Central Reservation

The third area of Sri Lanka we toured was the Ancient Cities.

Kings ruled the central plains of Sri Lanka from Polonnaruwa 800 years ago, when it was a thriving commercial and religious cetre.  For three centuries Polonnaruwa was a royal capital of both the Chola and Sinhalese kingdoms and although nearly 1,000 years old, it is much younger that Anuradhapura and generally in better repair.

The South Indian Chola dynasty made its capital at Polonnaruwa after conquering Anuradhapura in the late 10th century; Polonnaruwa was strategically better placed to guard against any rebellion from the ruhunu Sinhalese kingdom in the southeast (it also, apparently, had fewer mosquitos).  When the Sinhalese King Vijayabahu I drove the Cholas off the island in 1070, he kept Polonnaruwa as his capital.

Under King Parakramabahu I, Polonnaruwa reached its zenith.  The king erected huge buildings, planned beautiful parks and, as a crowning achievement, created a 25sq km tank*.  Parakramabahu I was followed by Nissanka Malla who virtually bankrupted the kingdom through his attempts to match his predecessors' achievements.  He was followed by a series of weak rulers, and with the decay of the irrigation system, disease spread and Polonnaruwa was abandoned, with the centre of Sinhlese power shifting to the Western side of the island.

In 1982 Unesco aded the ancient city to its World Heritage list.

Royal baths, with a sluice gate from the tank

King Nissanka Malla's Council Chamber. The 
stone lion is where the king's throne once stood. 

Royal Palace built by Parakramabahu, said to have 
seven stories (the top four would have been made of wood).

The Sri Lankan dragon

Vatadage (circular relic house)

Aradage (one of the original shrine's for the tooth relic)

Gal Pota (stone book) is a colossal stone
representation of an ola book.

Gal Vihara, part of Parakramabahu's northern monastery.
Four statues of Buddha are all cut from one long piece of granite.

The standing Buddha is 7m tall while the
reclining Buddha is 14m long.

Close to Polonnaruwa lies Minneriya Nationl Park and, dominated by the ancient Minneriya Tank built in the 3rd century, is one of the best places in the country to see wild elephants.  The dry season, between May and September, is the best time to visit as by then water in the tank has dried up exposing grasses and shoots to grazing animals.

Working out how a selfie works

The safari guide reckoned there were about 450 elephants in the park when we visited, with large groups being composed of females and young males, and larger bull elephants wandering around alone.  There was only one bull elephant in the whole of the park with tusks, and even then he only had one.  Apparently Asian elephants are just less likely to grow them.

"EL-E-ENTS!"

A week-old baby

Two bull elephants fighting - they got pretty close

We also had the chance to ride and feed an elephant, which absolutely thrilleded the kids, but I can tell you it is not a comfortable experience. We did ask to ride bare back, but were told the boys legs were too short to straddle its huge back.

One of Sri Lanka's single most dramatic sights - Sigirya - is also close by.  Near verticle walls soar to a flat-topped summit that contains the ruins of an ancient civilisation, thought to be once the epicentre of the short-lived kingdom of Kassapa.

Peppered with natural cave shelters and rock overhangs, Sigirya may even have been inhabited in prehistoric times.  The established theory though is that the rock formation served royal and military functions during the reign of King Kassapa who built a garden at the base and palace on the summit.  According the this theory, King Kassapa sought out an unassailable new residence after overthrowing and murdering his own father.  However, in recent years, some archeologists have challenged this viewpoint and believe Sigirya to be a monastery and religious site.

After the 14th century the complex was abandoned until British archeologist HCP Bell rediscovered the ruins in 1989 which were further developed by John Still in 1907.  Unesco declared it a World Heritage Site in 1982.

Some of the original plaster paintings

Only a third of the way up!

Half way up the rock there's an open-air spiral staircase leading up from the main route to a long, sheltered gallery in the sheer rock face.  In this niche is a series of paintings of buxom, wasp-waisted women, popularily believed to represent the King's concubines.

Beyond the frescoed gallery, the path clings to the sheer side of the rock and is protected on the outside by a 3m-high wall.  This original wall (though it does really look like new) was coated with a smooth glaze upon which visitors felt impelled to note their impressions of the women in the gallery above - or so say local legends. 

Inscription from between the 6th and 14th centuries

At the northern end of the rock, the narrow pathway emerges on to the large platform from which the rock derived its later name - the Lion Rock (Sigirya).  HCP Bell found the two enormous lion paws when excavating here in 1898.  At one time a gigantic brick lion sat at this end of the rock, and the final ascent to the top commenced with a stirway that led between the lion's paws and into its mouth.

Still a third of the way to go...

The top!

The terraced summit of the rock covers 1.6 hectares, and the views alone are worth the climb.

The many faces of Lightning when bored.

Back down and enjoying the
extortionately priced lollies

Of course the beautiful views from the hotel were that bit more relaxing.

Classic Boyd boys at the moment:
one smiling away, the other grumpy as can be.

Much to the kids horror there were yet more steps leading up to Dambulla's famed Royal Rock Temple.  These Royal Rock Temples sit about 160m above the road, and consist of five separate caves containing about 150 absolutely stunning Buddha statues and paintings, which are some of Sri Lanka's most important and evocative religious art.  Buddha images were first created here over 2000 years ago and over the centuries subsequent kings added to and embellished the cave art.

Dambulla is thought to have been a place of worship since 1st century BC when King Valagamba, driven out of Anuradhapura, took refuge here.  When he regained his thrown, he had the interior of the caves carved into these magnificent rock temples.

An inscriptions which records the services
rendered by the king to Buddhism 

At the foot of the cave temples hill stands the modern Golden Temple which was completed in 2000.  At 100m tall, the larest Buddha in the world sits on top of it, and to be honest the whole things looks incredibly Disney-esque.

* Tanks in Sri Lanka are basically just big man made lakes, and the science of building them, studying gradients and constructing channels is the key to early Sri Lankan civilisation.  The tanks, which dot the central plains, started as modest structures, but by the 5th century they reached such dimensions that local legends say they were built with supernatural help.  The tanks and irrigation systems that they created sustained and shaped Sri Lanka's civilisation for more than 2500 years, and still have a huge impact on farming today.