68 JOUKNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). X. 



of Cambodia ; while there is a general consent that the Cambodians 

 came from India. If this were so, it seems certain that it was not 

 from the east coast that they migrated. As pointed out above, it 

 seems certain that the Indians who introduced Buddhism and Buddhist 

 architecture into Java certainly went from G-uzerat, or the countries 

 on the west coast. This seems undoubted, and there is no greater 

 improbability of a migration from the Indus to Cambodia than of one 

 from Guzerat to Java. Ceylon was always addicted to snake-worship, 

 and may have formed a halfway house. On the other hand, it is by 

 no means improbable that the communication may have taken place 



b>ehind the Himalayas All this will require careful elaboration 



hereafter. 



Now, there are four facts which appear to me to throw 

 light on this problem, and to make it more than probable 

 that Ceylon was the " halfway house " which Fergusson 

 suspects it may have been. 



(1) The fact is elicited from this inscription that one of the 

 city gates of Polonnaruwa was called " the Kamboja gate : " 

 }3ossibly, surely, from its being situated on the side from 

 which the exiles entered, or by which the emigrants left ? 



(2) A curious fact is mentioned in Nissanka Malla's 

 inscription at the Ruwanweli Dagaba, Anuradhapura, viz., 

 that when that king visited the famous shrine, he not only 

 gave security (abhayadi) to all animals within seven gaiv 

 of it, and to the fish in the twelve large tanks, but he also 

 gave security to the birds in the following manner : he 

 presented the Kambodyans with gold, cloth, and other accep- 

 table gifts, and ordered them not to kill birds ! Dr. Miiller 

 makes no comment whatever on this passage, which is either 

 a very strange omission, or else shows that the matter was too 

 well known to archaeologists to require explanation. I am 

 unable even to guess why the Kambodians should have been 

 specially addicted to killing birds. Perhaps a better acquain- 

 tance with Kashmir or Kambodia might throw some light on 

 this ; but there can be no doubt that here is a second 

 allusion to the people — as residents of Anuradhapura - who 

 gave their name to one of the gates of Pulastipura. 



