GALLE TRILINGtJAL STONE. I3l 



the interior, threw up stockades with a view to their captui'e, in the 

 hope of a ransom, and ordered soldiers to the coast to plunder the 

 Chinese junks. But Ching-Ho, by a dexterous movement, avoided the 

 attack, and invested the capital, made a prisoner of the king, succeeded 

 in conveying him on board his fleet, and carried him captive to China, 

 together with his queen, his children, his officers of state, and his atten- 

 dants. He brought away with htm spoils, which were long afterwards 

 exhibited in the Tsinghae monastery at Nankin, and one of the com- 

 mentaries on the Si-yu-ke of Hiouen Thseng states that amongst the 

 articles carried away was the sacred tooth of Buddha. " In the sixth 

 month of the year 1411," says the author of the Ming-she, "the 

 prisoners were presented at court. The Chinese ministers pressed for 

 their execution, but the Emperor, in pity for their ignorance, set them 

 at liberty, but commanded them to select a virtuous man from the same 

 family to occupy the throne. All the captives declared in favour of 

 Seay-pa-nae-na, whereupon an envoy was sent with a seal to invest him 

 with the royal dignity, as a vassal of the empire," and in that capacity 

 he was restored to Ceylon, the former king being at the same time sent 

 back to the Island. It would be difficult to identify the names in this 

 story with the kings of the period, were it not stated in another clironicle, 

 the Woo-heo-'peen, or Record of the Ming Dynasty, that Seay-pa-nae-na 

 was afterwards named Pu-la-ko-ma Ba-zae La-cha, in which it is not 

 difficult to recognize " Sri Prakrama Bahu Raja," the sixth of his name, 

 who transferred the seat of Government from Gampola to Cotta, and 

 reigned from 1410-1462 a.d. 



For fifty years after this untoward event the subjection of Ceylon to 

 China appears to have been hmiibly and periodically acknowledged ; 

 tribute was punctually paid to the Emperor, and on two occasions, in 

 1416 A.D. and 1421 a.d., the kings of Ceylon were the bearers of it in 

 person. In 1430 a.d., at a period of intestine commotion, "Ching-Ho 

 issued a proclamation for the pacification of Ceylon," and, at a somewhat 

 later period, edicts were promulgated by the Emperor of China for the 

 Government of the Island. In 1459 a.d., however, the series of 

 hvtmiliations appears to have come abruptly to a close ; for, " in that 

 year," says the Ming-she, " the King of Ceylon for the last time sent an 

 envoy with tribute, and after that none ever came again." 



Appendix X.* 



It was during this period that an event occiu'red, which is obscurely 

 alluded to in some of the Sinhalese chronicles, but is recorded with such 

 minute details in several of the Chinese historical works, as to afford a 

 reliable illustration of the condition of the Island and its monarchy in 

 the fifteenth century. Prior to that tmie the coiximunity of religion 

 between Ceylon and China, and the eagerness of the latter country to 

 extend its commerce, led to the establishment of an intercourse which 

 has been elsewhere described ; missions were constantly despatched 

 charged with an interchange of courtesies between their sovereigns ; 

 theologians and officers of State arrived in Ceylon empowered to collect 

 information regarding the doctrines of Buddha ; and envoys were sent 

 in return bearing royal donations of relics and sacred books. The 

 Sinhalese monarchs, overawed by the magnitude of the Imi^erial power, 

 were inuced to avow towards China a sense of dependency approsiching 



' * Tennent's " Ceylon," ed. 4, VoL I., pp. 416, 417. 



