1836.] Facsimiles of Ancient Inscriptions. 555 



The origin of the fragments of inscriptions found at Trincomalee is 

 similarly explained in Sir A. Johnston's note upon a much longer and 

 more perfect inscription from the same place, published in the first 

 volume of the Roy. As. Soc. Trans, page 537. 



The whole of the ancient pagodas or temples of Trincomalee were 

 destroyed as above remai-ked by the Portuguese in the 1 6th century, 

 and their materials were used in the construction of the modern forti- 

 fications. The late Chief Justice of Ceylon adds : — 



" The race of people who at present inhabit the province are com- 

 pletely ignorant of the character in which the inscription is written : they, 

 however, believe from the traditions preserved among them, that it is the 

 character which was in use throughout the whole of the northern and 

 eastern parts of the island in the age of the two kings of Solamandelam, 

 Manumethy Candesolam, and his son Kalocata Maharasa, who 

 are stated, upon what authority I cannot ascertain, in all the ancient 

 histories of Trincomalee (of which I have in my possession both the 

 Tamul originals and the English translations) to have reigned over 

 the southern peninsula of India and the greater part of the island of 

 Ceylon about the 512th year of the Kaliyug, or 4400 years ago*, 

 and during his reign to have constructed not only these magnificent 

 temples, but also the equally celebrated tanks or artificial lakes called 

 Kattucarre, Padvilcolam, Minerie, and Kandelle, the remains of which 

 may be considered as some of the most venerable and splendid monu- 

 ments ever discovered." 



There are three traditions respecting the contents of the long in- 

 scription. 1, that it contains an account of the taxes which the 

 priests of the temples of Trincomalee had a right to levy, and of the 

 expences incurred in the buildings : 2, that it contains an account of 

 the construction of the great tank : and 3, that it contains the heads 

 of the civil and criminal laws of the country. 



However this may be, it is not likely that we shall very speedily be 

 able to benefit by the preservation of this curious document, unless an 

 actual facsimile be substituted for the manual copy published in the 

 Transactions. It is evident from the form of many of the letters in that, 

 and in Dr. Bland's fragments Nos. 2 and 3, which have a strong 

 resemblance to it in the lines drawn between each row of letters, that 

 these are in a form of Nagari not very different from that of our early 

 lath inscriptions, and there is little doubt that an accurate transcript 

 would prove legible. Dr. Bland's No. 1 is apparently much more 



* The names above given are doubtless Tiramadi Canda Sholan and Cari- 

 cala of the Sholan dynasty of Karnata, of Buchanan. According to Turn- 

 our, the Sholan conquest of Ceylon took place in the year 104 13. C. — Ed. 

 4 c 2 



