Polonnaruwa which served as the capital for three centuries is the next great ancient sites of Sri Lanka after Anuradhpura. Although the sites are more than 1000 years old,are generally in better repair than the sites that of Anuradhpura. The Singhalese kings moved the capital from Anuradhpura to Polonnaruwa as it was more defendable against the invading South Indains but Polonnaruwa also fell to the invading South Indian Chola dynasty in the 10th century. But the invaders were driven out of the islan in 1070 by Sinhalese king Vijayabahu –I and kept Polonnaruwaas the capital. But it was under king Parakramababu (r 1153-86) that Polonnaruwa reached its zenith. It was a period when master plans were drawn, huge buildings were erected and large scale irrigation was achieved with the construction of a massive 2500-hectare tank. But the long term survival of Polonnaruwa as a capital proved difficult as it was susceptible to south Indian invasions.

Sigiriya is a large rock formation (image 1) that is not just an impressive geological formation but also one of Sri Lanka’s archaeological legacies. It is traditionally been the belief that Sigiriya was a fortress constructed under the reign of King Kassapa (Ad477-495)But the latest theories points towards the site as a long standing Buddhist monastery built several centuries prior to the time of king Kassapa.

After the 14th century the monastery was abandoned and was discovered by British explorer Bell in 1898.
Whatever the original purpose may have been, the ruins indicates a sophisticated site with master-planing, architecture, hydraulic engineering, gardening and art.

The gardens to the west of the rock consist of water garden (image 3) that extends all the way to main entrance at the moat (image 2). And the steep land immediately below the rock is sculptured in to a rock gardens (images 4 & 5) and the landscape in between rock and water garden is the terrace gardens (image 6).
Half war up the rock you come across the frescos of the buxom,wasp-waisted women. This the most famous of all the Sigiriya features believed to represent aspects of Tara Devi, one of the most important figures in Tantric Buddhism. Although there may have been up to 500 such portraits at one time, only 22 remains today. (images 7 & 8) And said to date back to the 5th century.
The 3m high mirror wall on half way to the top of the rock is a highly polished wall that has been used by visitors for the past 1000 years of their impressions, mainly of the frescos (image 11).

The Lions Paws that is what remains of a sculpture of a giant lion that was the entrance to the final ascent to the top of the rock (image 12)The summit today consist mainly of the remains of foundations (image 13) that had covered most of the 1.6 hectare summit.

And the large pool 27m by 21m may have been used solely as a water storage (image 14). The view from the summit also provide us scale of the impressive planing that once was (image 15).

Yapahuwa was the capital of the island from 1277 to 1284 and was a more defendable location from the invading South Indians as it was 100m above the surrounding plains but fell to the invaders in 1284. Altough not a lot survives and some of the finer pieces have been moved to museum in Colombo, the quality of stone carvings are some of the most beautiful we have seen and it is a pleasant view from the top.

Mihintale is just 13km east of Anuradhapura and is of enormous importance to the majority Sinhalese (70%) of the population as this said to be where Buddhism was introduced to the island in 247BC when King Devanampia Tissa met Mahinda, son of Indian Buddhist emperor Ashoka when deer hunting.

The site is dotted with ancient ruins of monasteries and it is a quite a climb to the top where all the temples are located.

Once on the high ground, there is a good view of the distance Dagobas and the water tanks of Anuradhapura.

In the north central province lies the original heart of Sri Lanka’s civilisation. It was called the Land of The Kings. For 1500 years, starting around 250BC, dynasties, wars, invasions and religious missions to Asia as well as ambitious irrigation systems supported two great cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa. But today these sites fall more into the categories of town than cities with populations of 56,000 and 106,000 respectively.
Our first destination Anuradhapura first became a capital in 380BC but it was under the reign of Devanampiya Tissa (247-207BC) that it first rose to great importance and Buddhism said to have arrived in the island in 247BC. For over 1000 years of its reign, Anuradhpura has seen number of South Indian invasions and region in general is dry and hot and even today depends heavily on seasonal monsoon rain for its agriculture.

Even with large number of tanks (image 1) constructed by its rulers in the ancient times (oldest constructed around 4th century BC), it is hard to imagine the survival of north central region as being the home to the capital of Sri Lanka, even though it did so for 1500 years. Today the region is the least densely populated region in the country and agriculture remains the main income.
Since the arrival of Buddisum in the island, successive rulers in Auradhapura period has devoted vast amount of energy and funds to course.

Whole of Anuradhapura’s ancient city is basically a monasterial site with temples, vast residential quarters (images 2-7), pools solely dedicated to the monks that resided in the city (images of twin ponds, 8 &9 Twin ponds, just two of large number of ponds that are found in the ancient city and these by far the best preserved). Over the last century a lot has been done to recover the ancient glory with the help of UNESCO but vast areas remain to be recovered.

The moonstone at the entrance to the King Mahasena’s palace, very popular with the locals. Mahasena (AD 276-303) is said to be the last great kings on Anuradhapura and credited with creating 16 tanks and a canal during his reign. (image 11).

Anuradhapura is one of the most important points of local pilgrimage and locals start arriving hear from the very young ages.

Time to get some breakfast on the way to Dambulla on the way south from Anuradhapura