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New book on Sigiriya re-ignites controversy

The controversy over whether Sigiriya was actually a palace of pleasure for King Kassapa, or whether it was a Mahayana Monastery has been re-ignited by a new book called "Sigiriya and its significance."

An eminent scholar in the field, Dr. Raja de Silva, who is a former Commissioner of Archaeology, has written this book, arguing that Sigiriya was a monastery built centuries before Kassapa and continued to be so many years after the king's demise.

Most archeologists feel that the rock was used as a monastery by Bhikkus before Kassapa took it over. Then, many years after Kassapa's colourful reign, it became a monastery again.

De Silva says that the history of Kassapa so far revolves around one source, a few stanzas from chapter 38 onwards in the Mahawamsa written some 650 to 700 years after Kassapa died. He adds that the writers of the Mahawamsa cannot be depended on when they wrote on secular matters.

Elaborating on his thesis De Silva says there are remains of a dagoba at the highest level of the rock.

There were reservoirs, gardens and pools at a lower level and a stone seat where Bhikkus delivered discourses, all signs he says, of a monastery.

He says the famous beauties of Sigiriya are not paintings of the ladies of the court, but were similar to the frescoes at Ajanta in India and the iconography was similar to images of the Goddess Tara.

De Silva made his reassertion at the launch of his book recently at the Hotel Sigiriya. He said that these findings are unlikely to dissuade tourists from visiting the rock which was made famous by its association with Kassapa.

He says that visitors to flock to the rock anyway because is one of the wonders of the world.

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