364 



THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. 



[Part III. 



li.c. bestowed by royal piety, by private munificence, and 

 1*'^- by mortuary gifts, that ere many centuries had elapsed 

 the temples of Ceylon absorbed a large proportion of 

 the landed property of the kingdom, and their pos- 

 sessions were not only exempted from taxation, but 

 accompanied by a right to the compulsory labour of the 

 temple tenants ^ 



As tlie esiates so made over to religious uses lay for 

 the most part in waste districts, the quantity of land 

 which was thus brought under cultivation necessarily 

 involved lartje extensions of the means of irrisfation. 

 To supply these, reservoirs were formed on such a scale 

 as to justify the term " consecrated lakes," by which they 

 are described in the Singhalese annals.^ 



Where the circumstances of the ground permitted, 

 their formation was effected by drawing an embankment 

 across the embouchure of a valley so as to arrest and 

 retain the waters by which it was traversed, and so vast 

 were the dimensions of some of these gigantic tanks that 

 many yet in existence still cover an area of from fifteen 

 to twenty miles in circinnference. The ruins of that 

 at Kalaweva, to the north-west of Dambool, show that 

 its original circuit could not have been less than 

 forty miles, its retaining bund being upwards of twelve 

 miles long. The spill-water of stone, which remahis to 

 the present time, is " perhaps one of the most stupend- 

 '^ ous monuments of misapplied human labour in the 

 island." ^ 



The number of these stupendous works, which were 

 formed by the early sovereigns of Ceylon, almost ex- 

 ceeds credibihty. Kings are named m the native annals, 



1 Tlie Rajnratnacari meutions an 

 instance, a.d. 02, of eight tliousand 

 rice fields bestowed in one gi-ant, and 

 similar munificence is recorded in 

 numerous instances prior, to a.d. 204. 

 — Rajaratnncari, p. 57, 59, G4, 74, 11.3, 

 &c. MaJtawanso, ch. xxxv. p. 223, 

 224 5 ch. xxxvi. p. 233. 



^ Rajaratnacari, ch. ii. p. 37 ; Raja- 

 vali, p. 237. 



^ TuRNOUR, 3Iahawanso, p. 12. 

 The tank of Kalaweva was formed 

 by Dhatu Sena, a.d. 459. — Maha- 

 watisOf ch. xxxviii. p. 257. 



I 



