CHAP. IX.] KINGS OF THE " LOWER DYNASTY." 389 



the tooth was borne along the streets of Anarajapoora 

 amidst the veneration of the multitude. 1 



One of the most striking events in this period of 

 Singhalese history was the murder of the king, Dhatu 

 Sena, A.D. 459, by his son, who seized the throne under 

 the title of Kasyapa I. The story of this outrage, 

 which is highly illustrative of the superstition and 

 cruelty of the age, is told with much feeling in the 

 Mahawanso ; tli author of which, Mahanamo, was the 

 uncle of the outraged king, Dhatu Sena was a 

 descendant of the royal line, whose family were living 

 in retirement during the usurpation of the Malabars, 

 A.D. 434 to 459. As a youth he had embraced the 

 priesthood, and his future eminence was foretold by an 

 omen. " On a certain day, w r hen chaunting at the foot 

 of a tree, when a shower of rain fell, a cobra de capello 

 encircled him with its folds and covered his book with 

 its hood." 2 He was educated by his uncle, Mahanamo, 

 and in process of time, surrounding himself with ad- 

 herents, he successfully attacked the Malabars, defeated 

 two of their chiefs in succession, put three others to 

 death, recovered the native sovereignty of Ceylon, " and 

 the religion which had been set aside by the foreigners, 

 he restored to its former ascendancy." He recalled 



1 Mahawanso, ch. xxxvii. p. 241, in person to Madura to negotiate its 

 249. After the funeral rites of Go- surrender, and brought it back to 

 tama Buddha had been performed ! Pollanarrua. Its subsequent adven- 

 at Kusinara, B.C. 543, his " left ca- tures and its final destruction by the 

 nine tooth" was earned to Danta- i Portuguese, as recorded by DE COTTTO 

 pura, the capital of Kaliiiga, where and others, -noil be found in a subse- 

 it was preserved for 800 years. The quent passage, see Vol. II. P. vii. ch.v. 

 King of Kalinga, in the reign of : The Singhalese maintain that the 

 Maha-Sen, being on the point of en- ; Dalada, still treasured in its strong 

 gaging in a doubtful conflict, directed, ; tower at Kandy, is the genuine relic, 

 in the event of defeat, that the sacred which was preserved from the Portu- 

 relic should be conveyed to Ceylon, guese spoilers by secreting it at Del- 

 Avhither it was accordingly taken as gamoa in Saflragam. TTJENOHR'S 

 described. (RajavaK, p. 240.) Be- Account of the Tooth Relic of Ceylon : 

 tween A.D. 1303 and 1315 the tooth Journal of the Asiatic Society of 

 was carried back to Southern India BcngaJ, 1837, vol. vi. p. 2, p. 856. 

 by the leader of an army, who invaded 2 This is a frequent emblematic 

 Ceylon and sacked Yapahoo, which episode in connection with the heroes 

 was then the capital. The succeed- of Hindu history. Asiat. Researches, 

 ing monarch, Prnkrama III., went , vol. xv. p. 275. " 

 ~c c 3 



