Chapter I (1)

SOURCES OF SINGHALESE HISTORY.--THE MAHAWANSO AND OTHER NATIVE ANNALS.

It was long affirmed by Europeans that the Singhalese annals, like those of the Hindus, were devoid of interest or value as historical material; that, as religious disquisitions, they were the ravings of fanaticism, and that myths and romances had been reduced to the semblance of national chronicles. Such was the opinion of the Portuguese writers DE BARROS and DE COUTO; and VALENTYN, who, about the year 1725, published his great work on the Dutch possessions in India, states his conviction that no reliance can be placed on such of the Singhalese books as profess to record the ancient condition of the country. These he held to be even of less authority than the traditions of the same events which had descended from father to son. On the information of learned Singhalese, drawn apparently from the _Rajavali_, he inserted an account of the native sovereigns, from the earliest times to the arrival of the Portuguese; but, wearied by the monotonous inanity of the story, he omitted every reign between the fifth and fifteenth centuries of the Christian era.[1]

[Footnote 1: VALENTYN, _Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien, &c., Landbeschryving van t' Eyland Ceylon_, ch iv. p. 60.]

A writer, who, under the signature of PHILALETHES, published, in 1816, _A History of Ceylon from the earliest period_, adopted the dictum of Valentyn, and contented himself with still further condensing the "account," which the latter had given "of the ancient Emperors and Kings" of the island. Dr. DAVY compiled that portion of his excellent narrative which has reference to the early history of Kandy, chiefly from the recitals of the most intelligent natives, borrowed, as in the case of the informants of Valentyn, from the perusal of the popular legends; and he and every other author unacquainted with the native language, who wrote on Ceylon previous to 1833, assumed without inquiry the nonexistence of historic data.[1]

[Footnote 1: DAVY's _Ceylon_, ch. x. p. 293. See also PERCIVAL'S _Ceylon_, p. 4.]

It was not till about the year 1826 that the discovery was made and communicated to Europe, that whilst the history of India was only to be conjectured from myths and elaborated from the dates on copper grants, or fading inscriptions on rocks and columns[1], Ceylon was in possession of continuous written chronicles, rich in authentic facts, and not only presenting a connected history of the island itself, but also yielding valuable materials for elucidating that of India. At the moment when Prinsep was deciphering the mysterious Buddhist inscriptions, which are scattered over Hindustan and Western India, and when Csoma de Körös was unrolling the Buddhist records of Thibet, and Hodgson those of Nepaul, a fellow labourer of kindred genius was successfully exploring the Pali manuscripts of Ceylon, and developing results not less remarkable nor less conducive to the illustration of the early history of Southern Asia. Mr. Turnour, a civil officer of the Ceylon service[2], was then administering the government of the district of Saffragam, and being resident at Ratnapoora near the foot of Adam's Peak, he was enabled to pursue his studies under the guidance of Gallé, a learned priest, through whose instrumentality he obtained from the Wihara, at Mulgiri-galla, near Tangalle (a temple founded about 130 years before the Christian era), some rare and important manuscripts, the perusal of which gave an impulse and direction to the investigations which occupied the rest of his life.

[Footnote 1: REINAUD, _Mémoire sur l' Inde_, p. 3.]

[Footnote 2: GEORGE TURNOUR was the eldest son of the Hon. George Turnour, son of the first Earl of Winterton; his mother being Emilie, niece to the Cardinal Due de Beausset. He was born in Ceylon in 1799 and having been educated in England under the guardianship of the Right Hon. Sir Thomas Maitland, then governor of the island, he entered the Civil Service in 1818, in which he rose to the highest rank. He was distinguished equally by his abilities and his modest display of them. Interpreting in its largest sense the duty enjoined on him, as a public officer, of acquiring a knowledge of the native languages, he extended his studies, from the vernacular and written Singhalese to Pali, the great root and original of both, known only to the Buddhist priesthood, and imperfectly and even rarely amongst them. No dictionaries then existed to assist in defining the meaning of Pali terms which no teacher could be found capable of rendering into English, so that Mr. Turnour was entirely dependent on his knowledge of Singhalese as a medium for translating them. To an ordinary mind such obstructions would have proved insurmountable, aggravated as they were by discouragements arising from the assumed barrenness of the field, and the absence of all sympathy with his pursuits, on the part of those around him, who reserved their applause and encouragement till success had rendered him indifferent to either. To this apathy of the government officers, Major Forbes, who was then the resident at Matelle, formed an honourable exception; and his narrative of _Eleven Years in Ceylon_ shows with what ardour and success he shared the tastes and cultivated the studies to which he had been directed by the genius and example of Turnour. So zealous and unobtrusive were the pursuits of the latter, that even his immediate connexions and relatives were unaware of the value and extent of his acquirements till apprised of their importance and profundity by the acclamation with which his discoveries and translations from the Pali were received by the savans of Europe. Major Forbes, in a private letter, which I have been permitted to see, speaking of the difficulty of doing justice to the literary character of Turnour, and the ability, energy, and perseverance which he exhibited in his historical investigations, says, "his _Epitome of the History of Ceylon_ was from the first _correct;_ I saw it seven years before it was published, and it scarcely required an alteration afterwards." Whilst engaged in his translation of the _Mahawanso_, TURNOUR, amongst other able papers on _Buddist History_ and _Indian Chronology_ in the _Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society_, v. 521, vi. 299, 790, 1049, contributed a series of essays _on the Pali-Buddhistical Annals_, which were published in 1836, 1837, 1838.--_Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal_, vi. 501, 714, vii. 686, 789, 919. At various times he published in the same journal an account of the _Tooth Relic of Ceylon, Ib._ vi. 856, and notes on the inscriptions on the columns of Delhi, Allahabad, and Betiah, &c. &c.; and frequent notices of Ceylon coins and inscriptions. He had likewise planned another undertaking of signal importance, the translation into English of a Pali version of the Buddhist scriptures, an ancient copy of which he had discovered, unencumbered by the ignorant commentaries of later writers, and the fables with which they have defaced the plain and simple doctrines of the early faith. He announced his intention in the _Introduction to the Mahawanso_ to expedite the publication, as "the least tardy means of effecting a comparison of the Pali with the Sanskrit version" (p. cx.). His correspondence with Prinsep, which I have been permitted by his family to inspect, abounds with the evidence of inchoate inquiries in which their congenial spirits had a common interest, but which were abruptly ended by the premature decease of both. Turnour, with shattered health, returned to Europe in 1842, and died at Naples on the 10th of April in the following year, The first volume of his translation of the _Mahawanso_, which contains thirty-eight chapters out of the hundred which form the original work, was published at Colombo in 1837; and apprehensive that scepticism might assail the authenticity of a discovery so important, he accompanied his English version with a reprint of the original Pali in Roman characters with diacritical points.

He did not live to conclude the task he had so nobly begun; he died while engaged on the second volume of his translation, and only a few chapters, executed with his characteristic accuracy, remain in manuscript in the possession of his surviving relatives. It diminishes, though in a slight degree, our regret for the interruption of his literary labours to know that the section of the _Mahawanso_ which he left unfinished is inferior both in authority and value to the earlier portion of the work, and that being composed at a period when literature was at its lowest ebb in Ceylon, it differs little if at all from other chronicles written during the decline of the native dynasty.]

It is necessary to premise, that the most renowned of the Singhalese books is the _Mahawanso_, a metrical chronicle, containing a dynastic history of the island for twenty-three centuries from B.C. 543 to A.D. 1758. But being written in Pali verse its existence in modern times was only known to the priests, and owing to the obscurity of its diction it had ceased to be studied by even the learned amongst them.

To relieve the obscurity of their writings, and supply the omissions, occasioned by the fetters of rhythm and the necessity of permutations and elisions, required to accommodate their phraseology to the obligations of verse; the Pali authors of antiquity were accustomed to accompany their metrical compositions with a _tika_ or running commentary, which contained a literal version of the mystical text, and supplied illustrations of its more abstruse passages. Such a _tika_ on the _Mahawanso_ was generally known to have been written; but so utter was the neglect into which both it and the original text had been permitted to fall, that Turnour till 1826 had never met with an individual who had critically read the one, or more than casually heard of the existence of the other.[1] At length, amongst the books which, were procured for him by the high, priest of Saffragam, was one which proved to be this neglected commentary on the mystic and otherwise unintelligible _Mahawanso_; and by the assistance of this precious document he undertook, with confidence, a translation into English of the long lost chronicle, and thus vindicated the claim of Ceylon to the possession of an authentic and unrivalled record of its national history.

[Footnote 1: TURNOUR's _Mahawanso_, introduction, vol. i. p. ii.]

The title "Mahawanso," which means literally the "_Genealogy of the Great_," properly belongs only to the first section of the work, extending from B.C. 543 to A.D. 301,[1] and containing the history of the early kings, from Wijayo to Maha Sen, with whom the Singhalese consider the "Great Dynasty" to end. The author of this portion was Mahanamo, uncle of the king Dhatu Sena, in whose reign it was compiled, between the years A.D. 459 and 477, from annals in the vernacular language then existing at Anarajapoora.[2]

[Footnote 1: Although the _Mahawanso_ must be regarded as containing the earliest _historical_ notices of Ceylon, the island, under its Sanskrit name of Lanka, occupies a prominent place in the mythical poems of the Hindus, and its conquest by Rama is the theme of the _Ramayana_, one of the oldest epics in existence. In the _Raja-Tarangini_ also, an historical chronicle which may be regarded as the _Mahawanso_ of Kashmir, very early accounts of Ceylon are contained, and the historian records that the King Megavahana, who, according to the chronology of Troyer, reigned A.D. 24, made an expedition to Ceylon for the purpose of extending Buddhism, and visited Adam's Peak, where he had an interview with the native sovereign.--_Raja-Tarangini_, Book iii. sl. 71-79. _Ib._ vol. ii. p. 364.]

[Footnote 2: _Mahawanso_, ch. i. The Arabian travellers in Ceylon mention the official historiographers employed by order of the kings. See Vol. I Pt. III. ch. viii. p. 387, note.]

The sovereigns who succeeded Maha Sen are distinguished as the "Sulu-wanse," the "lower race," and the story of their line occupies the continuation of this extraordinary chronicle, the second portion of which was written by order of the illustrious king Prakrama Bahu, about the year A.D. 1266, and the narrative was carried on, under subsequent sovereigns, down to the year A.D. 1758, the latest chapters having been compiled by command of the King of Kandy, Kirti-Sri, partly from Singhalese works brought back to the island from Siam (whither they had been carried at former periods by priests dispatched upon missions), and partly from native histories, which had escaped the general destruction of such records in the reign of Raja Singha I., an apostate from Buddhism, who, about the year A.D. 1590, during the period when the Portuguese were in occupation of the low country, exterminated the priests of Buddha, and transferred the care of the shrine on Adam's Peak to Hindu Fakirs.

But the _Mahawanso_, although the most authentic, and probably the most ancient, is by no means the only existing Singhalese chronicle. Between the 14th and 18th centuries several historians recorded passing events; and as these corroborate and supplement the narrative of the greater work, they present an uninterrupted Historical Record of the highest authenticity, comprising the events of nearly twenty-four centuries.[1]

[Footnote 1: In 1833 Upham published, under the title of _The Sacred and Historical Books of Ceylon_, translations of what professed to be authentic copies of the _Mahawanso_, the _Rajaratnacari_, and _Rajavali_; prepared for the use of Sir Alexander Johnston when Chief-Justice of the island. But Turnour, in the introduction to his masterly translation of the _Mahawanso_; has shown that Sir Alexander had been imposed upon, and that the alleged transcripts supplied to him are imperfect as regards the original text and unfaithful as translations. Of the _Mahawanso_ in particular, Mr. Turnour says, in a private letter which I have seen, that the early part of Upham's volume "is not a translation but a compendium of several works, and the subsequent portions a mutilated abridgment." The _Rajavali_, which is the most valuable of these volumes, was translated for Sir Alexander Johnston by Mr. Dionysius Lambertus Pereira, who was then Interpreter-Moodliar to the Cutchery at Matura. These English versions, though discredited as independent authorities, are not without value in so far as they afford corroborative support to the genuine text of the _Mahawanso_, and on this account I have occasionally cited them.]

From the data furnished by these, and from corroborative sources,[1] Turnour, in addition to many elaborate contributions drawn from the recesses of Pali learning in elucidation of the chronology of India, was enabled to prepare an _Epitome of the History of Ceylon,_ in which he has exhibited the succession and genealogy of one hundred and sixty-five kings, who filled the throne during 2341 years, extending from the invasion of the island from Bengal, by Wijayo, in the year B.C. 543 to its conquest by the British in 1798. In this work, after infinite labour, he has succeeded in condensing the events of each reign, commemorating the founders of the chief cities, and noting the erection of the great temples and Buddhist monuments, and the construction of some of those gigantic reservoirs and works for irrigation, which, though in ruins, arrest the traveller in astonishment at their stupendous dimensions. He thus effectually demonstrated the misconceptions of those who previously believed the literature of Ceylon to be destitute of historic materials.[2]

[Footnote 1: Besides the _Mahawanso, Rajaratnacari_, and _Rajavali_, the other native chronicles relied on by Turnour in compiling his epitome were the _Pujavali_, composed in the thirteenth century, the _Neekaasangraha_, written A.D. 1347, and the _Account of the Embassy to Siam_ in the reign of Raja Singha II., A.D. 1739-47, by WILBAAGEDERE MUDIANSE.]

[Footnote 2: By the help of TURNOUR'S translation of the _Mahawanso_ and the versions of the _Rajaratnacari_ and _Rajavali,_ published by Upham, two authors have since expanded the _Epitome_ of the former into something like a connected narrative, and those who wish to pursue the investigation of the early story of the island, will find facilities in the _History of Ceylon,_ published by KNIGHTON in 1845, and in the first volume of _Ceylon and its Dependencies,_ by PRIDHAM, London, 1849. To facilitate reference I have appended a _Chronological List of Singhalese Sovereigns,_ compiled from the historical epitome of Turnour. See Note B. at the end of this chapter.]

Besides evidence of a less definite character, there is one remarkable coincidence which affords grounds for confidence in the faithfulness of the purely historic portion of the Singhalese chronicles; due allowance being made for that exaggeration of style which is apparently inseparable from oriental recital. The circumstance alluded to is the mention in the _Mahawanso_ of the Chandragupta[1], so often alluded to by the Sanskrit writers, who, as Sir William Jones was the first to discover, is identical with Sandracottus or Sandracoptus, the King of the Prasii, to whose court, on the banks of the Ganges, Megasthenes was accredited as an ambassador from Seleucus Nicator, about 323 years before Christ. Along with a multitude of facts relating to Ceylon, the _Mahawanso_ contains a chronologically connected history of Buddhism in India from B.C. 590 to B.C. 307, a period signalized in classical story by the Indian expedition of Alexander the Great, and by the Embassy of Megasthenes to Palibothra,--events which in their results form the great link connecting the histories of the West and East, but which have been omitted or perverted in the scanty and perplexed annals of the Hindus, because they tended to the exaltation of Buddhism, a religion loathed by the Brahmans.

[Footnote 1: The era and identity of Sandracottus and Chandragupta have been accurately traced in MAX MÜLLER'S _History of Sanskrit Literature_, p. 298, &c.]

The Prasii, or people of Megadha, occupy a prominent place in the history of Ceylon, inasmuch as Gotama Buddha, the great founder of the faith of its people, was a prince of that country, and Mahindo, who finally established the Buddhist religion amongst them, was the great-grandson of Chandagutto, a prince whose name thus recorded in the _Mahawanso_[1] (notwithstanding a chronological discrepancy of about sixty years), may with little difficulty be identified with the "Chandragupta" of the Hindu Purána, and the "Sandracottus" of Megasthenes.

[Footnote 1: Mahawanso, ch. v. p. 21. See also WILSON'S _Notes to the Vishnu Purána_, p. 468.]

This is one out of the many coincidences which demonstrate the authenticity of the ancient annals of Ceylon; and from sources so venerable, and materials so abundant, I propose to select a few of the leading events, sufficient to illustrate the origin, and explain the influence of institutions and customs which exist at the present day in Ceylon, and which, from time immemorial, have characterised the inhabitants of the island.

NOTE (A.)

ANCIENT MAP OF CEYLON.

So far as I am aware, no map has ever been produced, exhibiting the comparative geography of Ceylon, and placing its modern names in juxtaposition with their Sanskrit and Pali.

LANGKÂ OR TÂMBRAPARNI.

_(CEYLON)_

_according to_

The Sanscrit Pali & Singhalese Authorities.

* * * * *

NB The modern Names are given in Italics.

By

Sir J. Emerson Tennet]

NOTE (B.)

NATIVE SOVEREIGNS OF CEYLON.

N.B. The names of subordinate or cotemporary Princes are printed in
_Italics_.

Names and Relationship of each succeeding Sovereign. Capital. Accession

B.C 1. Wejaya, founder of the Wejayan dynasty Tamananeuera 543 2. Upatissa 1st, minister--regent Upatissaneuera 505 3. Panduwása, paternal nephew of Wejaya ditto 504 _Ráma_ _Rámagona_ _Rohuna_ _Rohuna_ _Diggaina_ _Diggámadulla_ _Urawelli_ _Mahawelligama_ _Anurádha_ _Anurádhapoora_ _Wijitta_ _Wijittapoora_ [these six are brothers-in-law] 4. Abhaya, son of Paduwása, dethroned Upatissaneuera 474 Interregnum 454 5. Pandukábhaya, maternal grandson of Panduwása Anurádhapoora 437 6. Mutasiwa, paternal grandson ditto 367 7. Devenipiatissa, second son ditto 307 _Mahanága, brother_ _Mágama_ _Yatálatissa, son_ _Kellania_ _Gotábhaya, son_ _Mágama_ _Kellani-tissa, not specified_ _Kellania_ _Káwan-tissa, son of Gotábhaya_ _Mágama_ 8. Uttiya, fourth son of Mutasiwa Anurádhapoora 267 9. Mahasiwa, fifth do. ditto 257 10. Suratissa, sixth do. put to death ditto 247 11. Séna and Guttika, foreign usurpers--put to death ditto 237 12. Aséla, ninth son of Mutasiwa--deposed ditto 215 13. Elála, foreign usurper--killed in battle ditto 205 14. Dutugaimunu, son of _Káwantissa_ ditto 161 15. Saidaitissa, brother ditto 137 16. Tuhl or Thullathanaka, younger son--deposed ditto 119 17. Laiminitissa 1st or Lajjitissa, elder brother ditto 119 18. Kalunna or Khallátanága, brother--put to death ditto 109 19. Walagambáhu 1st or Wattagamini, brother--deposed ditto 104 20. [Five foreign usurpers--successively deposed and put to death] Pulahattha ditto 103 Báyiha ditto 100 Panayamárá ditto 98 Peliyamárá ditto 91 Dáthiya ditto 90 21. Walagambáhu 1st, reconquered the kingdom ditto 88 22. Mahadailitissa or Mahachula, son ditto 76 23. Chora Nága, son--put to death ditto 62 24. Kudá Tissa, son--poisoned by his wife ditto 50 25. Anulá, widow ditto 47 26. Makalantissa or Kallakanni Tissa, second son of Kudátissa ditto 41 27. Bátiyatissa 1st or Bátikábhaya, son ditto 19

Names and Relationship of Capital. Accession. each succeeding Sovereign. A.D. 28. Maha Dailiya Mána or Dáthika, brother Anurádhapoora 9 29. Addagaimunu or Amanda Gámini, son--put to death ditto 21 30. Kinibirridaila or Kanijáni Tissa, brother ditto 30 31. Kudá Abhá or Chulábhaya, son ditto 33 32. Singhawallí or Síwalli, sister--put to death ditto 34 Interregnum 35 33. Elluná or Ha Nága, maternal nephew of Addagaimunu ditto 38 34. Sanda Muhuna or Chanda Mukha Siwa, son ditto 44 35. Yasa Silo or Yatálakatissa, brother--put to death ditto 52 36. Subha, usurper--put to death ditto 60 37. Wahapp or Wasahba, descendant of Laiminitissa ditto 66 38. Waknais or Wanka Násica, son ditto 110 39. Gajábáhu 1st or Gámini, son ditto 113 40. Mahalumáná or Mallaka Nága, maternal cousin ditto 125 41. Bátiya Tissa 2nd or Bhátika Tissa, son ditto 131 42. Chula Tissa or Kanittbatissa, brother ditto 155 43. Kuhuna or Chudda Nága, son--murdered ditto 173 44. Kudanáma or Kuda Nága, nephew--deposed ditto 183 45. Kuda Siriná or Siri Nága 1st, brother-in-law ditto 184 46. Waiwahairatissa or Wairatissa, son--murdered ditto 209 47. Abhá Sen or Abhá Tissa, brother ditto 231 48. Siri Nága 2nd, son ditto 239 49. Weja Indu or Wejaya 2nd, son--put to death ditto 241 50. Sangatissa 1st, descendant of Laiminitissa--poisoned ditto 242 51. Dahama Sirisanga Bo or Sirisanga Bodhi 1st, do do.--deposed ditto 245 52. Golu Abhá, Gothábhaya or Megha warna Abhay, do. do. ditto 248 53. Makalan Detu Tissa 1st, son ditto 261 54. Maha Sen, brother ditto 275 55. Kitsiri Maiwan 1st or Kirtisri Megha warna, son ditto 302 56. Detu Tissa 2nd, brother ditto 330 57. Bujas or Budha Dása, son ditto 339 58. Upatissa 2nd, son ditto 368 59. Maha Náma, brother ditto 410 60. Senghot or Sotthi Sena, son--poisoned ditto 432 61. Laimini Tissa 2nd or Chatagáhaka, descendant of Laiminitissa ditto 432 62. Mitta Sena or Karalsora, not specified--put to death ditto 433 63. Pándu 24.9. Foreign usurpers ditto 434 Párinda Kuda 24.9. Foreign usurpers ditto 439 Khudda Párinda 24.9. Foreign usurpers ditto 455 Dátthiya 24.9. Foreign usurpers ditto 455 Pitthiya 24.9. Foreign usurpers ditto 458 64. Dásenkelleya or Dhátu Séna, descendant of the original royal family--put to death ditto 459 65. Sígiri Kasumbu or Kásyapa 1st, son--committed suicide Sigiri Galla Neuera 477

Names and Relationship of each succeeding Sovereign. Capital. Accession. A.D.

66. Mugallána 1st, brother Anurádhapoora 495 67. Kumára Dás or Kumára Dhátu Séna, son-immolated himself ditto 513 68. Kirti Séna, son-murdered ditto 522 69. Maidi Síwu or Síwaka, maternal uncle-murdered ditto 531 70. Laimini Upátissa 3rd, brother-in-law ditto 531 71. Ambaherra Salamaiwan or Silákála, son-in-law ditto 534 72. Dápulu 1st or Dátthápa Bhodhi, second son--committed suicide ditto 547 73. Dalamagalan or Mugallána 2nd, elder brother ditto 547 74. Kuda Kitsiri Maiwan 1st or Kirtisri Meg-hawarna, son-put to death ditto 567 75. Senewi or Maha Nága, descendant of the Okáka branch ditto 586 76. Aggrabodhi 1st or Akbo, maternal nephew ditto 589 77. Aggrabodhi 2nd or Sula Akbo, son-in-law ditto 623 78. Sanghatissa, brother-decapitated ditto 633 79. Buna Mugalan or Laimini Bunáya, usurper-put to death ditto 633 80. Abhasiggáhaka or Asiggáhaka, maternal grandson ditto 639 81. Siri Sangabo 2nd, son-deposed ditto 648 82. Kaluna Detutissa or Laimina Katuriya, descendant of Laiminitissa-committed Dewuneura suicide or Dondera 648 Siri Sangabo 2nd, restored, and again deposed Anurádhapoora 649 83. Dalupiatissa 1st or Dhatthopatissa, Laimini branch-killed in battle ditto 665 84. Paisulu Kasumbu or Kásyapa 2nd, brother of Sirisangabo ditto 677 85. Dapulu 2nd, Okáka branch-deposed ditto 686 86. Dalupiatissa 2nd or Hattha-Datthopatissa, son of Dalupiatissa 1st ditto 693 87. Paisulu Siri Sanga Bo 3rd or Aggrabodhi, brother ditto 702 88. Walpitti Wasidata or Dantanáma, Okáka branch ditto 718 89. Hununaru Riandalu or Hatthadátha, original royal family-decapitated ditto 720 90. Máhalaipánu or Mánawamma, do. do. ditto 720 91. Kásiyappa 3rd o Kasumbu, son ditto 726 92. Aggrabodhi 3rd or Akbo, nephew Pollonnarrua 729 93. Aggrabodhi 4th or Kudá Akbo, son ditto 769 94. Mahindu 1st or Salamaiwan, original royal family ditto 775 95. Dappula 2nd, son ditto 795 96. Mahindu 2nd or Dharmika-Sîlámaiga, son ditto 800 97. Aggrabodhi 5th or Akbo, brother ditto 804 98. Dappula 3rd or Kudá Dappula, son ditto 815 99. Aggrabodhi 6th, cousin ditto 831 100. Mitwella Sen or Silámaiga, son ditto 838 101. Kásiyappa 4th or Máganyin Séna or Mihindu, grandson ditto 858 102. Udaya 1st, brother ditto 891

Names and Relationship of Capital. Accession. each succeeding Sovereign. A.D. 103. Udaya 2nd, son Pollonnarrua 926 104. Kásiyappa 5th, nephew and son-in-law ditto 937 105. Kásiyappa 6th, son-in-law ditto 954 106. Dappula 4th, son ditto 964 107, Dappula 5th, not specified ditto 964 108. Udaya 3rd, brother ditto 974 109. Séna 2nd, not specified ditto 977 110. Udaya 4th, do. do. ditto 986 111. Séna 3rd, do. do. ditto 994 112. Mihindu 3rd, do. do ditto 997 113. Sèna 4th, son--minor ditto 1013 114. Mihindu 4th, brother--carried captive to Anurádhapoora 1023 India during the Sollean conquest Interregnum Sollean viceroyalty Pollonnarrua 1059 _Maha Lai or Maha_ } { _Lála Kirti_ } { _Rohuna_ _Wikrama Pándi_ } _Subordinate_ { _Kalutotta_ _Jagat Pándi or Jagati_ } _native kings_ { _Pála_ } _during the_ { _Rohuna_ _Prákrama Pándi or_ } _Sollean_ { _Prákhrama Báhu_ } _vice-royalty._ { _ditto_ _Lokaiswara_ } { _Kácharagama_ 115. Wejayabáhu 1st or Sirisangabo 4th, grandson of Mihindu 4th Pollonnarrua 1071 116. Jayabáhu 1st, brother ditto 1126 117. Wikramabáhu 1st } ditto } _ _Mánábarana_ } A disputed _Rohuna_ } 118. Gajábáhu 2nd } succession Pollonnarrua } 1127 _Siriwallaba or_} } _Kitsiri Maiwan_} _Rohuna_ } 119. Prákrama Báhu 1st, son of Mánábárana Pollonuarrua 1153 120. Wejayabáhu 2nd, nephew--murdered ditto 1186 121. Mihindu 5th or Kitsen Kisdas, usurper--put to death ditto 1187 122. Kirti Nissanga, a prince of Kálinga ditto 1187 Wírabáhu, son--put to death ditto 1196 123. Wikramabáhu 2nd, brother of Kirti Nissanga--put to death ditto 1196 124. Chondakanga, nephew--deposed ditto 1196 125. Lálawátí, widow of Prákramabáhu--deposed ditto 1197 126. Sáhasamallawa, Okáka branch--deposed ditto 1200 127. Kalyánawati, sister of Kirti Nissanga ditto 1202 128. Dharmásóka, not specified--a minor ditto 1208 129. Nayaanga or Nikanga, minister--put to death ditto 1209 Lílawatí, restored, and again deposed ditto 1209 130. Lokaiswera 1st, usurper--deposed ditto 1210 Lílawatí, again restored, and deposed a third time ditto 1211 131. Pandi Prákrama Báhu 2nd, usurper--deposed ditto 1211 132. Mágha, foreign usurper ditto 1214 133. Wejayabáhu 3rd, descendant of Sirisangabo 1st Dambadenia 1235 134. Kalikála Sahitya Sargwajnya or Pandita Prakrama Báhu 3rd, son ditto 1266 135. Bosat Wejaya Báhu 4th, son Pollonnarrua 1301

Names and Relationship
of each succeeding Sovereign. Capital. Accession.
A.D.
_Bhuwaneka Báhu_ _Yapahu or
Subbapabatto_
136. Bhuwaneka Báhu 1st, brother ditto 1303
137. Prákrama Báhu 3rd, son of Bosat
Wejayabáhu Pollonnarrua 1314
138. Bhuwaneka Báhu 2nd, son of Bhuwaneka Kurunaigalla or 1319
Báhu Hastisailapoora
139. Pandita Prákrama Báhu 4th, not specified ditto
140. Wanny Bhuwaneka Báhu 3rd, do. ditto
141. Wejaya Báhu 5th, do. ditto
142. Bhuwaneka Báhu 4th, do. Gampola or
Gangásiripoora 1347
143. Prákrama Báhu 5th, do. ditto 1361
144. Wikram Báhu 3rd, cousin Partly at Kandy or
Sengadagalla Neuera 1371
145. Bhuwaneka Báhu 5th, not specified Gampola or
Gangásiripoora 1378
146. Wejaya Báhu 5th, or Wíra Báhu, do ditto 1398
147. Sri Prákrama Bahu 6th, do. Kotta or
Jayawardanapoora 1410
148. Jayabáhu 2nd, maternal grandson--put
to death ditto 1462
149. Bhuwaneka Báhu 6th, not specified ditto 1464
150. Pandita Prákrama Báhu 7th, adopted son ditto 1471
151. Wíra Prákrama Báhu 8th, brother of
Bhuwaneka Báhu 6th ditto 1485
152. Dharma Prákrama Báhu 9th, son ditto 1505
153. Wejaya Báhu 7th, brother--murdered ditto 1527
_Jayawíra Bandára_ _Gampola_
154. Bhuwaneka Báhu 7th, son Kotta 1534
_Máyádunnai_ _Setawacca_
_Raygam Bandára_ _Raygam_
_Jayawíra Bandára_ _Kandy_
155. Don Juan Dharmapála Kotta 1542
_A Malabar_ _Yapahu_
_Portuguese_ _Colombo_
_Wídiye Rája_ _Pailainda Neuera_
_Rája Singha_ _Aiwissáwelle_
_Idirimáné Suriya_ _Seven Korles_
_Wikrama Báhu descendant of_
Sirisangabo 1st _Kandy_
156. Rája Singha 1st, son of _Máyádunnai_ Setawacca 1581
_Jaya Suriya_ _Setawacca_
_Wídiye Rája's queen_ _ditto_
157. Wimala Dharma, original royal family Khandy 1592
158. Senáraana or Senarat, brother ditto 1604
159. Rája-singha 2nd, son ditto 1637
_Kumára-singa, brother_ _Ouvah_
_Wejaya Pála, brother_ _Matelle_
160. Wimala Dharma Suriya 2nd, son of
Rájasingha Khandy 1687
161. Sriwíra Prákrama Narendrasingha or
Kundasála ditto 1707
162. Sriwejaya Rája Singha or Hanguranketta,
brother-in-law ditto 1739
163. Kirtisri Rája Singha, brother-in-law ditto 1747
164. Rajádhi Rája Singha, brother ditto 1781
165. Sri Wikrema Rája Singha, son of the late
king's wife's sister, deposed by the
English in 1815, and died in captivity
in 1832 ditto 1798

NOTE.--The Singhalese vowels _a_, _e_, _i_, _o_, _u_ are to be pronounced as in French or Italian.

CHAP. II.

THE ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS OF CEYLON.

Divested of the insipid details which overlay them, the annals of Ceylon present comparatively few stirring incidents, and still fewer events of historic importance to repay the toil of their perusal. They profess to record no occurrence anterior to the advent of the last Buddha, the great founder of the national faith, who was born on the borders of Nepaul in the _seventh_ century before Christ.

In the theoretic doctrines of Buddhism "_Buddhas_"[1] are beings who appear after intervals of inconceivable extent; they undergo transmigrations extending over vast spaces of time, accumulating in each stage of existence an increased degree of merit, till, in their last incarnation as men, they attain to a degree of purity so immaculate as to entitle them to the final exaltation of "Buddha-hood," a state approaching to incarnate divinity, in which they are endowed with wisdom so supreme as to be competent to teach mankind the path to ultimate bliss.

[Footnote 1: A sketch of the Buddhist religion may be seen in Sir J. EMERSON TENNENT'S _History of Christianity in Ceylon_, ch. v. London, 1850. But the most profound and learned dissertations on Buddhism as it exists in Ceylon, will be found in the works of the Rev. R. SPENCE HARDY, _Eastern Monachism_, Lond. 1850, and _A Manual of Buddhism_, Lond. 1853.]

Their precepts, preserved orally or committed to writing, are cherished as _bana_ or the "_word_;" their doctrines are incorporated in the system of _dharma_ or "_truth_;" and, at their death, instead of entering on a new form of being, either corporeal or spiritual, they are absorbed into _Nirwana_, that state of blissful unconsciousness akin to annihilation which is regarded by Buddhists as the consummation of eternal felicity.

Gotama, who is represented as the last of the series of Buddhas[1], promulgated a religious system in India which has exercised a wider influence over the Eastern world than the doctrines of any other uninspired teacher in any age or country.[2] He was born B.C. 624 at Kapila-Vastu (a city which has no place in the geography of the Hindus, but which appears to have been on the borders of Nepaul); he attained his superior Buddha-hood B.C. 588, under a bo-tree[3] in the forest of Urawela, the site of the present Buddha Gaya in Bahar; and, at the age of eighty, he died at Kusinara, a doubtful locality, which it has been sought to identify with the widely separated positions of Delhi, Assam, and Cochin China.[4]

[Footnote 1: There were twenty-four Buddhas previous to the advent of Gotama, who is the fourth in the present Kalpa or chronological period. His system of doctrine is to endure for 5000 years, when it will be superseded by the appearance and preaching of his successor.--_Rajaratnacari_, ch. i. p. 42.]

[Footnote 2: HARDY'S _Eastern Monachism_, ch. i. p. 1. There is evidence of the widely-spread worship of Buddha in the remotely separated individuals with whom it has been sought at various times to identify him. "Thus it has been attempted to show that Buddha was the same as Thoth of the Egyptians, and Turm of the Etruscans, that he was Mercury, Zoroaster, Pythagoras, the Woden of the Scandinavians, the Manes of the Manichæans, the prophet Daniel, and even the divine author of Christianity." (PROFESSOR WILSON, _Journ. Asiat. Soc._, vol. xvi. p. 233.) Another curious illustration of the prevalence of his doctrines may be discovered in the endless variations of his name in the numerous countries over which his influence has extended: Buddha, Budda, Bud, Bot, Baoth, Buto, Budsdo, Bdho, Pout, Pote, Fo, Fod, Fohi, Fuh, Pet, Pta, Poot, Phthi, Phut, Pht, &c.--POCOCKE'S _India in Greece_, appendix, 397. HARDY'S _Buddhism_, ch. vii. p. 355. HARDY in his _Eastern Monachism_ says, "There is no country in either Europe or Asia, _except those that are Buddhist_, in which the same religion is now professed that was there existent at the time of the Redeemer's death," ch. xxii. p. 327.]

[Footnote 3: The Pippul, _Ficus religiosa_.]

[Footnote 4: Professor H.H. WILSON has identified Kusinara or Kusinagara with _Kusia_ in Gorakhpur, _Journ. Roy. Asiat. Soc._, vol xvi. p. 246.]

In the course of his ministrations Gotarna is said to have thrice landed in Ceylon. Prior to his first coming amongst them, the inhabitants of the island appear to have been living in the simplest and most primitive manner, supported on the almost spontaneous products of the soil. Gotama in person undertook their conversion, and alighted on the first occasion at Bintenne, where there exists to the present day the remains of a monument erected two thousand years ago[1] to commemorate his arrival. His second visit was to Nagadipo in the north of the island, at a place whose position yet remains to be determined; and the "sacred foot-print" on Adam's Peak is still worshipped by his devotees as the miraculous evidence of his third and last farewell.

[Footnote 1: By Dutugaimunu, B.C. 164. For an account of the present condition of this Dagoba at Bintenne, see Vol. II. Pt. IX. ch. ii.]

To the question as to what particular race the inhabitants of Ceylon at that time belonged, and whence or at what period the island was originally peopled, the Buddhist chronicles furnish no reply. And no memorials of the aborigines themselves, no monuments or inscriptions, now remain to afford ground for speculation. Conjectures have been hazarded, based on no sufficient data, that the Malayan type, which extends from Polynesia to Madagascar, and from Chin-India to Taheite, may still be traced in the configuration, and in some of the immemorial customs, of the people of Ceylon.[1]

[Footnote 1: Amongst the incidents ingeniously pressed into the support of this conjecture is the use by the natives of Ceylon of those _double canoes_ and _boats with outriggers_, which are never used on the Arabian side of India, but which are peculiar to the Malayan race in almost every country to which they have migrated; Madagascar and the Comoro islands, Sooloo, Luzon, the Society Islands, and Tonga. PRITCHARD'S _Races of Man_, ch. iv. p. 17. For a sketch of this peculiar canoe, see Vol. II. Pt. VII. ch. i.

There is a dim tradition that the first settlers in Ceylon arrived from the coasts of China. It is stated in the introduction to RIBEYRO'S _History of Ceylon_, but rejected by VALENTYN, ch, iv. p. 61.

The legend prefixed to RIBEYRO is as follows. "Si nous en croyons les historiens Portugais, les Chinois out été les premiers qui ont habité cette isle, et cela arriva de cette manière. Ces peuples étoient les maîtres du commerce de tout l'orient; quelques unes de leurs vaisseaux furent portéz sur les basses qui sont près du lieu, que depuis on appelle Chilao par corruption au lieu de Cinilao. Les équipages se sauvèrent à terre, et trouvant le pais bon et fertile ils s'y établirent: bientôt après ils s'allièrent avec les Malabares, et les Malabares y envoyoient ceux qu'ils exiloient et qu'ils nominoient _Galas_. Ces exiles s'étant confondus avec les Chinois, de deux noms n'en out fait qu'un, et se sont appellés _Chin-galas_ et ensuite Chingalais."--RIBEYRO, _Hist. de Ceylan_, pref. du trad.

It is only necessary to observe in reference to this hypothesis that it is at variance with the structure of the Singhalese alphabet, in which _n_ and _g_ form but one letter. DE BARROS and DE COUTO likewise adhere to the theory of a mixed race, originating in the settlement of Chinese in the south of Ceylon, but they refer the event to a period subsequent to the seizure of the Singhalese king and his deportation to China in the fifteenth century. DE BARROS, Dec. iii. ch. i.; DE COUTO, Dec. v. ch. 5.]

But the greater probability is, that a branch of the same stock which originally colonised the Dekkan extended its migrations to Ceylon. All the records and traditions of the peninsula point to a time when its nations were not Hindu; and in numerous localities[1], in the forests and mountains of the peninsula, there are still to be found the remnants of tribes who undoubtedly represent the aboriginal race.

[Footnote 1: LASSEN, _Indische Alterthumskunde_, vol. i. p. 199, 362.]

The early inhabitants of India before their comparative civilisation under the influence of the Aryan invaders, like the aborigines of Ceylon before the arrival of their Bengal conquerors, are described as mountaineers and foresters who were "rakshas" or demon worshippers; a religion, the traces of which are to be found to the present day amongst the hill tribes in the Concan and Canara, as well as in Guzerat and Cutch. In addition to other evidences of the community of origin of these continental tribes and the first inhabitants of Ceylon, there is a manifest identity, not alone in their popular superstitions at a very early period, but in the structure of the national dialects, which are still prevalent both in Ceylon and Southern India. Singhalese, as it is spoken at the present day, and, still more strikingly, as it exists as a written language in the literature of the island, presents unequivocal proofs of an affinity with the group of languages still in use in the Dekkan; Tamil, Telingu, and Malayalim. But with these its identification is dependent on analogy rather than on structure, and all existing evidence goes to show that the period at which a vernacular dialect could have been common to the two countries must have been extremely remote.[1]

[Footnote 1: The _Mahawanso_ (ch. xiv.) attests that at the period of Wijayo's conquest of Ceylon, B.C. 543, the language of the natives was different from that spoken by himself and his companions, which, as they came from Bengal, was in all probability Pali. Several centuries afterwards, A.D. 339, the dialect of the two races was still different; and some of the sacred writings were obliged to be translated from Pali into the Sihala language.--_Mahawanso_, ch. xxxvii. xxxviii. p. 247. At a still later period, A.D. 410; a learned priest from Magadha translated the Attah-Katha from Singhalese into Pali.--_Ib_. p. 253. See also DE ALWIS, _Sidath-Sangara_, p. 19.]

Though not based directly on either Sanskrit or Pali, Singhalese at various times has been greatly enriched from both sources, and especially from the former; and it is corroborative of the inference that the admixture was comparatively recent; and chiefly due to association with domiciliated strangers, that the further we go back in point of time the proportion of amalgamation diminishes, and the dialect is found to be purer and less alloyed. Singhalese seems to bear towards Sanskrit and Pali a relation similar to that which the English of the present day bears to the combination of Latin, Anglo-Saxon, and Norman French, which serves to form the basis of the language. As in our own tongue the words applicable to objects connected with rural life are Anglo-Saxon, whilst those indicative of domestic refinement belong to the French, and those pertaining to religion and science are borrowed from Latin[1]; so, in the language of Ceylon, the terms applicable to the national religion are taken from Pali, those of science and art from Sanskrit, whilst to pure Singhalese belong whatever expressions were required to denote the ordinary wants of mankind before society had attained organisation.[2]

[Footnote 1: See TRENCH on the _Study of Words_.]

[Footnote 2: See DE ALWIS, _Sidath-Sangara_, p. xlviii.]

[Sidenote: B.C. 543.]

Whatever momentary success may have attended the preaching of Buddha, no traces of his pious labours long survived him in Ceylon. The mass of its inhabitants were still aliens to his religion, when, on the day of his decease, B.C. 543, Wijayo[1], the discarded son of one of the petty sovereigns in the valley of the Ganges[2] effected a landing with a handful of followers in the vicinity of the modern Putlam.[3] Here he married the daughter of one of the native chiefs, and having speedily made himself master of the island by her influence, he established his capital at Tamana Neuera[4], and founded a dynasty, which, for nearly eight centuries, retained supreme authority in Ceylon.

[Footnote 1: Sometimes spelled _Wejaya_. TURNOUR has demonstrated that the alleged concurrence of the death of Buddha and the landing of Wijayo is a device of the sacred annalists, in order to give a pious interest to the latter event, which took place about sixty years later.--Introd _Mahawanso_, p. liii.]

[Footnote 2: To facilitate reference to the ancient divisions of India, a small map is subjoined, chiefly taken from Lassen's _Indische Alterthumskunde_.

]

[Footnote 3: BURNOUF conjectures that the point from which Wijayo set sail for Ceylon was the Godavery, where the name of Bandar-maha-lanka (the Port of the Great Lanka), still commemorates the event.--_Journ. Asiat._ vol. xviii. p. 134. DE COUTO, recording the Singhalese tradition as collected by the Portuguese, he landed at Preaturé (Pereatorre), between Trincomalie and Jaffna-patam, and that the first city founded by him was Mantotte.--_Decade_ v. l. 1. c. 5.]

[Footnote 4: See a note at the end of this chapter, on the landing of Wijayo in Ceylon, as described in the _Mahawanso_.]

[Sidenote: B.C. 543.]

The people whom he mastered with so much facility are described in the sacred books as _Yakkhos_ or "demons,"[1] and _Nagas_[2], or "snakes;" designations which the Buddhist historians are supposed to have employed in order to mark their contempt for the uncivilised aborigines[3], in the same manner that the aborigines in the Dekkan were denominated goblins and demons by the Hindus[4], from the fact that, like the Yakkhos of Ceylon, they too were demon worshippers. The Nagas, another section of the same superstition, worshipped the cobra de capello as an emblem of the destroying power. These appear to have chiefly inhabited the northern and western coasts of Ceylon, and the Yakkhos the interior[5]; and, notwithstanding their alleged barbarism, both had organised some form of government, however rude.[6] The Yakkhos had a capital which they called Lankapura, and the Nagas a king, the possession of whose "throne of gems"[7] was disputed by the rival sovereign of a neighbouring kingdom. So numerous were the followers of this gloomy idolatry of that time in Ceylon, that they gave the name of Nagadipo[8], _the_ _Island of Serpents_, to the portion of the country which they held, in the same manner that Rhodes and Cyprus severally acquired the ancient designation of _Ophiusa_, from the fact of their being the residence of the Ophites, who introduced serpent-worship into Greece.[9]

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. vii.; FA HIAN, _Fo[)e]-kou[)e]-ki_, ch. xxxvii.]

[Footnote 2: _Rajavali_, p. 169.]

[Footnote 3: REINAUD, Introd. to _Abouldfeda_, vol. i. sec. iii. p. ccxvi. See also CLOUGH'S _Singhalese Dictionary_, vol. ii. p. 2.]

[Footnote 4: MOUNTSTUART ELPHINSTONE'S, _History of India_, b. iv. ch. xi. p. 216.]

[Footnote 5: The first descent of Gotama Buddha in Ceylon was amongst the Yakkhos at Bintenne; in his second visit he converted the "_Naga_ King of Kalany," near Colombo, _Mahawanso_, ch. i. p. 5.]

[Footnote 6: FABER, _Origin of Idolatry_, b. ii ch. vii. p. 440.]

[Footnote 7: _Mahawanso_, ch. i.]

[Footnote 8: TURNOUR was unable to determine the position on the modern map of the ancient territory of Nagadipo.--Introd. p. xxxiv. CASIE CHITTY, in a paper in the _Journal of the Ceylon Asiatic Society_, 1848, p. 71, endeavours to identify it with Jaffna, The _Rajaratnacari_ places it at the present Kalany, on the river of that name near Colombo (vol. ii. p. 22). The _Mahawanso_ in many passages alludes to the existence of Naga kingdoms on the continent of India, showing that at that time serpent-worship had not been entirely extinguished by Brahmanism in the Dekkan, and affording an additional ground for conjecture that the first inhabitants of Ceylon were a colony from the opposite coast of Calinga.]

[Footnote 9: BRYANT'S _Analysis of Mythology_, chapter on Ophiolatria, vol. i p. 480, "Euboea means _Oub-aia_, and signifies the serpent island." (_Ib_.)

But STRABO affords us a still more striking illustration of the _Mahawanso_, in calling the serpent worshippers of Ceylon "Serpents," since he states that in Phrygia and on the Hellespont the people who were styled [Greek: ophiogeneis], or the Serpent races, actually retained a physical affinity with the snakes with whom they were popularly identified, [Greek: "entautha mytheuousi tous Ophiogeneis syngenneian tina echein pros tous oseis."]--STRABO, lib. xiii. c. 588.

PLINY alludes to the same fable (lib. vii.). And OVID, from the incident of Cadmus' having sown the dragon's teeth (that is, implanted Ophiolatria in Greece), calls the Athenians _Serpentigenæ_.]

But whatever were the peculiarities of religion which distinguished the aborigines from their conquerors, the attention of Wijayo was not diverted from his projects of colonisation by any anxiety to make converts to his own religious belief. The earliest cares of himself and his followers were directed to implant civilisation, and two centuries were permitted to elapse before the first effort was made to supersede the popular worship by the inculcation of a more intellectual faith.

* * * * *

NOTE.

DESCRIPTION IN THE MAHAWANSO OF THE LANDING OF WIJAYO.

The landing of Wijayo in Ceylon is related in the 7th chapter of the _Mahawanso_, and Mr. TURNOUR has noticed the strong similarity between this story and Homer's account of the landing of Ulysses in the island of Circe. The resemblance is so striking that it is difficult to conceive that the Singhalese historian of the 5th century was entirely ignorant of the works of the Father of Poetry. Wijayo and his followers, having made good their landing, are met by a "devo" (a divine spirit), who blesses them and ties a sacred thread as a charm on the arm of each. One of the band presently discovers the princess in the person of a devotee, seated near a tank, and she being a magician (Yakkhini) imprisons him and eventually the rest of his companions in a cave. The _Mahawanso_ then proceeds: "all these persons not returning, Wijayo, becoming alarmed, equipping himself with the five weapons of war, proceeded after them, and examined the delightful pond: he could perceive no footsteps but those leading down into it, and there he saw the princess. It occurred to him his retinue must surely have been seized by her, and he exclaimed, 'Pray, why dost not thou produce my attendants?' 'Prince,' she replied, 'from attendants what pleasure canst thou derive? drink and bathe ere thou departest.' Seizing her by the hair with his left hand, whilst with his right he raised his sword, he exclaimed, 'Slave, deliver my followers or die.' The Yakkhini terrified, implored for her life; 'Spare me, prince, and on thee will I bestow sovereignty, my love, and my service.' In order that he might not again be involved in difficulty he forced her to swear[1], and when he again demanded the liberation of his attendants she brought them forth, and declaring 'these men must be famishing,' she distributed to them rice and other articles procured from the wrecked ships of mariners, who had fallen a prey to her. A feast follows, and Wijayo and the princess retire to pass the night in an apartment which she causes to spring up at the foot of a tree, curtained as with a wall and fragrant with incense." It is impossible not to be struck with a curious resemblance between this description and that in the 10th book of the Odyssey, where Eurylochus, after landing, returns to Ulysses to recount the fate of his companions, who, having wandered towards the palace of Circe, had been imprisoned after undergoing transformation into swine. Ulysses hastens to their relief, and having been provided by Mercury with antidotes, which enabled him to resist the poisons of the sorceress, whom he discovers in her retreat, the story proceeds:--

[Greek:

Ôs phat egô d aor oxu eryssamenos para mêrou
Kirkêepêixa hôste ktameuai meneainôn. k. t. l.]

[Footnote 1: [Greek:

Ei mê moi tlaiês ge, thea, megan horkon homossai
Mêti moi autps pêma kakon bouleusemen allo.]--_Odys_. x. l. 343.]

"She spake, I, drawing from beside my thigh
The faulchion keen, with death denouncing looks,
Rush'd on her,--she, with a shrill scream of fear,
Ran under my raised arm, seized fast my knees,
And in winged accents plaintive thus began:--
'Who, whence thy city, and thy birth declare,--
Amazed I see thee with that potion drenched,
Yet unenchanted: never man before
Once passed it through his lips and lived the same.
* * * * Sheath again
Thy sword, and let us on my bed recline,
Mutual embrace, that we may trust henceforth
Each other without jealousy or fear.'
The goddess spake, to whom I thus replied:
'Oh Circe, canst thou bid me meek become,
And gentle, who beneath thy roof detain'st
My fellow-voyagers. * * *
No, trust me, never will I share thy bed,
Till first, oh goddess, thou consent to swear
That dread, all-binding oath, that other harm
Against myself, thou wilt imagine none.'
I spake, she, swearing as I bade, renounced
All evil purpose, and her solemn oath
Concluded, I ascended next her bed."[1]

[Footnote 1: COWPER's _Odyssey_, B. x, p. 392.]

The story of Wijayo's interview with Kuweni is told in nearly the same terms as it appeared in the _Mahawanso_ in the _Rajavali_, p. 172.

Another classical coincidence is curious: we are strongly reminded of Homer's description of the Syrens by the following passage, relative to the female _Rakshasis_, or demons, by whom Ceylon was originally inhabited, which is given in the memoirs of HIOUEN-THSANG, the Chinese traveller in the 7th century, as extracted by him from the Buddhist Chronicles. "Elles épiaient constamment les marchands qui abordaient dans l'isle, et se changeant en femmes d'une grande beauté elles venaient au-devant d'eux avec des fleurs odorantes et au son des instruments de musique, leur adressaient des paroles bienveillantes et les attiraient dans la ville de fer. Alors elles leur offraient un joyeux festin et se livraient au plaisir avec eux: puis elles les enfermaient dans un prison de fer et les mangeaient l'un après l'autre."[1]

[Footnote 1: HIOUEN-THSANG, _Mém. des Péler. Boudd_. 1. xi. p. 131.]

CHAP. III

THE CONQUEST OF CEYLON BY WIJAYO, B.C. 543, AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF BUDDHISM, B.C. 307.

[Sidenote: B.C. 543.]

The sacred historians of Ceylon affect to believe in the assertion of some mysterious connection between the landing of Wijayo, and the conversion of Ceylon to Buddhism, one hundred and fifty years afterwards; and imply that the first event was but a pre-ordained precursor of the second.[1] The Singhalese narrative, however, admits that Wijayo was but a "lawless adventurer," who being expelled from his own country, was refused a settlement on the coast of India before he attempted Ceylon, which had previously attracted the attention of other adventurers. This story is in no way inconsistent with that told by the Chinese Buddhists, who visited the island in the fifth and seventh centuries. FA HIAN states, that even before the advent of Buddha, Ceylon was the resort of merchants, who repaired there to exchange their commodities for gems, which the "demons" and "serpents," who never appeared in person, deposited on the shore, with a specified value attached to each, and in lieu of them the strangers substituted certain indicated articles, and took their departure.[2]

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. vii.]

[Footnote 2: FA HIAN, _Fo[)e]-Kou[)e]-ki_, ch. xxxviii. See a notice of this story of FA HIAN, as it applies to the still existing habits of the Veddahs, Vol. I. Pt III. ch. vii.]

[Sidenote: B.C. 543.]

HIOUEN-THSANG, at a later period, disposes of the fables of Wijayo's descent from a lion[1], and of his divine mission to Ceylon, by intimating, that, according to certain authorities, he was the son of a merchant (meaning a sea-faring trader), who, having appeased the enmity of the Yakkhos, succeeded by his discretion in eventually making himself their king.[2]

[Footnote 1: The legend of Wijayo's descent from a lion, probably originated from his father being the son of an outlaw named "Singha."]

[Footnote 2: "Suivant certains auteurs, Sengkia-lo (Wijayo) serait le nom du fils d'un marchand, qui, par sa prudence, ayant échappé à la fureur homicide des Lo-tsa" (demons) "réussit ensuite à se faire Roi."--HIOUEN THSANG, _Voyages &c_. l. iv. p. 198.]