and the Hill Temple of Mehentélé. 485 
It is not my object, nor indeed am I qualified, to enter into the question 
how far Budd’hism, as at present existing in Ceylon, is mixed up with the 
Hindu religion, and with the worship of demons and snakes. From the 
situation of Anarddhepura, and the constant inroads of the Hindis, the 
introduction of some of the practices and observances of their religion is 
naturally to be expected, and may I think be traced ; it also appears equally 
probable, that the worship which is still paid to demons or devils, and the 
respect in which the cobra de capella is held, are either remains of the original 
superstition of the island which it was the object of Bupp’Ha to destroy, 
or are connected, as in the present instance, with his triumphs over that 
religion. One of the first acts of Bupp’Ha on his arrival in Laccadiva was to 
drive the devils to the sea shore, from whence they were banished ; and in 
his fifth year, he is stated to have come to the residence of the snakes, 
where, appearing in the sky, he delivered a sermon to them, by which he 
appeased them, and brought thousands to a pious life, &c. In the Mahd- 
vansi, p. 59, there is a very curious account of king Duarmaséca having 
procured the blessing of seeing the person of Bupp’Ha two hundred and 
twenty-one years after his death, by means of the cobra-de-capella Mau-caLa, 
who acknowledges the superiority of Bupp’Ha in the following words: “ I 
am endowed with passions, but Bupuu is without passions; I am with 
blemish, but he is without blemish ; I am fallible, but he is infallible; I 
am with lust, he is without lust; I am with pride, he is without pride; I 
am sinful, he is virtuous. On that account, neither I nor Mani Brauma, 
who has the power of giving light to ten thousand worlds at once, by 
holding forth his ten fingers, should be able to represent the form of Bupuu, 
unless, however, it be not offensive to the character of Bupuu.” Frequent 
mention is made of the snakes in the early part of the three histories, all 
of which concur in representing them as dissenting from, and opposed to, 
the religion of Bupp’na, and record his efforts to convert them from their 
errors. 
Although this paper has already been carried to considerable length, 
I cannot refrain from adding the following remarks on the semi-circular 
stone at the inner entrance of the temple of the Bodin vahansé, or enclosure 
of the sacred trees. 
3 R2 
