26 



ON THE ORIGIN OF 



kanan 1 a species of gram, the glycine villosa talahkattuva ' head- 

 building ' for '.the top of an edifice;' na&aya i v^-stsLivf pamhattiya 

 < snake charmer;' parakku ' sheet or coverlet;' pulimukham ' tiger- 

 face;' agampadi 1 body-guard, retinue, 9 etc., etc. The presence, 

 however, of this foreign element in this particular Sinhalese book 

 may be traced to the foreign Dravidian agency which was at work 

 in the translation of the Jatakas. The Mahavansct says*.;— » 

 Atha pi Cliola-desiyan nana bhasa visaradan 

 Takkagama dharan ekan maha-theran Susannatart 

 Raja raja guruMiane Aapetva tassa santike 

 Jatakani cha sabb.ani sutva sutva nirantaran 

 Ugganhitva tad'attham-pi dharetva tadanantaran 

 Tani sabbani pannasa 'dhike panchasate subhe 

 Jatake Pali bhasato Sihalaya niruttiya 

 Kamato parivattetva pi^akattaya dharinan 

 Maha therana' majjhamhi savetva parisodhiya 

 Lankayan pana sabbattha lekhapetva pavattayi. 

 Jatakani pune tani nija sissappaveniya 

 Palayitva pavattetun aradhetvana dhimato. 

 Medhankarabhi dhanassa therassa tassa dapayi— 

 Tasseva saka namena parivenan cha kariya 

 Purana gaman Sanmra selan Labuja maixfakan 

 Moravankan'ti me game ehaturova sadapayi. 

 ' Afterwards, the king [Parakkrama] appointed a royal Teacher 

 (in the person of) a very humane Maha- th era of the country of 

 Chola (Tanjore), accomplished in different languages and in Logic 

 and religion; and having continually heard and studied under him 

 all the Jatakas; and, having (moreover) committed to memory their 

 significations, (he) thence gradually translated all the five hundred 

 and fifty Jatakas from the Pali into the Sinhalese language, and 

 having thoroughly revised them, after reading the same to an 

 (assembly of) venerable priests who had mastered the three Pi^akas^ 

 caused them to be written, and published them throughout Lanka. 

 He next entrusted those Jatakas to a learned priest named Me- 



