242 



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



[Vol. IX. 



antiquorum) and boil it three days in a low fire such as is 

 used for boiling rice ; take it out and wash it. It is now puri- 

 fied." It is, I understand, used by the Sinhalese medical men as a 

 tonic. Sinhalese medical science is derived from the ancient 

 Aryan works of Northern India, and latterly to some extent from 

 Southern India. I have not with me any very old medical work 

 of the Sinhalese. 



I am very much puzzled about the date of the book I refer to. 



At the commencement of the work the author says it was 

 begun in the month of Wesak (May to June) in the sixteenth 

 year of King Buwaneka Bahu. Now there were, it appears, seven 

 kings who bore that name. 



The last king of that name flourished in A.D. 1557, and 

 reigned according to Tumour only eight years. I do not find his 

 name mentioned in the Sinhalese translation of the Mahawansa. 

 The sixth of that name ascended the throne in A.D. 1464, and 

 reigned only eight years. These two kings not having reigned 

 sixteen or more years each, the work could not be attributed to 

 their times. The fifth of that name, beginning from A.D. 1378, 

 appears to have reigned twenty years. The fourth reigned only 

 fourteen years. The time the second and third reigned is not 

 stated. The first reigned only eleven years. 



So that the book must have been composed either in the reigns 

 of the second, third, or the fifth kings of that name. Taking the 

 latest as the safest, it must have been composed in the reign of 

 Buwaneka Bahu V., who reigued from 1378 to 1398 A.D. The 

 tradition, according to the editor's preface, is that the king in 

 whose time the work was composed reigned at Jayawardana 

 Pura, or Kotte. Mr. Tumour says that Buwaneka Bahu the 5th 

 reigned at (Gangasiripura) Gampola. This is a mistake ; for 

 the Mahawansa (chap. 91) distinctly says that Buwaneka Bahu 

 V. built Jayawardana Pura, south of Kelani Pura. 



If the tradition is correct, there could be no doubt that the 

 work was commenced in the reign of this king, because I find 

 that the second and third kings of that name reigned at Kurune- 

 gala, and not at Kotte. 



The sixteenth year of the reign of Buwaneka Bahu V. would 

 be A.D. 1394, and the work I referred to must have been 

 commenced 491 years ago. 



The word i^ds* \miniran~] is also used for talc or mica, but 

 the book in one place qualifies it by saying 2ss<d®&6&$ \kalu 

 miniran\ ' the black miniran, 9 which is no doubt the plumbago of 

 commerce. 



