70 journal r. a. s. (ceylon). [Vol, VIL, Pt. II. 



younger brother Sumit to rule the paternal kingdom Sinha- 

 pura, established the kingdom of Lakdiva (Lanka), but was 

 succeeded by his nephew (Panda was Deva), son of Sumit who 

 left Sinhapura to ascend the throne of Lakdiva. 



I think I can scarcely leave this part of my subject without 

 alluding to another legend of the Rajdwali that is also 

 unnecessarily regarded as an idle falsehood. This is the story 

 that during the life of Gautama Buddha he caused a fire to 

 break out in Ceylon which drove away the Yakkhos who had 

 subsequently to the Rama era taken possession of the part of 

 Ceylon, where Buddha foresaw his religion would be greatly 

 cherished. This fire, we are told, drove the Yakkhos to the 

 sea and to the Island of Yahgiridivayina, and by depopula- 

 ting the land of these Yakkhos prepared the way for its 

 settlement by the race destined to introduce the Buddhist 

 cult;* 



Let us merely suppose that Mahinda and his disciples 

 learned when building their temples at Anuradhapura, that a 

 former city had existed on that spot, the inhabitants of which 

 were driven from the country by an excessive period of heat 

 and drought, during the life-time of Buddha himself. Can we 

 wonder that such enthusiastic missionaries should seize the 

 tradition, and by saying the drought and heat was a fire sent 

 by Buddha, and not accidentally happening during his life, 

 thus obtain a hold upon the faith of the newly-converted 

 people and a special halo of sanctity upon their own mission,? 

 Nor in this connection must we forget the Abhayagiri monas- 

 tery was itself founded on the site of an ancient temple of 

 the former religion ; and that in days before the large irriga- 

 tion works were constructed there is nothing whatever forced 

 or improbable in the tradition of such a drought. 



Upham, " Sacred and Historical Books of Ceylon," Vol. II,, pp. 169-70, 



