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The next megalith which claims attention is the colossal figure 

 of a lion called the Lion of Poloiinaruwa. This relic of the past 

 • is exceptionally valuable and interesting, because there is a 

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

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

 King Nissanka Malla, a Chakrawarti or Emperor of Kalinga lineage, 

 who wastheLankeswaraor Overlord of Lanka (Ceylon) during the 

 years 1187-1196 a.d. 



The lion formerly stood in the Council or Audience Hall of the 

 King at Polonnaruwa, whence it was removed to the Colombo 

 Museum about thirty years ago. The ancient name of the city was 

 Pulastipura, the modern name is Topawewa, meaning the tank 

 where the ruined topes or stupas are. It is, however, commonly 

 known as Polonnaruwa. an Elu term of doubtful derivation 

 adopted by Sir Emerson Tennent {Ceylon, vol. II., 1817). The 

 ruins were re-discovered in 1820, and all that remained of the 

 Audience Hall where the inscriptions were found were " 48 large 

 stone pillars with carved capitals supported on a' stone platform, 

 round the base of which are sculptured a row of lions." The 

 great lion-throne " was lying almost entirely buried at some distance 

 from the Hall, and was set up with great difficulty ; it had probably 

 been thrown out of the Hall by the Tamils when they took 

 Pulastipura, and may formerly have stood between the inscribed 

 pillars."* 



The inscription ou the left side of the lion is terminated by the 

 figure of a fish, a symbol of good omen. 



The adventures of the lion during its transport from Polonnaruwa 

 to Colombo are recounted by Sir William Gregory {Autobiography, 

 second edit., 1894, p. 343), who was at that time (1872-1877) 

 Governor of Ceylon: " Every mishap attended the transfer of this 

 huge stone beast. Its first dray fell to pieces beneath its weight. 

 On descending from the elevated ground where it stood the two 

 elephants attached to it pulled over-vigorously, and the dray and 

 the lion and the elephants flew apart in different directions. It 

 had then to be drawn over a difficult jungle path a distance of 

 fifteen miles from the main road ; but the elephants had now 

 learned their business, and these obstacles were surmounted. But 



* A facsimile of tTie inscription on the left of the lion, with translation, is 

 given by Professor T. W. Rhys Davids in his paper on " Inscriptions at the 

 Audience Hall of Parakrama Bahu, Pulastipura, Ceylon," in the Indian Anti- 

 quary, vol. II., 1873, pp. 240-249. Pulastipura was the capital of Ceylon from the 

 end of the eighth to the beginning of the fourteenth century. Previously 

 Anuradhapura had been the capital for over a thousand years. 



Pulastipura enjoyed its period of greatest magnificence during the long reign 

 of Parakrama Bahu I., surnamed the Great, in the latter half of the twelfth 

 century, preceding the reign of Nissanka Malla. 



