No. 36.— 1888.] MEDAMAHANUWAKA. 



319 



I conceive to mean "the niche at which Prince Kumarasinha 

 lights his lamp, and worships," madam signifying " a small 

 hole in a wall to keep lamps," used especially with reference 

 to Hindu temples and worship, and teyyd being a translation 

 of the Sinhalese deviyo, the ordinary appellation arrogated by 

 the reigning monarchs and independent princes of the royal 

 blood. 



The inscription was no doubt the work of a Brahmin priest 

 from Southern India. Not only the characters and words, 

 but also the form of the sinha, strongly suggest a Tamil 

 origin, and as it is probable that Brahmins officiated at the 

 dewalas patronised by royalty, the foreign character of the 

 inscription is easily accounted for, the Brahmin caste having 

 no representatives amongst the natives of Ceylon. I think 

 it well to point out, as a mistake might easily arise, that the 

 name of Madamewatta contains no reference to the madam of 

 the inscription, but was so called from its having been the 

 place of residence of the priests of the Pattini and Kataragama 

 Dewales, and apparently of the Buddhist priests attached to 

 the neighbouring Vihare (Sinhalese mddama, Tamil madam). 



The only Kumarasinha who figures in the Sinhalese annals 

 was the prince of Uva. He was the son of Vimala Dharmma 

 by Dona Catharina, whose strange eventful history is well 

 known. After Vimala Dharmma's death, his brother Senarat 

 became the husband of Dona Catharina and the guardian 

 of the young Kumarasinha, and before his death divided 

 the kingdom into three parts, assigning Uva to Kumarasinha. 

 There seems no reason to doubt that this is the personage to 

 whom the inscription refers. 



If the hypothesis is correct, it affords some ground for sup- 

 posing that Medamahanuwara may have belonged to the old 

 principality of Uva — a conclusion which derives support from 

 the fact, that the principality is known to have embraced the 

 strip of territory below the Galpadihela between the hills 

 and the left bank of the Mahaweli-ganga which now forms 

 the boundary between the Central and Uva Provinces. 



The Vidiya of Medamahanuwara is, as its name denotes, 



