No. 29.-1884.] 



BELIGALA. 



365 



Maya division. Armed with a strong body of warriors, he sur- 

 rounded Polonnaruwa and drove out the Tamils. 



He ruled in the great city of Dambadeniya, which is the crest- 

 jewel of the Lanka lady, richly adorned with pearls and 

 precious stones, and possessed of a four-fold army and powerful 

 forces. He brought back the great priests who had gone to foreign 

 countries during the wars with the Tamils, and, having heard that 

 the tooth-relic and bowl-relic were buried in Kotmale, went thither 

 without delay with the priests in great procession, and brought 

 them to Beligala. Then he caused to be built a monastery and a 

 three-storied palace, which is like unto a divine mansion fallen from 

 the blissful celestial regions, and caused the relics to be brought into 

 the house with great honour and many offerings ; enacted all the 

 necessary regulations ; reconciled the priests who returned ; held 

 an ordination ; caused bana-books to be written ; and a large and 

 beautiful palace, Wij ay asundar drama by name, to be built ; 

 avoided hell ; daily presented one thousand priests with the four 

 requisities ; encouraged learning for the good of the Church and 

 state, and reigned in the practice of justice. On his demise, his 

 son, a great Prince, named Perakumba (Parakrama Bahu), of mighty 

 valour, attained sovereignity, being endowed with the ten royal 

 virtues. He brought the tooth-relic and the bowl-relic to the city 

 of Dambadeniya ; caused a costly tooth-relic house to be built 

 within the inner royal compound ; deposited them therein ; made 

 a priceless gem-studded shrine for the tooth-relic, and, in order to 

 cover it, made a casket of solid gold with five thousand 

 (pieces of coin), and to cover this a silver casket of a carpenter's 

 cubit (worth) thirty thousand (pieces of coin). He cleared the 

 jungle from Dambadeniya to the prosperous city Sriwardhanapura; 

 made a road, removed the black sand and spread it with white 

 sand, erected triumphal arches on each side, placed pots filled with 

 scented water and plantain trees in continuous row, and, 

 with many offerings and great pomp, brought the tooth-relic and 

 the bowl-relic to the monastery called after his own name. He 

 sent presents of gold, precious stones, pearls, &c, and brought 

 back from Tamalingama, the priest Dharmmakirti, famed 

 for austerity, whose name had spread in the ten directions, 

 and the other priests ; reconciled the priests who had 

 become schismatics during the former wars with the Tamils ; 

 freely instructed them in. the Tripitaka doctrines, held ordination 

 eight times, created such grades as Tera, Maha Tera, Aydten ; 



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