No. 47.— 1896.] 



RIDI VIHARE. 



123 



grounds around it into a large park, containing many ponds, and 

 adorned them with divers trees and creeping trees that bear flowers, 

 and trees that bear fruit and the like. And in this monastery he 

 caused the sons of Buddha to take up their abode, and earnestly 

 exh orted them to conform their behaviour to the doctrines and 

 precepts of religion. And this place, which was restored by the 

 auth ority of the king, was the resort of great saints, and was had in 

 great honour by the ancient rulers of Lanka. An when the great king 

 had heard thereof, he ordained that the boundary of the vihare should 

 be the same as had already been defined (by the priest) ; and he 

 offered the land thereto, and increased all the ceremonial offerings and 

 alms to the priesthood in this vihare and thus gained a store of merit. 



And the king, who was endued with faith and other virtues, wor- 

 shipped at the Rajata- vihare also and acquired much merit. 



Having long heard of the fame of the temple library, 

 the late Maha Mudaliyar L. de Zoyza paid a visit thither, with 

 a view to report thereon, and was greatly disappointed with 

 the small number of manuscripts found there, among which, 

 however, he came across some rare ones. 



The books are contained in a wooden box, curiously painted 

 and set with what appears to be precious stones. There are 

 three Pitakas and their ancient Atthakathas, or commentaries. 

 These works are superbly got up. The boards are composed 

 of plates of ivory exquisitely carved, and either set with 

 precious stones or ornamented with flowers of gold. 



Among other curious objects is a gold pdtra, or begging 

 bowl, some short manuscripts executed on silver plates, and 

 a manuscript on ola written in the smallest Sinhalese 

 characters possible. The box, the ornamented books, and 

 the gold vessel were, it is said, the gifts of King Kirti Sri. 



Deposited in this box are also copies of Childers' Pali 

 Dictionary (presented by the Ceylon Government) and 

 Miiller's Ancient Inscriptions of Ceylon. 



The incumbent, if in good humour, exhibits to the visitor, 

 with pardonable pride, a gaudily worked cushion, the cover 

 of which consists of pieces of variegated cloth stitched 

 together. This wonderful cushion, it is alleged, was used by 

 King Dutugemunu and his successors to recline on when 

 they came to the temple to pray. 



