CHAP. II.] THE LANDING OF WIJAYO. 333 



of the army and the ships, and many other grand features are 

 equally coincident. Sougriva, it is asserted, is the prototype of 

 Agamemnon ; and his epithet in Sanskrit is identical with the 

 avaf avSpwv of the Greek. In like manner Ajax is a re-pro- 

 duction of Angada, Nestor of Djambavat, Achilles of Rama, 

 and Patroclus of the faithful Lakshman. Hanuman, the 

 Monkey chief, is the original of the cunning and agile Ulysses, 

 and one of Homer's biographies, ascribed to Herodotus, attributes 

 to him the composition of a poem, of which the heroes were 

 apes. 



In like manner, coincidences between the Mahawanso and 

 some passages in Homer have attracted attention ; amongst 

 others the landing of Wijayo in Ceylon as related in the 7th 

 chapter, presents so strong a similarity to Homer's account of the 

 landing of Ulysses in the island of Circe ; that it is difficult to 

 conceive that the author was entirely ignorant of the works of the 

 Father of Poetry. Wijayo and his followers are met by a 

 " devo," and one of the band presently discovers the princess 

 seated near a tank, and she being a magician imprisons him and 

 eventually the rest of his companions in a cave. The Mahawanso 

 then proceeds: "all these persons not returning, Wijayo proceeded 

 after them, and examined the delightful pond : he could perceive 

 no footsteps but those leading down into it, and there he saw the 

 princess. It occurred to him his retinue must surely have been seized 

 by her, and he exclaimed, ' Pray, why dost not thou produce my 

 attendants ? ' * Prince,' she replied, ' from attendants what 

 pleasure canst thou derive ? drink and bathe ere thou departest.' 

 Seizing her by the hair with his left hand, whilst with his right 

 he raised his sword, he exclaimed, ' Slave, deliver my followers or 

 die.' The Yakkhini terrified, implored for her life ; ' Spare me, 

 prince, and on thee will I bestow sovereignty, my love, and 

 my service.' He forced her to swear l , and when he again demanded 

 the liberation of his attendants she brought them forth, and dis- 

 tributed to them rice and other articles procured from the wrecked 

 ships of mariners, who had fallen a prey to her. A feast follows, 

 and Wijayo and the princess retire to pass the night in an apart- 

 ment which she causes to spring up at the foot of a tree, cur- 

 tained as with a wall and fragrant with incense." It is impos- 

 sible not to be struck with a curious resemblance between this 

 description and that in the 10th book of the Odyssey, where 

 Eurylochus, after landing, returns to Ulysses to recount the 



1 Ei iii] fioi T\(tlrie yf, &nr, ^iyav opKov ofioaaai 



Mijri fioi aiiTtji irjjfta K<IKOV ov\fv0'ifitv XXo. Odys. X. 1. 343. 



