Yapahuwa

The easiest and most convenient way of reaching to Yapahuwa by public transport is using the train. You have to get down from Maho junction. There is a train leaving for Vavniya (Yaal Devi) on 5.45am from Colombo Fort. It will take you to Maho by around 8.40 am. From there, you have to take Galtamwewa bus and it’ll be a 20 minutes ride. You will easily find the place to get down as the Yapahuwa rock could be seen and sign boards are placed by the main road.

Before you commence your hike up to the rock, we suggest you to visit the small museum down by the car park. There is a friendly and talkative caretaker from the Dept. of Archaeology who gives you ample amount of information about the history and present condition of the once magnificent kingdom.

Yapahuwa was only a kingdom for 12 years but a lot has been done for that short period of time. (We don’t have to describe, go see it for yourself) The only king ruled during this period was the King Buwanekabahu. There, you will see the evidences of proof that our ancestors were a great nation of stone craftsmen. There is a unique artefact which could be seen on the entrance which used to be a ventilation panel of the Sri Dalada Maligawa, where the sacred tooth relic kept at the era of the King Buwanekabahu. The most significant feature of the ventilation panel is the pierced carving stone plaque and you will see neat rows of cravings of swans, horses and Dharma Chakras. There are exactly the same cravings on the flip side of the stone board. This ventilation panels have been placed on either sides of the entrance to the Dalada Maligawa. The other panel is at the Colombo National Museum, we learnt. There is a board saying “No Photographs” so we obliged by the rules.

There was a military leader named “Yasa” in the Polonnaruwa era and he had been living on this rock and that time and when the King Buwanekabahu came into power, it was named as Yasa Pawwa (Pawwa means rock in Sinhalese) and then it transformed to Yaha Pawwa and then to Yapahuwa. We got all these information thanks to our friendly curator. He is more than willing to share his knowledge and experience with you, but do not linger there for so long as the sun is so hot in this area and it’ll make your climb a daunting task.

There were ruins of water canals from the outer parts of the fortress and those have been used for protection of the fortress. At the base, there is a temple and at the entrance you could see a fully blossomed Sal tree enchanting the air with its pleasant fragrance. We would advise you not to go to the bottom of the tree as there are huge Sal nuts and normally it weighs around 7kg! A falling nut can even kill you.

Then comes the most important part of the journey. Climbing up… The steps are steep and it almost rises to an angle of 70 degrees.  If you focus intensely and keep your balance well, it will be a piece of cake but there is a hand rail for support if you are not confident enough. After the steep climb, you’ll see the most fascinating part of the journey. It is the beautiful stone cravings of the entrance to a once Dalada Maligawa. The most significant of those is the lions on either side of the entrance. It is so popular and once it was used on a 10 rupee note in Sri Lanka. The replicas of these can be seen often in entrances in Sri Lankan houses. We later learnt that during British colonial period, one of the lions was shot by a British as he mistakenly identified it as a lively beast of a lion. The crafts on either side are so precise and symmetric and it will give you great angles for photography so that you can keep your cameras busy and take a rest. Then you can resume your uphill journey. The rest of the climb is not so easy and the steps are steep and not uniform. However, we are sure the climb is much easier now than the bygone era. Our ancestors were much stronger than us and the steps must have been built accordingly. The climb is a great exercise for thighs and knees and it’s a fat killer too. You’ll be sweating profusely under the scorching sun and humid weather. There are no winds to dry off your sweat so you’ll have to use your hankies.

On the top of the rock, there are some ruins of the king’s palace and a dagoba. Also there is a pond that used to supply water and now it is in a sorry state with murky water. There is a little place to rest at the top but there is a nice cave which can hold around 20 at a time, just below the top of the rock. There is ample space to sit and have a sip of water.

Climbing down is as difficult as the climbing up as you need to concentrate and control your footsteps. The stairs are steep and you’ll be pulled down effortlessly by the gravitational force. You specially have to focus on your rhythm of movement. If you are not holding on to a support, one miss step, you’ll be on the bottom of the stairs in no time…

You can have your lunch at the Maho town. We later learnt that Maho is famous for Pol Rotti which we didn’t have a chance to try out. So when you visit, make sure you give it a go. There are trains heading to Colombo on 12.50 pm (intercity coming from Batticoloa) and a slow train leaves at 1.00 pm. If you missed both, then next train will be at 4.00 pm. Well, if you want to spend more time at Yapahuwa or Maho, you have that luxury too.