12 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, ( CEYLON BRANCH.) 



The tendency of the Simhalese language to assimilate one 

 syllable to the other was labouring at that time, not yet 

 ruling, still the nerves of the Sirnhalese were strong enough 

 to bear different vowels in syllables following or preceding 

 each other, it was to later periods that those jingling words, 

 as munuburu "grandson," minibiri "granddaughter," were 

 reserved. 



49) Tela huta mala kotu ca. It is meant of course, " and 

 having made offerings of oil and flowers." I do not know 

 what would be more appropriate to suppose the inscriber to 

 say, tela mala huta or tela huta mala huta ; at any rate, as it 

 is in the inscription it is wrong. 



50) Jina palisaiarikama karand karota. This is a knotty 

 passage, j ina is = jirna " dilapidated," but what is palisatari- 

 kama. etc.? In King Gajabahu's inscription at Anuradhapura 

 we read : jina palisatara kotu which I was at first inclined 

 to translate "having made obeisance to jina (Buddha)" 

 = Pali : Jina patisamtharam katva ; but we cannot then 

 account for the cerebral n in jina. Besides, the same or a 

 similar formula occurs in other inscriptions, for instance at 

 Kumbukwaewa pansala near Wewelkaetiya (North-Central 

 Province^) jina palisatariya. In all these instances the 

 invocation of jina would seem to come in so uncalled for, 

 in the midst of other acts of the kings referred to, that it 

 could not be meant. Again if we are to read jina palisakara 

 kotu and jina palisakariya respectively, all would be right ; 

 for this would answer to Pali " jinna patisamkharam katva, 

 and jinnam patisamkhariya " having repaired the dilapidated 

 (buildings)" comp. Mahav. p. 221 avase jinne ca patisam- 

 khari and Childer's Dictionary. I think, we must stick to 

 jina and translate, as if we had palisakara and palisakariya 

 xespectively, though the t of palisatara cannot be explained. 



Palisatar ikama is a verbal noun "repairing" (kama -= 

 karman), the original form of the later nouns in " ima and 



