Chap. I.] THE GAL-WIHARA AT TOPAKE. 597 



manner of the cave temples of Ajmita and EUora. Tiie 

 temple itself is a little cell, with entrances between 

 columns ; and an altar at the rear on which is a sedent 

 statue of Buddha, admirably carved, all forming unde- 

 tached parts of the living rock. Outside, to the left, is 

 a second sedent figure, of more colossal dimensions, and 

 still more richly decorated ; and to tlie right are two 

 statues hkewise of Buddha, in the usual attitudes of 

 exhortation and repose. The length of the reclining 

 figure to the right is forty-five feet, tlie upright one is 

 twenty-three, and the sitting statue to the left sixteen 

 feet from the pedestal to the crown of the head. 



Between the little temple and the upright statue tlie 

 face of the rock has been sloped and levelled to receive 

 a verbose inscription, no doubt commemorative of the 

 virtues and munificence of the founder. The Maha- 

 wanso records the formation of this rock temple by 

 Prakrama Bahu, at the close of the twelfth century, 

 and describes the attitude of the statues " in a sittinijj 

 and a lying posture, wliich he caused to be hewn in the 

 same stone." ^ With the date thus authenticated, one 

 cannot avoid being struck by the fact that the art ex- 

 hibited in the execution of these sin"iilar monuments 

 of Ceylon was far in advance of that which was })re- 

 valent in Em^ope at the period when they were erected. 



The objects here described are only those which he 

 in one direct line, and in the comparatively open ground 

 along the embankment of the lake ; these, however, form 

 but a hmited portion of the ruins existing at Topare ; the 

 jungle for a considerable distance around is filled with 

 similar remains, mounds of brickwork, carved stones, 

 broken statues, fallen columns, inscribed slabs, and the 

 walls and foundations of overthrown buildino-s. No- 

 thing so lofty as the great dagobas, or so grand as the 



^ JlciJuiiCdttso, ch. Ixxvii. 

 Q a 3 



