Hey! I am back again with an article about my motherland, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka was recently named as a one of the best travel countries in Asia. Oh yes! Lonely planet highly recommended Sri Lanka for tourists. Today I am going to tell you about one of the ancient viewpoints of Sri Lanka. It was my recent adventure in my country. This is a well-known place among tourists. It is Sigiriya.
Sigiriya listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Parricidal King Kashyapa I (477–95) built Sigiriya. You can refer the story of Sigiriya from the next paragraph of the article.
Architecture plan of the Lion’s Rock
King Kashyapa built his palace over Sigiriya rock to hide himself from his enemies. The place consists of 2 parts. He constructed the upper palace on the top of the rock and lower palace at the ground on the rock. Well-maintained gardens, ponds and other structures surrounding the palace are few of main highlights. They decorated vast garden with water fountains. The mechanism they used to bring water to these fountains is a mystery.
Story of Sigiriya
King Kashyapa is a special king in the proud Sri Lankan history. He was a son who murdered his father. It was a very tragic story.
King Dhathusena had 2 sons. Elder was named Moggallana and younger was named Kashyapa. Moggallana was rightful heir to the throne after his father. Kashyapa had some bad friends who forced him to kill his father and take the throne forcefully. Moggallana fleed to India fearing his death.
Fearing an attack by his brother Moggallana, Kashyapa wanted to hide himself in a fortress.
He found a place and he built his fortress on a rock which named as Sinhagiriya which is currently known as Sigirya.
Eventually, after few years Moggallana came with an army and killed Kashyapa and ruled Sri Lanka.
Climbing Sigirya
Enough about history. Now let’s climb Sigirya. After you purchase a ticket from the entrance you can see the garden that king Kashyapa designed. Along the garden you can enter the Sigiriya Rock. You can get lots of souvenir selfies. We decide to climb the rock around 3pm. It the is best time to climb. However the gates will be closed around 4pm. So, please get your tickets before that.
Here are some photos of the garden.
Garden Pond Water fountain
After passing the garden you enter the ancient gigantic Sigiriya rock. Climbing Sigiriya is not that hard. While climbing you can see many spots for you to rest. If you are not afraid of height, surly this place is highly recommended to you.
Resting spots Sigiriya enterance Starting point
Highlights on the Way up
On the halfway point you will enter a little cave which was painted with beautiful ancient Sri Lankan maidens. Some women carry flowers and some are not. There are multiple stories describing the paintings. Some says the women are proof that King Kashyapa has many wives.
Note: Photography is not allowed of these paintings.
After the paintings, you can see a well-designed polished orange wall on your left-hand side. It is known as Mirror wall. According to ancient time of stories said, the wall was built for protection of people from falling out. After many years, the ancient tourist who come to visit the palace wrote poems that they come to their mind. They are known as “Sigiri Grafiti”.
For me Lion’s paws are a great highlight. King Kashyapa designed it at the entrance gate to Palace. The Lion’s paw adds more attraction to Sigirya rock. Lots of tourists focus the Lion’s paw to take lovely photos.
Gate to Palace Giant Lion’s Paw
Top of the palace of Sigiriya
From the palace entrance gate you have to climb little bit more to go to the top. However, these stairs were made in later years in order to make the climb easy.
Climbing to the top Stairs view
The top view is wonderful and it is very worthy of your money. You will be amazed to see how the ancient man built a castle on top the rock. You can see mountain range around there. Most importantly you can see Pidurangala temple from there. That 360 degree angle view gives your lots of insta worthy photos.
A Pond Pidurangala Temple view from the Sigiriya Top of the Palace
We managed to capture the beautiful sunset moment from the top of the rock. In conclusion, this was a one of the greatest adventures for your life. If your plan to go Sri Lanka for your next tour, definitely add the Sigiriya to the list. The view is magnificent! Definitely worth the climb!
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