Up A Thousand Steps

SRI Lanka, the Resplendent Island as its current name signifies, is a country with a long and historical past. Twice in his inscriptions, th...

SRI Lanka, the Resplendent Island as its current name signifies, is a country with a long and historical past. Twice in his inscriptions, the Mauryan emperor Ashoka referred to it as 8216;Tambapanni8217; Tamraparni and marked it as the southernmost country to which he had extended his influence. Although I had been to the capital, Colombo, and to Galle and Kandy, my recollections were rather faint and I had no memory of its rich culture and historicity as a 10-year-old.

As a consultant for Ford Foundation, I, along with Shobhita Punja, a reputed cultural educationist and Suryaveer Kohli, our photographer, were recently able to combine an official trip to Sri Lanka with an exhaustive two-day visit to some prominent archaeological sites. Shobita had been to the country earlier. Her insight and experience were extremely useful as we debated the places to visit and the trails to pursue, while discovering we had two national holidays in between our official visit. None of us were deterred by the heat or the expanse we had to traverse.

Buddha statues at the Central Sanctuary in Dambulla

We set out from Colombo for Dambulla, the Buddhist monastery, one of the most important centres of Buddhist pilgrimage in Sri Lanka. It is also home to one of the largest cave temple complexes in the South and Southeast Asian region. We reached Dambulla at 5pm. No amount of the exhaustive reading that I had equipped myself with could have prepared me to witness the mammoth rock structure that lay in front of me. The setting was idyllic after ascending a thousand steps, as the sun was beginning to set. Five rock-cut caves have been created from a large monolithic rock, with painted and curved rock ceilings. On climbing approximately 1000 steps, we reached these caves.

As we walked around, gazing at the beauty of the painted ceilings and the Buddha images carved from the rock, I kept thinking of Ajanta and Ellora. The latter are beautiful but lack the maintenance of the former. I firmly believe that literate people can do wonders, particularly in the field of conservation of heritage sites. The difference in the upkeep of the heritage sites in India and Sri Lanka are a glaring example of this. Incidentally, despite the day being a national holiday, the place was teeming with school children brought on an educational trip. Their enthusiasm was infectious. I could also not take my eyes off the stylistic beauty of a 1938 carved corridor, which had been created to protect the entrances to the five caves from inclement weather. After a nearly three hour visit we went on to our hotel.

Stone Pillars at the Circular Stupa House at Polonnaruva

Our stay at hotel Kandalama was enchanting. It is located in the midst of almost virginal forests which are on the edge of an ancient lake. It is designed by Geoffrey Bawa, one of my architectural icons. He is easily one of the most prodigious architects of our times 8212; 8216;8216;fully conversant with contemporary technology and international developments but with a deep sense of empathy for vernacular traditions.8217;8217; His talent is brilliantly illustrated in the structure of the hotel.

The hotel hugs the rocky hills and its concrete, steel and glass structure is contoured around the rock face of the mountain, in many places, being one wall of 1the public space. In the rooms and bathrooms, the outer walls are all glass from which you look out to the forest and the lake. Just beautiful. It was very controversial when it was built and today, it is a landmark hotel.

After a refreshed night, we got to an early start the following morning, leaving Kandalama at 7.30 in the morning for Polonnaruva. This is an hour8217;s drive from the hotel. The medireview capital of Sri Lanka from the 11 century AD to the end of the first quarter of the 13th century AD, Polonnaruva is situated in the dry zone of the North-Central province. Here King Parakramabahu I built his capital on the banks of a created huge lake. We spent about five hours at the site looking at many buildings like the Kings Palace, Council Chamber, Circular Stupa House, Lankatilaka Image-house, Galvihara or rock monastery and the Lotus Pond. This site is very reminiscent of Hampi, except it belongs to an earlier period.

We left Polonnaruva for Sigiriya at three in the afternoon. After an hour8217;s drive through scenic landscape we reached Sigiriya shortly after 4pm. Sigiriya is unique. These are fifth century gardens, that is, a thousand years before the Mughal gardens were laid out. The sight is breathtaking. Several gardens, at varying levels, laid out at the foot of the great Sigiriya Rock. There is a miniature garden, two levels of water gardens and then another two levels of boulder gardens. We marvelled at the ancient landscaping of these gardens and then began our ascent to the rock. A few hundred feet up, we were looking from the strategically designed viewing platforms like 8216;takhts8217; in the open air when the heavens opened up. It started to rain torrentially. We never made it up to the palace on top of the Rock but we saw a splendid display. All the ancient water works went into play and all the ancient channels filled with water and through the ancient spouts the water works, as designed in the fifth century, came into play. A memorable sight.

At seven in the evening, we headed back to Kandalama Hotel 8212; slightly exhausted but so enriched by the great archaeological sites. I had visited Sri Lanka8217;s glorious cultural triangle.

as told to Divya Srivastava