the world, it’s thought that these frescoes would originally have covered an area of some 140 meters by length and 40 meters by height, though only 21 damsels now survive out of an original total of some five hundred (a number of paintings were destroyed by a delinquent in 1967, while a few of the surviving pictures are roped off out of sight). The exact significance of the paintings is unclear: they were originally thought to depict Kassapa’s consorts, though according to modern art historians the most convincing theory is that they are portraits of Apsaras (celestial nymphs), which would explain why they are shown from the waist up only, rising out of a cocoon of clouds (although even if this theory is true, the figures may, of course, have been modelled on particular beauties from Kassapa’s own court). The portrayal of the damsels is strikingly naturalistic, showing them scattering petals and offering flowers and trays of fruit – similar in a style to the famous murals at the Ajanta Caves in India, and a world away from the much later murals at nearby Dambulla, with their stylized and minutely detailed religious tableaux. Endearingly human touch is added by the slip of the brush visible here and there: one damsel has three hands, while another sports three nipples.

Just past the damsels, the pathway runs along the face of the rock, bounded on one side by the Mirror Wall. This was originally coated in highly polished plaster made from lime, egg white, beeswax and wild honey; sections of the original plaster survive and still retain a marvellous polished sheen. The wall is covered in graffiti, the oldest dating from the seventh century, in which early visitors recorded their impressions of Sigiriya and, especially, the nearby damsels – even after the city was abandoned, Sigiriya continued to draw a steady stream of tourists curious to see the remains of Kassapa’s fabulous pleasure-dome. Taken together, the graffiti from a kind of early medieval visitors’ book, and the 685 comments which have been deciphered give important insights into the development of the Sinhalese language and script; some are also of certain poetic merit. Sadly, the older graffiti are very small and rather hard to see under the layers of deranged scribbling left by later and less cultured hands.

Beyond the Mirror Wall, the path runs along a perilous-looking iron walkway bolted onto the sheer rock face. From here you can see a huge boulder below, propped up on stone slabs. The rather far-fetched popular theory is that, in the event of an attack, the slabs would have been knocked away, causing the boulder to fall onto the attackers below, though it’s more likely that the slabs were designed to stop the boulder inadvertently falling down over the cliff.

Terrace of the Lion Staircase

It is thought, that the name Sigiriya, meaning the Lion Rock must have been derived from the fact that there was a gigantic Lion statue constructed so that the rock resembled a Lion figure. From whatever the original lion statue, only two of its huge paws are remaining now on the Northern side of the rock. A verse written on the Mirror wall in graffiti says that the person who wrote it has seen the Beauties on the Rock and the Lion of Sigiriya. Through Lion's paw is the stairway leading to the rock summit. There is a fairly large terrace with the remains of earlier building's ruins to the northern side to Lion's paw entrance. On this terrace, the first ascent from the base of the rock terminates.

Archeological Remains at Sigiriya

The king’s Upper Palace is located at the flat top of the Sigiriya Rock. In the middle terrace is the Lion Gate and the Mirror Wall, with its frescoes. The king’s Lower Palace clings to the slopes below the rock. The moats, walls and gardens of the palace extend for a few hundred meters from the base of the rock.

Tour Sigiriya

Visitors arrive outside the outer moats, with a magnificent view of the rock rising above the trees in the mid-distance. Paths through the complex of moats and gardens lead to the foot of the slope. Stone stairways are found along the steep slope at the base of the rock, winding through the remains of the lower parts of the palace, reaching a terrace that traverses along the lower edge of the vertical face of the rock. The rock above this terrace, known as the mirror wall, was at one time adorned with frescoes, some of which can still be seen, though unfortunately now much is faded. At the end of the terrace beneath the highest part of the rock, the terrace opens out into a substantial courtyard.

From here the climb to the top of the rock is via a modern iron stairway that reaches the rock face through the remains of the original brick gateway, the Lion Gate, now degenerated to a massive pair of brick paws. The ruined paws are all that remains of a huge head and forepaws of a lion, whose open mouth served as the main entrance to the royal palace. The route continues around, across and up the cliff face via a rather airy iron staircase, a modern replacement for the original brick stairway – that vanished along with the lion’s head during the 1400 years since the palace was constructed.

The stairway ends at the highest point of the rock – the upper palace falls away in gentle tiers towards the opposite end of the rock from this point. The ruins of the palace buildings rise only perhaps half a metre above the surface of the rock, but the extensive works cut into the surface of the rock have endured better.

Location

City: Dambulla

State: Central Province

Distance from Katunayake Air Port: 146 K.M

Weather

The ideal time to visit Sigiriya

November to March

This time season is main tourist season in Sri Lanka. during this season most, foreign tourist visits Sri Lanka. Accommodation & Hotels rates are High all over the country. It’s better to advance reservation hotel rooms during this period. This period is highly recommended to visit Sigiriya.

April to September

this time period can identify as the second tourist season.

July to August

This is the special festive season in Sri Lanka. Kandy Esala Perahera & Katharagama Festival Season in the south. This time period also high hotel rates. So better to reserve in advance.

The Average temperature of Sri Lanka is 27 oC

The high temperature is 36 oC and the lower temperature is 16 oC

UNESCO World Heritage

Ancient City of Sigiriya

Central Province, Matale District
Date of inscription: 1982
Criteria: (ii) (iii) (iv)
Ref: 202

King Kasyapa has built the Sigiriya with 200meters Hight. The amazing architecture, Technological methods, wall art & Graffiti are the main highlighted points in Sigiriya.

For more Details, Please visit UNESCO Web

Do’s and Don’ts

No matter about your dress but you suitable to wear a hat or scarf to cover from sunlight. It’s better to bring a water bottle because the area is dry & you will get tired soon.

DO’s

Watch & safe your Kids inside the Sigiriya
Put all your garbage on the proper place
Behave calm & peacefully around the area
Keep washrooms clean & Dry

Don’ts

Don’t smoke & drink liquor inside the Sigiriya
Don’t touch & impair to things in Sigiriya
Don’t disturb to animals, birds & natural environment
Don’t behave as disturb to people living around Sigiriya.

Accommodation

There are a lot of ways to spend and enjoy your free life around Sigiriya. There are no difficulties in lodging, Transport & Meal Facilities for your visit.

Here we are suggesting the best-recommended hotel for your accommodation.

Top 10 Hotels In Sigiriya

Hotel Sigiriya – 105$ for 2 people
Heritance Kandalama – 231$ for 2 people
Aliya Resort & Spa – 131$ for 2 people
Amaya Lake Kandalama – 156$ for 2 people
Oak Ray Elephant Lake – 97$ for 2 people
Jetwing Vil Uyana – 577$ for 2 people
Seerock The King’s Domain – 277$ for 2 people
Sigiriya Jungles – 226$ for 2 people
The Elephant Corridor Hotel – 292$ for 2 people
Water Garden Sigiriya – 469$ for 2 people

Nearby Attractions

The 07 Best things to do in Sigiriya

01.Sigiriya Rock Climbing

You can climb Sigiriya rock on every day 07.00 am to 05.30 P.M. It will be around 06 hours journey to climb & spend time around Sigiriya. It's better if you can go early morning because the sunlight is too much at midday.

02.Pidurangala Rock

Pidurangala is a temple & it is a meditative location for monks. Pidrangala rock situated at next to Sigiriya rock & it is the best viewing place of Sigiriya. And also, it is a popular place for Sunrise. So that you can climb Sigiriya in the morning time & climb the Pidurangala rock in the midday sun. It will be a good experience to enjoy 360oDegree views of Sunrise.

03.Minneriya National Park

Minneriya National Park located at 20km far away from Sigiriya. This is the largest place to see Asian elephants in the world. October is the best time period the visit the Minneriya National Park. You can see not only elephants but also deer, Buffalo & many verities of Birds you can see during your safari.

04.Sigiriya Archaeological Museum

The Sigiriya Archaeological Museum situated near the Sigiriya rock ticketing office. You have to pay only the Sigiriya entry fee to visit the museum. It's better to visit the museum before climb the Sigiriya rock because you can get a general knowledge about Sigiriya. It will help you to understand the things of Sigiriya easily.

05.Hot Air Balloon Ride

From November to April is named as the Sri Lankan Ballooning Seasons. This is a new experience in Sri Lanka. You can see & experience environment beautify from a Bird’s eye view. When you go air, balloon ride you can see the Sigiriya rock closely.

06.Dambulla Golden Cave Temple

The Dambulla golden temple is the World Heritage Site in Sri Lanka. The king Walagamba has been constructed the Dambulla Cave Temple. This located at Dambulla town & 25km far away from Sigiriya. This temple has 5 caves under the rock with many historical values such as paintings, statues & wall arts.

07.Elephant Back Safari

Elephant ride in Sri Lanka is a very good opportunity for you. While Ridding elephant back safari you can enjoy the beauty of nature, wildlife & lifestyle of rural village people near the Sigiriya. You can experience this rare opportunity around Sigiriya & Minneriya forest area. You no need to worry about your safety during the elephant ride, because there is a safety wooden saddle to sit & you can stay comfortably without any hesitation.