335 



CHAP. m. 



THE CONQUEST OF CEYLON BY WIJAYO, B.C. 543, AND THE 

 ESTABLISHMENT OF BUDDHISM, B.C. 307. 



The sacred historians of Ceylon affect to believe in the b.c. 

 assertion of some mysterious connection between the 543. 

 landing of Wijayo, and the conversion of Ceylon to Bud- 

 dhism, one hundred and fifty years afterwards ; and 

 imply that the first event was but a pre-ordained precur- 

 sor of the second.^ The Singhalese narrative, however, 

 admits that Wijayo w^as but a " lawless adventurer," 

 who being expelled from his own country, was refused 

 a settlement on the coast of India before he attempted 

 Ceylon, wliich had previously attracted the attent'.on of 

 other adventurers. This story is in no way inconsis- 

 tent with that told by the Chinese Buddhists, who 

 visited the island in the fifth and seventh centuries. 

 Fa Hian states, that even before the advent of Buddha, 

 Ceylon was the resort of merchants, who repaired there 

 to exchange their commodities for gems, which the 

 " demons " and " serpents," who never appeared in 

 person, deposited on the shore, with a specified value 

 attached to each, and in lieu of them the strangers y 

 substituted certain indicated articles, and took their 

 departure.^ 



HIOUEN-THS.^:^'G, at a later period, disposes of the 

 fables of Wijayo's descent from a hon^, and of his 



^ 3Iahawanso, ch. vii. 



2 Fa IIian, Fue-Koue-ki, cli. 

 xxxviii. See a notice of this storv 

 of Fa Hian, as it applies to the still 

 existing habits of the Veddalis, 

 Vol. I. Pt. III. ch. vii. 



^ The legend of Wijayo's descent 

 from a lion, probably originated from 

 his father being the sou of an outlaw 

 named " Sinffha." 



