Polonnaruwa

While Vijayabahu's victory and shifting of Kingdoms to the more strategic Polonnaruwa is considered significant, the real Polonnaruwa Hero of the history books is actually his grandson, Parakramabahu I. It was his reign that is considered the Golden Age of Polonnaruwa, when trade and agriculture flourished under the patronage of the King, who was adamant that no drop of water falling from the heavens was to be wasted, and each be used toward the development of the land; hence, irrigation systems far superior to those of the Anuradhapura Age were constructed during Parakramabahu's reign, systems which to this day supply the water necessary for paddy cultivation during the scorching dry season in the east of the country. The greatest of these systems, of course is the Parakrama Samudraya or the Sea of Parakrama, a tank so vast that it is often mistaken for the ocean. It is of such a width that it is impossible to stand upon one shore and view the other side, and it encircles the main city like a ribbon, being both a defensive border against intruders and the lifeline of the people in times of peace. The Kingdom of Polonnaruwa was completely self-sufficient during King Parakramabahu's reign.

However, with the exception of his immediate successor, Nissankamalla I, all other monarchs of Polonnaruwa, were slightly weak-willed and rather prone to picking fights within their own court. They also went on to form more intimiate matrimonial alliances with stronger South Indian Kingdoms, until these matrimonial links superseded the local royal lineage and gave rise to the Kalinga invasion by King Magha in 1214 and the eventual passing of power into the hands of a Pandyan King following the Arya Chakrawarthi invasion of Sri Lanka in 1284. The capital was then shifted to Dambadeniya. The city Polonnaruwa was also called as Jananathamangalam during the short Chola reign.

Polonnaruwa Visitor Information Centre and Museum

Built with the help of the Dutch government, this centre, on the banks of the lake, uses designer displays, detailed descriptive texts and a five-minute video presentation to complement its collection of archaeological finds. With a huge scale model of the site, it brings Polonnaruwa's palaces and temples to life, and it is well worth visiting before you set out to explore the complex.

Watadageya

A few yards northwest of the Siva Devale, the complex known as the Quadrangle stands within its own rectangle of walls, guarding the richest collection of ancient buildings in any of Sri Lanka's ruined capitals. In the southeast corner of the Quadrangle stands the Vatadage (reliquary), a circular building some 18m (59ft) in diameter, with four entrances leading to a central dagoba (shrine) which houses four seated Buddha images.

Clockwise around this building, from the southwest corner of the Quadrangle, is the Thuparama, a fine example of the gedige style of temple architecture which flourished at Polonnaruwa, and the only one to survive with its roof still in place.

West of the Vatadage is the Latha Mandapaya, a miniature dagoba encircled by stone columns topped with carved lotus buds, and surrounded by a carved stone trellis. Beyond this is the Atadage, the ruin of a tooth relic shrine built during the reign of Vijayabahu 1. Next to it is a cluster of small Hindu shrines.

Immediately north of the Vatadage is the Hatadage, another tooth reliquary building which was constructed in the reign of Nissanka Malla, and to the east of this stands the Gal Pota, or Stone Book, a 9m (29ft) stone carving of one of the palm leaf books used to record Buddhist texts and royal genealogies. The inscriptions on it boast of the achievements of King Nissanka Malla, a man who seems to have been acutely aware of the long shadow cast by his great father, whose achievements he constantly sought to equal and outdo.

Finally, in the northeast corner of the Quadrangle, stands the Satmahal Prasada, a six-storey, pagoda-like building which is unlike anything else in Sri Lanka, and has left archaeologists stymied as to its origin.

Still within the perimeter of the city walls, north of the Quadrangle complex, are three more devales, including a Siva Devale to the west of the road, and on the opposite side of the road a Vishnu Devale and yet another Siva Devale, a stone temple which is the oldest surviving building at Polonnaruwa. South of it looms the Parakramabahu Vihara, one of the largest dagobas in Polonnaruwa.

Gal Viharaya

Also known as the Cave of the Spirits of Knowledge, this is one of the most important Buddhist shrines. It takes the form of three colossal Buddha images carved out of a granite cliff. Most prominent is the standing image, 7m (23ft) tall, which was at one time thought to represent Ananda, the Buddha's first disciple, but is now regarded as being a Buddha image like the others. Next to it is an enormous 14m (46ft) reclining Buddha. Two smaller, less skillfully carved Buddha images occupy niches in the rock nearby.