Sigiriya - The Lion Hill Fortress

------published in The Hindu dated July 12th 2018

Sigiriya - The Rock Fortress

Sigiriya – the mansion in the sky - is an architectural marvel.  Aptly named Lion Hill, the rocky citadel rises up like a majestic lion, ascending to a lofty height of nearly 200 metres from the surrounding plains.  It has rightly been considered as the 8^th wonder of the world by the Sri Lankans and is one of their most visited tourist attractions. The rocky fortress and the adjoining garden complex is nearly 1600 years old, dating back to the 5^th Century AD. 

 

Sigiriya is situated close to the village of Dambulla, which is about 100 kms from Sri Lanka’s commercial capital, Kandy.  An early start from Kandy will ensure that one can reach the fortress and start the climb before it gets extremely hot.   As we approach this ancient piece of marvel, we can only wonder at the sheer ingenuity of King Kashyapa who built his palace atop the hill and created a small city for his people surrounding the hill.  Even in those ancient days, the King could blend the natural beauty of the plateau with the architectural splendour of his fortress.  He also deployed scientific methods for building gardens and underground reservoirs.

The Lion's Paw

The story of King Kashyapa’s life is also very interesting and is filled with intrigue and drama. He is born as the eldest son of the then king Dhatusena.  But Kashyapa is denied his rights as the rightful heir to the throne as he is the illegitimate son – born to the King’s concubine.  His step-brother, Mogallana claims the title of ‘yuva raja’ or ‘crown prince’ as his mother is the royal queen of King Dhatusena, who also favours his younger son to become the king. 

Kashyapa resents this usurping of his entitlement, kills his father and takes control of the kingdom.  Mogallana, fearing for his life, flees to India.  Kashyapa then crowns himself as the King.  But being worried that his brother may come back to attack him, he decides to build his fortress and palace atop the huge lion-like structured rock; thus, Sigiriya, the impregnable citadel is born. From the top, it provides unhindered views of the surrounding plains.

While climbing up the fortress

Today, we can climb several flights of steps, up the rock to reach the top.  Half way through, we get to see the huge claws of a seated lion that King Kashyapa had got sculpted. The upper body of the lion is no longer visible.   His appreciation for the arts can be gauged by the beautiful frescoes that cover the rock walls.  Though these paintings of pretty damsels were done around 460 AD, the natural colours remain intact and still retain their shine despite the ravages of time.     Higher up the hill, on the rock surface, is the ’mirror wall’.  Using a material found locally, King Kashyapa got this ‘mirror’ installed – the rock surface was scoured and polished till it resembled a mirror.  It reflected the image of the beautiful landscaped gardens, and ponds filled with aquatic flowers that were maintained right below the hill.  King Kashyapa employed engineering skills to have an underground reservoir built that remained filled with water even during the dry season.  He ensured the scientific use of rain water to provide water to his garden.  A complex hydraulic system of canals, lakes, bridges, fountains and surface/underground pumps was set up to irrigate the gardens and the surrounding moat and ramparts.  These are functional even today.

At the base

After the slow and arduous climb to the top, the view is breath taking.  We also get to see the ruins of the erstwhile palace constructions – the royal throne, the king and queen’s apartments, ponds.  King Kashyapa ruled from his secure palace for nearly 22 years till 495AD.  His deep-rooted fear that his step-brother would return with an army and wage a war became a reality.  Mogallana attacked the seemingly impregnable Sigiriya Fort, killed King Kashyapa and took over the reins.    

 

Bikaner - Fort, Palace, Bhujia and the Temple of Rats!

---------published in The Hindu dated 2nd August 2018

The Junagarh Fort - Bikaner

Tucked away in a small dusty town in Deshnoke near Bikaner of Rajasthan is the temple of Karni Mata Devi.  This is no ordinary temple – it is a temple where rats rule the roost and is thus aptly called the Temple of Rats.

When we embarked on a road-trip in Rajasthan, we started from Jaipur in the east and drove across to Jaisalmer in the west.  En-route, about 350 kms from Jaipur, we decided to stop over at Bikaner, in the north-west part of Rajasthan, a city which is known across India for its popular snack - the Bikaneri Bhujia. 

Anup Mahal

Bikaner owes its formation to Rao Bika, a fierce Rajput warrior and son of Maharaja Rao Jodha of  Jodhpur.  Rao Bika named  his kingdom after himself as Bikaner and ruled it in the late 15^th century.  The city boasts of a massive fort built using red sand stone, called the Junagarh Fort.  This was built almost a century after Rao Bika and several other kings who followed later added more embellishments, leaving their names enshrined in the history of the fort. The interiors of the palace within the fort are architectural marvels – comprising of the Baadal Mahal where the walls and ceiling are patterned like blue clouds, the Anup Mahal that has beautiful pillars and arches sculpted with ornate filigree work in a golden hue,, the open courtyards with white marble floors and the arches inlaid with delicate designs, the highly impressive Durbar Hall that was used by the kings to meet officials and royal dignitaries during formal functions.   Every ceiling, wall, arch and doorway inside the fort leaves a lasting impression of architectural beauty, elegance and artistic creativity.   

Baadal Mahal

The city of Bikaner also boasts of another beautiful palace called the Lalgarh Palace that was built by Maharaja Ganga Singh in the late 19^th century.  This palace is also the residence of the current royal family. A part of it has been converted into a heritage hotel called Laxmi Niwas Palace.  The neatly manicured lawns, the vast expansive grounds, the red sand-stone construction, the pretty little arched towers, the perfectly aligned geometrical  symmetry of the building– all these and more make the palace a stunningly beautiful one.

Entrance to the Karni Mata Temple

Rats feeding on milk

From Bikaner, we drove the short distance to Deshnoke to visit the Karni Mata Temple.  From the outside, it looked like any other temple, built of white marble with a huge silver door at the entrance. But as we stood in line to enter the temple doors, we were in for a big surprise.  We found plenty of rats – of different sizes and in different shades of grey.   There were more than half a dozen of them sitting on the ledge of the door.   Once we got over our initial surprise, we looked around and spotted several more peeping out of a small crevice in the wall.  And then when we daintily walked over the temple threshold, there were plenty of them scampering around all over the black-and-white tiled temple floor.  We saw a good number of rats gathered neatly around a huge plate of milk and drinking the ‘prasad.’  It was a remarkable sight!   There were rats in every nook and corner and some inside the sanctum sanctorum too.  We learnt later that Karni Mata was revered as an incarnation of Goddess Durga.   The locals believed that the rats were actually her devotees, who after their death were reborn as rats.  That was the main reason they enjoyed total freedom within the temple.  Another folk lore mentioned that when Karni Mata’s son died, she prayed to Lord Yama, the God of Death, to let him go.  Yama relented but said her son would become a rat.  Thus after that, all her children were born as rats and could freely move around in the temple.

Inside the Sanctum sanctorum

 In fact, if any visitor to the temple stepped on any rat or killed even one of them accidentally, he had to pay a big price for the vile deed.  The visitor had to get a rat sculpted in silver and donate it to the temple! 

We carefully walked around the temple, making sure that we did not trample any rat – that was one unforgettable, if a little creepy, temple experience!