Chap. VIII.] EXTINCTION OF THE " GEEAT DYNASTY," 377 



Queen Siwalli having reigned in the succeeding cen- b.c. 

 tury, A.D. 37, Queen Lila-wati, in a.d. 1197, and Queen ^7. 

 Kalyana-wati in a.d. 1202. From the excessive vileness 

 of her character, the first of these Singhalese women who 

 attained to the honours of sovereignty is denounced 

 in the Mahawanso as " the infamous Anuhi." In the 

 enormity of her crimes and debauchery slie was the 

 Messahna of Ceylon; — she raised to the throne a porter 

 of the palace with whom she cohabited, descending 

 herself to the subordinate rank of Queen Consort, and 

 poisoned him to promote a carpenter in his stead. A 

 carrier of firewood, a Brahman, and numerous other 

 paramours followed in rapid succession, and shared a 

 similar fate, till the kingdom was at last reheved from 

 the opprobrium by a son of Prince Tissa, who put the 

 murderess to death, and restored the royal hue in his 

 own person. His successors for more than two centuries ^ ^ 

 were a race of pious faineants^ undistinguished by any 41 

 qualities, and remembered only by thek fanatical subser- 

 viency to the priesthood. 



Buddhism, reheved from the fury of impiety, was 

 next imperilled by the danger of schism. Even before 

 the funeral obsequies of Buddha, schism had dis- 

 played itself in Maghadha, and two centuries had not 

 elapsed from his death till it had manifested itself on 

 no less than seventeen occasions, and in each instance 

 it was with diiiiculty checked by councils in which the 

 priesthood settled the faith in relation to the points 

 which gave rise to dispute ; but not before the actual 

 occurrence of secessions from the orthodox church.^ 

 The earliest differences were on questions of disciphne 

 amongst the colleges and fraternities at Anarajapoora ; 209 

 but in the reign of Wairatissa, a.d. 209, a formidable 

 controversy arose, impugning the doctrines of Buddhism, 

 and threatening for a time to rend in sunder the sacred 

 imity of the church.^ 



A.D. 



* Mahawanso, cb. v. p. 21. ^ Hid., cli. xxxiii. 



