Chap. I.] THE GAL-AVIIIARA AT TOPARE. 595 



roof; and it will be an interesting inquiry, for some 

 future explorer provided with the necessary facilities, 

 to determine, by a minute examination of the walls, 

 whether they may not have been so constructed as to 

 cast a mysterious hght on the gilded idol below. 



Standing on the same terrace wdth the Jayta-wana- 

 rama, is another dagoba somewhat smaller than the 

 Rankot. From the snowy whiteness of the chunam 

 with which the latter was covered, it acquired the epi- 

 thet of " Kiri," which signifies milk. In its original 

 purity this enormous dome, as fair as marble and sur- 

 mounted by a gilded spire, must have been an object 

 of beauty amidst the scenery which surrounds it. It 

 was built A.D. 1187^, and after a lapse of nearly seven 

 hundred years, the tee by which it is crowned remains 

 almost uninjured, and the outline of the dagoba is still 

 clearly defined, withstanding the disruptions caused by 

 the trees which have rooted themselves in its fissures. 



In close proximity to these sacred monuments, a 

 group of stone pillars marks the spot, at which the 

 gam-sabaiva, or council of the municipahty, held its 

 meetings to administer justice in disputes between the 

 citizens. This ancient institution, identical in its objects 

 with the village punchayets of Hindustan, the yspoucrla of 

 the Greeks, and the assembly of " the elders in the gate " 

 among the Jews and the Eomans, still exists in Ceylon, 

 and throughout the more secluded districts arbitrates 

 in all matters affecting property and morals, excepting 

 only the graver offences and crimes, of which cogni- 

 sance is taken by the constituted tribunals.- 



But the most remarkable of all the antiquities at 

 Topare, is the Gal-wihara, a rock temple hollowed in 

 the face of a chfi* of granitic stone which overhangs the 

 level plain at the north of the city. So far as I am 

 aware, it is the only example in Ceylon of an attempt to 

 fashion an architectural design out of the rock after the 



' Fq/avnU, p. 254. 2 XC^t^^'s (\,/hn. ]i1. ii. cli 



Q U "2 



