The Summit

Covering an area of around 1.6 hectares, the remains of the foundations show that the summit would have been completely covered with buildings. The design, layout and magnificent views that it still enjoys to this day, suggest Sigiriya would have been more of a royal palace of pleasure than a fortress. A pond scooped out of solid rock measuring 27m x 21m, looks like a modern rooftop pool. A smooth slab of flat stone, often referred to as the kings stone throne, faces the rising sun.

Lion Platform

The Northern end of the rock the pathway emerges to a platform, from which the rock derives its name Sigiriya (the Lion Rock). At one time a gigantic brick lion sat at the end of the rock, and the final ascent to the summit was between the lions paws and into it's mouth! Today the lion has disappeared, only the paws and the first steps are visible.

The Mirror Wall with Graffiti

Beyond the fresco gallery, the pathway circles the the sheer face of the rock, and is protected by a 3m high wall. This wall was coated with a mirror-smooth glaze, in which visitors over 1000 years ago noted their impressions of the women in the gallery above. The graffiti was mostly inscribed between the 7th and 11th Century AD. 685 of them have been deciphered and published. The graffiti are a great source for the scholars to study the development of the Sinhala language and script.

The Healer and the drug pusher

The medicine you take can kill you

The Healer and the Drug Pusher
Daya Dissanayake.
ISBN 0-595-13700-8.

Say no to drugs. Not just narcotics, but all drugs sold as Western Medicine. That is what the young girl Bhanu tells her father who is marketing pharmaceuticals. Her friend, Suneeta is dying in a hospital in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from the effects of a drug manufactured by a Multinational company. Bhanu is a Tamil. Suneeta is a Sinhala. The time is the end of the 20th century. Could Suneeta's life be saved by going back to our ancient medical science?

Mitra is a Persian sailor who is cast ashore in the North of Sri Lanka. His life is saved by the Tamil villagers and treated at the hospital attached to the Buddhist temple. His blindness is treated at an eye hospital in the South of Sri Lanka. The time is the end of the 10th century.

This is the story in the novel The Healer and The Drug Pusher, which tries to go back to our ancient healing practices and how advanced they were and questions todays developments and if they have really benefited mankind. Isn't our indigenous healthcare system more affordable, more effective and least harmful?

It is the 3rd novel by daya dissanayake, and was published by iUniverse in October 2000. The Second edition of this book has been printed by Vijitha Yapa Publishers and is available at leading Sri Lankan Bookshops.

daya dissanayake won the State Literary Award in 1998 for his historical novel kat bitha. His 2^nd book the saadhu testament which created history as the first e-novel from asia can be freely downloaded from this website. The Sinhala translation of the Healer and the Drug Pusher is also available for free download