Kassapa overthrows his father Dhatusena

01“This is all my wealth”

The Culavamsa tells the story plainly. Kassapa imprisoned Dhatusena and demanded the royal treasure. The old king asked to be taken to the Kala Wewa, the reservoir he had built. He bathed in it, drank its water, and told the messengers that this was all the wealth he had. Kassapa, enraged, had him stripped, chained and walled up. Migara, who held a grudge against the king, saw it done. Prince Moggallana, the heir, escaped across the sea to Jambudvipa.

02The fortress on the rock

Fearing his brother’s return, Kassapa moved his court to Sigiriya, a granite rock rising some 200 metres from the forest. He built a palace on its summit, gardens and pools at its foot, and a gateway through the paws of a great stone lion. The painted women on its western face, and the graffiti verses left by visitors over the following centuries, survive. He ruled about eighteen years from there.

Dynasty · 437 BCE–1017 CE (traditional founding)Kingdom of AnuradhapuraThe first great kingdom of Lanka, ruled from Anuradhapura for some fourteen centuries. Its kings received the Dharma from Ashoka’s son Mahinda and built the great stupas, while the island’s Shaiva shrines stood on its coasts.Read →