Poetry on the mirror-wall

Edmund Jayasuriya

Just as the symbolism in the frescoes at Sigiriya has baffled the spectators, the graffiti on its mirror-wall have enthraled them down the centuries. The visitors who have inscribed their feelings on the wall have come from all parts of the country and they belong to various strata of society.

Such visitors include kings, noblemen, ladies, monks, a novice, a guard and a smith. Scribbling on monuments seems to be an old practice as pointed out by Senarat Paranavitana. When Greek mercenaries visited Abu Simbel they carved their names on the colossal rock-cut statue of Ramesas II. Although an act of vandalism, it has furnished modern scholars with the earliest dated specimen of the Greek script!

Senerat Paranavitana in his monumental work has deciphered 685 of the verses on the mirror-wall at Sigiriya. The poetry here belongs roughly to the eighth to tenth centuries and so they are an extant example of the poetry of the period. The verses mostly are an inter-personal communication with the frescoes where the visitor records his reaction on seeing the beauties on the wall. Jahaga me sitivili an kum kiyanney giyak

Bad ma na badane (sa)g-(i)sira naga ga Sihigiri

(Abandon these melancholy thoughts. What else is there to be said by me who composed a verse?)

The lady on the wall is in a melancholy mood as though she is annoyed with the poet because she wants more of his love. So the poet consoles her: ‘Abandon these melancholy thoughts. I have already composed a verse. What else have I got to say?’

Apparently, poetry was an ample medium to win the love of a woman. In fact, poet Nand, who had come from Ruhuna, cautions the spectator: ‘Look, if you please, at the long-eyed one, but do not recite songs, for she would then be drawn to you.’

Senerat Paranavitana’s observation is also relevant in this context: “These ancient visitors to Sigiri, having seen figures of beautiful women in the paintings, have modified their mental images of them in accordance with the passion or thought predominant in them at the time and composed verses expressive of their state of mind. Many are the examples from our graffiti, which can be quoted to illustrate this statement. -

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