History of Sigiriya
The History of Sigiriya
Sigiriya
dates back from over 7,000 years ago, through Pre-Historic to
Proto-Historic to Early Historic times, then as a rock-shelter mountain
monastery from about the 3
rd century BC, with caves prepared and donated by devotees to the
sangha.

The
garden city and the palace was built by Kasyapa 477 - 495 AD. Then
after Kasyapa's death it was a monastery complex upto about the 14
th century.
The
Mahavamsa, the ancient historical record of Sri Lanka, describes King
Kasyapa as a parricide, who murdered his father King Dhatusena by
walling him up alive and then usurping the throne which rightfully
belonged to his brother Mogallana. To escape from the armies of
Mogallana, Kasyapa is said to have built his palace on the summit of
Sigiriya, but Mogallana finally managed to get to Kasyapa and he
committed suicide.
However, there is also another version of the
Kasyapa story, related by one of the most eminent historians of Sri
Lanka, Prof. Senerat Paranavitana. He claims to have deciphered the
story of Sigiry, written by a monk named Ananda in the 15
th
cent. AD. this work had been inscribed on stone slabs, over which later
inscriptions had been written. Till to date no other epigraphist has
made a serious attempt to read the interlinear inscriptions.
The two conflicting versions have been the basis for the historical novel
Kat Bitha by daya dissanayake, published in 1998. The book won the state literay award for best English novel in 1999
Sigiriya is also the location for Arthur C Clerks 'Fountains of Paradise'.
sigiriya