The Royal and the Monastic Gardens at Sigiriya And

Home , Anuradhapura period, Artificial waterfall, Monastic garden, Sigiriya

CHAPrERONE

Senake Bandaranayake

Sri Lankais perhaps theonly country in concentrate on religious or philosophi- South Asia where we still have substan- cal pursuits. tial archaeological remains of fonnally- The Sri Lankan chronicles echo laid out royal and monastic gardens Buddhist canonicalliterature in refer- dating from a period before A.D. 1000. ring to royal and suburban parks and They belong to a tradition of garden woods donated by the flrst Buddhist architecture and planning that is well- kings as sites for the early monasterles documented from the late I st millenium {Mahavamsa XV, 1-25). This is con- B. C. onwards. firmed by the archaeological evidence Literary references which shows the city of Anùradhapura The royal and monastic gardens of the ringed by well-planned monastic com- ~ Early and Middle Historical Period (3rd plexes in which parkland, trees and century B.C. to 13th century A.D.) are water clearly played an important role referred to in the B uddhist chronicles of (Silva, 1972; Bandaranayake, 1974: 33 Sri Lanka from as early as the 3rd fr.). century B.C. The chronicles them- The alternative monastery type to selves, of course, were written between the park orgrovemonastery (or 'ararna') the 3rd and Sth century A.D. from ear- was what has been called the 'girl' or lier written and oral sources. Whatever mountain monastery (Basnayake, 1983; the actual history of Sri Lankan garden- see also Bandaranayake, 1974: 33,46, ing may be, the Sri Lankan Buddhists 47). Here, a rocky mountain peak or inhe.rited and developed two concepts slope was selected and caves or rock of the early Indian tradition, which have shelters fashioned from the sides of a direct bearing on the art of site selection massive boulders. Hundreds of such and landscaping. The first of these is sites with inscriptions dating from about the concept of the urban or suburban the 3rd century B.C. to the lst century park or grove in which kings, nobles A.D., including Sigiriya itself, appear and merchants, as weIl as ascetics and in the Sri Lankan archaeological record. l '''

~ religious teachers,took refuge from the A third concept of water festivals

;: heat and dust of towns and cities.lndian and water sportsfrom both popular and ~ f Buddhist literature bas many references royal contexts, and probably pre-Bud- to such parks and gardens. The other dhist in origin, are also featured in the concept was the distant forest grove or early texts. ln the Later Historical Pe- mountain or cave retreat, which ascet- riod from the 13th century onwards, the ics and sages frequented in order to description of royal water sports, often :v 3 , , l '

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combined with erotics, become a stand- setting and surround for the monastic ard feature of' epic ' and courtly poetry . buildings. One of the most striking ex- Royal parks and gardenshave also been amples of this cao be seen in the south- described in detail in relatively late west quadrant of the Abhayagirivihara works such as the Kotte Vittipota and, at Anuradhapura (see Bandaranayake folk poems such as the Mala Raja Uru 1974: 55). Secular gardens in this sec- Danaya, which has an extensive de- ond cate'gory and from aslightly later scription "of the plants and shrubsgrown period than the Sigiriya, Anuradhapura in a royal garden" (Peiris 1978: 120- and Mihintale examples, are the ves- 121). tigial gardens of the royal precincts at Site, architecture and garden Polonnaruva, which include two strik- At the same time, the cornbination of ing and well-preserved water-palaces, architecture and garden space;ofbuild- and the uninvestigated urban and pal- ings, trees, pathways, water and open ace complex around the excavated and areas; the fusion of symmetrical and conserved royal bath at Galabadda in asymmetrical elements; the use of Ruhuna. varying 1evels and of axial and radial The first scholar to draw our atten- planning are all inherent aspects of the tion to site selection, landscaping and Sri Lankan architectural tradition, in garden forms in Sri Lanka was Senarat both religious and secular contexts. Paranavitana, one of the founding fa- As far as secular gardens are con- thers of Sri Lankan archaeology and the cemed, at least two well,-preserved ex- discoverer and first systematic excava- amples exist of what we might calI tor of the Water Gardensat Sigiriya. ln 'pure' garden complexes. By this is amonograph on Polonnaruv~ published meant a garden which has an autono- in bis retirement in 1954, to mark the mous or semi-autonomous existence, 8th centenary of the consecration of independent of a building complex, or King Parakramabahu I (A. D. 1153- which is a clearly demarcated part of a 1186), Paranavitana bad this to say of larger architectural whole or even a the landscaping of the monasteries of situation where substantial buildings Polonnaruva. exist but form an integral though subor- 'The architects of old have given as dinate element in the garden layout. much consideration to the aesthetic ef- Two clear examples of this type are the fects created by a whole ensemble of royal gardens at Sigiriya, which are a related buildings as they have to the distinct part of the royal and urban design of an individu al edifice. The complex at this site, and the Royal skill with which the architects employed Goldfish Park below the bund of the by Parakrarnabahu have tackled the Tisavava at Anuradhapura. A rare ex- problems of site planning cao best be ample of a monastic garden which may studied in that extensive complex of also be included in this category is the monastic buildings, known as the miniatllre-lake-and-island garden of Alahana Parivena, of which (the) the Kaludiya Pokuna monastery at Lamkatilaka (temple) was the centre. Mihintale. A slight elevation of the ground had Elsewhere, severalmonastic gardens been made use of in order to locate on exist where the garden forms an inte- it the principal edifices intended for gral part of the architecturallayout -a religious worship or for ecclesiastical 6 -{ \l1""\i"""""\;+\\~*""\\1"~~~""\\\\I"1\\\III\\\~\1\1\\"I\\"\1\\\\

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purposes-the image-house, the stupa by the slopes of the hill on which it and the chapter-house. The sloping stands,and two rectangular precincts to ground on aIl sides of this central erni- east and west, fortified by moats and nence has been made intp tenaces, and ramparts. on them were located the stupas of The gardens at Sigiriya consist of lesser importance, the residential three distinct but interlinked sections: quarters for the monks, Iheirrefectories, the symmetrical or geometrically libraries and other adjuncts necessary planned water gardens; the asyrnrnetri- for the life of ahighly organisedreligious cal or organic cave and boulder garden, fraternity ...Ponds and sheets of water the stepped or terraced garden encir- reflected the forms of the main build- cling the rock, the (miniature) water ings and the flowering trees which were garden and the palace gardens on the planted at intervals must have contrib- summit of the rock. uted to the serenity' of the scene. Natu- The Water Gardens raI boulders were made to hannonise Of these, the water gardens are, per- with the scheme of building and the haps, the most extensive and intricate, various edifices no doubt sat easily in occupying the central section of the theirsunoundings' (Paranavitana 1954: western precinct. The water gardens 29). divide into several distinct units. As can Sigiriya be seen in the plan, the three principal The present paper is principaIly con- gardens lie along the central east-west- cerned with the gardens at Sigiriya, axis. The largest of these gardens, Gar- which provide excellent material for a den 1, consists of a central island sur- case-study of Sri Lankan garden his- rounded by water and linked to the tory. main precinct by cardinally-oriented The 5th century AD site at Sigiriya causeways. This plan anticipates provides a unique and little-known ex- Angkor, on the one band, and the char ample of what is one of the oldest bagh of the Mughal garciens, on the garden forms in the world, whose other, both of which Sigiriya predates. skeletaIlayout and significant features The central island was originally al- are still in a fair state of preservation. most entirely occupied by a large hall or The Sigiriya gardens are the survivaIs pavilion. The water-retaining structures, of a fairly recently identified Sri Lankan separated into four L-shaped pools in tradition of garden-art, of which there each quadrant, are connected by under- are a few other surviving examples, ground water conduits at varying depths, some historicaI and literary documen- suggesting an attempt at providing dif- tation and tracesand fragments at nearly ferential water levels. One of the two every site of the historical period. excavated pools is that in the south- The gardens at Sigiriya are a con- west. It shows a subdivision into a large crete and mature expression -on a grand bathing pool with a corbelled tunnel scaIe -of these various strands and and steps leading down into it, and a traditions, which we see at other sites smaller pool with a central boulder on and in literary descriptions, in a frag- which was placed a brickbuilt pavilion, mentary form. The highly systematic whose scanty remains still survive. The plan of the Sigiriya complex consists in sidesand baseofboth pools are made of essenceof the central rock, sunounded several courses of brickwork and were 8 Fig. 9 Water Gardens, Sigiriya. Fig. 10 Moats. Water Gardens and rock, Sigiriya.

9 heavily plastered and polished. the cleaning and repair of the under- The entire garden is a walled enclo- ground conduits, in rainy wealher the sure with gateways placed at the head fountains operate even today. of each causeway. The largest of the se Two relatively shallow limestone gateways to the west, has a triple en- cistems are placed on opposite sides of trance. The cavity left by the massive the garden. Square in plan, and care- timber door posts indicates that it was fully constructed, they may weil have an elaborate gatehouse of timber and functioned as storage or pressure brick masonry with tiled roofs, no doubt chambers for the serpentine and the originally somewhat resembling the fountain. The upper half of this garden, gopurams of the Kerala temples or the which is raised above the lower western torii of Japan. section, has few distinctive features. A To the north and south of this walled serpentine stream and a pavilion with a enclosure were two rectangular exten- limestone throne are almost aIl that are sions, containing shallow reflecting visible today. pools, water-surrounded pavilions and Garden 3 is again on a higher level deep cisterns with a rectangular plan and forms an extensive area ofterraces and battered walls. Bach of these shal- and halls. To the north is a large octago- low pools, as well as the water pavil- nal pond at the base of a towering ions, which have a shallow depression boulder. A raised podium and a around them, and the deep ci stern, were dripledge for a lean-to roof form the originally paved in polished marble. remains of a 'bathing pavilion' on the The much weathered limestone slabs of far side of lhe pond. The pond is sur- this paving still remain in .s-itu in sev- rounded by a wide terrace which fol- eral places. What is distinctive about lows its octagonal plan. The pond and this area is the precise geometry of its the high boulder to which it is joined, layout and the application of the prin- form a dramatic juxtaposition of rock ciple of symmetrical repetition or 'echo , and water at the very point at which the planning. Thus, the northern and south- water garden and the boulder garden ern precincts are almost exactly alike, meet. while the eastern and western halves of Adjoining the octagonal pond is an each precinct are duplicates of each octagonal pavilion and a circular struc- other. ture, both of which may be of some- Garden 2 (the 'Fountain Garden') is what later date than the main garden a narrow precinct on two levels. The itself. Matching the octagonal pond in western half has two long and deep the southem sector is a reclangular pool. pools with stepped cross-sections. Recent excavations have shown that Draining into these pools are shallow this pool has no structural features other serpentine 'streams' paved with marble than an earthen embankment but, as it slabs afid defined by marble kerbs. These appears in early maps of Sigiriya, it serpentines are punctuated by fountains. may weil be an untinished teature from The fountains consist of circular lime- a much later period than the 5lh cen- stone plates with symmetrical perfora- tury .The central feature of Garden 3 is tions. They are fed by underground a segmented. L-shaped pool. a halved water conduits and operate on a simple char bagh, lying on eilher side of the principle of gravit y and pressure. Wilh central axis and fronting the entrance to

Senake Bandaranayake

the inner citadel and the boulder gar- or cut into the surface rock, provide den. access tothese water palaces. Further The eastern limit ,of Garden 3 is to the north and south, almost abutting marked by the wide entrance and the ramparts, are the two other moated massive brick and stone wall of the islands, still unexcavated but clearly inner citadel. The citadel wall forms, displaying the quartered or char bagh as it were, a dramatic backdrop to plan. the wate;r gardens -echoing the even In the far north-eastem corner of the more dramatic backdrop of the great western sector is a large and deep tank rock and the palace on the summit popularly known today as the 'Haba further east. This backdrop extends Vila', while near the southern gateway from the towering boulder near the are the scarcely discernible signs of octagonal pond ln the north-east of another pool shown clearly on 19th Garden 1, to the matching 'bastion' on century maps. the s outh-east, which bas the rec- Intricately connected with the water tangular pond and other buried retaining structures of the western pre- structures at its base. The bastion cinct are the double moat that surrounds itself is formed of wide brick walls it and the great artificiallake that ex- linking up a series of boulders, sur- tends southwardsfrom the Sigiriyarock. rounding a cave pavilion housing a Excavations haverevealed that the pools rock-cut throne. were interconnected by a network of These gardens (Gardens 1,2 and 3) underground conduits, fed initially by form a dominant series of rectangular the Sigiriya Lake and probably con~ enclosures of varying size and charac- nected at various points with the sur- ter,joined together along a central east- rounding moats. west axis. Moving away from this to the The hydraulic system wider conception of the western pre- Standing as they do, at the mid point of cinct as a whole, we see that its other the development of one of the world's dominant feature is a sequence of four most sophisticated hydraulic technolo- large moated islands, arranged in a gies (Needham 1971: 365- 378), the north-south oriented crescent, cutting water gardens at Sigiriya seem to have acro~s the central ax:is of the water been the playground not only of the garden. These, once again, follow the court but also of the ancient engineers, principle of symmetrical repetition, the who applied here on a micro-scale the two inner islands, on the one band, and principles of the macro-hydraulics the two outer islands, on the other, which formed the essential technologi- forming. pairs. cal basis of the Sri Lankan civilization The two inner islands closely abut- during the Early and Middle Historical ting the Fountain Garden on either side, Period. are partially built up on surfacing bed- The hydraulic system at Sigiriya still rock. They are surrounded by high rub- needs to be researched,but it is possi- ble walls and wide moats. The flattened ble, even in our present state ofknowl- surface of the island was occupied by edge, to say that its essential charac- 'summer palaces' (Sinhalese: sitala teristic was the interconnection of maliga or cool palaces) or water pavil- macro~ and micro~hydraulics. The irri- ions (Hindi; jal mahal). Bridges, built gation works, conduits, pools and cis- ~ 12

Senake Bandaranayake

Fig. 13 Southern water palace, Sigiriya. ! Fig. 14 Inner rampart and moat, Sigiriya. I Fig. 15 'Vertical drain', Boulder Garden, Sigiriya.1 . Fig. 16 Water inlet, Garden 1, Sigiriya. ~ Fig. 17 Fountain, Garden 2,Sigiriya. 1 Fig. 18 Drainandsilttrap, BoulderGarden, SigiriyQ;J Fig. 19 Cobbled water course, Miniature Waterl Garden, Sigiriya. j

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tems sirnultaneously serve a number of cisterns on the summit of the rock functions such as: and on the various terraces below, (a) Essential water supply for domes- and end in the water gardens. These tic, horticultural and agricultural includes a series of horizontal and purposes, including the omamen- vertical' drains' cut in the rock and tal horticulture of the gardens; underground conduits made of CY- (b ) Surface drainage water control to lindrical, terracotta pipes. A deep prevent erosion of terraces and gar- drain, large enough for a man to dens during the rainy season,when walk along it, is cut on the edge of a substantial water-flow is created the rock running along its western down the slopes of the rock and the periphery , preventing water from hill; flowing over the western rock face (c) Omamental and recreational water on which were depicted the paint- courses and water-retaining struc- ings, while a vertical drain or 'gut- tures as an essential aspect of the ter' carries this water down to an royal pleasure gardens (this in- enormous cistern located on the cludes swimrning pools, bathing highest southern terrace. A number pools, serpentines, fountains, re- of such vertical drains can be seen flecting ponds and pools for oma- in the boulder garden. mental flora and fauna). The total conception involves the (d) Cooling systems, such as a variety knitting together of a number of hy- of water-surrounded pavilions and draulic structures of varied scale and the generalized presence of water character in a single intricate network - in parklands and courtyards. a complex masterpiece of irrigation Again, at least four water systems, engineering design that formed the hy- two macro and two micro, are con- draulic skeleton of the landscaped gar- nected together at Sigiriya, thus: den (see also Ellepola 1990). (a) The lake, the Sigiri Vava, which The 'Miniature' Water Garden was much larger in the past than it Excavations through the mid-1980s is today, with a 12-krn long earth exposed a garden unit of a hitherto dam extending southwards from unknown type, in the previously the base of the Sigiriya rock; unexcavated southwest corner of the (b) A series ofmoats, two on the west main water gardens, in an area which and one on the east, fed directly was covered by turf and showed little from this lake. or no signs of buried structures. The ( c) The main water-retaining structures excavation of this garden has revealed of the water garden in the western an elaborate network of structures - rden. precinct, which were intercon- water -pavilions, pools, cistern, court- nected by underground conduits, yards, conduits and water-courses.

rden, and were also -presumably -fed by There are five distinct units in this gar- 'I and the lake and the moats (the lake is at den, aIl combining buildings and pavil- a slightly higher elevation than the ions of brick and limestone with paved, water gardens); water-retaining structures and winding (d) The water control and water-re- water-courses. taining systems, which begin with The two units at the northern and the rock-cut ponds and brick-lined southern extremities of the garden are ~ 17

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badly eroded but as the present plan A striking feature of this 'miniature' shows, the generallayout of the major garden -it is in fact about 90 rn long and portion of the garden and of the three 30 rn wide -is the use of these water- central units is clear . surrounds with pebbled or rnarbled One of the most interesting of these floors, covered by shallow, slowly has a shallow pool or water-surround rnoving water. These, no doubt, served with an intricately -recessed, U-shaped as a coolingdevice and at the sarnetirne plan, running between a series of bad great aesthetic appeal, creating in- brick-built pavilions and platforms. teresting visual and sound effects. The floor of this pool is finely paved Another distinctive aspect is the with large, quartz pebbles, bringing geornetrical intricacy of the garden lay- to mind a garden detail usually associ- out. While displaying the symmetry atedwithJapanesegardens. Originally, and 'echo-planning', characteristic of these smoothly rounded pebbles lay the water-gardens as a whole, this mini- glistening under a shallow layer of ature garden bas a far more cornplex moving water. A covered brick-built interplay of tile-roofed buildings, wa- drain led water into this pool from a ter-retaining structures and water- slightly higher level, while two well- courses than is seen elsewhere in preserved limestone conduits main- Sigiriya -even more intricate, in fact, tained the water at a constant level than the beautiful 'Pountain Garden', above the pebbles, the whole concep- which lies along the central axis of the tion animated by a gentle continuous main water-garden system. flow. This newly-discovered garden be- The water from the conduits was longs to more than one phase of con- carried out into a sharply-dipping wa- struction. Originally laid out as an ex- ter-course which, atalower level, forms tension and 'miniaturized' refinement alimestone fountain and an inspectiQn of the Kasyapan macro-plan in the last chamber. The sides of the pebble pool quarter of the fifth century, it was itself, have limestone mouldings of an added to later, remodelled, abandoned archaic, quarter-round type, typical of and again partially built over in the last the Kasyapan period at Sigiriya. Pol- phases of the post-Kasyapan period, ished marble walkways and 'bridges' between the tenth and thirteenth centu- provide access across the water to the ries. central pavilion. It seems very likely that a similar In another unit, the entire floor of the garden lies buried beneath the lawns of water-surround on three sides of a cen- the unexcavated parallel sector in the tral pavilion or bathhouse is paved with northern half of the water-gardens- an marble slabs, as elsewhere in Sigiriya. 'echo' or 'twill' of the presentgardenin These slabs are now badly weathered, the south. In keeping with the conserva- but in their original form were probably tion policy of the Sigiriya Project, this as finely polished as modem terrazzo northern garden will be left flooring. ln this building small gullies unexcavated. with raised brims lead surplus water The Boulder Garden away from the water-surround into a If the water gardens at Sigiriya re- deep, bricklined ci stem with ramped flect in miniature the advanced tech- walls. nology and planning of the Sth century , lR

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above, there are also a few unusual the boulder garden looks back to a conceptions such as the 'Cistern Rock' much earlier and entirely different his- impluvium, taking its name from a torical environment. Derived originally large cistern from massive slabs of from the early giri monasteries, it is granite, and the' Audience Hall Rock' also related to a much later type of which has a flattened summit and a monastery known as a padhanaghara large 5 rn long throne carved out of the parivena or meditation monastery living rock. The honeycomb of post which often had buildings constructed holes and the flattened ledges of the on top of rocky outcrops, surrounded 'Preaching Rock' are another' .While by moats (Bandaranayake, 1974: 102- considerable excavation will have to be 133). The boulder garden :uea is in done before we can recover the original pathways of the boulder garden, at least marked contrast to the symmetry and geometry of the water gardens. It is an two distinct markers are provided by two 'boulder arches' and limestone entirely organic or asymmetrical con- staircases as well as various flights of ceprion, consisring of a number of steps and passageways constructed of winding pathways -now mostly ob- poli shed marble blocks and slabs. The scured and often incorrectly reconsti- vertical 'drains' cutinthesidesof rocks tuted -which link together several clus- in a few places indicate, as discussed ters of large natural boulders extending above, that water courses and control- fromthe southem slo~s of the Sigiriya led water movement formed part of the hill to the northem slopes below the garden architecture in this area too. plateau of the lion staircase. ln its total design, therefore, the One of the most striking features of boulder garden forms a type of land- this boulder garden is the way in which almost every rock and bclulder had a scape architecture whose principal building or pavilion set upon it. What character is a number of rock clusters with tiled roofed buildings on them and seemto us today like steps and drains or a honey-comb of holes on the sides or 'cave' pavilions below, all elaborately painted and decorated, and linked to- tops of boulder, are in fact the founda- rions or footings of ancient brick walls gether by winding pathways and paved and oftimber columns and beams. The passagesand stairways. Located on the westerly slopes of the buildings or pavilions were constructed Sigiriya hill, its western boundary de- on the summit of the boulders leaving marcated by the inner citadel wall, on the natural form of the rock at its base. The buildings had brick walls, tim- the east and the south the boulder gar- bered superstructures and tiled roofs, den merges with the terraces. none of which, of course, survives to- The Terrace Gardens The third garden form at Sigiriya, day. the terrace gardens, has been fashioned Many of the boulders alsohaverock- out of the natural hill at the base of the shelters beneath them, orginally fash- Sigiriya rock. The terraces have been ioned by the early Buddhistmonks, but formed by the construction of a series later plastered and painted as another , feature of the royal boulder garden. of rubbled retaining walls, each terrace rising above the other and running in a While most of the pavilions in this roughly concentric plan around the rock. garden area are of the type described ,., ")")

Senake Bandaranayake

Their present condition varies consid- on the summit revealed even here an erably. Some sections of the rubble elaborate underground drainage SYS- walling have been preserved intact, tem. others have collapsed or have been Historical origins and correspond- eroded or covered with deposits of soil ences and debris, while still others have been The historical importance of the gar- excavated and restored or reconstituted dens at Sigiriya lie essentially in two in modern times. Of the original archi- factors: one, their antiquity and degree tectural character of the terracing, very of preservation; the other, their ingen- little is known, except in some of the ious combination on a grand scale, of at broader areas where the remains of least three traditions of ancient land- buildings still survive on the terraces. A scapegardening. The dateof the Sigiriya colossal rubble-walled and brick-Iined gardens is clearly established. The cistern on the uppermost terrace of the Culavamsa records that King Kasyapa south seemsto have been fed by water, (477-495 A.D.) built the palace on the channelledfrom the rock -summit above, rock, the 'Lion Staircase-house', the forming once again part of a water ramparts and the gardens. Past and re- control system, probably related to the cent archaeological excavations have water courses of the boulder garden. confirmed that the gardens substan- The great brick-built staircaseswith tially date from the 5th century .They limestone steps traverse the terraced have also shown that some elements of gardens on the west, connecting the the garden and mainly the water garden pathways of the boulder garden to the were maintained during several post- precipitous sides of the main Sigiriya Kasyapan phases extending from the rock itself. From here, a covered ambu- ~th to about the 13th century, and also latory or gallery provides accessto the that certain clearly discemible addi- belly of the rock to what is in effect the tions had been made to the gardens uppermost terrace, the 'Lion Staircase' during the later periods of Occupation. plateau, with its chambered buildings However, there is no doubt that the and pavilions and the great lion itself. A basic features and many details of the third stairway led across the terraces gardens date from the period of their from the northem ramparts (de Silva original layout. Successive construc- 1976:5). At the south-west, an avenue tions of some features in the gardens leads down towards the lake, while a such as 'flower beds' noticed by Bell, steep set of modern steps connects this probably relate to reconstructions dur- today to the southern rarnparts. ing the original Kasyapan building The Palace Garden phase between 477 and 495 A.D. Else- A fourth garden element at Sigiriya where it is clear that some of the origi- on a much smaller scale than the others nal features of the Kasyapan gardens are the terraces and the rock -cut pools were covered up or buried under aban- of the summit which formed, so to say, doned debris and a much laterconstruc- the domestic garden of the palace itself. tion placed over it. The recent excava- These terraces are found on the eastern tions have also shown indications of half of the summit -i. e. the outer palace later period underground earthen con- area -and especially on the sloping duits at a much higher level than the terrain to the south. Early excavations Kasyapan water courses, and probably 24 belonging to more than one phase of emphasis on foreign influences on activity (Bandaral;layake 1984). Sigiriya or Sigiriya's influence on for- The successive post-Kasyapan eign traditions. The clearest parallels to monasteries at Sigiriya seem to have the water gardens at Sigiriya are to be had their ritual centre at the site just found in the much more ancient geo- inside the western entrance of the inner metrical gardens of Egypt or the 'para- citadel -that is to say on the western dise gardens' of ancientPersia, while edge of the boulder garden. At least Sigiriya' s chronological successorsare some of the rock shelters in the boulder the weIl-preserved ex amples ofMughal garden and some monuments in Water gardening and the geometrical gardens Garden 1 and Water Garden 3 show of Renaissance Europe. Of the ancient clear signs of later period construction. gardens of the world that survive in an As we have seen,three distinct tradi- archaelogical sense, the only signifi- tions of landscape gardening are found cant examples that predate Sigiriya and at Sigiriya -the highly symmetrical are equally weIl preserved are those of plan of the water gardens, the organic the Romans such as the private and boulder garden area and the successive public gardens of Pompe ii and stepped tiers or hanging gardens of the Herculaneum and the imperial gardens terraced area around the rock. Bach of of Hadrian at Tivoli. these bas clear antecedents and succes- The subsequent developments in the sors within the Sri Lankan tradition Asian water gardening tradition, that is itself. Sites such as Vessagiriya, represented at such an early date at ~ Isurumuniya, (both of wbich are asso- Sigiriya, are found on a majestic scale ciated with Kasyapa); the monastery about four or five centuries later at complexes at Anuradhapura, and espe- Angkor in Cambodia and even much cially the south western sector of the later in the exquisite gardens of the Abbayagiriya Vihara; the Kaludiya Mughals. In both instances, we have Pokuna complex at Mihintale; the monuments and complexes in a much Alahana Parivena at Polonnaruva; sites better state of preservation than in any sucb as Situlpahuva in the south or of the Roman or Sri Lankan sites. The Salgala and Maligatanna in the west, Mughal tradition is furtherdocumented are some of the many outstanding ex- in miniature paintings which often have amples of site selection, site modelling a garden setting or actually depict gar- and landscape gardening produced by dens and garden activities. The rela- the Sri Lanka tradition. The royal pleas- tionships between Sigiriya and Persian, ure gardens at .o\nuradhapura the Mughal or Cambodian traditions are l~eside gardens and water palaces at not necessarily direct ones but emerge Polonnaruva, and the royal palace and from an interrelated matrix of cultures. lake complex at Kandy are some of the On the other hand, the fact that Sigiriya examples of secular landscaping and had Roman connections is amply testi- water gardening tbat still remain in a fied to by the discovery of large num- skeletal or fragmentary form. bers of Roman and Indo-Roman coins At the same time the international in the gardens at Sigiriya. At the same parallels and correspondences with the time, a tenuous link is also evidenced Sigiriya gardens are worth recalling. by the discovery of a smaIl arnount of while taking care not to place too much coin and ceramic material of probably ~ 25

~ ~~~-.r

Senake Bandaranayake

the ancient world from the ziggurats of Sassanian origin. Sri Lanka' s known Mesopotamia and the 'Hanging Gar- relationship with Carnbodia dates from dens' ofBabylon to the prehistoric ritual much later than the Angkorean period, tenaces (Quaritch Wales 1961) and but Indonesian connections go back to stepped stupasof Southeast Asia. They the 7th century (de Casparis 1961; are often encountered in early lndian Sirisena 1978). The links between Per- sites and are a conscious element in sian and MughaI gardens, on the one Chinese landscape gardening and ar- hand, and Sigiriya, on the other, is chitectural planning. Their most obvi- much too distant in time to be of any ous correspondences,however, are with historical significance, apart from the tenaced rice fields and other ter- connections of Sassanian date. But whatever links there mayor may not raced hillside agricultural systems which are extensively found in Sri be, what is important is that arche- Lanka, as in most parts of tropical Asia. typaI elements common to both tradi- The diversity of paralle1s and corre- tions help us to understand the water spondencesthat we seein the gardens at gardens at Sigiriya better . Sigiriya serve, in the end, on1yto under- The boulder gardens at Sigiriya on 1ine the uniqueness of this 5th century the other hand have eastern rather than creation of the Sri Lankan master bui1d- western correspondence. The closest parailel to the Sigiriya gardens are the ers. gardens of China, Korea and Japan. Sri TheGoldfishParkat Anuradhapura However grand and comp1ex the gar- Lanka' s connection with China, is a dens at Sigiriya, the more 'modest' rich and long standing one (Werake royal garden at Anuradhapura is a 'pure 1983; 1990) and while there is no basis gar(len form ' in the fu11estmeaning of to suggest any degree of influence of the term, in that it seemsto have existed Sri Lanka gardening on the Far Eastern independently of any architectural traditions, it is illuminating to compare complex whatsoever. Within the con- the two traditions. In this conection, we fines of the present paper it is not pos- may usefully quote Boyd's remarks on sible to do more than to describe it 'The combination of symmetry and asymmetry in. Chinese architectural briefly. garden planning'. 'The house and the The 'Goldfish Park' or Ranmasu- uyana at Anuradhapura lies just below city were ruled by Confucian ideas: the great earth embankment of the formality , symmetry , straight lines, a Tisavava, one of the three western lakes hierachy of importance, clarity, con- providing water for the city of ventionaIity, a man-made order. The Anuradhapura, and to the north of the garden and the landscape were formed scenic -lsurumuniya monastery .It by typicaily Taoist conceptions, irregu- larity , asymmetry , curvilinear , undu- consists of an elongated rectangular area of about 15 ha demarcated by a lating, and zigzag forms, mystery, originality, the imitation of nature , boundary wall to north, east and south, with the towering bund of the Tisavava (Boyd 1962: III). to the west. At the northem extremity of The third garden form at Sigiriya, the terraced gardens, are so basic and the garden is a small moated precinct containing buildings, inc1uding two oc- archetypal in character that parallel forms exist in many diverse cultures of tagonal pavilions.

26 r

Fig. 29 Ranmasu Uyana, royal pleasure garden.s', and the monasteries at lsurdmulliya and Vessagiriya-below the dam of the Tisavava lake, Anuradhapura. 3rd century B.C-13th century A.D. ~ 27

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c: Fig.30 Ranmasu Uyana (Goldfish Park), AnuradhapuTa. 9th-1Othcentury A.D. o Fig. 31 lsurumuniya monastery, Anuradhapura. o Circa 7th-1Oth century A.D. (conjectural reconstruction of outer moat). Fig. 32 Vessagiriyamonastery,Anuradhapura. Jrd century B.C.-IOth century A.D.

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30 ~

Senake Bandaranayake

In the southem half of the garden are times in their long history . two clusters of natural boulders, while This history is further complicated in the east are three large elongated by the affiliation of these two com- pools. Around the central cluster of plexes with the Vessagiriya monastery boulders are two highly omarnented lying to the f~ south of the Tisavava stone baths, or swimming pools. These dam. Several scholars have suggested baths are elaborately designed with re- that the rock monastery at Vessagiriya, lief sculptures of elephants sporting itself an outstanding example of Sri arnongst lotuses, an artificial waterfall Lankan landscape architecture, dating with a rock-cut charnber placed behind from at least the 3rd century B.C. is in it, water storage cistems and complex fact the ancient Issarasamana (or water systems controlling the flow of Isurumuniya) monastery , thus also water into the baths. The water systems opening up the possibility that there here, dating not later than the 10th cen- was once a large monastery --in fact the tury A.D. are weIl preserved. Although southemmost of the monasteries of on a smaller scale, they are as, or more Anuradhapura --which extended from elaborate, than the water systems in the Vessagiriya northwards to the present gardens at Sigiriya, from a period five Isurumuniya and the boulders of the hundred years earlier, or those in the Ranmasu Uyana, along the great earth Mughal gardens of India and Pakistan, dam of the Tisavava. That Vessagiriya, more than five hundred years later . itself, bas conne.ctions with Sigiriya in Isurumuniya and Vessagiriya the Sth century A.D. bas also been The Ranmasu Uyana appears today suggested on the basis of its architec- as an isolated garden but it is likely that tural detailing and painting remains. it was once connected with the The Kaludiya Pokuna monastery, Isurumuniya complex lying immedi-" Mihintale ately next to its southem boundary. The Kaludiya Pokuna or 'Dark Wa- Isurumuniya today is one of the most ter Monastery' is located at the beautiful monasteries in Anuradhapura southem extremes of Mihintale, an an- unfortunately somewhat modemized in cient monastic centre lying eight miles recent times, with a collection of inter- to the west of Anuradhapura, and asso- esting sculpture of a largely secular ciated with the conversion to Buddhism character, including the well-known of the first Sri Lankan King, Devanam- 'Isurumuniya Lovers'. The rock-and- piya Tissa (2S0-210 B. C.) bythe arahat pool garden plan at Isurumuniya is Mahinda, son of the Indian emperor reminiscent of Sigiriya. The juxtaposi- Asoka. The monastery in its ruined tion of the Isurumuniya and Ranmasu form today consists of five distinct ele- Uyana formations provides us with a ments: an entrance pathway winding garden plan of extraordinary beauty through boulders and trees (i.e.a Boul- and complexity. Apart from the in- der Garden, a geometrically laid out scriptions which identify and date the monastic complex ofbrick-and-timber Ranmasu Uyana, the history of these structures, now vestigially preserved; two complexes is not clear and it is buildings in stone (and also originally likely, as in the case of Sigiriya, that with brick -and-timberelements ) located they carne under royal and monastic on boulders, elevated terraces, or in use collectively or separately at various rock-shelters; natural boulders inte- 32 f :1;; .~ ~enake Bandaranayake

grated often dramaticaUy, into the Gooneratne, Sita Padmini. 1983. Water Gar- dens and Water Spots in Sinhala Literature. building or water system; and finally, Proceedings of 'Seminar on Sigiriya'. 15 the 'Dark Water' lake itself extending October 1983. Colombo: Central Cultural eastwards along the eastern flank of the Fund and Sri Lanka Foundation lnstitute monastery , surrounded by the outer (Mimeo) precincts of the monastery and a The Mahavamsa, or the Great Chronicle of Ceylon. (Translated by Wilhelm Geiger, as- boundary wall. The entire monastery sisted by Mabel Bode,with an addendum by nestles at the foot of the A Ilaikutikanda, G.C. Mendis). 1960 (reprint). Colombo: the Southernmost peak of the several Ceylon Government Information Depart- hills which form the Mihintale com- ment. plex. Together with the Isurumuniya Needham, Joseph. 1971. Science and Civiliza- Vihara, it is perhaps one of the two best tion in China, 4 (3) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. preserved water-and-boulder garden Paranavitana, S. 1954 Art and Architecture of monasteries of the Earl:f and Middle Ceylon; PolonnalUva Period. Colombo: Arts flistoric Period in Sri Lanka. Council of Ceylon. These monastic gardens together Peins, E. 1978. Studies Historical and Cultural, with the garden forms from Colombo: Catholic Press. Quaritch Wales, H.G" 1961. The Making of Polonnaruva, Sigiriya and the Ranmasu- Greater India, London. uyana at Anuradhapura, provide us De Silva, R.H. 1976. Sigiriya, Colombo: De- with unique data and beautiful and dra- partment of Archaeology. matic examples of Asian garden design Silva, Roland. 1972. LessonsofTown Planning unrepresented in any other South Asian from Ancient Ceylon: Institute of Architects tradition from such an early period. Joumall(I), July-Dec. 1972. Sinsena, W.M.1978.SriLAnkaandSouthAsia: References Political, Religious and Cultural Relations ASCAR ArchaeologicalSuTV,ey of Ceylon,An- from A.D... c. 1000 to c. 1500. Leiden: E.J~ J nual Report. Bnll. Bandaranayake,Senake. 197"~. Sinhalese Mo- Werake,Mahinda. 1984. TheAbhayagiriVihara nasticArchitecture, Leiden: E.J. Brin. and Sino-Sri Lanka Buddhistic Relations Bandaranayake,Senake. 1983. The Architec- during the Anuradhapura Period, The tura!and Spatial Organization of theSigiriya Quarterly of the Cultural Triangle 2(3): 23- complex. Proceedings of 'Seminar on 28. Sigiriya'15 October 1983. Colombo: Cen- Werake, Mahinda. 1990. Sino-Sn Lankan Rela- tral Cultural Fundand Sri LankaFoundation tions during Pre-Colonial Times. Sri LAnka lnstitute (Mimeo) and the Silk Road of the Sea, (eds. S. Basnayake,H.T. 1983. Th(~Giri Monastery, Bandaranayake et.al.) Colombo: Sri Lanka Samskrti.2. National Commission for UNESCO and Boyd. Andrew, 1962.Chinese Architecture and Central Cultural Fund: 221-231. Town Planning, 1500 B.C.. toA.D... 1911. Notes London: Alec Tiranti. 1. Earlier versions of the present article were Culavamsa;Being the More RecentPart ofthe published in Proceedings of 'Seminar on Mahavamsa.(Translated by Wilhelm Gei- Sigiriya'15 October 1983 (mimeo) andAn- ger andC. Mabel Rickmers. 1953(reprint). cient Ceylon No.10, 1990. Colombo: The Ceylon GovemmentInfor- mation Department. De Casparis,J.G. 1961.New Evidenceon Cul- tural Relationsbetween Java and Ceylon in AncientTimes.Artibus Asiae25: -241-248. Enepola, Chandana, 1990. Conjectured Hy- draulicsof Sigiriya. Ancient CeylonNo. Il: 169-227. 34

~nake Bandaranayake

Acknowledgements The photographs in this al1icle are by Maya Upanada of the Central Cultural Fund's $igiriya Cultural Triangle Project, with the followillg exceptions: Fig. 3: Archaeological Departrnent; Fig. 10: Robert $warthe Inc., Los Angeles; Figs. 19, 22, 25, 26: $arath Athulathmudali of the $igiriya Cultural Triangle Project; Fig. 24: $enake Bandaranayake; Fig. 37: I. $. Madanayake of the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology (PGIAR), University of Kelaniya. The plans are by the $igiriya Cultural Triangle Project and the PGIAR Cartographic Unit, with the following exceptions: Fig. 5: Mallendra Adhikari, Ravindra Athukorala, Ganga Munasinghe and $hamila Jayathilaka, under the direction ojr c. Anjalendran; Fig. 6: Institute for Photogrammetry and Cartography, Fachhochschule. Karlsruhe and tJle Dambulla Cultural Triangle Project; Figs. 29 to 32: Archaeological Departrnent and adapted or revised by the PGIAR Cartographic Unit; Figs. 33-35: Archaeological Department; Sources Unknown: Figs. 33, 38; The author wishes to thank Maya Upananda, I. $ $. Madanayake, G. F. de Alwis and Asoka Perera for preparing and editing the photographs and illustrations and Robert $warthe for so kindly permit ting the use of material from bis $igiriya aerial pl1OtOcollection for articles and books on $igiriya by the Cultural Triangle Project.

Taoist Valley.