606 THE RUIXED CITIES. [Part X. 



Maliindo alighted when arriving in Ceylon to estabhsh 

 the rehgion of Buddha. It was to a spot near the sum- 

 mit that the king was allured, while following a devo 

 under the form of an elk, when he encountered the great 

 apostle and became his first convert ^ ; here it was that 

 Maliindo died^, and on this holy hill, his disciples, in 

 remembrance of his \irtues, bestowed the name of their 

 divine teacher.^ 



The mountain^ is one of a few insulated elevations, 

 which here rise suddenly from the plain ; its height is 

 upwards of a thousand feet, its slopes are densely 

 covered with wood, and its summit is crowned by huge 

 rocks of riven granite. Sigiri is a hill scarped into a for- 

 tress ; Miliintala, a mountain carved into a temple. The 

 ascent is on the northern side, and the southern face, 

 which is almost precipitous, commands a magnificent 

 view which reaches across the island from sea to sea. 

 A flight of steps, more than a thousand in number^, 

 partly hewn out of the rock, but generally formed of 

 slabs of granite fifteen feet wide, leads from the base to 

 the highest peak of the mountain. 



On a small plateau near the top, the dwelhngs of the 

 priests and the principal buildings are grouped round 

 the Ambustella dagoba, which marks the spot whereon 

 occurred the interview between Mahinda and his royal 

 convert Devenipiatissa. Unhke the generality of such 

 monuments, the Ambustella is built of stone instead 

 of brick ; on a terrace encircled by octagonal pillars, 



* 3Iahaimnso, cli. xiv. p. 79. 



^ B.C. 2(}(), Maliawanso, ch. xx. p. 

 124. 



3 It liad previously been called 

 "Missa" {Mdhawanso, ch. xii. p. 77), 

 and " Missako " {Ibid. ch. xvii. p. 10(5 ); 

 and after Maliindo had deposited 

 there the numerous relics of Buddha 

 sent to Ceylon by Asoca, luitil build- 

 ings coidd be erected to receive them 

 at the capital, he changed its name 

 to Chctujo (Ibid.) ; Chetiya-giri, be- 

 ing the capital of a kingdom, the 

 sovereign of which was a kinsman of 



his own (Ibid. ch. xiii. p. 76). It 

 was afterwards called " So/oma.sfane,'" 

 or the Place of the Sixteen Relics ; 

 and finally, Mihintala. Fa Hian, the 

 Chinese Buddhist; calls it Po-thi, — 

 Foe Koiie Ki, ch. xxxviii. p. .3.3.5, and 

 IIiorExTirsAXG, Mo-hi-in-to-lo. (See 

 I'eJeriua Ihiddhistcs, toni. ii. p. 140.) 



* The priests told me the steps 

 numbered eif/hteen hundred mid 

 forhj, and that they liad been formed 

 by King Maha Dailiya ^lana, who 

 reigned A. I). 8. — See TrrRNorR's 

 Epitome, p. 10. 



