Sigiriya is one of the best sites of Sri Lanka which I have ever been to, considered to be one of the eighth world heritage sites of Sri Lanka. Sigiriya is well known for its 5th century pre-Christian frescoes. This is stated as the eighth wonder of the world by UNESCO making Sri Lanka one of the best tourism site of visit.
It is located in Matale district and commonly known by everyone by the name, “Lion’s rock”. This place is made of collection of gardens and reservoirs. The fortress is constructed in brick and plaster while the entrance is made in a shape of a lion’s mouth which made my eyes to stare at. This marvelous construction consists of remaining paintings of Ajanta caves in India made by King Kashyapa.
The Sigiriya rock is full of the paintings of 500 ladies covering most of the western faces of the rock. But sadly, I need to mention many more paintings are lost forever once the palace was made to be a monastery to avoid the disturbance caused to the monks while meditating.
Thus, the Sigiriya rock fortress is surrounded by the Asia’s oldest landscaped gardens with an underground pipe transporting the stream of water which we could even see now by the fountains at various points of the garden. Even the planning of the ponds in symmetrical manner give an idea how clever the king was to have a knowledge about the future geometric trends.
Around 1200 steps are presence to reach the lion’s rock fortress on top of the Sigiriya with several break up steps for us to have a little break while we experience the wonders of the nature. On the other hand, the most interesting thing about this rock is, it is designed in the form of a huge stone lion.
Still we could see the feet of the lion except the upper body of the lion which is destroyed in ages. Thanks to the lion the palace was so called “Sigiriya”. It originates form the word “Sihagri” that the lion rock. The frescoes show nude females considered to be the wives of king Kashyapa or priestess performing rituals. I feel that they try to bring out the beauty of females with nudity giving a good historical significance to lion’s rock.
I’m in love with the mirror wall of Sigiriya which every tourist should see. The advancement of technology in kings’ centuries are clearly forecasted by the manner in which the walls are polished to make the king see his refection through the rock walls. The mirror wall is painted with the captions and poems written by the visitors who come to see the Sigiriya. This confirms that Sigiriya is a best tourist destination more than a thousand years ago. I would recommend each and every one of you to have a look at his great rock with significant importance to Sri Lanka culture and heritage.
