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Pulfistipnra, the modern Polonnaruwa, between the years 1190 and 

 1195. About the year 1246 a.d. Vijaya Bahu III. enshrined it at 

 Dambadeniya, whence some forty years later Bhuvaneka Bahu I. 

 removed it to Yapahu. Thence it followed the fortunes of the 

 Suluwansa Dynasty to successive capitals, Kurunegala, Gampola, 

 and Kotte near Colombo. 



In the year 1560 A.D. it is said to have been captured by the 

 Portuguese and taken to Goa, where it was pounded in a mortar 

 and consumed in a brazier, but Phcenix-like it rose again from 

 its ashes and is now at Kandy.* 



The vicissitudes of the Tooth Relic are matters of speculation 

 and controversy, but its political importance as a national 

 palladium during the dynastic periods seems to be beyond 

 doubt. 



The model here shown was exhibited at Chicago in 1893. 



The same shelf contains a handsome display of silverware, 

 amongst which may be specially noted the large silver dagaba 

 exhibited at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886 : two 

 large boxes of beaten silver embossed with deities and scroll 

 work ; a large spherical silver box with intricate design in high 

 relief ; an elegant silver chatty; a silver chalice for sandalwood ; 

 and a silver scent diffuser of the kind used for sprinkling guests 

 at wedding ceremonies and for spraying coffins in funeral proces- 

 sions. There is also a finely worked brass dagaba. The leaf -shaped 

 tassels hanging round the top of the dagabas represent the leaves 

 of the sacred Bo-tree {Ficus religiosa). 



On the next shelf below a large series of brass bowls called 

 " chembu" is shown. Some of them are further adorned by the 

 inlaying of alternating strips of beaten silver and copper. 



The bottom shelf contains further examples of Kaildyail 

 brasswork, especially betel trays and rice tables, prominent 

 among them being an antique Kandyan rice table presented by 

 A. K. Coomaraswamy, Esq., Director of the Mineralogical Survey 

 of Ceylon. 



The upper shelves of the case contain on one side a set of 

 embossed silver and brass plates, and a pair of carved silver ola 

 covers with ola manuscript descriptive of one of the Jatakas or 

 Births of Buddha. 



On the other side there are some examples of wood carving, 

 a carved calamander cocoanut scraper from Panadure, between 

 Colombo and Galle ; sweetmeat moulds or jaggery boards ; game 

 boards called "chonka boards," in which the seeds of the 



* Cf. Memoir on the History of the Tooth Relic of Ceylon, by J. Gerson da 

 Cunha, 1875. 



