406 



THE SINGHALESE CIIKONICLES. 



[PART III. 



A.D. insured by the independence and consolidation of his 

 1155. Dominions he rendered subservient to the restoration of 

 religion, the enrichment of his subjects, and the embellish- 

 ment of the ancient capitals of his kingdom ; and, ill- 

 satisfied with the inglorious ease which had contented 

 his predecessors, he aspired to combine the renown of 

 foreign conquests with the triumphs of domestic policy. 

 Faithful to the two grand objects of royal solicitude, 

 religion and agriculture, the earliest attention of Pra- 

 krama was directed to the re-establishment of the one, 

 and the encouragement and extension of the other. He 

 rebuilt the temples of Buddha, restored the monuments 

 of religion in more than their pristine splendour, and 

 covered the face of the kingdom with works for irriga- 

 tion to an extent that would seem incredible did not 

 their existing ruins corroborate the historical narrative of 

 his stupendous labours. 



Such had been the ostensible decay of Buddhism 

 during the Malabar domination that, when the kingdom 

 was recovered from them by Wijayo Bahu, A.D. 1071, 

 " there was not to be found in the whole island five 

 tirunansis," and an embassy was sent to Arramana 1 to 

 request that members of this superior rank of the priest- 

 hood might be sent to restore the order in Ceylon. 2 



1 A part of the Chin-Indian pen- 

 insula, probably between Arracan and 

 Siam. 



2 Rajaratnacari, p. 85 ; Rajavali, 

 p. 252 ; Mahawanso, ch. Ix. 



From the identity of the national 

 faith in the two countries, inter- 

 course existed between Siam and 

 Ceylon from time immemorial. At 

 a very early period missions were 

 interchanged for the inter-commu- 

 nication of Pali literature, and in 

 later times, when, owing to the oppres- 

 sion of the Malabars certain orders 

 of the priesthood had become extinct 

 in Ceylon, it became essential to seek 

 a renewal of ordination at the hands 

 of the Siamese hierarchy {Rajaratna- 

 cari, p. 86). In the numerous incur- 



sions of the Malabars from Chola and 

 Pandya, the literary treasures of 

 Ceylon were deliberately destroyed, 

 and the Mahawanso and Rajavali, 

 make frequent lamentations over the 

 loss of the sacred books. (See also 

 Rajaratnacari, pp. 77, 95, 97.) At a 

 still later period the savage Raja 

 Singha, who reigned between A.D. 

 1581 and 1592, and became a con- 

 vert to Brahmanism, sought eagerly 

 for Buddhistical books, and " de- 

 lighted in burning them in heaps as 

 high as a coco-nut tree." These 

 losses it was sought to repair by an 

 embassy to Siam, sent by Kirti-Sri 

 in A.D. 1753, when a copious supply 

 was obtained of Burmese versions of 

 Pali sacred literature. 



