No. 9,-1856-8,] DISTRICT OF NUWARAKALAwIYA. 



155 



frequent absence from the station, have prevented me from 

 making any regular meteorological observations, 



Antiquities. 



Nuwarakalawiya has a degree of local celebrity, from having, 

 during many years, been the residence of the Sinhalese Kajas. 



We learn from the Mahawanso, that Prince Wijaya established 

 himself at Tambapanni or Tammannadawiya, near Puttalam, 

 about the year 543 B. C. His successor, in 504 B. C, removed 

 to Wijitapura in this district. Pandukabhaya who followed 

 in the year 474 B. C, took up his residence at Anuradhapura ; 

 and from this time till A. D. 729, Anuradhapura continued to be 

 the metropolis of Ceylon. About the year 307 B. C, the thero 

 (' saint') Mahindo, son of Dhammasoka, Emperor of India, intro- 

 duced Buddhism into Ceylon. It was then that the branch of 

 the sacred Bo-gaha (Ficus religiosa) was brought to, and self- 

 planted at, Anuradhapura ; and here, enclosed in a triple terrace 

 of masonry, it still exists, and still attracts annually thousands 

 of pilgrims from all parts of the Island, and. occasionally also 

 from India, and even from Siain ; and it is here that the yet 

 venerated Duiugemunu, about - B. C, 161, expended a vast 

 amount of labour in erecting those bee-hive shaped edifices 

 called ddgabas, chaityas, or thtipas, which enshrine relics of the 

 philosopher Buddha ; and wl i h, though time has impaired the 

 symmetry of their form, still tower in solemn grandeur over the 

 surrounding forests, and proclaim to the yet distant traveller the 

 locality of the sacred city. Seven or eight dag alas of various 

 sizes are scattered round the station : these with carved step- 

 stones, and altars, pillars, capitals, and images of Hindu deities, 

 with long stretches of low mounds and walls, form the chief 

 antiquities to be found at the station, and attract notice, rather 

 from their vast number and extent, than from any other quality 

 they possess. They are interesting as marking the period when 

 Sinhalese genius and enterprize reached their zenith ; and to the 

 eye of the engineer, the accuracy of the work is a matter of just 

 admiration. 



