Sigiriya, also called Sinhagiri (Lion Rock), is an ancient rock fortress located in the northern part of the Matale District near the town of Dambulla in Sri Lanka's Central Province. It is a place of great historical and archaeological importance, featuring a large granite rock column about 180 meters (590 feet) high.

According to the ancient Sri Lankan record, the Cūḷavaṃsa, this area was once a large forest. After storms and landslides changed the land into a hill, King Kashyapa (477–495 CE) chose it as the location for his new capital. He built his palace on top of the rock and decorated its sides with colorful paintings. On a small flat area halfway up the rock, he constructed a large gateway shaped like a lion. The name "Sinhagiri," meaning Lion Rock, comes from this structure.

After the king died, the capital and palace were abandoned. The site was later used as a Buddhist monastery until the 14th century. Today, Sigiriya is a UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site and one of the best-preserved examples of ancient city planning.

Geology

Sigiriya Rock rises suddenly from the flat, low areas near the central mountain range of Sri Lanka. It is a type of rock formation called an inselberg, which is made of hardened granite that came from a solidified magma plug of an old volcano.

Pidurangala Rock, located 1 kilometer to the north, has a similar origin.

History

The area around Sigiriya was likely inhabited since before written history. Evidence from ancient Brahmi inscriptions on the western side shows that rock shelters and caves nearby were used by Buddhist monks and ascetics as early as the 1st or 2nd century BCE. The earliest signs of human life at Sigiriya are found at the Aligala rock shelter, located east of the main rock. This shelter dates back to about 3000 BCE, during the Mesolithic Period.

Buddhist monastic communities were built on the western and northern slopes of the boulder-covered hills around Sigiriya during the 3rd century BCE. Many rock shelters and caves were created during this time. These shelters were built under large rocks, with carved ledges around their entrances to help water drip away. Inscriptions near these ledges record donations of the shelters to Buddhist monastic groups, made between the 3rd century BCE and the 1st century CE.

The Cūḷavaṃsa, a historical text, describes how in 477 CE, Kashyapa I, the son of King Dhatusena and a non-royal woman, took control of the throne through a coup with the help of Migara, the king’s nephew and army commander. Kashyapa trapped his father alive in a wall and seized the throne, which rightfully belonged to his half-brother Moggallana. Fearing for his life, Moggallana fled to South India but promised to return for revenge.

Expecting Moggallana’s return, Kashyapa moved the capital from Anuradhapura to the safer summit of Sigiriya. During his rule (477–495 CE), Sigiriya was transformed into a city and fortress. Most of the structures on the rock and surrounding areas, including defenses, palaces, and gardens, were built during this time.

When Moggallana returned, he attacked and defeated Kashyapa in 495 CE. During the battle, Kashyapa’s army abandoned him, and he committed suicide by cutting his own throat with a dagger. According to the Cūḷavaṃsa and folklore, Kashyapa’s war elephant changed direction during the battle, but his army thought this meant he was retreating. This led the army to leave him. Kashyapa refused to surrender and died by stabbing himself. Moggallana later moved the capital back to Anuradhapura and turned Sigiriya into a Buddhist monastery complex. This complex remained until the 13th or 14th century. No records of Sigiriya exist until the 16th and 17th centuries, when it was briefly used as an outpost by the Kingdom of Kandy.

Other stories suggest that King Dhatusena was the main builder of Sigiriya, with Kashyapa completing the work to honor his father. Some accounts describe Kashyapa as a king who built Sigiriya as a personal palace. His death is also described differently in some versions, including being poisoned by a concubine. Other interpretations suggest Sigiriya was built by a Buddhist community and not used for military purposes. The site may have been significant in the historical rivalry between the Mahayana and Theravada Buddhist traditions in ancient Sri Lanka.

Archaeological remains and features

In 1831, Major Jonathan Forbes of the 78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot of the British Army saw the "brushwood-covered summit of the rock of Sigiri" while returning on horseback from a trip to Pollonnuruwa. This discovery brought attention to Sigiriya from historians and later from archaeologists. Small-scale archaeological work at Sigiriya began in the 1890s. H.C.P. Bell was the first archaeologist to conduct detailed studies of Sigiriya. In 1982, the Cultural Triangle Project, started by the Government of Sri Lanka, focused on Sigiriya. For the first time, this project led to archaeological work on the entire city. A sculpted lion's head was once placed above the legs and paws at the entrance, but the head fell apart many years ago.

Sigiriya is an ancient citadel built by King Kashyapa in the 5th century. The site includes the ruins of an upper palace located on the flat top of the rock, a mid-level terrace with the Lion Gate and the mirror wall decorated with frescoes, and lower palaces that are attached to the slopes below the rock. The palace’s moats, walls, and gardens stretched for several hundred meters from the base of the rock. The site served as both a palace and a fortress. The upper palace on the rock’s top includes cisterns carved into the rock.

Sigiriya is considered one of the most important examples of urban planning from the first millennium. Its design is seen as very detailed and creative. The plan combined balanced and unbalanced designs to connect human-made shapes with natural features around the site. On the west side of the rock, a royal park was built with a symmetrical layout. This park included water-retaining structures, such as advanced surface and underground water systems, some of which still work today. To the south, a man-made reservoir was built, which was widely used from the previous capital of Sri Lanka’s dry zone. Five gates were placed at the entrances. The more detailed western gate was likely used only by royalty.

Frescoes

In 1907, John Still wrote, "The entire hill seems to have been a huge picture gallery… possibly the largest painting in the world." The paintings would have covered most of the western side of the rock, an area 140 meters (460 feet) long and 40 meters (130 feet) high. Graffiti on the site mentions 500 ladies in these paintings. However, most of these paintings are no longer visible. Other frescoes, which look different from those on the rock face, can be found elsewhere, such as on the ceiling of a place called the "Cobra Hood Cave."

Although the frescoes are grouped with the Anuradhapura period, their style is considered unique. The lines and painting techniques differ from those used in Anuradhapura paintings. The lines are painted in a way that makes the figures look more three-dimensional. The paint was applied with sweeping strokes, using more pressure on one side to create a deeper color tone at the edges. Other paintings from the Anuradhapura period also use similar techniques, but they do not have the sketchy lines found in the Sigiriya style. A clear boundary line separates the figures in Anuradhapura paintings. The true identity of the ladies in the paintings has not been confirmed. Some believe they were royal women, while others think they were women participating in religious activities. These paintings closely resemble those found in the Ajanta Caves in India.

On October 14, 1967, paint was splashed onto the frescoes in an act of vandalism. Luciano Maranzi, an expert trained in Rome, helped with the restoration, which ended on April 11, 1968. This effort was considered the most difficult task faced by the Chemical Preservation Division of the Department of Archaeology. Concerns remain about the original colors of the frescoes fading. A report from 2010 noted that the 22 frescoes have been losing their color since 1930.

Mirror wall

This wall was originally so smooth and shiny that the king could see his reflection as he walked beside it. Built with bricks and covered in smooth white plaster, the wall now has messages written on it by visitors. Some of these messages are from as early as the 8th century, but most were written in the 9th and 10th centuries. People from many different backgrounds, including poets, local leaders, and housewives, left their writings on the wall. These messages are the only known examples of poetry from the Anuradhapura period.

One message reads: "Like geese who have seen a lake, I listened to the message given by her." Another says: "Like a bee who has seen full-blown lotuses, my confused heart felt comforted." This couplet uses a wordplay, combining "hasun" (message) with "hasun" (swans). The poet compares his eagerness to hear from his love to a bee's fascination with lotus flowers, which provide a soft landing place for the bee to drink nectar.

Out of more than 1,500 poems found on the wall, most were written to the women depicted in the frescoes. Men praised the women's beauty, while women expressed feelings of envy. One woman wrote: "A deer-eyed maiden from the mountains makes me angry. She holds a string of pearls and looks at me with eyes that challenge me."

Writing on the wall is now banned to protect the old messages. Senarath Paranavithana, the Archaeological Commissioner of Ceylon, studied 685 verses from the 8th, 9th, and 10th centuries. One poem from this time, translated from ancient Sinhala, says: "I am Budal. I came with hundreds of people to see Sigiriya. Since everyone else wrote poems, I did not!"

Gardens

The gardens of Sigiriya are among the oldest landscaped gardens in the world. They are divided into three distinct but connected types: water gardens, cave and boulder gardens, and terraced gardens.

Senake Bandaranayake describes three traditions of landscape gardening at Sigiriya: symmetrical or geometrically planned water gardens; asymmetrical or organic cave and boulder gardens; and stepped or terraced gardens at the base of the central rock. He notes that the palace garden on the summit combines these three traditions. The layout of Sigiriya blends symmetry and asymmetry by mixing geometric designs with natural forms. The geometric design of the gardens includes natural and asymmetrical elements, such as the Sigiriya rock itself, the terraced hill around its base, and man-made features like boulder gardens, serpentine streams, and cascades. These gardens also use the view of nearby mountains and hills. According to Ellepola, the water gardens used hydraulic systems powered by gravity to move water gently to lower areas where it was needed.

The water gardens are located in the central section of the western area. Three main gardens are found here. The first garden is surrounded by water and connected to the main area by four causeways, each with a gateway at its start.

The second garden has two long, deep pools on either side of a path. Two shallow, winding streams lead to these pools. Circular limestone fountains are placed here, and underground water channels supply water to them. These fountains still work, especially during the rainy season. Two large islands are on either side of this garden, with summer palaces built on their flat surfaces. Two more islands are farther north and south, built in a way similar to the islands in the first garden.

The third garden is higher than the other two. It has a large, octagonal pool with a raised platform on its northeast corner. A large wall from the citadel is on the eastern edge of this garden.

The water gardens are built symmetrically along an east-west line. They are connected to a moat on the west and a large artificial lake to the south of the Sigiriya rock. All the pools are linked by an underground network of water channels, which are fed by the lake and connected to the moats. A smaller water garden, with several small pools and water channels, is located west of the first garden. This garden was likely built after the Kashyapan period, possibly between the 10th and 13th centuries.

The boulder gardens include large rocks connected by winding paths. These gardens stretch from the northern to the southern slopes of the hills at the base of Sigiriya rock. Many of the boulders had buildings or pavilions on them, with cuttings used as supports for brick walls and beams. These boulders were once rolled down from the top to attack enemies.

The terraced gardens are built 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 terraces were created using brick walls and are arranged in a roughly circular pattern around the rock. A limestone staircase forms the path through the terraced gardens. From this staircase, a covered path runs along the side of the rock, leading to the uppermost terrace where the lion staircase is located.