Part 78 (1/2)

[Footnote 1: A part of the Chin-Indian peninsula, probably between Arracan and Siam.]

[Footnote 2: _Rajaratnacari_, p. 85; _Rajavali_, p. 252; _Mahawanso_, ch, lx.

From the ident.i.ty of the national faith in the two countries; intercourse existed between Siam and Ceylon from time immemorial. At a very early period missions were interchanged for the inter-communication of Pali literature, and in later times, when, owing to the oppression of the Malabars certain orders of the priesthood had become extinct in Ceylon, it became essential to seek a renewal of ordination at the hands of the Siamese heirarchy (_Rajaratnacari_, p. 86). In the numerous incursions of the Malabars from Chola and Pandya, the literary treasures of Ceylon were deliberately destroyed, and the _Mahawanso_ and _Rajavali_, make frequent lamentations over the loss of the sacred books. (See also _Rajaratnacari_, pp 77, 95, 97.) At a still later period the savage Raja Singha who reigned between A.D. 1581 and 1592, and became a convert to Brahmanism, sought eagerly for Buddhistical books, and ”delighted in burning them in heaps as high as a coco-nut tree.” These losses it was sought to repair by an emba.s.sy to Siam, sent by Kirti-Sri in A.D. 1753, when a copious supply was obtained of Burmese versions of Pali sacred literature.]

[Sidenote: A.D. 1155.]

During the same troublous times, schisms and heresy had combined to undermine the national belief, and hence one of the first cares of Prakrama Bahu was to weed out the perverted sects, and establish a council for the settlement of the faith on debatable points.[1] Dagobas and statues of Buddha were multiplied without end during his reign, and temples of every form were erected both at Pollanarrua and throughout the breadth of the island. Halls for the reading of bana, image rooms, residences for the priesthood, ambulance halls and rest houses for their accommodation when on journeys, were built in every district, and rocks were hollowed into temples; one of which, at Pollanarrua, remains to the present day with its images of Buddha; ”one in a sitting and another in a lying posture,” almost as described in the _Mahawanso_.[2]

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. lxxvii.]

[Footnote 2: _Mahawanso_, ch. lxxii. For a description of this temple see the account of Pollanarrua in the present work, Vol. II. Pt. x. ch.

i.]

In conformity with the spirit of toleration, which is one of the characteristics of Buddhism, the king ”erected a house for the Brahmans of the capital to afford the comforts of religion even to his Malabar enemies.” And mindful of the divine injunctions engraven on the rock by King Asoca, ”he forbade the animals in the whole of Lanka, both of the earth and the water, to be killed,”[1] and planted gardens, ”resembling the paradise of the G.o.d-King Sakkraia, with trees of all sorts bearing fruits and odorous flowers.”

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. lxxvii. Among the religious edifices constructed by Prakrama Bahu in many parts of his kingdom, the _Mahawanso_, enumerates three temples at Pollanarrua, besides others at every two or three gows distance; 101 dagobas, 476 statues of Buddha, and 300 image rooms built, besides 6100 repaired. He built for the reception of priests from a distance, ”230 lodging apartments, 50 halls for preaching, and 9 for walking, 144 gates, and 192 rooms for the purpose of offering flowers. He built 12 apartments and 230 halls for the use of strangers, and 31 rock temples, with tanks, baths, and gardens for the priesthood.”]

[Sidenote: A.D. 1155.]

For the people the king erected almonries at the four gates of the capital, and hospitals, with slave boys and maidens to wait upon the sick, superintending them in person, and bringing his medical knowledge to a.s.sist in their direction and management.

Even now the ruins of Pollanarrua, the most picturesque in Ceylon, attest the care which he lavished on his capital. He surrounded it with ramparts, raised a fortress within them, and built a palace for his own residence, containing four thousand apartments. He founded schools and libraries; built halls for music and dancing; formed tanks for public baths; opened streets, and surrounded the whole city with a wall which, if we are to credit the native chronicles, enclosed an area twelve miles broad by nearly thirty in length.

By his liberality, Rohuna and Pihiti were equally embellished; the buildings of Vigittapura and Sigiri were renewed; and the ancient edifices at Anaraj.a.poora were restored, and its temples and palaces repaired, under the personal superintendence of his minister. It is worthy of remark that so greatly had the constructive arts declined, even at that period, in Ceylon, that the king had to ”bring Damilo artificers” from the opposite coast of India to repair the structures at his capital.[1]

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. lxxv. lxxvii.]

[Sidenote: A.D. 1155.]

The details preserved in the Singhalese chronicles as to the works for irrigation which he formed or restored, afford an idea of the prodigious encouragement bestowed upon agriculture in this reign, as well as of the extent to which the rule of the Malabars had r.e.t.a.r.ded the progress and destroyed the earlier traces of civilisation. Fourteen hundred and seventy tanks were constructed by the king in various parts of the island, three of them of such vast dimensions that they were known as the ”Seas of Prakrama;”[1] and in addition to these, three hundred others were formed by him for the special benefit of the priests. The ”Great Lakes” which he repaired, as specified in the _Mahawanso_, amount to thirteen hundred and ninety-five, and the smaller ones which he restored or enlarged to nine hundred and sixty. Besides these, he made five hundred and thirty-four watercourses and ca.n.a.ls, by damming up the rivers, and repaired three thousand six hundred and twenty-one.[2]

[Footnote 1: _Rajaratnacari_, p. 88]

[Footnote 2: The useful ambition of signalising their reign by the construction of works of irrigation, is still exhibited by the Buddhist sovereigns of the East; and the king of Burmah in his interview with the British envoy in 1855, advanced his exploits of this nature as his highest claim to distinction. The conversation is thus reported in YULE'S _Narrative of the Mission_. London, 1858.

”_King._ Have you seen any of the royal tanks at Oung-ben-le', which have recently been constructed?

”_Envoy._ I have not been yet, your Majesty, but I purpose going.

”_King._ I have caused _ninety-nine_ tanks and ancient reservoirs to be dug and repaired; and _sixty-six_ ca.n.a.ls: whereby a great deal of rice land will be available. * * * In the reign of Nauraba-dzyar 9999 tanks and ca.n.a.ls were constructed: I purpose renewing them.”--P. 109.]

The bare enumeration of such labours conveys an idea of the prodigious extent to which structures of this kind had been multiplied by the early kings; and we are enabled to form an estimate of the activity of agriculture in the twelfth century, and the vast population whose wants it supplied, by the thousands of reservoirs still partially used, though in ruins; and the still greater number now dry and deserted, and concealed by dense jungle, in districts once waving with yellow grain.

Such was the internal tranquillity which, under his rule, pervaded Ceylon, that an inscription, engraved by one of his successors, on the rock of Dambool, after describing the general peace and ”security which he established, as well in the wilderness as in the inhabited places,”

records that, ”even a woman might traverse the island with a precious jewel and not be asked what it was.”[1]