The city has often been referred to as the capital city of Raavan - one of the prime characters of

- an Indian epic who is mentioned to have kept Sita, the wife of Rama - the protagonist, in one of the gardens of this gloriously mentioned city made of gold & the place where he kept Sita was termed to as ‘Ashoka Vatika’ (Sita Eliya in present times).

Interestingly, Dr. Davy also quoted something in parallel with the identification with which it was presented as in the Ramayana - with the tree of ‘Ashoka’ & its abundance. Further elaborating upon his first sight discussed above he mentioned that the place had so many ‘

’ trees, elephants, wild animals and gemstones suggesting some common reference between the two.