24 



THE DEMONS 



III. Maha Cola Sanni Yakseya, or the Great Demon of the 

 fatal diseases, according to one account, sprang into existence 

 from the ashes of the funeral pile of Asoopala Cumari, a princess 

 of the city Wisala Maha Nuivera* Another account makes him 

 the son of a king of a city, called Sanka pala Nuivera. j "This 

 king," says the account, during the pregnancy of his queen, made 

 an incursion into the country in search of some article of Dolla- 

 duk for her, % and, on returning to his palace a few days after- 

 wards, one of the queen's servants, who was unfriendly to her, 



* " Wisala, " says Professor Wilson, " is a city of considerable renown in 

 Indian tradition, but its site is a subject of some uncertainty. Part of the 

 difficulty arises from confounding it with Visala, another name of Ujayin. 

 According to the Buddhists, it is the same as Prayaga or Allahabad; but the 

 Ramayana places it much lower down, on the north Bank of the Ganges, nearly 

 opposite to the mouth of the Sone; and it was therefore in the modern district 

 of Saran, as Hamilton ( Genealogy of the Hindus) conjectured." — Wilson's 

 Vishnu Purana. 



Pa Hian visited Wisala, but does not give any extended description of what 

 he saw. Hium Thsang is more particular, and says that it had fallen into ruin, 

 but that the circumference of the ancient foundations was upwards of twenty 

 miles. He saw the ruins of more than a hundred monasteries. The country 

 was rich, the soil fertile, the climate agreeable, and the inhabitants were bland 

 in their manners, and contended with their lot. There were a few monasteries 

 still standing, but the inmates were little better than heretics." — Hardy's 

 Manual of Buddhism. 



There is scarcely any other place more frequently alluded to in the demo- 

 nology of Ceylon, than this city, which in Singhalese is generally known under 

 the name of Wisala Maha Nuiuare which means the " great extensive city." 



t Sometimes also, called Sakaspura, and in Pali Sankassa. " A letter 

 from Lieutenant Cunningham, R. E., to Colonel Sykes, was read before the 

 Royal Asiatic Society, December 3, 1842, giving an account of the discovery 

 and identification of the city of Sankasya mentioned as the kingdom of Kusad- 

 waga in the Ramayana. It is twenty-five miles from Parrkhabad, and fifty 

 from Kanouj on the north or left bank of the Kali Nadi. The ruins are very 

 extensive, and there can be no doubt that they are of Buddhistic origin"— 

 Hardy's Manual of Buddhism. 



J Dolladuk is a strong desire which a woman during the earlier months of 

 her pregnancy has for something, generally some article of food. This desire 



