Chap. V.] ELALA AND DUTUGAIMUNU. 355 



little impeded in their social progress by the forty- b.c. 

 four years' residence of the Malabars at Anarajapoora. ^*^^- 

 Altlioiigh the petty kings of Eoliuna and Maya sub- 

 mitted to pay tribute to Elala, his personal rule did not 

 extend south of the Maliawelli-ganga ^ and "whilst the 

 strangers in the north of the island were plundering 

 the temples of Buddha, the feudal chiefs in the south 

 and west were emulating: the munificence of Tissa in the 

 number of wiharas which they constructed. 



Eager to conciliate his subjects by a similar display 

 of regard for religion, Dutugaimunu signalised his victory 

 and restoration by commencing the erection of the Euan- 

 welle dagoba, the most stupendous as well as the most 

 venerated of those at Anarajapoora, as it enclosed a more 

 imposing assemblage of relics than were ever enshrined 

 in any other in Ceylon. 



The mass of the population was liable to render 

 compulsory labour to the crown ; but wisely reflecting 

 that it was not only derogatory to the sacredness of the 

 object, but impolitic to exact any avoidable sacrifices 

 from a people so recently suffering from internal warfare, 

 Dutugaimunu came to the resolution of employing hired 

 workmen only, and according to the Mahawanm vast 

 numbers of the Yakkhos became converts to Buddhisn^ 

 during the progress of the building ^, which the king did 

 not hve to complete. 



But the most remarkable of the edifices which ho 

 erected at the capital was the Malia-Lowa-paya, a mon- 

 astery which obtained the name of the Brazen Palace 

 from the fact of its being roofed with plates of that metal 

 It was elevated on sixteen hundred monohthic colun^ns of 



' MnJuncanso, eh. xxii., JRaJavali, 

 p. 188, Rnjaratnacart, p. 30. The 

 Maluiivanso lias a story of Diituoai- 

 niunii, when a boy, ilhistrative of his 

 early impatience to rid the island of 

 the Malabars. Tlis father seeing- him 

 lying on his bed, with his hands and 

 feet gathered np, inquired, " My boy, 



why not stretch thyself at length on 

 thy bed ? " " Confined by the Da- 

 inilos," he replied, ''beyond the river 

 on the one side, and by the unyield- 

 ing ocean on the other, how can I lie 

 with outstretched limbs ? " 



' Mahmoartso, ch. xxviii. xxix. xxx, 

 xxxi. 



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