CiiAr. VIL] 



THE FINE ARTS. 



4S1 



sacred. Dutugaimunii, according to the Mahawanso, 

 when about to build the Euanwelle dagoba, consulted a 

 mason as to the most suitable form, who, "iiUing a 

 golden dish ^vith water, and taking some in the palm of 

 his hand, caused a bubble in the form of a coral bead to 

 rise on the surface ; and he replied to the king, ' In this 

 form will I construct it. ' " ^ 



Two dagobas at Anarajapoora, the Abay-a-gui and 

 Jeyta-wana-rama, still retain their original outhne, — the 

 Euanwelle, from age and decay, has partly lost it, — and 

 the Thupa-ramaya is flattened on the top as if suddenly 

 brought to a close, and the Lanka-ramaya is shaped hke 

 a bell. 



Monasteries and Wiharas. — Accordins; to the annals 

 of Ceylon the construction of dwelhngs for the de- 

 votees of Buddha preceded the erection of temples for 

 his worship. Originally the anchorite selected a cave 

 or some shelter in the forest as his place of repose or 

 meditation.^ In the Rajavali Devenipiatissa is said to 

 have " caused caverns to be cut in the sohd rock at 

 the sacred place of Mihintala ; " ^ and these are the 

 earliest residences for the higher orders of the priest- 

 hood in Ceylon, of which a record has been preserved. 

 A less costly substitute was found in tlie erection of 

 detached huts of the rudest construction, in which 

 may be traced the embryo of the Buddhist mon- 

 astery ; and the king Walagambahu was the first, 

 B.C. 89, to gather these scattered residences into groups 

 and " build wiharas in unbroken ranges, conceiving 

 that thus theu' repau-s would be more easily ef- 

 fected. " ^ 



1 3Iahmoanso, cli. xxx. p. 175. 

 Tliis leo-end as to tlie origin of the 

 semicircular form of the dngoba is at 

 variance with the conjectiu-e of Major 

 Forbes, that these vast structures 

 were merely au advance on the 

 mounds of eai"tli similar to the barrow 



of rialyattes, which in the progi-ess of 

 the constructive arts, came to be con- 

 verted into brickworlv. — Eleven Years 

 in Cej/Ion, v. i. p. 222. 



2 Mahawanso, c. xxx. p. 174. 



3 Rdjavali, p. 184. 



* 3IahawansOj ch. xxxiii. p. 207. 



VOL. I. 



1 I 



