Resplendent Land - Chapter Three

Lion Rock

We started cultural and historical exploration of Sri Lanka on second day. Places identified for this exploration included Anuradhapura, Sigiriya and Polonnaruva, however we decided to strike off Anuradhapura from list. In fact that was one of the wise decisions; matter of fact is militant group bombed air force base in Anuradhapura while we were in Sri Lanka.

Sigiriya is royal capital of King Kasyapa, it has a palace complex built on a rock 200 meters high from level ground. We hired guide, his name is ‘Karu’. He is friendly and cheerful guy who explained many facts about Sigiriya with good deal of patience. Here is the first thing he said about palace complex. “King Kasyapa lived here with his 500 wives, what you think of having 500 women in your life”, oh well! We tried to answer his question however the answers are not as interesting as the question itself, I would rather not write our answers. I think he coined this question for attracting us-four young men to the stories that this rock palace has to unwind.

King Kasyapa exiled his brother to India for crown; later his brother came back and fought King. King got defeated and he committed suicide, widowing his 500 wives.

Excavated palace complex presents highly unique fifth century architecture, gardening, irrigation facilities, engineering, hydraulics and most importantly art. It may take an hour or two to reach the summit. On the way up to the summit we saw remains of frescos on the rock. Frescos are done on rock depressions so that it will not be affected from rain; moreover rock is carved to make a small projection above the depression to protect frescos from running water.

There are six frescos in good shape, portrays beautiful female figures wearing ornaments and carrying flowers. Some looked like they are riding on clouds like celestial nymphs.

We started from Sigiriya by 02.30 pm and reached Polonnaruva by 3.00 pm. Polonnaruva is ancient capital of king Kasyapa. There is a museum, excavated Buddhist temples, monastery and sculptures. Researches on these excavated structures and art is still underway, most of it does not have any written historical evidences to prove their age and description. There are many hypothesis and speculations about the art forms and sculpture. For instance the some of the art and sculpture are of Apsara and goddesses, depicting youth and fertility. These are must see places in Sri Lanka, I think.

We spend last night in Sigiriya and started off to Kandy next day.