Day 7 - Sigiriya Rock & Pidurangala Royal Temple

I decided to stay two nights in Dambulla & catch a bus to Sigiriya (as I thought it would be easier to catch a bus from Dambulla to Polonnaruwa which will be my next destination). The bus only took about 40 minutes & was only 25 LKR. After getting off the bus (at the far end of the town, passing all the hotels), I decided to have some breakfast before my hike. I visited a little cafe (batik shop next door) on the corner of the road, opposite where a few tuk tuks drivers hang around. I had a lovely four vegetable curry which would have been enough for three people, rather than one! Again being served by wonderful family owners.


Breakfast at Sigiriya


Sigiriya (Lion's rock), is surrounded by the remains of an extensive network of gardens, reservoirs, & other structures. Sigiriya is also renowned for its ancient paintings. Sigiriya may have been inhabited through prehistoric times, it was used as a rock-shelter mountain monastery from about the 5th century BC, with caves prepared and donated by devotees to Buddhism. The entire complex was built by King Kassapa (AD 477 - 495), & after the king's death, it was used as a Buddhist monastery until 14th century.

Inscriptions found in the caves around the rock indicate that Sigiriya served as a place of religious retreat as far back as the third century, when Buddhist monks established refuges here. It wasn't until the 5th century when in the reign of Dhatusena that the rock/temple was created by his son Kassapa.



Sigiriya Rock


I made my way towards the rock, which made for a very pleasant walk (before reaching the ticket office). It was a joy to finally use my cultural triangle ticket for something worthwhile this time rather than just a museum! The Water & Boulder gardens were really nice to walk through before starting the climb which eventually took me to the wonderful Sigiriya Damsels, & then across the Mirror Wall. It was then up some more steep steps (very windy) to the Lion Platform which was amazing. After a few more steps I reached the summit which had great views from what was the Royal Palace. It was great just to walk around at the top & sit by the pond for a while.



 Sigiriya Damsels


The amazing Sigirya Damsels -1600 year old busty beauties in caves a third of the way up the rock. The paintings would have covered most of the western face of the rock, covering an area 140 metres long and 40 metres high. There would have been about 500 ladies in these paintings. However, most have been wiped out when the Palace once more became a monastery so that they would not disturb meditation.


 Sigiriya Damsels


A very windy part of the rock!


The Lion Gate and final climbing stretch


Heading to the top of the rock


Top of the rock


 Back down at the lovely water gardens


I came back down & visited the museum (using my CTT), which was very impressive and the reproduction of the Sigiriya Damsels was amazing (although I didn't really see the point?) I then walked in the opposite direction of the ticket office (from the museum, turn left) which was actually a very pleasant walk towards the giant Buddha (that can be seen from the top of the rock). There was plenty of small stalls selling all sorts of wonderful things. The temple at the end was still in the making, & the many life size monks were still waiting to be painted.

I then headed back towards where I came from & walked north to Pidurangala (my guide book said a couple of kms, but it was more like 5km!) It was the most pleasant walk I have had since arriving in Sri Lanka, I saw plenty of butterflies, dragon flies and the usual macaque monkeys (many with their young). A few tuk tuk drivers passed by, asking if I wanted a lift but I just turned them down as I was enjoying the walk. I arrived in Pidurangala which was a lovely village, (the temple is just opposite a really nice big tree that has some large skeleton underneath?)



 Love this picture!


I was about to walk over to the temple when a local man showed up and walked over to a ticket booth, which was really just a box! He told me it was 250 LKR and handed me a postcard, I assumed he was being honest and I paid up!

Pidurangala is a mountain about 5km from Sigiriya. At the bottom is a functioning monastery. All along the rocky path up, you come across caves which were used by monks as early as the first century BC. Near the top is the colossal reclining Buddha which has been recently restored. Here the path ends, but you can reach the summit by climbing over the rocks, from which the view, including Sigiriya itself, is amazing.



Pidurangala Temple


Reclining Buddha


 Wall paintings


  The reclining Buddha under a large rock overhang


By now it was nearly 5pm, so I left the mountain & walked all the way back to Sigiriya. I waited around for a bus at the end of the road were I was dropped off when I first arrived. I sat on a small rock with great views looking up to Sigiriya Rock with the sun going down. I was bombarded with tuk tuk drivers offering to take me back to Dambulla (the price was always around 600 LKR), and some even told me that the buses had finished running for the day. All lies, I caught a bus back & paid 25 LKR!

Another very windy night back at my homestay in Dambulla, the wind seems to pick up during the night time!



3 comments:

  1. Thanks this all was very helpful. I'm going to try and jam your day 6&7 all into tomorrow.

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  2. Wow! Many thanks for all the details and pics.

    ReplyDelete