NO. 40.— 1890.] KURUNEGALA ROCKS. 



411 



cutlasses, tridents, and other antique and rusty weapons 

 ordinarily used by Kapurdlas, and which are called into 

 requisition on Wednesdays and Saturdays, when particular 

 ceremonies take place. 



At the entrance to the vihare, on the right, under a mon- 

 strous boulder of rock, is a long chamber, the whole length 

 of which is occupied by an incomplete image of Buddha in 

 a recumbent position. The decorations of the entrance to 

 the chamber, too, are unfinished. On the left there is a 

 smaller chamber partitioned off from the larger one by a 

 mud wall. Facing the doorway sits a figure of Buddha, about 

 four feet high, under a makara torana. Two figures stand on 

 either side, and are of about the same height. Two more in 

 a sitting attitude, also about the same height, face each other 

 from the right and left walls. Rahat priests are painted 

 all over the bare and unoccupied portions of the walls. A 

 long wooden table stands opposite the principal image, for 

 the offering of flowers. Over the heads of the side figures 

 are paintings of the bo-tree, rudely executed. On the roof 

 is a painting of Buddha, whose head is surmounted by a bo- 

 tree. Surrounding it on all sides are Maraya and his puis- 

 sant army. Mahi Kantava, with a golden pot on her head, is 

 depicted below. This is the bust of a woman, who, it is said, 

 emerged from the earth, coming out as far as the waist, on 

 Buddha stretching out his hand towards her. On the left 

 wall is a picture of the Sri-pdda, and the outside walls are 

 bare, and, unlike other less richly endowed temples, contain 

 no paintings or figures in relief. 



From Gonigala, Dig-gala stretches its length along till 

 it terminates at Radd-ul-kada — a village so called from 

 the circumstance that a dhoby was there impaled, during the 

 time of the Kandyan kings, for a capital offence. Bainbara- 

 gala, so called in consequence of the numerous hives 

 of [large] bees to be found on it, occupies the interval 

 between it and Yakdessd-gala, which forms the last link of 

 the chain. 



8—93 h 



