ClIAP. I.] 



THE MAIIAW.YJs'SO. 



S17 



enabled to prepare an Epitome of the History of Ceylon, 

 in wliicli he has exhibited the succession and genealogy 

 of one hundred and sixty-five kings, who filled the 

 throne during 2341 years, extending from the in- 

 vasion of the island from Bengal, by Wijayo, in tlie 

 year B.C. 543 to its conquest by the British in 1798. 

 In this work, after infinite labour, he has succeeded 

 in condensing the events of each reign, commemorat- 

 ing the founders of the chief cities, and noting the 

 erection of the great temples and Buddhist monuments, 

 and the construction of some of those gigantic reservoks 

 and works for irrigation, which, though in ruins, arrest 

 the traveller in astonishment at their stupendous di- 

 mensions. He thus effectually demonstrated the mis- 

 conceptions of those who previously believed the litera- 

 ture of Ceylon to be destitute of historic materials.' 



Besides evidence of a less definite character, there is 

 one remarkable coincidence which affords grounds for 

 confidence in the faithfulness of the purely historic 

 portion of the Singhalese chronicles ; due allowance 

 being made for that exaggeration of style which is 

 apparently inseparable from oriental recital. The cir- 

 cumstance alluded to is the mention in the Mahaivanso 

 of the Chandragupta^, so often alluded to by the Sanskrit 

 writers, who, as Sir WiUiam Jones was the first to 

 discover, is identical with Sandracottus or Sandra- 

 coptus, the King of the Prasii, to whose court, on the 

 banks of the Ganges, Megasthenes was accredited as an 

 ambassador from Seleucus Nicator, about 323 years be- 



' By the help of TuiiNOirR's trans- 

 lation of the 3Iahawanso and the 

 versions of the Rajaratnacari and 

 Rajavali, published by Upliam, two 

 authors have since expanded the 

 JEpitome of the former into something- 

 like a connected naiTative, and those 

 who wish to pursue the investigation 

 of the early story of the island, will 

 find facilities in the History of Cei/lon, 

 published by Knighton in 1845, 

 and in the first volimie of Ceylon 



and its Dependencies, by Pridham, 

 London, 1849. To facilitate re- 

 ference I have appended a Chrono- 

 lof/ical List of Sinyhalese Sovereiyns, 

 compiled from the historical epitome 

 of Turnoiu", See Note B. at the end 

 of this chapter. 



^ The era and identity of Sandra- 

 cottus and Chandragupta have been 

 accurately traced in Max Mtjlleii's 

 History of Sanskrit Literature, p. 298,- 

 &c. 



