364 



THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. 



[PART III. 



B.C. bestowed by royal piety, by private munificence, and 

 104. by mortuary 'gifts, that ere many centuries had elapsed 

 the temples of Ceylon absorbed a large proportion of 

 the landed property of the kingdom, and their pos- 

 sessions were not only exempted from taxation, but 

 accompanied by a right to the compulsory labour of the 

 temple tenants. 1 



As the estates so made over to religious uses lay for 

 the most part in waste districts, the quantity of land to be 

 brought under cultivation necessarily involved large ex- 

 tensions of the means of irrigation. To supply these, 

 reservoirs were formed on such a scale as to justify the 

 term " consecrated lakes," by which they are described 

 in the Singhalese annals. 2 



Where the circumstances of the ground permitted, 

 their formation was effected by drawing an embankment 

 across the embouchure of a valley so as to arrest and 

 retain the waters by which it was traversed, and so vast 

 were the dimensions of some of these gigantic tanks that 

 many yet in existence still cover an area of from fifteen 

 to twenty miles in circumference. The ruins of that 

 at Kalaweva, to the north-west of Dambool, show that 

 its original circuit could not have been less than 

 forty miles, its retaining bund being upwards of twelve 

 miles long. The spill-water of stone, which remains to 

 the present time, is " perhaps one of the most stupend-. 

 ous monuments of misapplied human labour in the 

 island." 3 



The number of these stupendous works, which were 

 formed by the early sovereigns of Ceylon, almost ex- 

 ceeds credibility. Kings are named in the native annals, 



1 The Rajaratnacari mentions an 

 instance, A.D. 62, of eight thousand 

 rice fields bestowed in one grant, and 

 similar munificence is recorded in 

 numerous instances prior to A.D. 204. 

 Rajaratnacari, p. 57, 59, 64, 74, 1 13, 

 c. Mahmcanso, ch. xxxv. p. 223, 

 224 ; ch. xxxvi. p. 233. 



2 Rajaratnacari, ch. ii. p. 37 ; Raja- 

 vali, p.' 237. 



3 TURNOFR, MaJuncanso, p. 12. 

 The tank of Kalaweva was formed 

 by Dhatu Sena, A.D. 459. llahn- 

 wanso, ch. xxxviii. p. 257. 



