622 



MEDIAEVAL HISTOEY. 



[Part V. 



and medical drugs, and on three successive occasions 

 during the earher part of the Yuen dynasty, envoys were 

 empowered to negotiate the purchase of the sacred ahus- 

 dish of Buddlia.^ 



The beginning of the fifteenth centuiy was, however, 

 signahsed by an occurrence, the details of which throw 

 hght over the internal condition of the island, at a 

 period regarding which the native historians are more 

 than usually obscure. At this time the glory of Bud- 

 dhism had dechned, and the political ascendency of 

 the Tamils had enabled the Brahmans to taint the 

 national worship by an infusion of Hindu observances. 

 The Se-yih-ke foo-choo, or " Description of Western 

 Countries," says that in 1405 a.d. the reigning king, 

 A-lee-koo-nae-wurh (Wijaya-bahu VI.), a native of SoUee, 

 and "an adherent of the heterodox faith, so far from 

 honouring Buddha, tyrannised over his followers." ^ 

 He maltreated strangers resorting to the island, and 

 plundered their vessels, " so that the envoys from 

 other lands, in passing to and fro, were much annoyed 

 by him." ^ 



In that year a mission from China, sent with incense 



^ " In front of tlie image of Buddlia 

 there is a sacred bowl wliicli is neitlier 

 made of jade, nor copper, nor iron ; 

 it is of a purple coloiu" and glossy, 

 and when strnck it somids like glass. 

 At the commencement of the Yuen 

 djTiasty, three separate envoys were 

 sent to obtain it." — Taou-e che-leo, 

 ^^ Account of Island Foreigners," a.d. 

 1350, quoted in the '^ Foreiipi Geoc/ra- 

 ^j/i7/," b. xviii. p. 15. This statement of 

 the Chinese authorities corroborates 

 the story told by Maeco Polo, pos- 

 sibly from personal knowledge, that 

 '' the Grand Khan Kublai sent am- 

 bassadors to Ceylon with a request 

 that the king would yield to him pos- 

 session of ''the great ruby" in return 

 for the "value of a city." — {Travels, 

 ch. xix.) The MS. of 'Maeco Polo, 

 which contains the Latin version of 

 his Travels, is deposited in the Im- 



perial Library of Paris, and it_ is 

 remarkable that a passage in it, which 

 seems to be wanting in the Italian 

 and other MSS., confirms this ac- 

 count of the Chinese annalists, and 

 states that the alms-dish of Buddha 

 was at length yielded by the King of 

 Ceylon as a gift to Kublai Khan, and 

 carried with signal honour to China. 

 Marco Polo describes the scene as 

 something within his own know- 

 ledge : — " Quando autem magnus 

 Kaan scivit quod isti ambaxiatores 

 redibant cimi reliquis istis, et erant 

 prope terram ubi ipse tmic erat, scili- 

 cet in Cambalu (Pekin), fecit mitti 

 bandum quod omnes de terra obvia- 

 rent reliquis istis (quia credebat quod 

 essent reliquias de Adam) et istud 

 fuit A.D. 1284." 



^ B. xviii. p. 15. 



3 3Iiiu/-she, b. cccxxvi. p. 7. 



