GUIDE TO THE COLOMBO MUSEUM. 155 



The Stone Lion, called the Lion of Poionnaruwa, foimod part of 

 the great lion-throne, and stood in the Council or Audience Hall of 

 the King at Poionnaruwa, whence it was removed to the Colombo 

 Museum thirty years ago. From the base of the forefoot to the 

 croATO of the head the lion stands six feet. This relic of the past is 

 specially interestmg and a valuable historical monument. There is a 

 Sinhalese inscription on each side near the base givmg the date and 

 purport of the monument. Upon it was placed the throne of King 

 Nissanka Malla, a Chakraw^arti or Emperor of Kalinga lineage, who 

 was the Lankeswara or Overlord of Lanka (Ceylon) in 1187-1196 a.d. 

 There is a fracture on the head, said to have been perpetrated by 

 burglars expecting to fhid hidden treasure withm. The inscription 

 on the left side of the lion is termmated by the figure of a fish, a 

 symbol of good omen. (See Plate I.) 



Behind the great stone lion is the Medagoda Pillar, which formerly 

 stood in the Pattini Dewale at Medagoda, six miles from Ruanwella, 

 in the Province of Sabaragamuwa. (See Plate II.) 



" The pillar rises octagonally from the back of a broad-faced 

 couchant lion of conventional type , with frilled mane and raised tail ; 

 the shaft shdes gradually into the rectangular by a semi-expanded 

 calyx moulding. Half way up relief is given by a bordered fillet 

 two inches in breadth, slightly projecting, carved with a single 

 flower pattern repeated round the pillar. From the fillet depend 

 on each a pearl-bead string {muHd-ddma) . A few inches above 

 this band stand out from alternate faces full-blown lotus knops, 

 five inches in circumference, with ornamentation resemblmg much 

 the ' Tudor flower ' upon the intervening sides. Where the pillar 

 becomes square there are further loops of pearls, three on each 

 side separated by smgle vertical strmgs. A lower capital of ogee 

 moulding, separated by narrow horizontal fillets, and finished with 

 ovolos and a rectangular band, is surmounted by a four-faced 

 makara and a low abacus . From the centre of the roundlet moulding 

 on all four sides drops the garlanded chakra symbol noticeable on 

 the sculptures of Bharhut."* 



Facing the south window at the front end of the Gallery is a 

 perforated carved slab, 4 ft. 8 in. high, 2 ft. 10 in. wide, and 7 in. 

 deep, known as the Yapahu Window, from Yapahu or Yapahuwa, 

 a village in the North-Western Province, about twenty miles north 

 of Kurunegala. It consists of a smgle block of gneiss cut into the 

 semblance of a frame, which surrounds a composite hieroglyph 

 consisting of forty -five cu-cles in five vertical rows jomed together 

 in a moniliform pattern, each circle containing an emblematic figure 

 repeated on both sides of the stone. The matrix of the slab between 

 the carved portions was removed by the artist who designed and 

 executed this unique triumph of stone tracery. In the thirteenth 

 and fourteenth centuries there was a royal palace at Yapahu, and 

 the hall of the palace was lighted by two of these tracery windows 

 of exquisite workmanship. (See Plate III.) 



The human figures in the lowest circles represent grotesque 

 manikins, above these are nautch girls, then animals, some of which 

 are provided with a trunk and appear to represent the fabulous 

 gaja-sinha or elephant-lion. The star-shaped radiating emblems 

 are the dharma chakra symbols, the wheel or cu'cle of the laws and 

 teaching of Buddha. The birds in the top row are the hansa or 



ArchEeological Survey of Ceylon: Report on Kegalla District, 1892, p. 58. 



