Chap. TI.] 



MIHINTAT^. 



G05 



the forest, whose existence had been previously unknown 

 to Europeans. He led us to the sjjot, and our sur])rise 

 was extreme on beholding a figin-e of Buddha, nearly 

 fifty feet in height, carved from the face of a granite chff, 

 and so detached that only two slender ties had been left 

 unhewn ot the back to support the colossus by maintain- 

 ing its attachment with living stone. 



The scene was most remarkable. As usual, ad- 

 vantage had been taken of a group of enormous rocks, 

 to form temples and panselas in the fissin-es between, 

 and prodigious laboiu: had been expended in hewing 

 steps, hollowing niches, and excavating baths. There 

 had formerly been a pandal to shelter the statue, and 

 holes still remain in the rock which had served for 

 the insertion of the columns that supported it. Tlie 

 place was deserted and silent. Close by dwelt one 

 solitaiy priest, with no attendant save a neopliyte, his 

 pupil ; he told us that the statue had been made by 

 order of Prakrama Bahu \ and that the temple in its 

 prosperity was called Ncpgampaha Estane, but since 

 it fell into ruins, it has been known as the Aukana 

 Wihara. 



Turning northward from the temple, a long ride 

 through the forest brought us to the foot of the sacred 

 hill of Mihintala, which overlooks the ancient capital 

 Anarajapoora. 



Mihintala is undoubtedly the most ancient scene of 

 mountain worsliip in Ceylon. Venerated by the Sin- 

 ghalese ere Gotama impressed his foot-print on the summit 

 of Adam's Peak ^, its liigliest point was known in the 

 sacred legends as the ChfF of Ambatthalo, on which 



^ At Sessaeroowe Kando Wihara, 

 on the southern verge of tlie Seven 

 Corles, there is a statue which, in 

 size, attitude, and other particulars, 

 bears a close resemblance to that 

 described above. Some of equally 

 colossal dimensions are described by 

 ]iUCIL\N.\N, ill his Acvnntd (if Ml/surt; 



one in the open air at a .Tain temple 

 in Canara, and one of (Totania Kaja, 

 at C'arculla, 38 feet high. \ol "iii. 

 p. «;5, 410. 



- 3Iahavianso, ch. xiii. p. 77 ; 

 FoitUKs" Eleveti Years iti Ce)/lon, 

 \-ol. i. p. .384. 



