අටවන පුදුමය
The Eighth Wonder of The World
Location:
පිහිටීම
Sigiriya is situated in the Mathale District ( central province ), in close proximity to Dambulla, on the borders of Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura districts. If you travel on the Trincomalee-Kurunegala express way from Kurunegala you have to turn right at Inamaluwa. Sigiriya is located only 10.1 km from there. (Inamaluwa-Sigiriya)
Sigiriya can be reached on the Digampathaha-Kimbissa (9 Km) road ,too. (close to Habarana, towards Kurunegala )
What is Sigiriya?
සීගිරිය කියන්නෙ කුමක්ද ?
Other names for Sigiriya:
What is Alakamanda?
Sigiriya is a rock-fortress built by king Kashyapa (477-495AD). The fortress is fortified with moats and other protective measures. The rock stands about 180 m (589 ft) high. The rock is surrounded by thick forest infested with wild elephants.
කාශ්‍යප රජු විසින් තම ආරක්ෂාව පතා තනවන ලද ශිලාමය බලකොටුව
Other names for Sigiriya:
Lion's Rock / Lion Mountain / Lion's Throat
According to some historians and popular beliefs the name Sigiriya has been derived from the words 'Sinha' සිංහ , meaning 'lion' and 'gira' ගිර meaning 'rock'. Yet some others believe that 'gira' here means 'throat'; for which the Sinhala word is 'giriya' - ගිරිය. The reason for such belief is based on the stair case leading to the top of the rock which is built between front paws of a lion. One gets the feeling that one is walking into the mouth of a lion. This really is an ingenious creation of the ancient sculptors.
ආලකමන්දාව
When you talk about Sigiriya , the word Alakamanda is also heard. Alkamanda is the royal residence of Kuvera කුවේර . Kuvera or Kubera is 'the giver of wealth' according to Hinduism. It is a city of great wealth and prosperity. Hence the name Alakamanda is used to refer to the cities of great wealth and prosperity. It is no surprising that Sigiriya is also known as 'Alakamanda'.
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👉Kuvera? ( Kubera)
කවුද මේ කුවේර ?
According to Vedic Hinduism Kuvera is the god of wealth. ධනයට අදිපති දෙවියා He presides over all the earthly treasures. He is also the chief of the yakkas who guards precious stones and metals. He is also the protector of travelers.
Kuvera is generally depicted as a white dwarf with a large belly. His wife is Bhadra. They have two sons and a daughter.
👉King Kashyapa:
කාශ්‍යප රජු පිලිබද දැන ගනිමු
Kashyapa 1 was the second king of royal Moriya dynasty of Sri Lanka. He is credited with the construction of Sigiriya.
Born: 448 AD
Died: 495 AD
Children: Mahanaga of Anuradhapura
Upatissa (2nd) of Anuradhapura
Nephews: Kumara Dhatusena of Anuradhapura
Siva (2nd) of Anuradhapura.
Parents:
Father - King Dhatusena of Anuradhapura
Mother: Non-royal wife of King Dhatusena
King Dhatusena (455 to 473 AD)
King Dhatusena was the first king of Moriya Dynasty. King Dhatusena freed Sri Lanka from the clutches of Pandyans after 28 years. He made eighteen irrigation tanks. Yoda Ela (Jaya Ganga) and Awukana Buddha statue are two outstanding constructions of him.
ධාතුසේන රජු විසින් මහා පරිමාන වාරි කර්මාන්ත රැසක් අප රටට දායද කරන ලදී .While the King Dhatusena was engaged in the battle with the invaders, he started a relationship with a woman of a lower caste ( a woman who was not of royal lineage) Kashyapa was their son. Later King Dhatusena married another princess of royal lineage. He had a son from this marriage. He was Moggallana.
ධාතුසේන රජු වසර 26 පමන වන පාන්ඩ්‍ය ආක්‍රමණයෙන් අප රට ගලවා එක්සේසත් කරන ලදි . මෙම යුධ සමයේ ඔහු සාමාන්‍ය කාන්තාවක් සමග ඇති කරගත් සබදතාවක ප්‍රතිඵලයක් ලෙස කස්සප කුමරු ඉපදුනි. පසුව ධාතුසේන රජු කුමරියක් සමග විවාහ වන අතර මුගලන් කුමරු ඔවුන්ට දාව බිහි වෙයි.
Prince Kashyapa's resentment
Though Kashyapa being the eldest son was the heir apparent , as his mother was one outside royal lineage, Moggallana was made the next in line to the throne. This decision caused resentment in prince Kashyapa.
කස්සප කුමරුන් ගේ මව රජ පවුලේ කෙනෙකු නොවන නිසා කිරුළ හිමි කුමරු ලෙස සලකන්නේ මුගලන් කුමරු වේ.
Meanwhile , King Dhatusena murdered his army chief Migara's mother who was also his sister. Migara was estranged with the king. Migara knew well of prince Kashyapa's resentment. ( for not making him the heir apparent) . Together they carried on a palace coup and overthrew King Dhatusena. Prince Kashyapa thus became the 2 Moriya king of Sri Lanka. This paved the way for Migara to revenge King Dhatusena. Dhatusena was imprisoned by King Kashyapa.
ධාතුසේන රජුගේ සෙන්පති රජු සමග අමනාපෙන් සිටී. පසුව කස්සප කුමරු සමග එක්ව ධාතුසේන රජු සිහසුනෙන් නෙරපා දමයි.
😡Moggallana fled to South India fearing that he would be assassinated by the king.
මුගලන් කුමරු ආරක්ෂාව සඳහා දකුනු ඉන්දියාවට පලායයි.
The revenge
Migara is said to have led Kashyapa to believe that father king Dhatusena had an immense treasure hidden elsewhere in the country. Kashyapa demanded this wealth from Dhatusena. However much the imprisoned king refused Kashyapa was not ready to accept it. He thought the king was cheating on him and one day the treasure would be transferred to his son Moggallana.
(මිගාර සෙන්පති කස්සප රජු හා සිරගතව සිට්න පිය රජු ධාතුසේන සමග විරසකයක් ඇති කිරීමට ධාතුසේන රජු සතුව මහත් ධනස්කන්ධයක් තිබෙන බව පවසයි. අවසානයේ තම ධනය පෙන්වීමට එකගව තමා විසින් තනවන ලද කලා වැව වෙත අරන් යන මෙන් පවසයි. මෙහිදී කලා වැව පෙන්වා මෙයයි මාගේ ධනය යනුවෙන් පවසයි . කුපිත වන රජු ධාතුසේන රජු බිත්තියක තබවා මැට් ගසා මරණයට පත් කරවා පීතෘ ගාතකයකුවෙයි.)
Finally, the king requested his captors to take him on to the tank bund of Kalawewa: a massive construction of King Dhatusena. He promised them that he would show his hidden wealth. Once Dhatusena was taken up to the tank bund, he pointed towards the waters of the great tank and said, "This is all my wealth. Now you can take it. I have no other wealth to show you." The king was furious. He ordered his soldiers to immure Dhatusena (live entombment ) in a wall on the tank bund.
This gruesome murder earned Kashyapa the name Kashyapa the Patricide. He became unpopular among the people and the bhikkhus. Kashyapa believed that one day his estranged brother would return and overthrow him. This fear and growing public dissent made him think of his safety. It was in such a backdrop that the king decided to shift his palace from Anuradhapura to Sigiriya which was of strategic importance and secure.
Thus a massive isolated rock surrounded by thick forest turned into a picturesque palace. Sigiriya provided him unhindered view of all directions. He built moats around the palace for more safety. The royal garden was complete with ponds , spouts and flowering trees. The spouts on either side of the walk to rock are functional to this day. I , the blogger, have personally seen them in full function on one of my visits on a rainy day. The whole palace is complete with a complex irrigation system.
Prince Moggalana's return
Moggalana organized an army in South India and returned to Sri Lanka. In the battle that ensued, Kashyapa's army was defeated. It is said that the king had tactically attempted to move away from the battlefield. However, his men in the battlefront had not read the king motive and had mistaken that the king was retreating. Thus they had abandoned the king. Instead of being captured by his brother, the king had killed himself with his royal sword.
Thus ended the rule of King Kashyapa and Moggallana was ascended the throne.
Today
Today Sigiriya is one of the main tourist attractions in Sri Lanka. Sigiriya is a UNESCO world heritage and is considered the 8th wonder of the world. Sigiriya bears witness to the engineering skills of ancient Sri Lankans.
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VISIT SIGIRIYA: BUT LEAVE IT AS YOU FIND IT
A meeting hall
The blogger Sajendra served as a teacher of English at a school (91-97) in close proximity to Sigiriya. The video contains some of the old pictures of Sigiriya.
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