Chap. V.] 



DUTUGAIMUNU. 



357 



biiikling must have been taken down in a.d. 240, as tlie 

 king who was then reigning caused " the pillars of the 

 Lowa Pasado to be arranged in a different form." 



The edifice erected on its site was pulled to the ground 

 by the apostate Maha Sen, a.d. 301^; but penitently 

 reconstructed by him on liis recantation of his errors. 

 Its last recorded restoration took place in the reign of 

 Prakrama-bahu, towards the close of the twelfth century, 

 when " the king rebuilt the Lowa-Maha-paya, and raised 

 up the 1600 pillars of rock." 



TJius exposed to spohation by its splendour, and 

 obnoxious to infidel invaders from the rehgious uses to 

 which it was dedicated, it was subjected to violence on 

 every commotion, whether civil or external, which dis- 

 tm^bed the repose of tlie capital ; and at the present 

 day, no traces of it remain except the indestructible 

 monoliths on which it stood. A " world of stone 



B.C. 



161. 



RUINS OF THE BRAZEN PALACE. 



columns," to use the cpiaint expression of Knox, still 

 marks the site of the Brazen Palace of Dutugaimunu, 



Mahawanso, cli. xxxvii. 



A ,\ 3 



