Central Province (Matale District)
Sigiriya
The Culavamsa, a Pali chronicle of Sri Lanka's kings, says Kassapa I had his father walled up alive, fled to a rock called Sihagiri, built a staircase in the form of a lion, and lived on the summit "like (the god) Kuvera." UNESCO's listing calls Sigiriya the capital of a "parricidal" king. Raja de Silva, a former Archaeological Commissioner, argued in 2002 that no palace stood on the summit and that the rock was a Buddhist monastery for centuries before and after Kassapa. Visitors scratched about 1,800 records into the Mirror Wall below the painted women, and nearly 1,500 have been read.