Sigiria – The Lion Rock Monument

Ancient rock structures and monuments in all their grandeur have hidden stories. They stand tall, in ruins and remain mysterious for centuries, waiting to be discovered. They might have once been a busy city, where people gathered, traded, painted, sculpted and wrote stories on the rock walls. Now they stand covered with centuries of sand and mud, patiently waiting to be uncovered to share their stories.

Sigiria Rock

One such Archeological marvel is “Sigiria – The lion rock monument” few miles away from Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka (pious and spiritual city). Sigiria was a monastery in 1-2 century B.C which was then converted into a capital by King Kasyapa I. He ruled from the fortress, which was built on the rock. It has a lot of rock caves with beautiful frescos adorning the walls. The paintings date back to 6-12 century A.D when the rock was crowded with visitors as it had many administrative offices.​

Sigiriya rock fortress has lots of palaces, gardens and other royal buildings, now mostly in ruins. The steps leading to the top of the fortress has 3 entrances namely Cobra pass, Elephant and Lion paw pass. Enormous rock structures depict the past glory and their marvellous water engineering. The area in and around the rock has canals, lakes, dams, fountains and underground water pumps. The climb up the rock through well-placed vertical steps provides a beautiful view of the surrounding caves, mountains and other greenery. Midway, climbing up the rock leads to caves that have beautiful paintings of females. The frescos are made using natural colors, which depict the jewelry and other fashion accessories that prevailed in the era. The paintings effectively depict various human emotions and kudos to the unknown artist for the talent in depicting them effectively using art. Few steps from the caves are the famous “Sigiriya” mirror walls. The mirror wall has nearly 700 graffiti versus. The females in the paintings seem to be the main inspiration for the poems. The wall was so polished that one's reflection could be visible in those days. According to Wikipedia, One such poem, roughly translated, in Sinhala (Official language of Sri Lanka) is:
"I am Budal [the writer's name]. Came with hundreds of people to see Sigiriya. Since all the others wrote poems, I did not!" He has left an important record that Sigiriya was visited by people beginning а very long time ago."​

Few more steps climbing up the rock leads to “Lion Paw Pass”. The colossal paws at the base of the rock provide a clear picture of the form and scales of the gate leading to the terrace. The steps pass through a giant lions head, that once decorated the gate's entrance, and leads to the top. Time and corrosion ruined the lion’s head as now only the giant paws decorate the entrance. There are few medical tents for assisting people in case of Wasp sting. There are also signs requesting people to maintain silence on wasp prone areas.​

The climb up the rock from the lion pass, though tiresome is compensated by excellent view and breeze from the trees nearby. Climbing up the steps one can also see many buildings in ruins, mainly made from limestone and it’s by-products.  Once at the top, there is a flat platform which was a terrace and has a 360-degree view of the nearby cities, mountains and other greenery.​

The rock fortress, palaces and gardens are one of the finest examples of ancient city planning. No wonder this ancient rock with all its grandeur is considered a “World Heritage Site”.