A royal citadel built on and around a granite inselberg rising about 180 metres from the plain, constructed under King Kashyapa in the fifth century CE.
The site combines a fortified summit palace, terraced and water gardens at the base among the oldest surviving landscaped gardens anywhere, a mirror wall, and the painted figures in a sheltered pocket of the rock face. After Kashyapa's death it reverted to monastic use for several centuries.