Beautiful Ancient City Of Polonnaruwa With Hundred Of Tombs, Temples And Statues

MessageToEagle.com – The beautiful ancient city of Polonnaruwa in Sri Lanka was a place where powerful kings ruled 800 years ago.

Polonnaruwa was established as the first city of the land in the 11th Century, A.D. It replaced Anuradhapura, which was plundered and made desolate by invading armies from South India.

This unique medieval capital comprises, besides the Brahmanic monuments built by the Cholas, the monumental ruins of the fabulous garden-city created by Parakramabahu I in the 12th century.

Today, we can still admire hundred of tombs, temples, statues and stupas in the city of Polonnaruwa.

The ruins of the ancient city stand on the east shore of a large artificial lake, the Topa Wewa Lake, or Parakrama Samudraya (the Sea of Parakrama), built by King Parakramabahu I (1153-86), whose reign was Polonnaruwa‘s golden age.

Within a rectangle of city walls stand palace buildings and clusters of dozens of dagobas, temples and various other religious buildings.

Scattered across the area there are many ancient buildings of historical importance that can be found to the north of the main complex, outside the city walls and close to the main road to Habarana and Dambulla.

Archaeologists have unearthed many wonderful ancient relics the site such as the stone lion which once guarded the palace of King Nissanka Malla, or the fine Hindu bronzes unearthed from the ruins of the Siva Devale Temple.

One intriguing monument is the Polonnaruwa statue of a man of a man of noble disposition holding a stack of manuscripts. Who the statue represents is not entirely clear. Some researchers have suggested this is a representation of the King Parakramabahu the great. There are also those who say this could be of the sage Pulasti, after whom the city was named Pulastinagara.

See also:

Amazing ‘Sigiriya’- ‘Lion Rock’ Fortress In Sri Lanka

Ancient Graves That Date Back To Pre-Vijaya Era Discovered In Sri Lanka

8 Remarkable Jain Temples – Marvelous Ancient Architecture And Stone Carvings

The Polonnaruwa statue rises at a height of 3.5m and is truly impressive.

The magnificent Library Monastery can be found not far from the King Parakramabahu statue. At the site we find square terrace house, a circular shrine or library where the sacred books were deposited.

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