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JOURNAL ft. A. S> (CEYLON.) 



[Vol. III. 



In this manner, having augmented nine-fold the revenues of the State 

 from what they were, the wise King caused the country to be so prosperous 

 as never to know the calamities of famine. 



He, who was so skilled in the maxims of Government, wishing that 

 there should not be even a small spot of land within his dominions 

 inhabited by men, which should be left unbenefited, formed many 

 pleasant and delightful gardens and groves, full of fruit-bearing and 

 flower-bearing trees and creepers of every variety, fit for the use of man. 



Thus did this sagacious Ruler of the land, cause his small kingdom, 

 which had attained prosperity, by the superiority of his wisdom, to 

 surpass other great kingdoms in affluence. 



The 98th chapter of the Mahawanso, entitled " the Advancement of 

 the Prosperity of the Kingdom," composed both to comfort and to afflict 

 righteous men. 



Extract from CHAPTER LXXIX. 



This supreme of men, for the purpose of averting the calamities of 

 famine, constructed many tanks and canals in various parts of the Island. 



Having turned the course of the river Kara-ganga* by means of a great 

 stone embankment, and having by means of a great canal, called A 'kdsa- 

 ganga, 1 Celestial river,' conducted its broad stream to the Royal Palace, 

 which was a noble one, resplendent like the sun,*)* he constructed the 

 " King of Tanks," ( Wdpi-rdja) celebrated under the name of the 

 " Sea of Parakrama," which was like unto a second ocean, and which 

 contained a perpetual supply of water. 



He likewise built the great tank known by the name of the " Lake 

 of Parakrama," having an inaccessible stone aqueduct of 300 cubits. 

 Also the tanks of Mahinda, EJcdha-wdpi, (literally) " the Tank 



* Major Forbes states that the river Amban-ganga is joined ' ( by a con- 

 siderable stream," called Kalu-ganga. Might not this be the Kdraganga 

 alluded to here ? The Pali form of Kalu-ganga would be Kdla-ganga, 

 the only difference between it and Kdra-ganga being the substitution of 

 the letter I for r. 



f Instead of, " which was a noble one, resplendent like the sun," 

 ('■ SdcMj-gd^es-sso") some MSS. have " ^sso^o^d^cssjo," which may 

 be translated ''making a shining or splendid Island." - 



