I have been a keen follower of Jackson Anthony's TV production [on Swarnavahini] Maha Sinhale Vansa Kathava from its beginnings. It is a fascinating programme with the erudite Jackson compering an interesting array of intellectuals. But in the recent discussion on Sigiriya, I was sorely disappointed that he too seems to have enrolled in the conspiracy of silence that has blacked out the bold and well argued theories of Retired Archaeological Commissioner Dr. Raja de Silva, the man largely responsible for restoring the frescoes after they were vandalized.

Let me, very briefly, sum up Dr. Raja's thesis.

[1] There never was any palace on the summit. It would have been architecturally and logistically impossible to build any palace here on account of its exposure to two fierce monsoons.The walls up there are of monkish 'kutis'.

[2]Sigiriya had been a Theravada Mahayana monastic complex long before and after Kassapa.

[3] The lovely ladies in the paintings are multiple representations of the Mahayana goddess Tara Devi - datable to a period when Mahayana doctrines flourished in Sri Lanka.

May I draw Jackson's attention to these arguments and also suggest he reads Dr. Raja's two books Digging into the Past and Sigiriya Paintings to broaden his knowledge

[which he shares so generously in this programme] of our country's most magnificent architectural complex.