Sigiriya

The legend finally preserved:

Nilma DOLE

Affectionately titled by many as the eighth wonder of the world, Sigiriya or ‘Lion’s Rock’ built by the great King Kasyapa is one of the most famous landmarks that truly identifies Sri Lanka.

However, as human-made development causes Mother Nature’s wrath to unleash, plenty of dangers lurk like climatic changes and global warming which make it essential to preserve our national treasure even more.

As much as we strive to protect our prized possession, a UNESCO World Heritage site, we have to ultimately protect it for our future generations, otherwise our history will be lost forever.

The plea for help has been answered by the kind-hearted people of Japan where they gave the Ministry of Cultural Affairs a grant where an official Sigiriya museum is being built adhering to world standards.

The grant, provided by the Japanese International Cooperation Development Agency, was Rs.288.5 million in the first instalment and it is spectacular to see this museum as what it promises to be.

Masterpiece

Construction of this masterpiece commenced in July 2006 and is expected to near completion by April this year. Consultant to the project Hema Jayaweera said, “The total sum that JICA donated was a colossal sum of Rs. 480 million.”

She added that the Japanese government has been instrumental in bringing some of their experts to supervise the engineering. “The technology and design in addition to concept theme was brainstormed by our Sri Lankan contracting team and architects,” she said.

Architect Chandana Illepola said, “We obtained the necessary approvals from the relevant institutions to ensure that the building was erected with the best interests of Mother Nature.” He added that the museum building was architecturally designed so that large trees were not felled and the stream running under the museum was allowed to flow on its own.

“We have managed to keep the pristine environment intact as much as possible and only preened and spruced certain areas of the forest to accommodate the building.” Other futuristic aspects of the museum encompass various galleries, an open lobby area, an information centre, connection bridges, rest rooms, a cafeteria, various souvenir and general stores with an open air theatre.

As architect Illepola further said, “We have made it easier for the disabled people and senior citizens who can’t make the journey all the way to the top, a better experience of Sigiriya so that they are not crestfallen if they can’t venture to the summit.”

Work is currently underway on the identical rendition of the magnificent Sigiriya frescoes by artist Albert Dharmasiri and his team, “We have skillfully mastered every inch of detail and every drop of colour to revive the exact painting on the Sigiriya rock.” Using fibre glass to create the background of the frescoes, the white plaster of Paris offer the canvas with which the paintings are set on.

The building is a breathtaking creation where upon completion, natural air-conditioning and sunlight will flood through gracefully-carved ventilated openings. At the entrance, the offices are spaces and resonate with a sense of cultural identity with an atmosphere to take you back to 480 AD.

Sigiriya arch

Visitors are ushered to a special ‘Sigiriya arch’ that enthralls and invokes sheer amazement, just as if they have stepped into a time machine. The yore days of King Kasyapa and his army come back to life as the arch leading to an auditorium will reveal presentations of the history of Sigiriya.

Thereafter, the visitor is taken to various artifacts and archaeological ruins which engulfs you into the life back then. Further on, an interesting glass magnified to reveal a bird’s eye view of the top of Sigiriya rock fortress stupefies as you think how intelligent Sri Lankan engineers and artists were. Replicas of the ‘mirror wall’, the beautiful gardens as well as one of the oldest swimming pools in the world, make Sigiriya a marvelous structure.

Making a collective effort to produce this work of art during the fourth century by managing to design an elaborate and intricate water system to the palace to nurture its civilization is a mighty feat.

Hence, the Sigiriya museum recreates that nostalgic sense of belonging and pride that our ancestors worked tirelessly to sculpt a palace on a magma plug of an old and eroded volcano.

Director General of the Central Cultural Fund and Professor of Archeology, University of Peradeniya Sudarshan Seneviratne said, “The Sigiriya museum has functional aspects that combines an educational and research centre with all the latest facilities.”

He further mentioned that this will be a stepping stone to offer the Sigiriya residents the means of employment and training to better themselves. “We are also promoting Sigiriya as a Tourist Village where tourists can not only discover Sigiriya the rock fortress but to understand the cultural and traditional aspects of Sigiriya by mixing with the people.”

Destination

He enlightened that tourists prefer to just come and see Sigiriya and scamper off to the next destination without actually getting the feel of Sigiriya. In a bid to boost the livelihoodof the community, Prof. Seneviratne said that it is good if tourists stay in the Sigiriya area for more than 5 hours.”

It is surprising to know that nowadays tourists do not come to Sri Lanka only for the beaches but to visit the Cultural Triangle, to delve in Ayurveda treatment and for trekking the rainforests as well. So it is high time we thought of uplifting our cultural and historical heritage to make it better for our tourism sector to develop,” he said.

Cultural Affairs Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said, “We aim to develop a cultural-oriented tourism all around the country and the response for visiting Sri Lanka as a destination has been successful with the recent Tokyo exhibition where more than 80,000 attended.” He said that help from the Japanese government was appreciated and hope that they will have a lasting relationship together.

“Our present and future generations should realize how important it is to preserve and uplift Sigiriya, a national treasure,” he concluded.

Twitch of an eyelid!

Sigiri verses which are predominantly on secular themes are largely addressed to the Sigiri frescoes, paintings of beautiful bejewelled, bare-breasted female figures on the western face of the rock.

A good many of the verses are therefore of an amorous or romantic nature. Two specimens of the graffiti are given below as translated by Prof Senarat Paranavitana and W. G. Archer.

We spoke but they did not answer
Those ladies of the mountain
They did not give us
The twitch of an eyelid
The girl with the golden skin
Enticed the mind and eyes.
Her lovely breasts caused me to recall
Swans drunk with nectar.

Mirror Wall

Nilma DOLE

Legend has it that Sigiriya’s famous ‘Mirror Wall’ or Kat Bitha was so brilliantly polished that King Kasyapa could see his crystal clear reflection when he walked along its corridor along with the background of the opposite rock wall.

Built using a special kind of porcelain and material, the wall is full of verses - romantic, poetic and emotional by visitors and monks who had called Sigiriya their home.

Some properly preserved verses have been carefully preserved from the eighth century. Today, there is a sign saying not to tamper or destroy the mirror wall and people can’t write on it like they used to.

The name ‘Mirror Wall’ is mentioned in a bit to translate the word used by the ancient writers because they used to call it Kat Bitha because it was like an enclosure towards the gallery leading up to the stupendous Lion Staircase. About 1500 verses have been deciphered in the publication ‘Sigiriya Graffiti’ wall by archaeologist Prof. Senerat Paranavitana.

It is revealed by him that the verses and writings are dedicated to the beautiful maidens who hold the centre of attention with their images depicted in the frescoes.

Since King Kasyapa had several wives and concubines, the maidens grace every aspect of Sigiriya will resonates that it was more than just a palace with some of the best technological innovations in that era for an efficient and effective defence mechanism.