16 



JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. VIII. 



could, by any possibility, wander so widely out of their 

 way ; or that the king's officers of State were so completely 

 insane as to proceed 50 or 60 miles southwards to meet 

 people coming from a point nearly due west of the capital, 

 and not more than 40 miles distant, along what must un- 

 doubtedly have been a much-frequented and well-known 

 road. It is plain that the ministers proceeded southwards 

 to meet the royal traveller coming from the south, and this 

 agrees with all the former evidence which has been given. 

 Leaving out conjecture, every particle of evidence which is 

 to be met with shows that the site of Tambapanni Nuwara 

 was in the south of Ceylon. 



Having pointed out what appears to me to be the only 

 possible site of Wijaya's landing-place, it is necessary to 

 confirm the identification by discovering the site of 

 Tambapanni or Tammanna Nuwara. In the south of Cey- 

 lon we know of only two very early cities, Kacharagama 

 or Kataragama, and Magama or Rohana-Magama ; and I 

 identify the latter as Wijaya's capital. There is one 

 peculiarity with regard to Tambapanni Nuwara which does 

 not appear to have received sufficient notice : that after the 

 reign of Wijaya the name utterly disappears, and is not again 

 mentioned in any of the ancient histories. This is from no 

 lack of references to the southern Province of Rohana. It 

 would be quite unwarrantable to assume that, after being 

 the capital of the Island for more than 30 years, and 

 evidently a flourishing and important place— (or it would 

 not have been specially mentioned as being surrounded by 

 suburbs, &c.) —the city was abandoned. If this was not 

 the case, the only other likely assumption is that the name 

 was changed. The first reference to Magama is contained 

 in the Rajawalliya (p. 178), in which it is said that one of 

 the brothers of Panduwasa's queen was called Sudhodana 

 Sakya Kumara, " and the place appointed for his residence 

 was called Magam Nuwara". This statement, though very 

 likely to be correct, is not found in this form in either the 

 Dipavariisa or Mahavamsa. In the latter it is simply said 

 that one of the six princes settled at (or in) Rohana, and 

 took its name — i.e. he would be called—" Rohana Kumara," 

 the Rohana Prince. This city termed Rohana in the 

 Mahavamsa is therefore evidently the same as Magama ; 



