CiiAP. Iir.] CONQUEST OF CEYLOX BY WIJAYO. 



339 



307. 



The continual recurrence of records of similar con- b.c. 

 structions amongst the civil exploits of nearly every '^^^ 

 succeeding sovereign, together with the prodigious 

 number formed, alike attests the unimproved condition 

 of Ceylon, prior to the arrival of the Bengal invaders, 

 and the indolence or ignorance of the original inhabitants, 

 as contrasted with the energy and skill of then- first 

 conquerors. 



Upwards of two hundred years were spent in initiatory b.c. 

 measures for the organisation of the new state. 

 Colonists from the continent of India Avere encourao'ed 

 by the facihties held out to settlers, and carriage 

 roads were formed in the vicinity of the towns. ^ 

 Village communities were duly organised, gardens 

 were planted, flowers and fruit-bearing trees introduced'^, 

 and the production of food secured by the construction 

 of canals^, and pubhc works for irrigation. Moreover, 

 the kings and petty princes attested the interest which 

 they felt in the promotion of agriculture, by giving 

 personal attention to the formation of tanks and to the 

 labours of cultivation.* 



Meantime, the effects of Gotama's early visits had been 

 obhterated, and the sacred trees which he planted were 

 dead; and although the bulk of the settlers had come 

 from countries where Buddhism was the dominant faith, 

 no measures appear to have been taken by the im- 

 migrants to revive or extend it throughout Ceylon. 

 Wijayo was, in all probabihty, a Brahman, but so in- 



^ 3fahawanso, ch. xiv. xy. xvi. 



2 Mahawanso, ch. xi. p. (50 (3G7 

 B.C.), ch. xxxiv. p. 211 (B.C. 20), 

 ch. XXXV. p. 215 (a.d. 20). Raja- 

 ratnacari, ch. ii. p. 29. RaJavaU, p. 

 185, 227. 



^ Mahmcanso, ch. xxxiv. p. 210 

 (B.C. 42), ch. XXXV. p. 221, 222 

 (a.d. 275), cli. xxxvii. p. 238. Rajn- 

 ratnacari, ch. ii. p. 49, and Raiavali, 

 p.223,&c. ^ ' 



* llahaicanso, ch. x. p. 01, xxii. 

 p. 130, xxiv. p. 149. Rajai-ali, p. 185, 

 186. The Buddhist king's of Bunuah, 

 at the present day, in imitation of 

 the ancient sovereigns of Ceylon, 

 rest their highest chiinis to reno'v\Ti 

 on the nuniher of works for irrigation 

 which they have either formed or 

 repaired. See Yuh's Narrative of 

 the British mission to Ava in 1855. 

 p. lOG. 



z 2 



