No, 27.— 1884.] tissamaxiArama arohjsology. 



17 



and in the Rajawalliya it is often called Runa-Mdgarna 

 (pp. 188, 195, 196, &c). In the Mah. Magama is not 

 mentioned until Mahanaga made it his capital. When this 

 prince first established himself in the south we cannot but 

 assume that he resided at some existing large town — in all 

 probability the chief one of the Province. As Wijaya's capital 

 was in the south, this must have been Tambapanni. There 

 is no apparent cause for his building a new capital when 

 Tambapanni* already existed, nor any reason why he, as 

 king, with unlimited powers in his own Province, should * 

 not select the most important and commodious one. On 

 this account I conclude that Magama was, as its name 

 indicates, already the chief city of the Province before 

 Mahanaga settled at it ; and in that case it would be no 

 other than Tambapanni Nuwara. 



Tambapanni was the name of the division or district in 

 which the capital was situated (Mak. } pp. 47, 51) ; Rohana 

 was the name afterwards given to the whole of south Ceylon. 

 We can easily conceive how the same city might thus acquire 

 two names. Before Rohana became a separate Province 

 the capital was the chief village or city of the Tambapanni 

 district— i.e. Tambapanni Nuwara ; after south Ceylon was 

 termed Rohana it would also be called the great village or 

 city of the Rohana Province. The latter more important 

 title would then supplant the original one. At first all the 

 towns founded in Wijaya's time were usually termed " vil- 

 lages," and it is in every way probable that the capital 

 became familiarly known— perhaps even in Wijaya's time 

 —by its later appellation, the " Great Village," Mahagama, 

 a name which in time would take the place of its original 

 title. There is a somewhat analogous instance in the 

 North-Central Province, where the villagers usually speak 

 of Anuradhapura as " Maha Wihara ;" and a still better 

 example in the modern Simhalese name of Kandy, Maha 

 Nuwara, the Great City, which has so completely taken the 

 place of the original name that probably only a small 

 proportion of those who employ it now know that the 

 mountain capital once was termed Sriwardhanapura. . My 

 conclusion is that, until another suitable river in the south 

 of Ceylon shall be found, having a place called Gonagama 

 at its mouth, and the remains of an ancient city on its 



23-85 b 



