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Sigiriya Cobra Hood Cave (Nai Pena Guhava): 2nd-century BC Brahmi inscription and ceiling murals?

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Dr Rohan Epigraphy•950 rep

What architectural drip-ledge engineering and ancient Brahmi dedication inscriptions preserve the floral ceiling plaster inside Sigiriya’s Cobra Hood Cave?

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The Cobra Hood Cave (Nai Pena Guhava) in the southern boulder garden of Sigiriya is an overhanging natural granite rock resembling the flared hood of a rearing cobra. Centuries before King Kasyapa built his palace atop the summit, the boulder was gifted as a Buddhist monastery. A crisp Early Brahmi inscription chiseled beneath the drip-ledge dates to the 2nd century BC, recording the donation of the cave by "Naguliya, wife of the chief." The concave rock ceiling preserves fragments of 5th-century tempera murals depicting geometric interlaced floral volutes and geese, distinct from the summit maiden frescoes.

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Dr Senarath CCF•1920 rep

The deep undercut ledge breaks rainwater surface tension, preventing seasonal rain sheets from scouring the painted plaster ceiling.

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Dr Rohan Epigraphy•950 rep

Excavations beneath the earthen floor revealed prehistoric microlith quartz debitage and human skeletal ash dating back past 5,000 years BP.

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Guru Dharmasena Wood•1830 rep

The cave is situated along the quiet exit trail winding south through the boulder garden back toward the outer moat parking pavilion.

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Sarah Field Scout•1720 rep

Shaded rock crevices around the base provide daytime roosting shelters for colonies of Schneider's leaf-nosed bats (Hipposideros speoris).

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Prof Gamhewage Bio•1950 rep

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