Cultural Tour Full Day Excursion

When you visit the resplendent Isle of Sri Lanka, Sigiriya is a must-see destination because it would be an experience which is unique and awe-inspiring due to the piece of history surrounding it. Sigiriya is known as the “Fortress in the Sky” It is a sheer-sided outcrop of reddish granite standing 200 meters above the surrounding plains. In 1982 UNESCO declared Sigiriya as one of the seven World Heritage Sites in Sri Lanka and is Asia’s best preserved city of the first millennium. The Legend of Sigiriya According to history, this rock was converted to a fortress by Kasyapa who became the king of the country in 473 A.D. Kasyapa was one of the two sons of King Dhatusena, the older son being Moggalan who was in fact the rightful heir to the throne as he was the son of the royal consort of the King. Kasyapa was born to a non-royal concubine.   Various family disputes led to Kasyapa overthrowing the King and taking over the throne and it is said that Kasyapa eventually had his father murdered and entombed him in a wall. An enraged Moggalan fled to India and vowed to avenge his father’s death. Therefore, King Kassapa chose to build his royal palace in the almost inaccessible summit of the Rock. He had built elegant pavilions with gardens and pools. The Rock itself took the shape of a giant recumbent lion with a head and foreparts built with brick. At present only the paws that were sculpted out of the rock remain. Legend has it that in India Mogallan raised an army and returned in AD 495 (18 years after Kasyapa seized power) and declared war. In the battle that followed Kasyapa became stranded when his elephant turned back to avoid a swamp and it was misunderstood to be a retreat and his army backed away. Rather than being captured, he is said to have committed suicide by turning his sword on himself. So, he died on the plains below the Rock and not within his fortress. Mogallana returned to the capital Anuradhapura. The Water Gardens situated on the western approach to the rock is another wonder of irrigational engineering designed to conserve and provide water for the lawns and ponds, water passages and quaint fountains, aqua-ducts and reservoirs designed and built to mathematical precision that ensured the availability of water even in the dry season. The most notable engineering marvel in this irrigational system is the ‘Biso Kotuwa’, a peculiar construction inside a dam that facilitates the flow of water outside the dam taking away the pressure on the dam. This was also known as the “Cistern Sluice” The Boulder Gardens is a patch of scenic forest where you find pathways between huge rock boulders and rock arches. It is in the Boulder Gardens that the monks of Sigiriya are said to have lived and there are still various mementoes of these monks among the various rocks and cave shelters. The Sigiriya Frescoes or fondly called ‘Sigiriya Damsels’ is an exquisite mural of 21 beautiful bare-chested women painted in color on the sheer rock face. Considering the fact that they are over 1600 years old these paintings have defied nature and are in a remarkable state of preservation. It is the most celebrated scenery of Sigiriya and is not like anything else seen anywhere in Sri Lanka. The Mirror Wall is in itself a wonder because it is a highly polished surface which has been plastered with a mixture of burnished lime, beeswax, egg white and wild honey. This wall appears to have been used as a visitors’ book because over the past 1,500 years visitors have scribbled graffiti on the wall. These comprise various poems, literary compositions, essays that describe impressions of the rock. There are also romantic verses praising the beauty of the Damsels. The Summit is a world of its own as it’s quite spacious and gives you a feeling of being suspended in space. This is where King Kassapa’s palace was built though only bits and pieces of the foundations still remain. The access to the summit is by an ancient metal staircase probably built in colonial times. You also see a series of terraces that may have been gardens. There is speculation that the Sigiriya Rock may have been used since prehistoric times. It is said that it became a rock-shelter monastery from about the 3rd century BC. After the death of King Kassapa it once again became a monastery till about the 14th century. It was finally abandoned and it was the British Explorer John Still that re-discovered the Sigiriya Rock in 1907.

Dambulla is situated at a major junction in the Matale District (Central Province of Sri Lanka), 148 km north-east of Colombo and 72 km north of Kandy. It is a major centre for distribution of vegetables in the country. Dambulla is famous for the largest number of preserved cave temples of Sri Lanka. Also the largest rose quartz mountain range in South Asia is situated in Dambulla. It has been found that ancient indigenous civilizations had existed in this area as evidence has been unearthed at the latest archaeological site at a place called Ibbankatuwa a prehistoric burial site which is within 3 km of the cave temples. It appears that this area had been inhabited from about the 7th to the 3rd century BC. There are paintings and statues said to be dating back to the 1st century BC. It is known that king Valagamba who fled from his enemies in Anuradhapura found refuge in the caves at Dambulla. Buddhist monks who were engaged in meditation in these caves at the time had protected the exiled king from his enemies. When the King secured the opportunity to return to the throne at Anurdhapura in the 1st Century BC he arranged for a magnificent temple of rock to be built in Dambulla to express his gratitude to the monks. This cave temple complex is well preserved and is the largest of more than 80 caves found in the surrounding area. The rock overhang is 160 mtrs tall. There were improvements made in 1938 with the addition of arched colonnades and gabled entrances. The temple consists of five caves which are the major attractions as they contain statues and paintings which depict the life of the Lord Buddha. There are 153 Buddha statues 3 statues of Sri Lankan kings and 4 of gods and goddesses. The four other caves contain statues of the Hindu gods, Vishnu and Ganesh. Access is along the gentle slope of the Dambulla Rocks from where you can view the surrounding flat lands which include the Sigiriya Rock Fortress. The largest cave is 52 m from east to west and 23 m from entrance to the back and is 7 m tall at the highest point. The 1st cave is called the “Cave of the Divine King” and contains a 14 m statue of the Buddha. The 2nd is the largest cave in which there are 16 standing and 40 seated statues of the Buddha and the gods Saman and Vishnu. The 3rd cave contains ceiling & wall paintings done during the reign of King Kirthi Sri Rajasingha (1747 – 1782). There are also 50 Buddha statues and a statue of the King.