1 84 8 . ] Gleanings in B a ddh ism . 8 5 



" There was at the period of this shipwreck a celebrated priest called 

 Barommat'het Thero or Thera, who resided on the hill, Assakano, one of 

 he lowest ranges of Mera. He happened to be deeply abstracted in 

 devotional contemplations, the force and efficacy of which were such 

 that they lifted him up into the air. While thus soaring aloft, his eye 

 was arrested by dazzling rays of light which were cast upwards from 

 the Diamond Sands. Whereupon he instantly descended and called to 

 the Prince and Princess to come out of their place of concealment. 

 They related to him their sad tale, which induced him to descend into 

 the kingdom of Raja Naga. But the snake-king on his approach 

 rolled himself away beyond the Chakkawan, or horizon. The Thero 

 however, compelled the Naga's subjects to bring him back. It seems 

 that this Raja Naga had purloined the relic unknown to the Prince and 

 Princess, but the Thera obliged him to deliver it up. He then returned 

 to the Diamond Sands and restored it to the brother and sister, inform- 

 ing them at the same time, that a vessel would touch there in three 

 days and convey them to Lanka, and bidding them invoke him should 

 they encounter any accident. The vessel, as predicted arrived, and a 

 flag being hoisted on shore, a boat from the vessel landed and took off 

 the Prince and Princess. A few days only had passed in the voyage 

 hence towards Lanka, when a furious storm assailed the vessel, at the 

 instigation and desire of Raja Naga, who wanted to regain the relic. The 

 captain of the vessel then invoked the Devattas, but without effect, so 

 that he began to suspect that the storm was owing to the presence of 

 the Prince and Princess (who were strangers to him), and he was on 

 the point of throwing them overboard. But they called on the Thero, 

 who soon appeared in the form of Supanno, or Garuda, and assuaged 

 the gale.* The captain or commander of the ship and his crew wor- 

 shipped him, and then he departed. The vessel reached Lanka in three 

 months." 



Fa Hian relates in his account of his voyage home from Ceylon 

 that the brahman merchants of the vessel he sailed in wanted to get 

 rid of him in the same manner and for a similar reason. 



It is probable that the two vessels above alluded to came from 

 Tamaliti. We cannot account for the voyage having lasted three 

 months, unless by supposing that the time occupied in escaping to the 

 coast is included in it. 



* Garuda is himself fond ol occasionally rather of raisins' than abating a storm. 



