CHAP. X.] 



LITERATURE. 



519 



II. SANSKRIT. In Sanskrit or translations from it, 

 the Singhalese have preserved their principal treatises 



tents of the Hebrewrolls still possessed 

 by this remnant of the dispersion that 

 the Buddhists borrowed the nume- 

 rous incidents which we find re-pro- 

 duced in the historical books of 

 Ceylon. Thus the aborigines, when 

 subdued by their Bengal invaders, 

 were forced, like the Israelites, by 

 their masters "to make bricks" for 

 the construction of their stupendous 

 edifices (Mahawctnso, ch. xxviii.). 

 On the occasion of building the 

 great dagoba, the Ruanwelie, at 

 Anarajapoora, B.C. 161, the materials 

 were all prepared at a distance, and 

 brought ready to be deposited in 

 their places (Mahawanso, xxvii.) ; as 

 on the occasion of building the first 

 temple at Jerusalem, "the stone was 

 made ready before it was brought, so 

 that there was neither hammer, nor 

 axe, nor any tool of iron heard whilst 

 it was building." The parting of 

 the Red Sea to permit the march of 

 the fugitive Hebrews has its counter- 

 part in the exploit of the King Gaja 

 Bahu, A.D. 109, who, when marching 

 his army to the coast of India, in 

 order to bring back the Singhalese 

 from captivity in Chola, " smote the 

 waters of the sea till they parted, so 

 that he and his army marched through 

 without wetting the soles of their 

 feet." Rqjaratnacari, p. 59. King 

 Maha Sen (A.D. 275), seeking a relic, 

 had the mantle of Buddha lowered 

 down from heaven: and Buddha 

 had, previously, in designating Kas- 

 yapa as his successor, transmitted 

 to him. his robe as Elijah let fall 

 his mantle upon Elisha. (Xtajarali, 

 p. 238; HAEDY'S Oriental Mana- 

 chism, p. 119.) There is a resem- 

 blance too between the apotheosis 

 of Dutugaimunu and the translation 

 of Elijah when " in a chariot and 

 horses of fire he went up into 

 heaven" (2 Kings, ii. 11); accord- 

 ing to the MaluiwansOj ch. xxii. p. 199, 

 when the Singhalese king was dying, 

 a chariot was seen descending from 

 the sky and his disembodied spirit 

 " manifested itself standing in the car 



in which he drove thrice round the 

 great shrine, and then bowing down 

 to the attendant priesthood, he de- 

 parted for tusita 1 ' (the Buddhists' 

 heaven). The ceremonial and dog- 

 matic coincidences are equally re- 

 markable ; constant allusion is made 

 to the practice of the kings to '' wash 

 the feet of the priests and anoint 

 them with oil." Mahawanso, ch.xxv. 

 xxx. In conformity with the 

 denunciation that the sins of the 

 fathers were to be visited on the 

 children, the Jews inquired whether 

 a " man's parents did commit sin 

 that he was born blind ? " (John, ix. 

 3) ; and in like manner, in the 

 Rajavali, " the perjury of Wijayo 

 (who had repudiated his wife after 

 swearing fidelity to her) was visited 

 on the person of the King Pandu- 

 wasa," his nephew, who was afflicted 

 with insanity in consequence (Raja- 

 vcdi, pp. 174 178^). The account in 

 the Rajaratnaccm of King Batiya 

 Tissa (B.C. 20), who was enabled to 

 enter the Ruanwelle' dagoba by the 

 secret passage known only to the 

 priests, and to discover their wealth 

 and treasures deposited within, has 

 a close resemblance to the descent 

 of Daniel and King Astyages into 

 the temple of Bel, by the privy en- 

 trance under the table, whereby the 

 priests entered and consumed the 

 offerings made to the idol (Bel and 

 the Dragon, Apocryp. ch. i. xiii. ; 

 Ttajaratnacari, p. 45). The inex- 

 tinguishable fire which was for ever 

 burning on the altar of God (Le- 

 viticus, ch. vi. 13) resembles the 

 lamps that burned, for 5000 years 

 continually in honour of Buddha 

 (Mahawanso, ch. Ixxxi. ; Eajaratna- 

 cari, p. 49) ; and these again bad their 

 imitators in the lamp of Minerva, 

 which was never permitted to go out 

 in the temple at Athens ; and in the 

 \v%vov aafiiaTor, which was for ever 

 burning in the temple of Ammon. 

 The miracle of feeding the multitude 

 by our Saviour upon a few loaves 

 and fishes, is repeated in the Maha- 



