214 On the Ruins of Anuradhapura, [March, 



foundation merely relates that it was then but a village, though sub- 

 sequently a city, and that it was founded on the banks of the river 

 Kadambs, the present Mulwatte Oya. The village thus early formed 

 appears to have remained in its original obscurity for upwards of one 

 hundred years. It was then greatly enlarged and improved by the 

 usurper Pandukabhayo, who, in 437 B. C. made it the capital of the 

 island. His improvements would appear to have been very extensive, 

 inasmuch as the city was divided under him into four parts, over each 

 of which an officer was appointed as conservator. A body of five 

 hundred chandalas,* we are told, was appointed to be the scavengers of 

 the city, two hundred to be nightmen ; one hundred and fifty to be 

 carriers of corpses ; and the same number were engaged at the ceme- 

 tery. For these chandalas a distinct village was appropriated to the 

 north-west of the city. We have here sufficient evidence that at this 

 early period the city was already rapidly advancing to that degree of 

 greatness which it subsequently attained. 



We next hear of the advancing greatness and extent of Anuradhapura 

 in the reign of Tisso the first (surnamed Devananpiatisso), on the occa- 

 sion of the transportation of the sacred Bo-tree of Gotamo from the 

 banks of the Ganges to Ceylon ; (B. C. 307,) where it was deposited 

 in the Maha Wiharo, and where, if tradition and the priests are to be 

 believed, it still exists. In fourteen days, the Mahawanso informs us, 

 the pious Tisso had the branch of the sacred tree conveyed from the 

 port at which it landed to the capital. " At the hour when shadows 

 are most extended," proceeds the Singhalese historian, " the monarch 

 entered the superbly decorated capital by the northern gate, in the act of 

 making offerings ; and passing in procession out of the southern gate } 

 and entering the Mahameyo garden, hallowed by the presence of four 

 Buddhas, he, with sixteen princes raised up the Bo branch upon 

 the spot where the former Bo-trees had been planted." From this 

 account it would appear that the Maha Wiharo was at that time without 

 the city, although certainly not so, afterwards. From this period till 

 the reign of Dutuyaimono, and in fact till about the period of the 

 Christian era, it would appear that the city gradually advanced in size 

 and importance, till it became the extensive and remarkable place which 

 its ruins at the present day attest it to have been. 

 * Low caste people. 



