CHAP. I.] 



PLINY. 



557 



The Singhalese king of whom this is recorded was 

 probably Chanda-Mukha-Siwa, who ascended the throne 

 A.D. 44, and was deposed and assassinated by his brother 

 A.D. 52. He signalised his reign by the construction of 

 one of those gigantic tanks which still form the wonders 

 of the island. 1 From his envoys Pliny learned that Ceylon 

 then contained five hundred towns (or more properly 

 villages), of which the chief was Palassimunda, the 

 residence of the sovereign, with a population of two 

 hundred thousand souls. 



They spoke of a lake called Megisba, of vast magni- 

 tude, and giving rise to two rivers, one flowing by the 

 capital and the other northwards, towards the conti- 

 nent of India, which was most likely an exaggerated 

 account of some of the great tanks, possibly that of 

 Tissaweva, in the vicinity of Anarajapoora. They de- 

 scribed the coral which abounds in the Gulf of Manaar ; 

 and spoke of marble, with colours like the shell of the 

 tortoise ; of pearls and precious stones ; of the luxuri- 



incidence that "at a later period a 

 similar functionary was despatched 

 by the King Bhuwaneka-Bahu VIII. 

 as ambassador to the court of Lisbon." 

 Journal Ceylon Asiat. Soc., p. 74, 

 1848. The event to which he refers 

 is recorded in the Rajavali : it is 

 stated that the king of Gotta, about 

 the year 1540, " caused a figure of 

 the prince his grandson to be made 

 of gold, and sent the same under 

 the care of Sattappoo Arachy, to be 

 delivered to the King of Portugal. 

 The Arachy having arrived and de- 

 livered the presents to the King of 

 Portugal, obtained the promise of 

 great assistance," &c. Rajavali, p. 

 286. See also VALENTIN, Oud en 

 Nieuw Oost-Indien, ch. vi. ; TTO- 

 Norn's Epitome, p. 49; RIBEYRO'S 

 History, trans, by Lee, ch. v. But 

 as the embassy sent to the Emperor 

 Claudius would necessarily have been 

 deputed by one of the kings of the 

 "Wijayan dynasty, it is more than pro- 

 bable that the rank of the envoy was 

 Indian rather than Singhalese, and 



that " Rachia " means raja rather 

 than arachy. 



It may, however, be observed that 

 " Rackha " is a name of some renown 

 in Singhalese annals. Rackha was the 

 general whom Prakrama Bahu sent 

 to reduce the south of Ceylon when 

 in arms in the 12th century (Maha- 

 wanso, ch. Ixxiii.) ; and it is also the 

 name of one of the heroes of the 

 Paramas. WILFORD, As. Res., vol. 

 ix. p. 41. 



1 Mahawanso, ch. xxx. p. 218; 

 TURNOTTR'S Epitome, p. 21 ; AMMI- 

 ANtrs MARCELLTNFS mentions another 

 embassy which arrived from Ceylon 

 hi the reign of the Emperor Julian, 

 1. xx. c. 7, and which consequently 

 must have been despatched by the 

 king Upa-tissa II. I have elsewhere 

 remarked, that it was in this century 

 that the Singhalese appear to have 

 first commenced the practice of send- 

 ing frequent embassies to distant 

 countries, and especially to China. 

 (See chapter on the Knowledge of 

 Ceylon possessed by the Chinese.) 



oo3 



