King Kasayapa (477-495) built a palace with surrounding gardens at Sigiriya (central Sri Lanka) that remain today as the earliest archaeological evidence for landscape gardening in South Asia. Carved out of the jungle among rock outcroppings, the gardens are being investigated as part of a national program of archaeological research in Sri Lanka sponsored by the Cultural Triangle Project and UNESCO. The article describes the layout of this fairly well-preserved ornamental water garden. The eastern precinct was cleared by H.C. P. Bell in 1895-1900; later excavations, both those conducted by Senarat Paranavitana and the more recent ones mentioned above, focused on the western precinct. Very little remains of the palace and other buildings, but the importance of the site lies in its very early date. The same elements of planning are found here as in later Sinhalese architecture and gardens.