CHAP. XI.] THE REIGN OF PEAKRAMA BAIIU. 



407 



During the same troublous times, schisms and "heresy 

 had combined to undermine the national belief, and 

 hence one of the first cares of Prakrama Bahu was to 

 weed out the perverted sects, and establish a council 

 for the settlement of the faith on debatable points. 1 

 Dagobas and statues of Buddha were multiplied with- 

 out end during his reign, and temples of every form were 

 erected both at Pollanarrua and throughout the breadth 

 of the island. -Sails for the reading of "bana," image 

 rooms, residences for the priesthood, ambulance haUs and 

 rest houses for their accommodation when on journeys, 

 were built in every district, and rocks were hollowed 

 into temples ; one of which, at Pollanarrua, remains to 

 the present day with its images of Buddha ; " one in 

 a sitting and another in a lying posture," almost as de- 

 scribed in the Mahawanso? 



In conformity with the spirit of toleration, which is one 

 of the characteristics of Buddhism, the king " erected a 

 house for the Brahmans of the capital to afford the com- 

 forts of religion even to his Malabar enemies." And 

 mindful of the divine injunctions engraven on the rock 

 by King Asoka, " he forbade the animals in the whole 

 of Lanka, both of the earth and the water, to be killed," 3 

 and planted gardens, " resembling the paradise of the 

 God-King Sakkraia, with trees of all sorts bearing fruits 

 and odorous flowers." 



For the people the king erected almonries at the four 

 gates of the capital, and hospitals, with slave boys and 



1 Mahawanso, ch. Ixxvii. 



2 Mahawanso, ch. Ixxii. For a 

 description of this temple see the ac- 

 count of Pollanarrua in the present 

 work, Vol. II. Pt, x. ch. i. p. 596. 



3 Mahawanso, ch. Ixxvii. Among 

 the religious edifices constructed by 

 Prakrama Bahu in many parts of his 

 kingdom, the Mahawanso, enumerates 

 three temples at Pollanarrua, besides 

 others at every two or three gows 

 distance ; 101 dagobas, 476 statues 



of Buddha, and 300 image rooms 

 built, besides 6100 repaired. He 

 built for the reception of priests from 

 a distance, " 230 lodging apartments, 

 50 halls for preaching, and 9 for 

 walking, 144 gates, and 192 rooms 

 for the purpose of offering flowers. 

 He built 12 apartments and 230 halls 

 for the use of strangers, and 31 rock 

 temples, with tanks, baths, and gar- 

 dens for the priesthood." 



