( 20 ) 



when it reached the high road the worst of all remained. The 

 wooden bridges, constructed to sustain a moderate load, were quite 

 unable to bear the combined weight of the lion and the dray, and 

 the banks were precipitous and deep. But this, too, was overcome 

 by digging out a sloping passage to the bed of the river and another 

 on the opposite side. The elephants with their immense strength 

 and sagacity sustained the strain of letting down the lion, and 

 easily drew it up again. Much of this took place in the solitary 

 jungle, but when the inhabited regions were approached, the whole 



country turned out in amazement 



"The procession of elephants, the lion decked with wreaths 

 and flowers, was a magnificent sight. The tom-tom mer from each 

 village joined the cortege. The headman of the district asked 

 permission for his little boy to ride the monster into Matale, 

 whence he was to be conveyed by rail to Colombo. The lion now 

 stands calmly in the Museum, and few know, or could understand 

 if told, all the cares it caused and the excitement it created. It 

 is a most valuable archaeological record, and would have been 

 undoubtedly destroyed ere this had it not been removed." 



The risk of destruction referred to by Sir William Gregory in 

 the foregoing quotation is demonstrated by the fracture on the left 

 side of the head, which is said to have been perpetrated by enter- 

 prising burglars ignorant of the solid nature of dynastic art who 

 hoped to find treasure hidden within the penetralia of the body. 

 From the base of the forefoot to the crown of the head the lion 

 stands six feet. 



The third object of distinction is an elaborately carved pillar 

 which has been recently set up behind the great lion. This is 

 called the 9Ie(la»'oda Pillar, and formerly stood in the Pattini 

 Dewale at Medagoda, six miles below Ruanwella, in the Province 

 of Sabaragamuwa,not far from Yatiyantota. An excellent drawing 

 of this pillar, accompanied by a lucid description quoted below, is 

 contained in the " Report on the Kegalla District of the Province 

 of Sabaragamuwa," by H. C.P. Bell, Esq., C.C.S., Archaeological 

 Commissioner (Sessional Papers, 1892, p. 58) : " The monolith 

 must originally have been squared to 1 ft. 2 in., the size it assumes 

 across the lion's breast, lotus bosses, and capital fillet. Rising 

 octagonally from the back of a broad-faced couchant lion of con- 

 ventional type, with frilled mane and raised tail, the shaft slides 

 gradually into the rectangular by a semi-expanded calyx mould- 

 ing. Half way up relief is given by a bordered fillet 2 in. in 

 breadth, slightly projecting, carved with a single flower pattern 

 repeated round the pillar. From the fillet depend on each face 

 twoconcentric pearl-bead strings. Afew inches above this 



