80 



CEYLON 



tions, the same general character (see articles 

 BUDDHISM, BURMA, &c. ) ; and in Ceylon we 

 find the three classes represented by the dagoba, 

 or relic-shrine, the temple proper, and the vihara 

 or monastery. The labour bestowed on these edi- 

 fices in the early ages of the Singhalese monarchy 

 is truly astonishing. In the north of the island, 

 ruined cities buried for ages in the depths of the 

 forest have been discovered, revealing monuments 

 that in dimensions may almost compare with the 

 pyramids of Egypt. The most remarkable of 

 these vestiges of an early civilisation is Pollanar- 

 rua, the ancient capital of Ceylon ; and here is 

 the celebrated Gal-wihara, a rock-hewn temple. 



Entrance to the Temple of Dambula. 



The cave-temple of Dambula was built 100 B.C., 

 and is the most celebrated in the island. The 

 bell-shaped tapering dagobas of Ceylon, as relic- 

 shrines, answer to the pagodas of Burma which 

 they very much resemble and the topes of 

 Afghanistan. The ruins of the Jaytawanarama 

 dagoba still reach the height of 249 feet ; its 

 diameter is 360 feet ; and from base to pinnacle 



The Ambustella Dagoba, Mihintala. 



it is covered with trees of the largest size. The 

 Ambustella of Mihintala is another remarkable 

 dagoba. A very famous object in connection with 

 Buddhism in Ceylon is the sacred Bo-tree (q.v.) 

 of Anuradhapura. Amongst the antiquities of 

 Ceylon must be mentioned those wonderful monu- 

 ments of the former greatness of the Singhalese 



people the ruined tanks, with which scarcely any- 

 thing of a similar kind, whether ancient or modern, 

 can be compared. Thirty colossal reservoirs, 

 and about 700 smaller tanks, still exist, though 

 for the most part in ruins. The restoration of 

 these magnificent works of irrigation has been 

 for some time carried on by the government. In 

 February 1888 the largest and most important 

 tank in Ceylon, that of Kalawewa, was, after four 

 years of labour, completely restored. It was built 

 460 A.D. to supply Anuradhapura with water, but 

 has been ruinous for centuries. Now again it con- 

 tains an area of seven square miles of water 20 feet 

 deep, and supplies smaller tanks more than 50 

 miles distant. 



The history of Ceylon may be conveniently 

 divided into ancient and modern, and the latter 

 into the Portuguese, Dutch, and British periods. 

 The most famous of the Singhalese books is the 

 Mahdvansa, a metrical chronicle in the Pali lan- 

 guage, extending from the earliest period to 432 A. D. , 

 and continued to 1756. The story begins with the 

 invasion of Wijayo (543 B.C.), son of a petty Indian 

 sovereign in the country watered by the Ganges. 

 He subdued the Yakkhos, the aboriginal inhabit- 

 ants ; founded a dynasty that held undivided 

 sovereignty in Ceylon for nearly eight centuries ; 

 and bestowed on his kingdom his patrimonial name 

 of Sihala (whence Singhalese, Ceylon). In the 

 reign of King Devenipiatissa (307 B.C.), Buddhism 

 was established as the national religion, and his 

 reign was further remarkable by the planting of 

 the sacred Bo-tree, 288 B.C. ; and now commenced 

 the erection of those stupendous buildings already 

 noticed. The next important epoch in Singhalese 

 history is the usurpation of the Malabars (237 B.C.), 

 foreign mercenaries from the Coromandel coast, to 

 whom the native sovereigns had intrusted the 

 defence of the island. In 1071 A.D. a native 

 dynasty was re-established in the person of Wijayo 

 Bahu, which, for 100 years, delivered the country 

 from the dominion of the Malabars. Prakrama 

 Bahu commenced a reign in 1153, the most re- 

 nowned in the records of Ceylon. He devoted 

 himself to religion and agriculture, and besides 

 many notable religious edifices, he caused no less 

 than 1470 tanks to be constructed, subsequently 

 known as the ' seas of Prakrama. ' Thirty years 

 after the death of this monarch, the Malabars 

 landed with a large army, and speedily conquered 

 the whole island. In 1235 a native dynasty re- 

 covered a part of the kingdom. During the reign 

 of Dharma Prakrama IX. the Portuguese first 

 visited Ceylon ( 1505) ; but it was in 1517 that they 

 first formed a permanent settlement at Colombo 

 for trading purposes. Their encroachments soon 

 met with fierce resistance from the patriotic Kan- 

 dyans. 'Amity, commerce, and religion,' was the 

 Portuguese motto ; but their rule in Ceylon is a 

 sad story of rapacity, bigotry, and cruelty. They 

 were at last driven from the island by the Dutch 

 in 1658, after a contest of twenty years, when the 

 fanatical zeal of Roman Catholic sovereigns for 

 the propagation of the faith was replaced by the 

 earnest toil of the Dutch traders to intrench their 

 trading monopolies. But the purely military 

 tenure of the Dutch was destined to give place 

 to the colonisation of the British. It was during 

 the great European war succeeding the French 

 Revolution that the English gained possession of 

 the island. On the 1st August 1795 an expedition 

 under Colonel James Stuart landed at Trincomalee, 

 which was speedily captured, and finally the garri- 

 son of Colombo surrendered on the 16th February 

 1796. By this capitulation, all the Dutch settle- 

 ments and strongholds in Ceylon were ceded to the 

 English; though the island was not formally an- 

 nexed to the British crown till the Peace of Amiens, 



