I don't know why but I find it very difficult to explain the complicated series of events that led to the building of Sigiriya. I am not an expert in this, I will just tell the story the way I understood it, which I hope is right. About 1600 years ago there lived an extraordinarily talented king named Dhatusena. Among his many accomplishments were defeating the formidable south Indian invaders and re-uniting the entire nation under his rule, and building artificial lakes and other irrigation works which were engineering marvels of the ancient world. He was ruling very happily and building great things when a terrible family feud erupted.
King Dhatusena had two sons Kashyapa and Mogallana. Kashyapa although the eldest was the son of a "concubine" and was not eligible to be king, while Moggallana was the son of a "true queen" and so was the rightful heir to the throne. The army commander Migara persuaded and helped Kashayapa to overthrow his father and imprison him. So Kashyapa became the king in 473 AD and Moggallana fearing assassination fled to India. But worse was yet to come for Migara led Kashyapa to believe that Dhatusena had a great treasure hidden away. When Kashayapa demanded the treasure from his father, he took him to the Kalaweva, an enormous lake he had built, to irrigate the land, and taking the water in his hands said "This is the only treasure I have". This seems to have infuriated Kashayapa so much that he murdered his father by entombing him behind a wall. An amazingly cruel thing to do, which earned him the name Kashyapa the Patricide among the people.
Fearing an attack from Moggallana, Kashyapa moved from the traditional capital of Anuradhapura to Sigiriya. He built an amazing fortress and castle in the rock and an elaborately planned city. But after ruling for 22 years, just as he had always feared Moggallana organized an army in India, came back to Sri Lanka, and defeated his army. Kashyapa killed himself by falling on his sword.
The area around Sigiriya is still very much a jungle with stunning trees. I bought half-ripe mangoes with salt from an old woman who kind of seemed nervous, but halfway into the jungle path monkeys climbed down from trees and came threateningly toward me trying to steal the mangoes. I have heard that monkeys could be aggressive so I threw the mangoes toward them, and they took the food and climbed back as if nothing had happened. After buying tickets I crossed a moat that is said to have been full of crocodiles during Kashyapa's adventurous days.
After entering the base of the rock I started climbing a long staircase, which led to what is called the mirror wall. This wall was once so well polished that the king could see his reflection. This wall is covered by verses written by visitors over the centuries. All kinds of people wrote all kinds of fascinating things on the wall, and these might be the world's oldest blogs. Many wrote poems and some were written as early as the 8th century. Even I felt like writing a poem. Unfortunately, authorities have banned further writing on the wall in order to protect the older scribbles.
Then I ascended a spiral staircase that seemed a bit like a cage. This staircase is slightly scary to climb for it seems to be attached to the side of a sheer cliff of great elevation. And then I arrived at the Sigiriya Frescoes, which are beautiful paintings of women painted in the fifth century. And the question that comes to mind is good God who are they? Nobody seems to be certain but there are several theories. Many years ago I read a book by one of the world's greatest science fiction writers. According to him - while most of the Sigiriya damsels hold flowers, one woman holds what for all the world seemed like a transistor radio. He then says that it made him wonder whether King Kashyapa was really the inventor of the radio, fifteen centuries before it was invented in the west.
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