The Story of Sigiriya

The Story of Sigiriya PDF Author: Senani Ponnamperuma
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780987345110
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 172

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Book Description
In the fifth century Kasyapa I acquires his throne by murdering his father, who he plasters up alive into a wall. Unable to redeem himself with his people for this crime he abandons his capital and flees deep into the inhospitable forests of central Sri Lanka. There, in an area dominated by a massive black column of rock, he builds himself a new capital. At the center of his new city is the royal citadel, a terrestrial paradise of colorful gardens, pavilions and ponds. The once dark and foreboding rock he transforms to appear like a huge dazzling white cloud. Around its girth, like a giant colorful cummerbund, he paints an exquisite tapestry depicting celestial nymphs. Then on an escarpment half way up this sheer rock he then builds a colossal gatehouse in the form of a fearsome sphinx-like lion giving his lair it name, Sigiriya-Lion Mountain. There on its summit, hidden from view, he lives in splendid isolation tormented by fear and guilt. His city thrives for less than fourteen year. Then as quickly as it appears it disappears, abandoned, and quickly forgotten; relegated to an obscure footnote in history. This is the story of Kashyapa and his masterpiece-Sigiriya as it has never been told before.

The Story of Sigiriya

The Story of Sigiriya PDF Author: Senani Ponnamperuma
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780987345110
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 172

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the fifth century Kasyapa I acquires his throne by murdering his father, who he plasters up alive into a wall. Unable to redeem himself with his people for this crime he abandons his capital and flees deep into the inhospitable forests of central Sri Lanka. There, in an area dominated by a massive black column of rock, he builds himself a new capital. At the center of his new city is the royal citadel, a terrestrial paradise of colorful gardens, pavilions and ponds. The once dark and foreboding rock he transforms to appear like a huge dazzling white cloud. Around its girth, like a giant colorful cummerbund, he paints an exquisite tapestry depicting celestial nymphs. Then on an escarpment half way up this sheer rock he then builds a colossal gatehouse in the form of a fearsome sphinx-like lion giving his lair it name, Sigiriya-Lion Mountain. There on its summit, hidden from view, he lives in splendid isolation tormented by fear and guilt. His city thrives for less than fourteen year. Then as quickly as it appears it disappears, abandoned, and quickly forgotten; relegated to an obscure footnote in history. This is the story of Kashyapa and his masterpiece-Sigiriya as it has never been told before.

Sigiriya

Sigiriya PDF Author: Senani Ponnamperuma
Publisher: Nsm Ponnamperuma
ISBN: 9780648442912
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
Palace intrigue, passion, deceit, betrayal, and tragedy-this is the story of King Kasyapa and his beloved Sigiriya. Set fifteen hundred years ago, this compelling novel weaves historical facts into a remarkably entertaining story of fate, dangerous alliances, enduring friendships, and forbidden love.

Sigiriya and Beyond

Sigiriya and Beyond PDF Author: Neranjana Gunetilleke
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789553900005
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description


This Mournable Body

This Mournable Body PDF Author: Tsitsi Dangarembga
Publisher: Graywolf Press
ISBN: 1555978622
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 BOOKER PRIZE A searing novel about the obstacles facing women in Zimbabwe, by one of the country’s most notable authors Anxious about her prospects after leaving a stagnant job, Tambudzai finds herself living in a run-down youth hostel in downtown Harare. For reasons that include her grim financial prospects and her age, she moves to a widow’s boarding house and eventually finds work as a biology teacher. But at every turn in her attempt to make a life for herself, she is faced with a fresh humiliation, until the painful contrast between the future she imagined and her daily reality ultimately drives her to a breaking point. In This Mournable Body, Tsitsi Dangarembga returns to the protagonist of her acclaimed first novel, Nervous Conditions, to examine how the hope and potential of a young girl and a fledgling nation can sour over time and become a bitter and floundering struggle for survival. As a last resort, Tambudzai takes an ecotourism job that forces her to return to her parents’ impoverished homestead. It is this homecoming, in Dangarembga’s tense and psychologically charged novel, that culminates in an act of betrayal, revealing just how toxic the combination of colonialism and capitalism can be.

The Jungle Tide

The Jungle Tide PDF Author: John Still
Publisher: Asian Educational Services
ISBN: 9788120613379
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description


The Story of Anuradhapura

The Story of Anuradhapura PDF Author: Senani Ponnamperuma
Publisher: Nsm Ponnamperuma
ISBN: 9780648442998
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
For nearly 1400 years, the Anuradhapura Kingdom flourished as one of the great civilisations of the ancient world. Its capital, resplendent with gleaming dagobas and huge monasteries with thousands of monks proclaimed its opulence and grandeur. Then, in the space of just a few years, it was snuffed out, abandoned, engulfed by forest, and forgotten.

The Sigiriya Royal Gardens

The Sigiriya Royal Gardens PDF Author: Nilan Cooray
Publisher: TU Delft
ISBN: 148003097X
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
Besides the efforts that are of a descriptive and celebrative nature, studies related to Sri Lanka's historical built heritage largely view material remains in historical, sociological, socio-historical and semiological perspectives. There is hardly any serious attempt to view such material remains from a technical-analytical approach to understand the compositional aspects of their design. The 5th century AC royal complex at Sigiriya is no exception in this regard. The enormous wealth of information and the material remains unearthed during more than 100 years of field-based research by several generations of archaeologists provide an ideal opportunity for such analysis. The Sigiriya Royal Gardens fills the gap in research related to Sri Lanka's historical built heritage in general, and to Sigiriya in particular. Therefore, the present research attempts to read Sigiriya as a landscape architectonic design to expose its architectonic composition and design instruments.

Sacred Island

Sacred Island PDF Author: Shravasti Dhammika
Publisher: Buddhist Publication Society
ISBN: 9552402719
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
This travel and pilgrimage guidebook is meant primarily for Buddhists or those interested in Buddhism who wish to explore Sri Lanka’s rich cultural and spiritual heritage. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of the island, the author weaves together archaeological findings, art history and the stories and legends of the Buddhist tradition to bring to life thirty-three places of religious significance.

Running in the Family

Running in the Family PDF Author: Michael Ondaatje
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307776646
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
In the late 1970s Ondaatje returned to his native island of Sri Lanka. As he records his journey through the drug-like heat and intoxicating fragrances of that "pendant off the ear of India, " Ondaatje simultaneously retraces the baroque mythology of his Dutch-Ceylonese family. An inspired travel narrative and family memoir by an exceptional writer.

The Sigiriya Museum

The Sigiriya Museum PDF Author: Senake Bandaranayake
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Excavations (Archaeology)
Languages : en
Pages : 88

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Book Description