CHAP. VI.] INFLUENCE OF BUDDHISM ON CIVILISATION. 361 



rare instances in which a reign was marked by some B .c. 

 occurrence, such as an invasion and repulse of the 137 - 

 Malabars, there is hardly a sovereign of the "Solar 

 race " whose name is associated with a higher achieve- 

 ment than the erection of a dagoba or the formation of 

 a tank, nor one whose story is enlivened by an event 

 more exciting than the murder through which he 

 mounted the throne or the conspiracy by which he was 

 driven from it. 1 



One source of royal contention arose on the death of 

 Dutugaimunu ; his son, having forfeited his birthright 

 by an alliance with a wife of lower caste, was set aside 

 from the succession; Saidaitissa, a brother of the de- 

 ceased king, being raised to the throne in his stead. 

 The priests, on the death of Saidaitissa, B.C. 119, has- 

 tened to proclaim his youngest son Thullatthanaka 2 , to 

 the prejudice of his elder brother Laiminitissa, but the 

 latter established his just claim by the sword, and hence 



and reigned for six years (Mahaw. ch. 

 xxxv. p. 218). A carpenter, and a 

 earner of fire-wood, were each ac- 

 cepted in succession as sovereigns, 

 A.D. 47; whilst the "great dynasty" 

 was still in the plenitude of its po- 

 pularity. The mystery is perhaps 

 referable to the dominant necessity 

 of securing tranquillity at any cost, 

 in the state of society where the means 

 of cultivation were directly dependent 

 on the village organisation, and 

 famine and desolation would have 

 been the instant and inevitable con- 

 sequences of any commotions which 

 interfered with the conservancy and 

 repair of the tanks and means of ir- 

 rigation, and the prompt application 

 of labour to the raising and saving of 

 produce at the instant when the fall 

 of the rains or the ripening of the 

 crops demanded its employment with 

 the utmost vigour. 



1 In theory the Singhalese monar- 

 chy was elective in the descendants 

 of the Solar race : in practice, primo- 

 geniture had a preference, and the 

 crown was either hereditary or be- 



came the prize of those who claimed 

 to be of royal lineage. On reviewing 

 the succession of kings from B.C. 307 

 to A.D. 1815, thirty-nine eldest sons 

 (or nearly one fourth) succeeded to 

 their fathers : and twenty-nine kings 

 (or more than one fifth) were suc- 

 ceeded by brothers. Fifteen reigned 

 for a period less than one year, and 

 thirty for more than one year, and less 

 than four. Of the Singhalese kings 

 who died by violence, twenty-two 

 were murdered by their successors ; 

 six were killed by other individuals ; 

 thirteen fell in feuds and war, and 

 four committed suicide ; eleven were 

 dethroned, and their subsequent fate 

 is unknown. Not more than two- 

 thirds of the Singhalese kings re- 

 tained sovereign authority to their 

 decease, or reached the funeral pile 

 without a violent death. FORBES' 

 Eleven Years in Ceylon, vol. i. .ch. iv. 

 p. 80, 97; JOINVILLE, Religion and 

 3[<tnncrx off he People of Ceylon ; Asiat. 

 Res. vol. vii. p. 423. See also Ma- 

 hatcanso, ch. xxiii. p. 201. 



2 Mahmcanso, ch. xxxiii. p. 201. 



