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Gardens
in the western precincts:
The gateway to the western precinct lies across the
inner moat. It had an elaborate gate-house made of timber
and brick with a tiled roof. The moat is perfectly aligned
with a mountain peak in the distance
Only
the southern side of the garden has been excavated,
leaving the identical northern half for the archaeologist
of the future. In the entire Sigiri-Bim, over 200 village
tanks and rural sites have been investigated.
The water gardens of the western precinct are symmetrically
planned, while the boulder garden at a higher level
is asymmetrically planned. The water garden displays
one of the worlds most sophisticated hydraulic technologies,
dating from the Early Historic Period.
This
shows an interconnection of macro- and micro-hydraulics
to provide for domestic horticultural and agricultural
needs, surface drainage and erosion control, ornamental
and recreational water courses and retaining structures
and also cooling systems.
The Macro system consisted of the Sigiri Maha weva,
the manmade lake with a 12 km dam, running south from
the base of the rock, a series of moats, two on the
west and one on the east fed from the lake. At micro
level are, the water control and the water retaining
systems at the summit of the rock and at various levels
with horizontal and vertical drains cut in to the rock
and underground conduits made of cylindrical terracotta
pipes.
WATER
GARDENS:
The miniature water garden just inside the inner wall
of the western precinct, consists of water pavilions,
pools, cisterns, courtyards, conduits and water courses.
The pebbled or marbled water-surrounds covered by shallow
slowly moving water would have served as cooling devices
with an aesthetic appeal with visual and sound effects,
which could be visualised by a visitor who could spend
a little time
The
largest water garden has a central island surrounded
by water and linked to the main precinct by cardinally-oriented
causways. This was created 5 centuries before those
at Angkor in Cambodia or Mughal gardens in India. The
central island would have been occupied by a large pavilion.
The
water is in four L-shaped pools, connected by underground
water conduits at varying depths, to provide different
water levels. The pool on the south-west, is divided
into a large bathing pool, with a corbelled tunnel and
steps leading down into it. The other pool is smaller
with a central boulder on which was a brick-built pavilion.
The
fountain garden is a narrow precinct on two levels.
Western half has two long and deep pools, with shallow
serpentine streams draining into the pools. These had
been paved with marble slabs. These streams display
the fountains, which have been made from circular limestone
plates with symmetrical perforations, which are fed
by underground water conduits and operate by gravity
and pressure. There are two shallow limestone cisterns
which would have served as storage and pressure chambers
for the fountains. These fountains are still active
during the rainy season from November to January.
On
either side of the fountains are four large moated islands
, oriented north-south, cutting across the central axis
of the water garden. This too shows the symmetrical
repetition. The flattened surfaces of the islands were
meant for the Summer Palaces or water pavilions. Access
to the pavilions were across bridges cut into the surface
rock.
The
Octagonal pond is at a point where the water garden
and the boulder garden meet, a still higher level from
the rest of the water garden. It is at the base of a
towering boulder. There is a raised podium and a drip
ledge, which would have formed the bathing pavilion
. The pond is surrounded by a wide terrace also octagonal.
Beauty
of Sri Lanka
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