No. 47.— 1896.] 



ANCIENT CEYLON. 



127 



" Sire, by this ceremony of abhiselca all the people of the Brahmin 

 race make thee their Maharaja for their protection. Do thou rule 

 over the land in uprightness, and imbued with the ten royal virtues. 

 Have thou for the Brahmin race a heart filled with paternal love and 

 solicitude. Let them (in return) protect, and guard, and cherish thee." 



Next, he who holds the office of Setthi,* attired in a suitable manner, 

 taking in both his hands a golden chank filled with Ganges water, and 

 raising it aloft, pours the abhiselca water over his head, and says as 

 follows : — 



" Sire, by this ceremony of abhiselca all the Grahapati^ for their 

 protection, make -thee their Maharaja. Do thou rule over the land in 

 uprightness and imbued with the ten royal virtues. Have thou for 

 the Grahapati a heart filled with paternal love and solicitude. Let 

 fchem (in return) protect, and guard, and cherish thee." 



Those who address the above form of words pronounce, as it were, 

 a curse upon the king, as if they should say : — 



" It is meet that thou shouldst rule the land in accordance with 

 these our words. Should it not be so, mayest thy head split in seven 

 pieces." 



In this Island of Lanka be it known that a Kshatriya princess, sent 

 by Dhammasoka, performed the ceremony of abhiseha over the head 

 of Devanampiyatissa| with a right-handed sea-chank filled with water 

 from lake Anotatta.§ Previous to this no such ceremony was known 

 (in Lanka). 



It would thus appear that the king in these ancient times 

 was regarded less in the light of a ruling despot than in 

 that of the chief representative and leader of the people. 

 Himself a Kshatriya, he was the leader of that noble race. 

 To him was committed the care of the priestly Brahmins, 

 and to him was entrusted the welfare of the rest of his sub- 

 jects. As regards the latter, the fact that their spokesman 

 was the most influential of the Grahapati confirms the 

 theory propounded by Sir Henry Maine and others, and shows 

 that ancient Ceylon formed no exception to the rule that 

 in all archaic society the unit of the state was the family r 

 not the individual. 



It would also appear from the above extract that the 

 introduction of the abhiseka ceremony into Ceylon was 



* Setthi, a wealthy merchant, the treasurer. 



f Gahapati, head of a household, pater familias. 



% Circa 305 B.C. 



§ Name of one of the seven great lakes of the Ganges. 



