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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 September 2009
In December 1828, when quartered in Colombo (Ceylon), I joined a party on a shooting excursion, in the course of which we visited Anarájapura, and some other places of interest. Having made a few rough sketches and some memoranda, which I have been led to believe are not devoid of interest, and having found that the information which I procured on the spot is borne out and confirmed in a remarkable manner by the Mahávansi, the Rájavali, and the Rájaratnácari, three native histories, for translations of which, now in progress of publication* by Mr. Upham, we are indebted to Sir Alexander Johnston, I have been induced to lay a few of the outlines and memoranda before the Society.
* These works have been published since this Paper was read.
* In the Rájaratnácari, it is said that the tree, when transferred miraculously, stood erect at seven cubits above the earth, which, at twenty-seven inches to the cubit, will give fifteen feet nine inches.
* A memorandum made by one of my companions coincides with mine, as to the number of branches. Whether the number has been purposely selected I cannot decide; at the same time I cannot refrain from pointing out the following coincidences:—In the account of the holy tree, as described in the Mahávansi, it is stated to have had five branches, that each branch produced five fruits, &c, and that the tree, which was made of coral and precious stones, and deposited in Ruanwelli Dagoba, had also five boughs spread out. The number of Budd'has is five; and although the fifth has not yet appeared, his statue is found in the temples. The æra of the present Budd'ha is also destined to last five thousand years. In the Burmese account of the world, it is stated, that after the dissolution of the former system, which was effected by a flood of waters, a lily of immense height and size arose, having on its top five buds and four branches extending from the stalk; the five buds contained each a yellow cloth of a priest, and were indicative of the number of Budd'has pertaining to the system; four of them have opened: that the body is the product of five elements, that there are five sorts of wisdom, that creation was completed in five successive acts, and that there are five celestial abodes.
† The following occurs on the subject of lamps, in the Rájaratnácari, p. 136.— “Moreover, this king having heard of the great merit there was in the offering of lamps, he, besides the sweet perfumes of camphor and other oils, made offerings of no fewer than 125 350 lamps,”
* See Plate, No. 16.
† See Plate, No. 17.
‡ See Plate, No. 17.
* Vide Asiatic Researches, Vol. vi. p. 177.Google Scholar
* I am unwilling to make many extracts from works which will soon be in the hands of the public, and have in consequence selected that from the Mahdvansi; but in the account of the reign of king Dharmasóca, given in the Rájaratnácari, p. 115Google Scholar, &c., the transfer of the Bo-tree is detailed at greater length. It is there called the Bo-tree, or Bodin Vahansé, and Dacshíná Srí Bodin Vahansé, and Srí Mahá Bodin Vahansé, as well as Jáyá Mahá Bodin Vahansé.
* The coincidence between this tradition and the actual state of the trees, none of which are of the size of a man's body, is not a little curious. The reverence in which the trees are held, and the tradition in regard to them, are also confirmed by Robert Knox, who thus speaks of them:– “His (Budhu's) great festival is in the month of March, at the new year's tide. The places where he is commemorated are two, not temples, but one a mountain and the other a tree: either to one or to the other they at this time go with their wives and children, for dignity or merit, one being esteemed equal with the other. The mountain is at the south end of the island, is called Hammetella, but by the Christian people ‘Adam's Peak,’ &c. The tree is at the north end of the king's dominions at Annarodgburro. This tree they say came flying over from the other coast, and there planted itself as it now stands; under which the Budhou god, while on earth, used, as they say, to sit. This is now become a place of solemn worship, the due performance of which they reckon not to be a little meritorious, insomuch that they report that ninety kings have since reigned there successively; where, by ruins which still remain, it appears that they spared not pains and labour to build temples and high monuments to the honour of this god, as if they had been born only to hew rocks and great stones, and lay them up in heaps. These kings are now happy spirits, having merited it by this their labour.”— P. 161, edition of 1817.
* Vide Asiatic Researches, vol. vii. p. 45, note ††.
† See Plate, No. 16.
‡ The same process is followed in Aberdeen, and was brought into practice, I believe, within the last thirty years.
* The dagobas are described by Mr. Harington (As. Res. vol. VI. p. 450) as consisting of a mound of earth inside, and an outside covering of no great thickness of brick. This is probably the case, with the addition that there is usually a hollow space in the inside in which the relics are placed.
* See Plate, No. 18.
† There are two measures which have been translated cubits; the one a rian, which, according to Robert Knox, is from the bone on the inside of the elbow to the top of the fourth finger; the other, or waddow rian, is the carpenter's rule, said to measure twenty-seven inches: it is as much as will reach from one elbow to the other, the thumbs touching one-another at the tops, and stretching out both elbows. The ordinary cubit I always heard estimated at fourteen inches: it is probably the half of the other, as I found that to be the case with such as I measured.
* According to a calculation which I made, there were originally in the inner circle about forty-four; in the central one, fifty-five; and in the largest, sixty-six; or, altogether, about a hundred and sixty-six of these pillars, of which a hundred and forty are still standing.
† The capitals varied considerably; some were narrower, and the ornament different.
‡ See Plate, No. 17.
§ It is remarked by Knox, and was admitted by those of whom I made inquiry, that the natives of Ceylon were formerly, and are at present, utterly incapable of executing such work as these sculptures in granite. I was informed that the Hindús are employed whenever such work is required; and was shewn an enclosure of granite in progress destined for a Bo-tree, which was extremely well cut into bold and simple mouldings, and on which some Hindús had been recently employed. I found, subsequently, at Rámiseram and elsewhere, that the art is not lost, and that pillars of granite curiously cut are still occasionally made, are very costly, and are estimated, as donations or offerings, in proportion to the expense of time and labour bestowed upon them. I met with some curious instances both in Rámiseram and Madura, where several human figures of considerable size, as well as horses, formed parts of the pedestals of columns recently erected.
* See Plate, No. 19.
† See Plate, No. 17.
‡ In a survey recently made by Lieutenant Skinner, it is ascertained to be two hundred and sixty-nine feet in height.
§ Abhayágiri dagoba, deprived of its spire and pinnacle, is made by Lieutenant Skinner two hundred and thirty feet in height.
* This conclusion is confirmed by Lieutenant Skinner, who, in an account of a survey made by him of Anarájapura, mentions Ruanwelli Dagoba, and states that its height, as measured, was one hundred and eighty-nine feet.
† In the excavated temples at Ellora similar sculptures are found.
* In the chronology recently published by Mr. Turnour in the Ceylon Almanac for 1833, Mahá Sinha is expressly mentioned as having erected Játa-Wána-Ráma Vihára and dagoba, a hundred and forty cubits high, &c.
* In consequence of the length of the description, I have been obliged to condense it.
† The coincidence between the laying of the foundation with bricks of gold and silver, and the modern practice of depositing coins, must strike every one.
* This is one of the two positions in which Budd'ha is supposed to be represented, and is that most held in reverence. At the great temple of Dambúl, which is described by Davy, , p. 466Google Scholar, the colossal figure of Budd'ha is in this recumbent posture; the head resting on the right hand, the left arm extended down the side. The expression of the countenance of this statue is mild and benignant, the features handsome, and bearing a striking resemblance to those of Napoleon. On making some remark to the Múdeliár on the position of Budd'ha, he said, “It is the position in which he laid himself down calmly and composedly to die.” The other position in which Budd'ha is represented is sitting with his legs doubled, and in many cases with the cobra de capella over his head. This position evidently represents his state of being when on earth, before he had “redeemed the living beings from all their miseries.” But I was informed that many of these figures do not represent Budp'ha, but Pase-Budd'has, or good men, who had attained the state of Nirvána, as is confirmed by the following passage from Robert Knox—“In them (the pagodas) are idols and images most monstrous to behold, some of silver, some of brass and other metals; and also painted sticks and targets, and most kinds of arms, as bills, arrows, spears, and swords. But these arms are not in Buddou's temples, he being for peace; therefore there are in his temples only images of men cross-legged with yellow coats, or, like the Gonni priests, their hair frizzled, and their hands before them like women, and these they say are the spirits of holy men departed. (P. 144, 5.)Google Scholar As for these images, they say, they do not own them to be gods themselves, but only figures representing their gods to their memories, and as such, they give to them, honour and worship.”
† Sála, or jack-tree? Artocarpus integrifolia.
* The same circumstance is mentioned in the Rájaratnácari, with some slight difference. Among the contents of the cupola, a figure of Budd'ha, twelve cubits in height, is mentioned, which coincides with that which I was told was placed under the dagoba, which I believe to be Ruanwelli. And the lake with whose waters the king washed the dagoba, is called Tissawivewa—the Tissa-wava to the south of the temple. These coincidences, although they amount to conviction which is conclusive to my mind, do not amount to certainty, and therefore do not warrant my stating that the two are identical, a circumstance which I regret, as Ruanwelli Dagoba is the most important of the whole, and is that most frequently mentioned in the histories.
* See Plate, No. 21.
* According to Robert Knox: “The poorer kind, who regard not whether worms and maggots eat the dead, carry the body wrapped in a mat into the woods, and, with two or three attending, lay it in a hole without any ceremony, and cover it; but the better sort burn their dead, and that with ceremony. They wash the body, cover it with a white cloth, and place it in a hollowed tree, until the king's orders are received: the body is then laid upon a bedstead (which is a great honour among them), and with the bedstead carried on men's shoulders to some eminent place in the fields or highways; there they lay it upon a pile of wood some two or three feet high; then they pile up more wood upon the corpse lying on the bedstead or in the trough: over all, they have a kind of canopy built; if he be a person of very high quality, covered at top, hung about with painted cloths and bunches of coco-nuts and green boughs, and so put fire to it. After all is burnt to ashes, they sweep together the ashes into the manner of a sugar loaf, and hedge the place round from wild beasts breaking in, and they will sow herbs there. Thus I saw the king's uncle, the chief tirinanx, who was as it were the chief primate of all the nation, burned upon a high place, that the blaze might be seen a great way.”
Knox does not mention the ceremonial of the burial of the kings, but I have met with an account, that after the body is burnt, the bones are collected and formed into a shape resembling Budd'ha; after which they are deposited in the dagoba.
During our ramble, we stumbled upon one of the places of sepulture mentioned by Knox. It consisted of a mound of earth, on the top of which, ashes were sprinkled, and above the ashes were suspended pieces of string with several bits of white rag attached to them. The whole was enclosed by a rude fence, and the area kept free from weeds.
† It was thus pronounced by the priests.
* I was led to expect, from finding the lion on this stone, from the frequent allusions which are made to that animal, and from the royal race claiming descent from it, that the lion was a native of Ceylon; but on inquiry I find that it is not so, and that one was sent as a present to the late King of Kandy, who was much disappointed with its size and appearance. In the Asiatic Researches, vol. XVI. p. 268Google Scholar, it is said the lion is not a native of Ceylon nor of Burma, yet it is found in the sculptures of both countries.
† See Plate, No. 17.
‡ Vol.vi. p. 231.
* The Mahávansi.
† Dr. Buchanan “On the Religion and Literature of the Burmans.”
‡ Rémusat, M. Abel, “Essai sur la Cosmographie et la Cosmogonie des Boudhistes d'après les Auteurs Chinois.”Google Scholar
* In the vicinity of this lake is the dwelling of a chieftain of high rank. The house is one of the very few not situated in cities which are tiled, which is a privilege confined to the highest rank. It was of a single story, and consisted of a square divided into compartments open in the centre, and having several small rooms on each side. In front of these rooms was a terrace raised two or three feet, so as to be on a level with the rooms, and protected from the sun by the roof, which was prolonged so as to form a verandah; some of the rooms were made use of as granaries. There were a great number of attendants.
† Knox, Robert mentions “Ancient writings engraven on rocks, which puzzle all that see them.”Google Scholar
* See Plate, No. 20:—Mehentélé.
† I made a sketch which will give some idea of this very curious spot. Whilst occupied in making it, I was not a little interested by observing the care with which an old man, who had taken advantage of our protection to visit the Sacred Temples, gathered the flowers of the tree under whose shade I sat. I found that he took especial care that the flowers should not touch the ground, as they would thus be defiled, and be rendered unworthy as an offering. I was informed that the tree itself is the only one of the kind in the island, and that its flowers are in consequence held in great estimation; but, independently of this cause, the flowers were very beautiful; tfiey were of a rich yellow, and reminded me of the Gum cistus (possibly it is the Mahánal, so often mentioned as a favourite offering).
The old man above alluded to had begged leave to join us at Chilaw. He was a man of some importance in his way, and a doctor: we had however little reason to think very highly of his skill, as he contented himself, when called in to a culey who, struck by the landwind, had lost the power of speech, and was strongly affected by spasmodic twitches, with simply tying a few pieces of white rag round the neck, arms, and ankles of the poor fellow, and after repeating a few words, leaving him to his fate. The parade with which his store of charms was produced (for of medicine he had none), was not a little amusing: the gravity with which he looked at each, and the earnest attention with which he was watched by those who had gathered round, formed a very peculiar, and not uninteresting scene. This poor fellow was, however, too seriously ill to be left to such treatment alone: recourse was had to laudanum, and with good effect.
* The number mentioned to me at Mehentélé was three hundred and sixty. Which of the two is correct 1 do not pretend to decide; but it appears from Sir Wm. Jones that the lunar year of the Hindús is of three hundred and sixty days only, and is a more ancient mode of reckoning than the solar year.
† It may not be uninteresting to observe here, that the position of Anurogramum is not only laid down by Ptolemy with great accuracy, but that of Dondera-head, under the name of Dagana civitas, sacra lunœ, and several other places, as well as that the part marked Pascua Elephantum, in the south of the island, is still that in which elephants are most abundant, as was proved during my stay, by the capture, near Bentotte, in one kraal, of upwards of three hundred. The intimate knowledge which he managed to procure of this island, is further proved by his describing the men as having the hair of women. The men (on the sea-coast in particular) at the present day wear their hair long, turned up, and fixed with a large comb, such as is only worn by women in Europe
* The first Budd'ha, according to Sir Wm. Jones and Mr. Bentley (Asiatic Researches), is supposed to have existed about 1027 years before Christ; the antiquity, therefore, which is thus assigned to Anarádhepura, under the name of Abaya-pura, is 2860 years; but the accounts are vague and contradictory: for, on comparing them, Abaya commenced his reign in the sixty-ninth year of Budd'ha, or 474 years before Christ; and Anaraáhepura, which had taken the name from Anuraáha during the reign of the preceding king Panduwas, became the capital of the next king, whose reign commenced 437 years before Christ.
† From the Chronology, published in the Ceylon Almanac for 1833, which has fallen into my hands whilst correcting this paper for the press, and which has been compiled with great care by Mr. Turnour, the revenue commissioner at Kandy, the oera of the present or fourth Budd'ha, is 543 years before Christ.
* According to MrTurnour, , AnarádhepuraGoogle Scholar ceased to be the capital in the 1312th year of Budd'ha, and was made so again by Mehindu, in A.B. 1566—the date assigned to Pábacrámaráhú is A.B. 1696, or a.d. 1153.