The kingdom in which I live

 The kingdom in which I live

We live in various beautiful places in this little Sri Lanka. The area in which we live varies according to the climate, environment and historical events. But it allhas an inherent beauty. So I'm going to tell you about the kingdom I have lived in for 21 years. I now when you talk about a kingdom,you think I'm kidding. I live in one of the most important and historical places in Sri Lanka and it is yapahuwa kingdom. 

Yapahuwa was one of the ephemeral capitals of medieval Sri Lanka. The citadel of Yapahuwa lying midway between kurunegala and anuradhapura was built around a huge granit rock rising abruptly almost a hundred meters above the surrounding lowlands.

In 1272, king Bhuvanekabahu transferred the capital from Polonnaruwa to Yapahuwa in the face of Dravidian invasions from South India,bringing the Sacred Tooth Relic. Fallowing its capture, Yapahuwa was largely abandoned and inhabited by Buddhist monks and religious ascetics.

Yapahuwa served as the capital of Sri Lanka in the latter part of the 13th century (1273 - 1284). Built on a huge,90 meter high rock Boulder in the style of the Sigiriya rock fortress, Yapahuwa was a place and military stronghold against foreign invaders.

The palace and fortress were built by King Buvanekabahu 1 (1272-1284) in the year 1273. Many traces of ancient battle defences can still be seen, while an ornamental stairway, is its biggest showpiece. On top of the rock are the remains of a stupa, a Bodhi tree enclosure, and a rock shelter cave used by Buddhist monks,indicating that earlier this site was used as a Buddhist monastery, like many boulders and hills in the area. There are several caves at the base of the rock. In one of them there is a shrine with Buddha images. One cave has a Brahmi script inscripting. As the southern base of the rock there is a fortification with two moats and ramparts. In this enclosure there are the remains of a mumber of buildings including a Buddhist shrine. There is also a Buddhist temple called Yapahuwa Rajamaha Viharaya built during the Kandyan period.

The Tooth Relic was brought from Dambadeniya and kept in the Tooth Temple built for the purpose at the top of the third staircase. The relics were carried away from the temple here to South India by the Pandyas,and then recovered in 1288 by Parakkramabahu 3 (1287 - 1293) , who temporarily placed them in safety at Polonnaruwa.

Indeed, I am fortunate to be in a beautiful,  farming and prosperous kingdom where the Tooth Relic resided.