Sigiriya

          Making the most of Sigiriya requires a good head for heights, as the last part of the way to the top of this 200m plug of rock, fortified in the late 5th century AD, is a scramble over a series of shallow steps with a sheer drop on one side! Around the monolithic crag are the ramparts of the lower citadel, enclosing a complex of ruined miniature summer palaces and royal swimming pools.

         The palace complex and cliff top citadel were built in around AD473-480 by Kasyapa, a patricidal usurper of the throne of Anuradhapura, as a bulwark against attack by his half-brother, Mogallana, the rightful heir to the throne. Midway up the stairway are the Sigiriya Damsels, the only secular art to have survived from the early Sinhalese kingdoms. The rock wall was graced by hundreds of sensuous and erotic paintings of skimpily clad court beauties, but only 22 have survived the ravages of time, weather and vandalism.

         The palace buildings and bathing pools near the foot of the rock are complemented by palace buildings of some opulence at the summit as well as a large excavated swimming pool, in which it is said that some 500 concubines were able to besport themselves! Upon the return of Mogallana from exile in Tamil Nadu at the head of an invading army, Kasyapa eventually committed suicide after his elephant became waylaid in a swamp as a result of which his own troops absconded to his avenging half-brother. In passing, it is worth noting that views from the summit of the rock are spectacular.