376 



THE SINGHALESE CHKONICLES. 



[PART III. 



B.C. 



62. 



B.C. Scriptures, contain the Pittakataya, and its .comment- 

 89 - aries the Atthakatha, and were compiled by a company 

 of priests in a cave to the north of Matelle, known as 

 the Alu-wihara. 1 This, and other caverns in which 

 the king had sought concealment during his adversity, 

 he caused to be converted into rock temples after his 

 restoration to power ; amongst the rest, Dambool, 

 the most remarkable of the cave temples of Ceylon 

 from its vastness, its elaborate ornaments, and the 

 romantic beauty of its situation and the scenery sur- 

 rounding it. 



The history of the Buddhist religion in Ceylon is 

 not, however, a tale of uniform prosperity. The 

 first of its domestic enemies was Naga, the grandson 

 of the pious Walagam-bahu, whom the native histo- 

 rians stigmatise by the prefix of " chora " or the " ma- 

 rauder." His story is thus briefly but emphatically told 

 in the Mahawanso : " During the reign of his father 

 Mahaclmla, Chora Naga wandered through the island 

 leading the life of a robber ; returning on the demise 

 of the king he assumed the monarchy ; and in the 

 places which had denied him an asylum during his 

 marauding career, he impiously destroyed the wiharas. 2 

 After a reign of twelve years he was poisoned by 

 his queen Anula, and regenerated in the Lokantariko 

 hell." 3 



His son, King Kuda Tissa, was also poisoned by his 

 mother, in order to clear her own path to the throne. 

 The Singhalese annals thus exhibit the unusual incident 

 of a queen enrolled amongst the monarchs of the great 

 dynasty a precedent which was followed in after times ; 



B.C. 



50. 



B.C. 



47. 



1 Rajaratnacari, cli.i. p. 43. Abou- 

 zeyd states that at that time public 

 writers were employed in recording 

 the traditions of the island : " Le 

 Royaume de Serendyb a une loi et 

 des docteurs qui s'assemblent de 

 temps en temps comme se re"unissent 

 chez nous les personnes qui recueil- 

 lent les traditions du prophete, et les 



Indiens se rendent aupres des docteurs, 

 et (Scrivent sous leur dieted, la vie de 

 leurs prophetes et les preceptes de 

 leur loi. REINATJD, Relation, $<?., 

 torn. i. p. 127. 



2 Malutwanso, ch. xxxui. ; Raja- 

 vali, p. 224 ; TTTRNOTTR'S Epitome, 

 p. 19 ; Rajaratnacari, ch. i. p. 43, 44. 



3 Mahawanso, ch. xxxiv. p. 209. 



