400 



THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. 



[PART III. 



A.D. 



640. 



his minister, who, amidst the horrors of a general famine, 

 was put to death by the people of Eohuna, and a civil 

 war ensued ; one result of which was the defeat of the 

 Malabar mercenaries and their distribution as slaves to the 

 temples. Hiouen Thsang relates the particulars of his 

 interviews with the fugitives, from whom he learned the 

 extraordinary riches of Ceylon, the number and wealth 

 of its wiharas, the density of its population in peaceful 

 times, the fertility of its soil, and the abundance of its 

 produce. 1 



For nearly four hundred years, from the seventh till 

 the eleventh century, the exploits and escapades of the 

 Malabars occupy a more prominent portion of the 

 Singhalese annals than that devoted to the policy of 

 the native sovereigns. They filled every office, in- 

 cluding that of prime minister 2 , and they decided the 

 claims of competing candidates for the crown. At 

 length the country became so infested by their numbers 

 that the feeble monarchs found it impracticable to effect 

 their exclusion from Anarajapoora. 3 Hence to escape from 

 their proximity, the kings in the eighth century began 

 to move southwards, and transferred their residence to 

 Pollanarrua, which eventually became the capital of the 

 kingdom. Enormous tanks were constructed in the 

 vicinity of the new capital; palaces were erected, sur- 

 passing those of the old city in architectural beauty; 

 dagobas were raised, nearly equal in altitude to the 

 Thuparama and Euanwelle, and temples and statues 

 were hewn out of the living rock, the magnitude and 

 beauty of whose ruins attest the former splendour of 

 Pollanarrua. 4 



1 " Ce royaume a sept mille li de 

 tour, et sa capitale quarante li ; la 

 population est agglomeree, et la terre 



froduit des grains en abondance." 

 IIOUEN-THSANG, liv. iv. p. 194. 



2 TTJRNOUR'S Epitome, p. 33. 



3 TURNOTJR'S Epitome, A.D. 686, 

 p. 31. 



4 The first king who built a palace 



at Pollanarrua was Sri Sanga Bo II. , 

 A.D. 648. One of his successors, Sri 

 Sanga Bo III., took up his residence 

 there temporarily, A.D. 702 ; it was 

 made the capital by Kuda Akbo, A.D. 

 769, and its embellishment, the build- 

 ing of colleges, and the formation of 

 tanks in its vicinity, were the occupa- 

 tions of numbers of subsequent kings. 



