NO. 44. — 1893.] KURUNEGALA VISTARAYA. 



47 



Irugal Bandara was so called owing to his having been 

 born by the queen who was born out of the flower Dunuke- 

 mala growing in the garden Dunuke-waita, and begotten of 

 the Sun. 



Kirimuna* received its name from the circumstance of 

 milk having flowed out of the rock standing in that village 

 for the use of the child. 



Mahdkeliya, formerly Manakiriya. 



Irugal Bandara lived on Natagenakanda. 



Devagedara is so called from the construction of the tank. 



The Prince Idirimana Kumaraya resided at Bogoda. 



Palanay Kumaraya above Kelimuna. 



Irugal Bandara, whilst reigning at Miindakonclapola- 

 nuwara, sent for his mother, the queen, who was in 

 Kurunegala, and having stopped the Sun in its course, an 

 alms-giving was made, when Navagattarala, by the aid of 

 the trained soldiers, massacred Irugal Bandara, who fell a 

 victim to their sword. f Owing to this circumstance the 

 people of Dewameda are considered disloyal. 



The event was commemorated by the erection of a stone 

 pillar, which was intended as a sign to prohibit the employ- 

 ment of men of this district in the service of the court. 



The Navagatta man was tried and hanged for this 

 demeanour at Eukattana. Of his accomplices, the Dikvehera 

 man was impaled, the Ratkaravuwa man was tied to two 

 posts brought near to each other, and torn asunder by the 

 cords which bound the posts being severed. 



Since then Mundakondapola has been abandoned. 



* Modern Kelimuna. 



f Irugal Bandara was a powerful and independent prince, and tradition 

 says that the king was jealous of the power and influence exercised by 

 him. Accordingly a band of ruffians was employed to assassinate him. 

 While the prince was preparing to bathe in the tank near Bandaraltoswatta 

 he was slain by one of the assassins with his own sword. The head on 

 being severed is said to have fallen on the rock, which formed part of the 

 bund, and the rock was rent asunder. Owing to the circumstance 

 the rock is called Pattaragala. Bandarakoswatta (which Casie Chitty 

 translates as 4 the king's jak tree grove ") was the place where Robert 

 Knox and his father lived until the latter died. 



