Palace of Parakramabahu I, Polonnaruwa

The Palace of Parakramabahu I (also known as Vaijayantha Prasada or Vijayotpaya) is the royal palace built by King Parakramabahu the Great (1153-1186 A.D.) within the Citadel of the Ancient City of Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka (Wickramagamage, 2004). 

History

Parakramabahu built the palace and named it Vaijayantha Prasada after the abode of the Vedic god Indra [(King of gods, Sakra) Nicholas, 1963; Seneviratna, 1998]. Adoption of this name indicates that there was a need to secure the concept that the king and god were equal. According to the description given in Culavamsa, this palace was a seven storied edifice furnished with one thousand chambers (Nicholas, 1963; Seneviratna, 1998). Also it was adorned with many hundreds of pillars painted in different colors. 

The palace building

The basic ground plan shows similarity to that of the 12th century palaces at Anuradhapura (Palace of Vijayabahu), Panduwasnuwara (Palace of Parakramabahu) and Galabedda [(Palace of Sugala) Prematileke, 1990; Ray, 1960]. All these palaces have a rectangular area enclosed by galleries with an entrance facing the east (Prematileke, 1990; Ray, 1960). 

 

The Polonnaruwa palace mainly consists of two parts; the main court and the courtyard in front (Prematileke, 1990). The main court constitutes the central edifice with galleries and the front spacious courtyard with free-standing columns indicates that it may have used as a sitting and reception room of the palace (Prematileke, 1990). The  central edifice is 150 feet (45 m) in length and breadth (Ray, 1960; Wickramagamage, 2004).

 

At present, remains of three stories of supposed seven stories are identified. Inside the palace on the right is a stone stairway showing the evidence of past access to the upper floors. On the ground floor, a hall, a lavatory, rooms and ruins of the flight of the stairs are identified. Surrounding the center palace building are minor buildings which may have been used for the places for rituals, entertainment, and as rooms for the palace aids and storage.

The remaining brick walls of the palace show the crevices and sockets of the vertical timber columns and the beginning of the third floor, suggesting the upper floors could have been made out of timber (Gunaratne, 2000). The thickness of the walls varies from center to outer. The center walls are 160 cm thick and 9 m tall while the walls of the surrounding rooms are 80 cm thick (Wickramagamage, 2004). The old plaster on the walls of some parts of the palace is still in a good state of preservation. The remnants of melted bricks found on the palace ground testify that this palace may have been destroyed by fire.

Attribution

1) "Ruins of a Royal Palace" by Hafiz Issadeen is licensed under CC BY 2.0

References

1) Gunaratne, R., 2000. Sri Lanka: Florence. Casa Editrice Bonechi. ISBN: 978-88-8029-239-5, p. 47.

2) Nicholas, C. W., 1963. Historical topography of ancient and medieval Ceylon. Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, New Series (Vol VI). Special Number: Colombo. Royal Asiatic Society (Ceylon Branch). pp.177-178.

3) Prematileke, L., 1990. The architecture of the Polonnaruwa period 800-1200 A.D.. Wijesekara, N. (Editor in chief). Archaeological Department centenary (1890-1990): Commemorative series: Volume III: Architecture. Department of Archaeology (Sri Lanka). p.41.

4) Ray, H. C. (Editor in Chief), 1960. University of Ceylon: History of Ceylon (Vol 1, part II). Ceylon University Press. p.601. 

5) Seneviratna, A, 1998. Polonnaruwa, medieval capital of Sri Lanka: An illustrated survey of ancient monuments: Archaeological Survey Dept, p. 116.

6) Wickramagamage, C., 2004. Heritage of Rajarata: Major Natural, Cultural and Historic sites: Colombo. Central Bank of Sri Lanka, p. 206.

Location Map

This page was last updated on 12 December 2020
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