CEYLON B HANOI- — ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 75 



are invaluable ( a ), " made him sit beside him in the assem- 

 bly as an arbiter with him at the controversy. 



Those who came to witness the assembly of the Brah- 

 mans and devotees of Tillei-nagar, before which (Vatha- 

 vuren) the proficient in the Saiva doctrines, controverted 

 with the low minded Buddhists, were Brahma (b ), Vish- 

 nu (c), the seven Munis ( d), the eight Dikpalakas ( e), 

 the Ruddras (f), the Vinjayas (g), and the luminaries 

 which shine by the night and day. 



(a) It is remarkable that scarcely any rubies of great value 

 , are now met with in Ceylon, though almost all the ancient wri- 

 ters speak of there having been found in the island in their times 

 the best rubies in the world. Marco Polo says that the king 

 Sandernaz was possessed of a ruby " the finest that was ever 

 seen, as long as one's hand and as big as a man's arm, without 

 spot, shining like a fire, and not to be bought for money ;" and 

 Ibn Batuta mentions that he once saw upon the head of the 

 white elephant in the court of the Emperor at Kankar (Ganga- 

 sripura or Gampola) "seven rubies, each of which was larger 

 than a hen's egg," and that he also saw in the possession of the 

 king Ayari Shakarti (Ariya Chakravarti of Jaffna), " a saucer 

 made of ruby, as large as the palm of the hand." Lee's Tra- 

 vels of Ibn Batuta, Chap. XX, p. 187. 



(6) The original has {QptreoB^Laea^ts^sm^ " he who gave the 

 ancient Vedas. 



(<?) In the original Mukunda (<y>©»£wr) a title of Vishnu, 

 implying "one free from passions." 



(d) Munis ((y>«iflo/(r), the antediluvian sages. Many individuals 

 are mentioned in the Puranas under this title, but only seven 

 of them, namely Kasyapa, Atri, Bharadwaja, Gautama, Wis- 

 wamitra, Jamadagni, and Vathista are considered the holiest, 

 and adored as the seven bright stars in the constellation Ursa 

 Major. "It is believed that, without ceasing to sparkle in the 

 firmament, they can descend, and actually do pay an occasional 

 visit to the earth to know what is going on (Abbe Dubois Des- 

 cription of the People of India, English Translation, p. 37) ; " 

 hence they are always represented by the Tamil poets as being- 

 present at every important assembly. 



(e) The eight Dikpalakas {£$&<g,uti or Guardians of the 

 eight angles or points of the world, the first of whom is Indra, 

 the second Agni, the third Yam a, the fourth Niruti, the fifth 

 Varuna, the sixth Vahu, the seventh Kuvera, and the eighth 

 IS S ANA. 



(/) Rudras (c5j»$»0 a class of divinities, eleven in number, 

 supposed to be the forms or apparitions of Siva. 



(jg) Vinjayas {S^em^uja^ the same with Vidhyadaras, a sort of 

 demigods inhabiting the Meru of the antipodes. 



