390 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [PART III. 



A.D. the fugitive inhabitants to Anarajapoora ; degraded the 

 ' nobles who had intermarried with the Malabars, and 

 vigorously addressed himself to repair the sacred edifices 

 and to restore fertility to the lands which had been neg- 

 lected during their hostile occupation by the strangers. 

 He applied the jewels from his head-dress to replace the 

 gems of which the statue of Buddha had been despoiled, 

 the curled hair of the divine teacher being represented 

 by sapphires, and the lock on his forehead by threads of 

 gold. 



The family of the king consisted of two sons and a 

 daughter, the latter married to his nephew, who 

 " caused her to be flogged on the thighs with a whip 

 although she had committed no offence ; " on which the 

 king, in his indignation, ordered the mother of her 

 husband to be burned. His nephew and his eldest son 

 now conspired to dethrone him, and having made him a 

 prisoner, the latter " raised the chatta " (the white parasol 

 emblematic of royalty), and seized on the supreme power. 

 Pressed by his son to discover the depository of his 

 treasures, the captive king entreated to be taken to 

 Kalawapi 1 , under the pretence of pointing out the place 

 of their concealment, but in reality with a determination 

 to prepare for death, after having seen his early friend 

 Mahanamo, and bathed in the great tank which he 

 himself had constructed. The usurper complied, 

 and assigned for the journey a " carriage with broken 

 wheels," the charioteer of which shared his store of 

 " parched rice " with the fallen king. " Thus worldly 

 prosperity," "says Mahanamo, who lived to write the sad 

 story of the interview, " is like the glimmering of 

 lightning, and what reflecting man would devote himself 

 to its pursuit ! " The Eaja approached his friend and, 

 " from the manner these two persons discoursed, side 

 by side, mutually quenching the fire of their afflictions, 

 they appeared as if endowed with royal prosperity. 

 Having allowed him to eat, the thero (Mahanamo) in 



1 The great tank of Kalaweva. See Vol. I. p. 468 ; Vol. II. p. G02. 



