ELALA AXD DUTUGAIMUNU. 355 



little impeded in their social progress by the forty- *- c - 

 four years' residence of the Malabars at Anarajapoora. 

 Although the petty kings of Eohuna and Maya sub- 

 mitted to pay tribute to Elala, his personal rule did not 

 extend south of the Mahawelli-ganga l , and whilst the 

 strangers in the north of the island were plundering 

 the temples of Buddha, the feudal chiefs in the south 

 and west were emulating the munificence of Tissa in the 

 number' of wiharas which they constructed. 



Eager to conciliate his subjects by a similar display 

 of regard for religion, Dutugaimunu signalised his victory 

 and restoration by commencing the erection of the Euan- 

 welle dagoba, the most stupendous as well as the most 

 venerated of those at Anarajapoora, as it enclosed a more 

 imposing assemblage of relics than were ever enshrined 

 in any other in Ceylon. 



The mass of the population was liable to render 

 compulsory labour to the crown ; but wisely reflecting 

 that it was aot only derogatory to the sacredness of the 

 object, but impolitic to exact any avoidable sacrifices 

 from a people so recently suffering from internal warfare, 

 Dutugaimunu came to the resolution of employing hired 

 workmen only, and according to the Mahaicanso vast 

 numbers of the Yakkhos became converts to Buddhism 

 during the progress of the building 2 , which the king did 

 not live to complete. 



But the most remarkable of the edifices which he 

 erected at the capital was the Maha-Lowa-paya, a mon- 

 astery which obtained the name of the Brazen Palace 

 from the fact of its being roofed with plates of copper 

 It was elevated on sixteen hundred monolithic columns of 



1 Mahaivanso, ch. xxii., Rajavali, 

 p. 188, Bajaratnacari, p. 36. The 

 MaJwiwanso has a story of Dutugai- 

 munu, when a boy, illustrative of his 

 early impatience "to rid the island of 

 the Malabars.- His father seeing him 

 lying on his bed, with his hands and 

 feet gathered up, inquired, " My boy, 



A A 2 



why not stretch thyself at length on 

 thy bed ? " " Confined by the Da- 

 mUos," he replied, " beyond the river 

 on the one side, and by the unyield- 

 ing ocean on the other," how can I lie 

 with outstretched limbs ? " 



2 Mahawanso, ch. xxviii. xxix. xxx. 



