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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XI. 



The Buddhists go regularly to worship at this temple, and 

 on festivals the concourse is large. 



In 1880, on the land belonging to the vihare having been 

 reported to be Crown property, an inquiry was held, and 

 after investigation the then Agent recommended to Govern- 

 ment that the planted portion be allowed to the resident 

 priest of the vihare, who petitioned that the premises 

 would be bereft of their character of Araniya slhdnaya if 

 alienated. Accordingly, a certificate of quiet possession 

 was issued to the incumbent of the temple under section 

 7 of the Ordinance No. 12 of 1840, and the rest of the land, 

 to which the applicant priest's claim was not acknow- 

 ledged, was declared to be Crown property, but ordered not 

 to be sold. 



KURUMINIYA-GALA, "BEETLE ROCK," 



is so called after its supposed resemblance in shape to the 

 back of a beetle. The name of the town has been by some 

 derived from this rock, owing, it is said, to the vihare of the 

 place having stood on it, and the dhdtu having been con- 

 cealed under the cover of this rock, but, as has been pointed 

 out, the etymology is traced to other and different sources. 



According to the Kurunegala Vistaraya, below this rock 

 stood the royal treasury {Malm gabaddva), the dimension — 

 probably the length — of which is given as eighty cubits ; and 

 twelve fathoms from it stood the sleeping palace of the 

 king (Setapena Mdligdwa), from which it was thirty-five 

 fathoms to Ibba-gala and twenty fathoms to the great 

 stone wall (mahd tdppe, or dddra bemma), probably a 

 battery on the west. 



Anda-oala, "Eel Eock." 



This rock, tradition has it, originally formed one unbroken 

 chain with Eta-gala, Ibba-gala, and Kuruminiya-gala. King 

 Panduvasa, second king of Ceylon, who reigned at Panduvas 

 Nuwara (a city founded by him, and said to have been near 

 Hettipola, about twenty-four miles from Kurunegala), was 



