No. 34. — 1887.] 



POLONNARUWA. 



49 



the names of his queens at full length, and the name of one 

 of them is transliterated by Dr. Miiller* Ganga wamga 

 kalyana Mali a Dewin wahanse. Now, in the first place, this 

 is the only passage out of all Nissarika Malla's inscriptions 

 in which a caste title is added to the personal name of a 

 queen or princess ; therefore it looks as if some importance 

 attached to the caste in question. Dr. Miiller, however, 

 passes it by without question. But the interpretation of 

 the words Ganga-vansa is not easy. The Ganga-vansa 

 minissu are the washers of the Oliya caste, who are not only 

 a low caste, but come below the Paduvo and Berawayo, and 

 are the only caste who will carry the pingoes of the smiths. 

 It is hardly likely that a king of such strict aristocratic 

 ideas as Nissarika Malla not only married a woman of a 

 very low caste, but made the fact patent to all the world on 

 his great " Galpota" 



After carefully examining the word, I am of opinion 

 that the word is not Ganga, but Gaha, and if so, 

 Gahavansa would stand for Gowi-vama, or "the Vellala 

 caste." The question depends upon the presence or absence 

 of the sannoga symbol before the second <ao. The local 

 pandit, who has had considerable experience in reading 

 sannas of this period, fancies he can detect it, and no 

 doubt Dr. Miiller thought so too. I maintain that the so- 

 called 2D is written quite differently from an undoubted <2$> 

 that comes a few words later, and that the appearance of the 

 sannoga symbol is caused by a slight slip of the graving 

 tool. If it is allowable to read Gaha-vansa, meaning the 

 Vellala caste, some light is possibly thrown upon the inscrip- 

 tion by the same king near the Da]ada Mandiraya,f of which 

 two other copies have been found this year, testifying to the 

 importance which the king attached to its contents. In it 

 he urges the impropriety of allowing the Gowi-vansa 

 to aspire to the sovereignty, and the advisability of securing 



* Ancient Inscriptions of Ceylon, p. 97, B (2) (3). f Miiller, op. rib., p. 100. 

 48—88 E 



