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



[Vol. VIII. 



bank within a few miles of the sea, Mdgama must be 

 admitted to be the equivalent of Tambapanui Nuwara, and 

 the Kirinde or Magama-ganga to be the Kandara river. 



I may mention, also, that from four to five miles distant 

 from the Tissa dagabas there is a tank called the Tammanna- 

 weewa, through which there runs a stream termed the 

 Tammanna-aru -(a Dravidian name in the south-east of 

 of Oeylon !) This stream joins the Kirinde-ganga four miles 

 from the Tissa ruins. The name Tammanna is &o commonly 

 * applied to tanks and rivers in Ceylon that this fact cannot be 

 considered to throw any light on the ancient name of the 

 city. Tambapanni being originally a South Indian name, 

 it is quite possible that this appellation was bestowed on 

 the district long previous to Wijaya's landing. 



The site of this ancient Magama still remains to be dis- 

 cussed. The village of Magama still bears the original 

 name, bat very few ruins, and those quite insignificant, are 

 to be found at it. A city that, whether it was Wijaya's seat 

 or not, is known to have been the capital of South Ceylon 

 for more than 80 years, at a time when structures were being 

 erected, which, from their design, size, and permanence, still 

 excite surprise and respect, and that is known to have 

 remained an important city for some 15 centuries, must be 

 presumed to have left some more tangible traces than a few 

 rude stone pillars. The extensive ruins at Tissawsewa, only 

 four miles from the present village, may therefore success- 

 fully lay claim to the honour of being once the southern 

 metropolis, " Magampura Nuwara," as the Singhalese villa- 

 gers delight to term it. These ruins extend (chiefly below 

 the ground-level), throughout the jungle between the Tissa 

 tank and the Magama river ; a building large enough to be 

 a king's palace is among them, as well as residences built 

 in enclosures which even now would be thought of good size. 

 Boundary walls, with foundations of large stone slabs, run 

 in all directions ; and the whole ground is fall of fragments 

 of brick, tile, and pottery, and scattered stone pillars which 

 mark the site of the more important houses and wiharas 

 now buried. Below the tank, in the higher land which has 

 recently been cleared for conversion into the paddy field, 

 remains are almost everywhere met with from a foot to six 

 feet underground ; while on the opposite side of the tank, 



