Apsaras Paintings

Sigiriya Rock

Over five hundred apsarasas (celestial maidens) were painted on the western cliff face (map) during Kasyapa's time, in addition to an unknowable number of other paintings that may once have decorated his gardens. Today only a dozen or so of these precious, late 5th-century AD, paintings remain, protected by a natural overhang. The beautiful ladies are shown from the waist up, their legs obscured by clouds. They wear elaborate jewelled crowns, necklaces, arm-bands, earrings, and bracelets. Their chests seem to be bare, although some of the ladies may be wearing sheer, transparent upper garments. The figure on the left would originally have carried great heaps of flowers, like all of her sisters in these paintings.

Although these paintings are often described as frescoes, they are now thought to have been painted in tempera (Bandaranayake, p. 11).