Chap. VI.] INFLUENCE OF BUDDHISM ON CIVILISATION. 363 



multitudes wlio were tempted to withdraw from the 

 world and its pursuits, in order to devote themselves to 

 meditation and the diffusion of Buddhism, that the 

 difficidty became practical of maintaining them by per- 

 sonal gifts, and the alternative suggested itself of setting 

 apart lands for their support. This innovation was 

 first resorted to during an interregnum. The Sin- 

 ghalese king Walagam Bahu, being expelled from his 

 capital by a Malabar usurpation B.C. 104, was unable to 

 continue the accustomed regal bounty to the priesthood ; 

 and dedicated certain lands while in exile in Eohuna, for 

 the support of a fraternity " who had sheltered him 

 there." ^ The precedent thus established, was speedily 

 seized upon and extended ; lands were everywhere set 

 apart for the repair of the sacred edifices^, and eventually, 

 about the beginning of the Christian era, the priesthood 

 acquired such an increase of influence as sufficed to 

 convert their precarious eleemosynary dependency into 

 a permanent territorial endowment ; and the practice 

 became universal of conveying estates in mortmain on 

 the construction of a wihara or the dedication of a 

 temple.^ 



The corporate character of the recipients served to 

 neutralise the obhgations by which they were severally 

 bound ; the vow of poverty, though compulsory on an 

 individual priest, ceased to be binding on the commu- 

 nity of which he was a member ; and whilst, on his own 

 behalf, he was constrained to abjure the possession of 

 property, even to the extent of one superfluous cloth, 

 the wihara to which he was attached, in addition to its 

 ecclesiastical buildings, and its offerings in gems and 

 gold, was held competent to become the proprietor of 

 broad and fertile lands.^ These were so bountifully 



B.C. 



119. 



B.C. 



lOi. 



* Mahawanso, ch. xxxiii. p. 20.3. 

 Previous to this date a kiug of Eo- 

 huna, during the usurpation of Elala, 

 B.C. 205, had appropriated lands near 

 Kalany, for the repairs of the dagolia. 

 — Rajaratnacai-i, p. 37. 



2 In the reign of Batiya Tissa, B.C. 

 20. 3Iahawanso, ch. xxxiv. p. 212 ; 

 Rajaratnacari, p. 51. 



^ Mahawanso, ch. xxxiv. p. 214. 



* Hardy's Eastern Mmachism, ch. 

 viii. p, 68. 



