amongst the Singhalese. 



267 



and sacred mountain of the Raniayana, whose summit was 

 of pure and bright gold.* 



As respects colour Mr. Stark adds. 



" The great colour was (nila) the colour of the sky and ocean, 

 and like these, indeed, susceptible of many shades from green to dark 

 blue ; but commonly denoting this last, the colour of "Vishnu's garment. 

 It is to this colour allusion is so often made in the descriptive writings 

 of the Singhalese poets ; as when they sing the praises of feet, soft and 

 beautiful ' as the full blown lotus.' 



6) o ? <3 ^ 8 8 « 6 es o q 



"So also when they speak of 'lotus hair,' and the -^Qo^SiOtS 

 (nilangkara) or blue ornament of dark eyes," — p. 78, 



The Singhalese are, doubtless, great admirers of blue as a 

 ee colour " ; yet it is not to that colour which allusion is so 

 often made in the descriptive writings of the poets, as 

 supposed by Mr. Stark. When in singing the praises of the 

 feet, the poet compares them to @k , 53D©cg88e3<3' " the full 

 blown tender lotus," he only compares them to the broad 

 formation, and the tenderness, of the flower — by no means 

 intending to convey its colour. For £3(5, as a name for the 

 lotus, is a generic term. It may either be the white or the red 

 lotus; but it never signifies the Nelumbium speciosum } which is 

 distinguished by nilupul ; as when we speak of a nilupulesi, 

 6 Z^e-lotus-eyed,' a term for e woman,' expressive of her 

 beauty as ( belle,' is in English. The hair, it is true, is com- 

 pared to blue objects, as the tail of a peacock, and sometimes 

 to green objects, as the Valesnaria octandra ;f but never, as I 

 apprehend, to the lotus : and the reason for this, what may 

 seem to be> a strange comparison is — not that nila, " blue," 

 is considered to be a " great," ee government," or ee royal," 

 colour ; but that the Singhalese did not anciently draw a 



* The fact however, that one and the same word can in the course of time 

 assume various forms for various objects, proved as it is by numberless examples, 

 requires no further support. — Bopp's Comp. Gram., p. 16. 



f See my Sidath Sangra, Note ap. p. xcviii. 



