The Royal and the Monastic Gardens at Sigiriya And
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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 ' \ 11i ! , 1" I i' ", Fig.l Fig.2 Fig.3 Fig.4 ~ 4 ~ 9P u I ~-.=-.:: ~ I; }10. [I tJJ;" ~ i V'.:::::" -., ' "-'-' ~ G':;~ ~ ..~ 'b.\-~ > ~ J" ,..;J -, .'" ~~ "-/ ~~..,~ ""'"'1 (\ j -..,~ -oou..~ " .~..u-.,- .-~~'.NN..-T--'- -, .- .~H ~" () c o ~ 0-- .:i~J 1!ii!1r,ir11;"! - . ,c~~",~cf r + !;:, ~{j;f'i" ç Fig. 5 'Boulder Gar- den' monastery, Maligatanna. Date uncertain. o Fig. 6 Early Buddhist ~ + rock-shelter monastery, Dambulla, 3rd- 1 st century B. C. w",\1\ r: v ~ 5 ~ Senake Bandaranayake 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\\\\ lAKe \\\\\"!\\\I\\H\ti" 1I\\1\\~\"1 "\~I\ I" I tl\"\\"\\\~\\"\\\" "\\"f++\\\~\~~'!\\\ .Rock llMeat 9 1~Om 4 ~ t 5 ~ < ~: }v ,~, ~ 7 Sigiriya-city, palace and garden. Sth century A.D. 1 8 The 'Greater Sigiriya' area. " / i . ,.,~ 'iâ ..' : fj ,'. ~ T~ ;--:')j1 7 ~ Senake Bandaranayake 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.