CliAP. II.] 



CARVED STOXE AT AXARAJAPOORA. 



619 



the conviction that tlie tree which they encompass has 

 been watched over with abiding sohcitude and regarded 

 Avitli an excess of veneration that could never attach to 

 an object of dubious authenticity. 



The marvellous tree is situated in an enclosure ap- 

 proached through the porch of the temple, the priests of 

 Avhich are cliarged with its presentation. The principal 

 buikhng is modern and plain, but amongst the materials 

 of which it is built are some antique carvings of singular 

 excellence. The most remarkable of these is a semicir- 



CARVED STONE AT ANAEIAJAPOOR' 



cular slab, which now forms a doorstep to the principal 

 entrance, and surpasses, both in the design and execution 

 of the devices by which it is decorated, any similar relic 

 that I have seen in Ceylon. 



Its ornaments consist of concentric fillets, the three 

 innermost of which represent the lotus in its various 

 stages of bud, leaf, and flower ; that in the centre is a 

 row of the liaiiza or sacred goose\ and on the outer one 

 is a procession of the horse, the elephant, the lion, and 

 Brahmanee ox. 



In the vicinity of the Bo-tree is the spot i-endei'ed 

 memorable by the death-struggle and tomb of the cliival- 



^ See ante, Vol. T. Pt. iv. eh. vii. 



