18G RUINS OF ANARAJAPORE, 



tanks, some in utter riiln, others recently repaired. 

 They were mostly of enormous dimensions, — worthy 

 monuments of Ceylon's former greatness and civiliza- 

 tion, — and their number throughout the island, it is 

 said, can be counted by hundreds. Their restoration 

 by the Government is now rapidly progressing, 



The ruins of Anarajapore are perhaps the most 

 interesting and stupendous of any hitherto excavated, 

 and probably of the same period as those of Pollanarua, 

 commenced soon after the permanent establishment of 

 Buddhism in Ceylon, which occurred B.C. 307. The 

 largest and finest dagoba is that called " Thuparame," 

 which must have been a wonderful structure before it 

 fell into partial ruin. Its circular platform of a dia- 

 meter of fifty feet, and fourteen feet from the ground, 

 is reached by stone steps from two opposite sides, and 

 the wall supporting it on the outside is built of brick, 

 embellished with mouldings and pilasters. The plat- 

 form is paved with large granite slabs, upon which 

 there are four concentric rows of graceful octagonal stone 

 columns, all monoliths of different height, no doubt 

 originally for the purpose of supporting an umbrella- 

 shaped roof, forming part of the bell-tapering which 

 has always been a prominent feature in the architec- 

 ture of dagobas, resembling the pagodas of Burmah 

 and the topes of Afghanistan. These columns, whose 



