Kings of the Lion Rock

People have sheltered beside this 180-metre rock for around 5,000 years. King Kashyapa I made it his capital, usually dated 477 to 495 CE. The Culavamsa chronicle says he seized power from his father, King Dhatusena, a great builder of reservoirs. Painted women, a Mirror Wall of old poems and working fountains still survive. Monks took over after Kashyapa fell; UNESCO listed the site in 1982. Scholars still debate whether Sigiriya was mainly a palace or a monastery. A Rock Rising from the Plain In the dry heart of Sri Lanka, a red-brown rock stands alone above the forest. Long before any king came, people lived in its shadow. The Lion Rock Sigiriya stands in the Matale District of Central Province, about 17 kilometres from Dambulla. Its sheer walls rise roughly 180 metres above the surrounding plain. Made by fire, shaped by time Geologists call Sigiriya an inselberg, an "island mountain" standing alone on flat land. It is often described…