Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c41.70

c41.70

With the return of the rule in Ceylon to an indigenous dynasty in the twelfth century, the second era of the greatness of the country began. And as the first era centred round the capital of Anuradhapura, so it came about that the succeeding historical period had as its focus the royal city of Polonnaruwa, situated some fifty odd miles towards the south-east of the older metropolis It was however under Parakrama the Great (1153-86) that this city assumed premier rank, as this ruler devoted all his resources to the production of monumental buildings, with the result that Sinhalese architecture had a second and brilliant flowering under his enthusiastic patronage. But this monarch's reign, in spite of its length, proved but a short, although illustrious episode in the chronicles of the country, recalling in some respects the Moghul Emperor Akbar's magnificent civic scheme at Fatehpur Sikri in India some centuries later, for both these imperial cities after a transitory but dynamic existence were abandoned and fell into decay after experiencing little more than a generation of sumptuous ceremony and regal splendour. At Polonnaruwa spoliation began as early as the thirteenth century, and although an attempt was made to revive some of its ancient glory in the fourteenth century, it availed little, since when it has remained a ruined record of the past, its temples and palaces fighting a steadily losing battle against the merciless inroads of the surrounding vegetation.