184/.] formerly the capital of Ceylon. 215 



That the three centuries preceding and the three succeeding the 

 Christian era, were the years during which Anuradhapura nourished 

 most, is proved hy the fact that all the great buildings whose remains 

 at the present day astonish us by their massiveness or size were erected 

 within that period. The remains of the walls of the ancient town, 

 which were erected about sixty years after our era, prove by their great 

 extent the space which the city then covered. They were sixteen 

 miles square, and were built due north and south, east and west, 

 thus enclosing a space of two hundred and fifty-six square miles. 

 Within this vast space, however, we must remember that there were, 

 besides the streets and buildings, extensive gardens, and water-courses, 

 which must have occupied a very considerable extent. It would be 

 futile to endeavor to discover the amount of the population of Anura- 

 dhapura at its most flourishing period, no data being afforded in the 

 native histories by which it could be judged. That it must have been 

 very considerable is evident, as well from the accounts given us of its 

 importance, as from the ruins which even now exist. 



The first blow to its prosperity appears to have been given by a 

 wavering monarch named Mahasen, who reigned in the third century, 

 and who, at first becoming attached to a small and heterodox Buddhistic 

 sect, employed his power in the destruction of the great buildings occu- 

 pied by the more numerous and more orthodox community. At a later 

 period his opinions having changed, he endeavored to restore what his 

 fanaticism had formerly defaced. In the fifth century a still greater 

 check to its prosperity was inflicted by a protracted struggle between 

 several Malabar invaders and the royal race, in the course of which the 

 capital fell, sometimes into the hand of one party, sometimes into that 

 of the other, and as the struggle lasted for a period of twenty-four years, 

 we will not find it difficult to picture to ourselves the injury which the 

 city must have sustained in the contest. Towards the close of the same 

 century it was deserted by a usurper for the rock Seegiri, mentioned in 

 my former paper, and from this period till its final desertion by the 

 royal fine, A. D. 7G9, it appears to have been gradually decreasing 

 nearly as fast as its rival Pollonaruwa was advancing in extent, in popu- 

 lation and in wealth. In the eleventh century one more attempt was 

 made by a Singhalese monarch to restore the former capital, but with- 

 out success, and after this period, the notices of it by the native hisro- 



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