476 Captain Cuapuan on the City of Anardjapura 
degree of closeness and accuracy of workmanship not easy to surpass. This 
building was probably two-thirds higher, and carried up to a point such as 
usually surmounts dagobas of modern construction. A frame building 
leads to an altar, which did not appear to be much frequented. We were 
told that this dagoba is a hundred and sixty cubits in height, but this must be 
anexaggeration. The last, andin its present state, the most splendid of the 
dagobas, is one of whose name the memorandum which I made was so 
effaced that I cannot place complete reliance upon it, but which I believe, 
from subsequent inquiry, to be Ruanwelli Sai.* It is situated to the north of 
the sacred trees, at the end of an avenue which is kept carefully cleared, and 
appears to be held in much estimation. Its entrance is by a building some- 
what similar in character to that of the Bodin Vahansé, and, in like manner, 
there is a second at fifty paces from it ; beyond this is another space, and then 
a third building, and beyond the whole is the platform, out of the centre of 
which the dagoba rises. ‘The platform is raised several feet, is beautifully 
constructed and paved with granite, and forms a square of a hundred and 
eighty paces on each side. The dagoba is of brick, but is so much over- 
grown with long grass and creeping plants, that its form is considerably 
impaired, and the brick-work is only visible in parts. Its base is a hundred 
and twenty paces in diameter, and its height is said to be a hundred and 
twenty cubits. We were informed that there were originally altars at the 
foot of the dagoba at each of the cardinal points: but only two remain ; 
and near that to the southward, the colossal statue of the king by whom 
the temple was built has fallen prostrate, and lies neglected on the ground. 
I was subsequently informed by Captain Forsgs, that the face of the platform, 
which was hid by creeping plants, and thus escaped my observation, is cut 
into spirited representations of the fore-quarters of elephants, supposed to be 
the supporters of this stupendous mass. 
Opposite to the entrance of this dagoda is a large slab of granite, which 
marks the spot where King Drewanr Patisse sat whilst the dagoba was 
building; and near it is a groupe of granite pillars, resembling in their 
general character the one previously described. At some distance from these 
pillars, and in the midst of the jungle, is a very large trough of granite, 
* This conclusion is confirmed by Lieutenant SKINNER, who, in an account of a survey made 
by him of Anarajapura, mentions Ruanwelli Dagoba, and states that its height, as measured, was 
one hundred and eighty-nine feet. 
+ In the excavated temples at Ellora similar sculptures are found. 
