70 



is no doubt the same as that to which Buddhaghosa refers. But 

 the other could not have been the impression in the Kelani-ganga, 

 that spot being a long distance south-west of Anuradhapura. 

 There is however, near the Wiharai Tampiran Kovil, — a rock temple 

 at Muttakal, in the Tammankaduwa Pattu of the Trincomalee 

 District, — the representation of a human foot-print engraved on 

 stone, " the length of which is four cubits, and breadth two and a half. 

 Near this foot-print is an inscription in the Nagaram language."* 

 This may possibly have been the one first mentioned by Fa Hian, 

 removed from its original to its present site when the capital of 

 the Island was transferred from Anuradhapura to Pollonnaruwa 

 in the year 769. Be that as it may, neither the one nor the other 

 appears to have been an object of special reverence in Fa Hian's 

 time ; and it is certain that pilgrimages were not then made to the 

 Sri pada at Samantakuta. Had such been in vogue, Fa Hian 

 would undoubtedly have proceeded thither, and described both it 

 and his journey in the same graphic manner in which he has re- 

 corded his visits elsewhere ; the main purpose of his pilgrimage 

 through India and Ceylon being, to see the places rendered famous 

 and venerable by the birth, life, doings, and death of Buddha. 



Carrying our researches still further back, we come to the 

 Dipawansa, written certainly not more than a century and a half 

 before the commencement of the Mahawanso, its narrative extend- 

 ing only to the end of the reign of king Maha Sen, a.d. 302. It is 

 the oldest work extant on early Sinhalese history, and appears 

 to have been compiled from the annals of chroniclers appointed by 

 the reigning kings. It is quoted by Mahanama, in the Maha- 

 wanso, and is probably the source from which he obtained the 

 principal materials of his history. The work is written in Pali, 

 and was first made known to European scholars by the Hon'ble 



* Archaeological Returns, p. 50. 



