382 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [Part III. 



A.D. whence it obtained its designation of the Eaja-ratta or 

 ^^2- country of the kings. Here the labour bestowed on 

 irrigation had made the food of tlie popuhxtion abundant, 

 and the sums expended on the adornment of the city, the 

 multitude of its sacred structures, the splendour of its 

 buildings, and the beauty of its lakes and gardens, ren- 

 dered it no inappropriate representative of the wealth 

 and fertihty of the kingdom. 



Anarajapoora had from time immemorial been a 

 venerated locahty in the eyes of the Buddhists ; it had 

 been honoured by the visit of Buddha in person, and 

 it was already a place of importance when Wijayo 

 effected his landing in the fifth century before the 

 Christian era. It became the capital a century after, 

 and the King Pandukabhaya, who formed the ornamen- 

 tal lake which adjoined it, and planted gardens and parks 

 for pubhc festivities, built gates and four suburbs to the 

 city ; set apart ground for a pubhc cemetery, and erected 

 a gilded hall of audience, and a palace for his own 

 residence. 



The Mahawanso describes with particularity the offices 

 of the Naggaraguttiko, who was the chief of the city guard, 

 and the organisation of the low caste Chandalas, who 

 were entrusted with the cleansing of the capital and 

 the removal of the dead for interment. For these and 

 for the royal huntsmen villages were constructed in the 

 environs, mingled with which were dwellings for the sub- 

 jugated native tribes, and temples for the worship of 

 foreign devotees.^ 



Seventy years later, when Mahindo arrived in Ceylon, 

 the details of his reception disclose the increased mag- 

 nificence of the capital, the richness of the royal parks, 

 and the extent of the state estabhshments ; and describe 

 the chariots in which the king di^ove to Mihintala to 

 welcome his exalted guest.^ 



Yet these were but prehminary to the grander con- 



I Mahmvanso, cli. x. p. 66. "^ Ihid., ch. xiv., xv., 



XX. 



