190 SPOLIA ZKYLANICA, 



During the last fifteen years excavations have been cariied on at 

 Sigiriya under the dhection of the Archseological Commissioner, 

 and fresh copies of the frescoes have been made under his super- 

 vision m oil colours, and these are now exhibited m the Museum 

 alongside the copies referred to above. * 



LIBRARY. 

 Ola Manuscripts. 



The art of writing was known to the Sinhalese as early as 543 B.C. , 

 when, according to the Mahavansa, their ancient historical work, 

 they colonized Ceylon and became loiown by the name " Sinhala ; " 

 for, it is stated in that chronicle that their first king, Vijaya (543- 

 505 B.C.), sent a letter to his father Sinhabahu, who was reigning 

 at Sinhapura in Lata (Larike of Ptolemy, a country comprising 

 Kandesh and a part of Gujarat), requestmg him that he would send 

 his brother Sumitta to succeed him in his kmgdom. The material 

 upon which this letter was written was probably an ola (Tamil, o?ai, 

 "palm-leaf"), i.e., leaf of the palmyra (Sinhalese, tal) or talipot 

 (Sinhalese, tola), which existed in Ceylon from the earliest times, 

 and the use of the ola for \vritmg on was very probably introduced 

 to Ceylon by Vijaya and his men. 



The olas used by the Tamils are prepared from the dried yoimg 

 leaves of the palmyra tree, which abounds in the northern part of 

 Ceylon, and are narrower and less durable than talipot leaves. 



Palmyra leaves are never used by the Sinhalese for books of any 

 importance. 



The olas used by the Sinhalese are the leaves of the talipot tree, 

 which grows abundantly m the up-country, whence the supply 

 required for the low-country is obtained. This was probably the 

 material employed when the text and commentaries of the Buddhist 

 scriptures were committed to writing in 81 B.C. at Aluvihare, m 

 Ma tale, Ceylon, and it was also probably the material used by the 

 Venerable Mahinda when he wrote his commentaries on the Tripi- 

 taka in Smhalese (307-258 B.C.), and by Buddhaghosa Thera when 

 he translated them into Pali (410-432 a.d.). 



These olas are prepared from the tender leaves by boiling them 

 in water, and afterwards drying them slowly in the sun and shade. 

 Before boiling, the central ribs of the leaves are removed, separating 

 each leaf mto two strips, and these strips are made up mto rolls. 

 Wlien sufficiently boiled, the strips are unfolded and put in the sun 

 for a day or two, then exposed to dew for a night, then rolled up 

 again and kept for some time, after which they are re-opened, 

 washed, and dried again in the sun. These operations are repeated 

 until they attain the standard thiclmess and equality, when they are 

 rolled up and kept in a dry place, such as a loft over a fireplace. 

 These prepared leaves, called puskola (lit. "blank leaves"), are 

 sold at about a rupee a hundred. Before they are utilized for books 

 they are polished by drawing them backwards and forwards over a 

 clean smooth trunk of the arecanut tree, or valla tree {Gyrinops 

 valla), which is specially prepared for the purpose, the leaves being 

 damped during the operation . Two such trunks , one over the other , 



