CHAP. X.] THE DOMINATION OF THE MALADARS. 



399 



and organised a naval force for the protection of the A - D - 

 coasts l of the island. 



But his vigorous policy produced no permanent 

 effect ; his son Mogallana, after the murder of his father 

 and the usurpation of Kasyapa, fled for refuge to the 

 coast of India, and subsequently recovered possession of 

 the throne, tyy the aid of a force collected there.' 2 In 

 the succession of assassinations, conspiracies, and civil 

 wars which distracted the kingdom in the sixth and 

 seventh centuries, during the struggles of the rival 

 branches of the royal house, each claimant, in his adver- 

 sity, betook himself to the Indian continent, and Malabar 

 mercenaries from Pandya and Chola enrolled themselves 

 indifferently under any leader, and deposed or restored 

 kings at their pleasure. 3 



The Rajavali, in a single passage enumerates fourteen 

 sovereigns, each of whom was murdered by his successor 

 between A.D. 523 and A.D. 648. During this period of 

 violence and anarchy, peaceful industry was suspended, 

 and extensive emigrations took place to Bahar and Orissa, 

 Buddhism, however, was still predominant, and protection 

 was accorded to its professors. Hiouen Thsang, a 

 Chinese traveller, who visited India between 629 A.D. and 

 645 4 , encountered many numbers of these exiles, who in- 

 formed him that they fled from civil commotions in 

 Ceylon, in which religion had undergone persecution, the 

 king lost his life, cultivation had been interrupted, and 

 the island wasted by famine. This account of the Chinese 

 voyager accords accurately with the events detailed in the 

 Singhalese annals, in which it is stated that Sanghatissa 

 was deposed and murdered, A.D. 633, by Seneriwat, 



A.D. 



523. 



A. P. 



640. 



1 MahttU'ansn, ch. xxxviii. p. 256. 

 and xxxix. TTJRNOITR^S MS., Trans. 



2 TuRXorR's Epitome, p. 29; Ra- 

 favali, p. 244. 



3 TFRNOUR'S Epitome, p. 31. Ra~ 

 javali, p. 247. 



4 Histoire de In Vie de Ilivucn 

 Thsa-ng, et dc scs Voyages dans flnde 

 depiris Fan 629 jusqu'en 643. Par 

 HOEI-LI et YEX-THSASG, $c. Tra- 

 duite du Chinois par STAXISLAS 

 , Paris, 1853. 



