CHAP. V.] 



DUTUGAIMUNU. 



357 



building must have been taken down in A.D. 240, as the B - c - 

 king who was then reigning caused "the pillars of the 

 Lowa Pasado to be arranged in a different form." 



The edifice erected on its site was pulled to the ground 

 by the apostate Maha-Sen, A.D. 301 ] ; but penitently 

 reconstructed by him on his recantation of his errors. 

 Its last recorded restoration took place in the reign of 

 Prakrama-bahu-^towards the close of the twelfth century, 

 when " the king rebuilt the Lowa-Maha-paya, and raised 

 up the 1600 pillars of rock." 



Thus exposed to spoliation by its splendour, and ob- 

 noxious to infidel invaders from the religious uses to which 

 it was dedicated, the palace was subjected to violence 

 on every commotion, whether civil or external, which 

 disturbed the repose of the capital ; and at the pre- 

 sent day, no traces of it remain except the indestruc- 

 tible monoliths on which it stood. A " world of stone 



, 



RUINS OF THE BRAZEN PALACE. 



columns," to use the quaint expression of Knox, still 

 marks the site of the Brazen Palace of Dutugaimunu, 



Mahawanso. ch. xxxvii. 



