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the Island was properly organized during the Governorship of 

 Sir William Gregory, when Dr. P. Goldschmidt was appointed 

 Archaaological Commissioner to the Government of Ceylon in 

 1874. His reports were published as Sessional Papers from 1875 

 until his death in 1877. Dr. Goldschmidt was followed by Dr. 

 Edward Mtlller, who compiled a valuable manual on " xlncient 

 Inscriptions in Ceylon " (London, 1883), illustrated by a separate 

 quarto book of plates. Dr. Mtiller left Ceylon in 1881, and was 

 succeeded, after an interval, as Archseological Commissioner by 

 Mr. H. C. P. Bell, C.C.S., under whose direction the work of 

 excavation, discovery, and transcription has been continued from 

 1890 to the present time. 



The great slabs placed against the back wall of the verandah are 

 of interest on account of their antiquity and the characters 

 employed. The first one, propped up lengthwise on the ground, 

 is the oldest inscription that has been discovered at Anuradha- 

 pura, from the Ruanweli Dagaba.* It relates to the restoration 

 of certain temples during the reign of King Gaja Bahu (113-125 

 A.D.). 



The upright slab next to the Ruanweli Slab is known as the 

 Tissamaliarama Slab, from Tissamaharama near Hambantota in 

 the Southern Province. It is almost completely preserved, and 

 according to Dr. Milller " is the finest specimen we have of an 

 inscription of the fourth century A.D."t 



Adjoining this slab is a narrow flattened stone with an inscrip- 

 tion on both faces. The inscription is headed on the obverse 

 side by a symbol of the sun and on the reverse by a crescent 

 representing the moon, the sun and moon being the usual royal 

 signs. It is a grant of land to a temple, and concludes (on the 

 reverse side) with a life-size figure of a crow in sunk relief. This 

 is the Petigammaiia Pillar found half buried in a garden within 

 a few miles of Gampola.J 



Many of these inscribed pillars dating from the tenth century 

 bear, at the top, engravings of the sun and moon as symbols of 

 royalty [Rhys Davids] or eternity and, at the bottom, the dog and 

 crow as symbols of instability [Mtiller] or meanness; anyone 

 violating the property of the priesthood renders himself liable to 

 the penalty of being re-born in the low condition of one of these 

 animals [Goldschmidt]. The translation of the Petigammana 

 inscription, according to Mr. Bell, ends with the usual curse: 

 "Anyone who disputes this [grant will be born] a crow." 



* Miiller's Inscriptions, No. 5, p. 27, and Plate 5. 



t Miiller's Inscriptions, No. 67, p. 43. and Plate 67. 



X H. C. P. Bell. Report on the Kegalla District, 1892, p. 79. with plate. 



