the king’s nephew and army commander.
Kashyapa, the king’s son by a non-royal consort, usurped the rightful heir, Moggallana, who fled to South India.
Fearing an attack from Moggallana, Kashyapa moved the capital and his residence from the traditional capital of Anuradhapura to the more secure Sigiriya.
Kashyapa was defeated in 495 by Moggallana, who moved the capital again to Anuradhapura.
Sigiriya was then turned back into a Buddhist monastery, which lasted until the thirteenth or fourteenth century.
After this period, no records are found on Sigiriya until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when it was used as an outpost of the Kingdom of Kandy.
When the kingdom ended, it was abandoned again.
The Mahavamsa, the ancient historical record of Sri Lanka, describes King Kashyapa as the son of King Dhatusena.
Kashyapa murdered his father by walling him alive and then usurping the throne which rightfully belonged to his brother Mogallana, Dhatusena's son by the true queen.
Mogallana fled to India to escape being assassinated by Kashyapa but vowed revenge.
Chronicles and lore say that the battle-elephant on which Kashyapa was mounted changed course to take a strategic advantage, but the army misinterpreted the movement as the King having opted to retreat,
prompting the army to abandon the king altogether.
It is said that being too proud to be surrendered he took his dagger from the waist band, cut his throat, raised the dagger proudly, sheathed it and fell dead.
Alternative stories have the primary builder of Sigiriya as King Dhatusena, with Kashyapa finishing the work in honour of his father.
Still other stories have Kashyapa as a playboy king, with Sigiriya a pleasure palace.
Even Kashyapa's eventual fate is mutable.
No comments:
Post a Comment