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JOUKNAL, K.A.S. (CEYLON). [Vol. X. 



the inscription referred to a Solar race and a Lunar race of kings. The 

 river Ganges, as we have seen, was similarly deified, and it is very likely 

 that there existed a royal race in the neighbourhood of the Ganges 

 which went by the name of Gangd-vansa, and that Nissarika Malla's 

 queen Kalyana Maha Devi was one of them. 



I do not see how Gangd-vansa could be used for the Dhoby caste or 

 the Paduwa caste, and Nissanka Malla was too proud a prince to marry 

 any one not of a royal race : for we read in his inscription at Dalada 

 Mandirava, in Polonnaruwa, the advice which he gave to his subjects, 

 not to give the kingdom of Ceylon to Chola or Kerala, or princes of 

 other countries which were non-Buddhistical. Not even the men of the 

 " Govi tribe," says he, should be raised to the throne. In the absence 

 of princes, he says, one of the queens should be chosen to the 

 kingdom ; some other caste may emulate the conduct of the kings, yet 

 it certainly will not meet with respect, but only with ridicule. From 

 this it is evident that this high-minded prince could not have married 

 even one of the Govi tribe, much less a Dhoby or Paduwa caste woman. 



Since writing the above I have found conclusive proof that there 

 existed in India a dynasty which went by the name Gangd-vansa. In 

 Rajendralal Mitra's " Antiquities of Orissa" (ancient Odra), vol. I., 

 page 4, the following passage occurs : — " Traces are not wanting to show 

 that during the ascendency of the Gangd-vansa princes their kingdom 

 embraced Gour on the one side and the whole, or at least a part, of 

 Karnata on the other." Again, at page 110, vol. II., he says : "Puru- 

 sh6ttama Deva, who next to Ananga Bhema was perhaps the most 

 distinguished and successful prince of the Gangd-vansa line, devoted 

 much attention to the worship of the divinity, and called himself, like 

 his predecessors, the ' Sweeper of the Sacred Temple.' " 



Marshman, in his " History of India," says that the Kesari family 

 obtained the throne of Orissa, and held it till 1131 a.d. : they were 

 succeeded by the line of Gungu Bunsu [Gariga-vansa according to 

 Marshman's mode of spelling Indian words], who maintained their 

 power till it was subverted by the Muhammadans in 1568. 



Balfour's " Cyclopaedia of India," p. 256, contains the following :— 

 "Ganga-vansa' } or Gugu ptitee [i.e., Gagapati, meaning the chief of the 

 Ganges], a dynasty that ruled in Orissa from about the twelfth century." 



It would hence appear that Nissanka Malla reigned in Ceylon at the 

 time when the princes of Ganga-vansa dynasty were holding the reins of 



* Marshman, "History of India," page 23, third edition. 



