1054 Inscriptions on the columns at Delhi, 8fC. [Dec. 



sya) rule (No. 19, p. 79) " atan&pdlite" would be contracted into " atap&lite. 11 

 The reading in extenso then becomes contracted into " Hidat apatite." « 4 Dosa'' 

 from " dii" signifies '• impure or impious" and "patipadaye" as already explained 

 are " observances or actions in life." My reading therefore of the entire sen- 

 tence is now " I have renounced the impious observances cherished by myself — 

 out of innumerable and inestimable motives of devotion to Dhanmo, and out 

 of reverential awe and devout zeal for the precious religion which confers ines- 

 timable protection. This (inscription on Dhanmo), moreover, will serve to per- 

 petuate the remembrance of me." 



I proceed now to give my authority for pronouncing Piyadabi to be 

 Dhanmaso'ko. 



From a very early period, extending back certainly to 800 years, 

 frequent religious missions have been mutually sent to each other's 

 courts, by the monarchs of Ceylon and Siam, on which occasions an ex- 

 change of the Pali literature extant in either country appears to have 

 taken place. In the several Soltfan and Pdndian conquests of this 

 island, the literary annals of Ceylon were extensively and intentionally 

 destroyed. The savage Rajasingha in particular, who reigned between 

 A. D. 1581 and 1592, and became a convert from the Buddhistical 

 to the Brahmanical faith, industriously sought out every Buddhistical 

 work he could find, and " delighted in burning them in heaps as high 

 as a cocoanut tree." These losses were in great measure repaired by 

 the embassy to Siam of Wilbagadere Mudiyanse, in the reign of 

 Kirtisri Rajasingha in A. D. 1753, when he brought back Burmese 

 versions of most of the Pdli sacred books, a list of which is now lodged 

 in the Daladd temple in Kandy. 



The last mission of this character, undertaken however without any 

 royal or official authority, was conducted by the chief priest of the 

 Challia or cinnamon caste of the maritime provinces, then called Kapa- 

 gama thero. He returned in 1812 with a valuable library, compris- 

 ing also some historical and philological works. Some time after 

 his return, under the instructions of the late Archdeacon of Ceylon, 

 the Honorable Doctor Twisleton, and of the late Rev. G. Bisset, 

 then senior colonial chaplain, Kapagama became a Convert to Chris- 

 tianity, and at his baptism assumed the name of George Nadoris de 

 Silva, and he is now a modliar or chief of the cinnamon department 

 at Colombo. He resigned his library to his senior pupil, who is the 

 present chief priest of the Challias, and these books are chiefly kept 

 at the wihare at Daddla near Galle. This conversion appears to have 

 produced no estrangement or diminution of regard between the par- 

 ties. It is from George Nadoris, modliar, that I received the Bur- 

 mese version of the Tikd of the Mahdwanso, which enabled me to rec- 



