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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [Vol. VIII. 



and said ■ Tissa, my son, beloved prince, cause reverence to be 

 paid to the relics which we preserve,' having related the history 

 of the relics, and exhorted his son — after death was born in the 

 final heaven." 



The Maha Arishta who is mentioned is the celebrated general, 

 the king's nephew, whom Dewanampiya Tissa sent to Asoka 

 for the bo-branch, and who was afterwards ordained by Ma- 

 hinda. 



If this authority is to be relied upon, the question of Yatthala 

 Tissa's birth at the Yatthala wihara of Magama is definitively 

 settled iu the negative. He could not be born at a wihara which 

 his father only built subsequently. I also draw attention to the fact 

 recorded in some detail in the Mahavamsa, that Queen Anula, the 

 wife of Mahanaga, entered the Order of nuns, under Sanghamitta, 

 and, apparently, never afterwards left Anuradhapura. Her son 

 must have been born before she was ordained. 



As regards the Yatthala dagaba, I consider that the difference 

 in the sizes of the bricks employed at it and at the Maharamaisa 

 proof that the two were not built at the same time. Mahanaga 

 might erect a wihara only, which would not be termed the 

 "Yatthala" wihara until the adjoining dagaba had been built. In 

 a similar manner, Dewanampiya Tissa built the " Lohapasada 

 hall" (Mah. p. 101) ; but the Lohapasada, from which it derived 

 its name, was constructed eighty years afterwards. Numerous 

 references might be given where a wihara " means simply 

 " wihara," and certainly not a " dagaba" also. 



Note 7. 



While an excavation was being made in the lands newly 

 brought under cultivation below the Tissa tank, two interesting 

 stones, carved with reliefs, were met with ; but were unfortu- 

 nately broken up. As the " motive" of the sculptures does 

 not seem to be of Ceylon origin, the carvings are of impor- 

 tance in connection with early Siiiihalese art. They had evidently 

 been fixed at the entrance to a dwelling, on each side of the steps 

 leading up to it ; and one was a replica of the other. The leading 

 figure was a full-length cow turned to the left, but looking back 

 to the right (her own left). At her side, turned to the right, 

 stood a calf, scratching its ear with its right hind leg. Beyond the 

 cow, and above her back, appeared the head and neck of a bull, 

 half-turned to the right. The whole was well cut in good relief, 

 in limestone ; but was of a decidedly archaic type. The cow was 

 represented without any hump, nor had the calf one. 



Without at present discussing the manner in which this 



