482 Captain Cxaruan on the City of Anardjapura 
gave an exclamation of honour, the sky produced lightnings and untimely 
rain, and the whole thousand Sackwalas at once became agitated.” 
I did not ascertain whether any religious ceremony is performed at the 
present day at any of these dagobas further than occasional offerings of flowers 
at their altars. From the appearance of most of them, and the manner in 
which they are overgrown by jungle, I should imagine that they are little 
frequented, with the exception of that which I believe to be Ruanwelli 
Sai. Several kings are spoken of as having worshipped the cupola Ruan- 
welli ; and king Buatie is mentioned in the Mahavansi, p. 222, as ‘ having 
gone to worship the cupola, where he, hearing that rahatoons preached the 
doctrines of Bupuu withinside the cupola, laid himself down on the floor, 
vowing not to stir out without seeing the inside of the cupola.” ‘ Having 
accomplished his wish, he covered the cupola from top to bottom with 
silken stuffs, &c.; and having prepared flowers, he caused sandal-wood to be 
taken from the royal stores, and anointed the cupola all over with a pappy 
substance four inches thick, and afterwards washed the same with a water- 
engine from the tank Tisano.”* Another king is mentioned as having ‘ orna- 
mented the steeple of Ruanwelly with a net strung with diamonds, with an 
excellent umbrella over it.” Another king is stated “ to have laid himself 
down at the hall of Ruanwelly at a time of great scarcity and famine, vowing 
that he would not stir from thence until floated up by a heavy shower of 
rain; when it rained so that the king was floated up, and his ministers were 
obliged to come to his assistance.” Other kings are spoken of as having 
covered the cupola with white cloth, with umbrellas, and with chunam made 
from pearls ; in fact, the whole of the histories abound with evidence of 
the importance attached to these buildings, and of the reverence in which 
they were held. ‘The acts of a king’s reign, which are dwelt upon as more 
* The same circumstance is mentioned in the Réjaratnaécari, with some slight difference. 
Among the contents of the cupola, a figure of Bupp'HA, twelve cubits in height, is mentioned, 
which coincides with that which I was told was placed under the dagoba, which I believe to be 
Ruanwelli. And the lake with whose waters the king washed the dagoba, is called Tissa- 
wivewa—the Tissa-wava to the south of the temple. These coincidences, although they amount 
to conviction which is conclusive to my mind, do not amount to certainty, and therefore do not 
warrant my stating that the two are identical, a circumstance which I regret, as Ruanwelli 
Dagoba is the most important of the whole, and is that most frequently mentioned in the 
histories. 
