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



earlier chapters;* and this which follows on the record of 

 Parakrama's acts of secret policy, when he was spying out 

 the country which he intended afterwards to conquer : 



Thus do all the endeavours of beings endued with the power of 

 meritorious deeds heaped up in former births meet with no hindrance, 

 but are crowned with success. Let, therefore, the prudent man take 

 this to heart, and become diligent in the performance of good deeds. f 



In some places (as at the end of chapter LXY.) the moral is 

 conspicuous by its absence. On the other hand, records of 

 Hindu customs and ceremonies are frequent. 



I have already had occasion to sketch very briefly the 

 narrative of the hero's youth, and although there are lines 

 here and there which rise quite to the level of poetry, — in the 

 description, for instance, of the reception of the elephant by 

 Queen Lilavati, and of the gladness of nature at the prince's 

 birth, — it is not until we come to his resolution to quit the 

 pleasures of his uncle's court that we meet with a passage 

 which lends itself to quotation.J The prince had been 

 considering how little men of high station especially ought 

 to value life, in comparison with glory that cannot die. 

 He called to mind not only the exploits recorded in the 

 Ummagga JdtaJca, but those of Rama and of the heroes of the 

 Maliabliarata, and that of the Brahman by whom the royal 

 race of Magadha was raised to power. " All these," he cried,, 

 in verses which in the original are of remarkable eloquence : 



All these great deeds, though the doers are here no longer, are famous 

 in the world to this very day. Life is worth living to those who have 

 the capacity to achieve a rare and surpassing career like theirs. For 

 me, born in Kshatriya race, if I do not something worthy of Kshatriya 

 heroism, vain will my life be. They were blest, it is true, with times 

 far more favourable ; but in wisdom and all other gifts why should 

 they be better than me ? 



To understand the purpose to which the young prince was 

 devoting himself we must glance at the condition of Ceylon 

 at that time. 



* Mahdwansa, chap. XLVIII., 160. 



t Ibid, chap. LXVL, 158. + Ibid, chap. LXIV., 39 et seq. 



