GtriDE TO THE COLOMBO MUSEUM. 



Sigiriya Frescoes. 



189 



On the walls flanking the main staircase will be found copies 

 of the celebrated frescoes discovered in a cave or pocket of the 

 ancient rock fortress of Sigiriya near Dambulla. Sigiriya, the 

 lion rock, rises abruptly from the plains of the North-Central 

 Province to a height of about four hundred feet, with an area of 

 little more than an acre at the summit. It is said to have been 

 fortified by the Sinhalese parricide Eang Kasyapa, who ascended 

 the throne 475 a.d., and fled to the rock after having immured his 

 father King Dhatu Sen , whose capital was Anuradhapura. Kasyapa 

 made Siguiya his capital, and took refuge there for eighteen years. 



On the western face of the rock chambers have been scooped 

 out, and in one of these, 160 feet from the ground, protected 

 from sun and rain, frescoes were painted upon stucco plastered 

 upon the smooth surface, and still remain in an excellent state 



of preservation. The ancient approaches to the summit and to 

 the chambers having fallen into decay, the rock once more became 

 nearly inaccessible and, according to local tradition, the haunt of 

 yakku or demons. It was however tackled by more than one ad- 

 venturous climber during the latter half of last century, and in June, 

 1889, Mr. A. Murray, of the Public Works Department, succeeded in 

 reaching the pocket containing the frescoes, and in making the 

 tracings of them, which he coloured as nearly as possible like the 

 origmals. He has left it upon record that the work of copying took 

 him from sunrise to sunset every day for a week, lying at fuU length 

 on his back. A Buddhist priest who visited the chamber gave it as 

 his opinion that the pictures must be the portraits of some of King 

 Kasyapa's queens. The portraits are arranged singly and in couples , 

 the latter representing a maid offering the sacred lotus on a tray to 

 her mistress. 



