No. 44. — 1893.] epic of parakrama. 



n 



drop of the water that the rain supplies should go to the ocean with- 

 out bringing help to man. Except those places where the mines are 

 of gems and silver and such-like precious things, in every other spot 

 provision must be made for maintaining fields. Not to live for the 

 people's good, but merely to enjoy the good things that have come 

 to our hand, — such a life is utterly unfit for men like me ! 



And again — 



Let there not stand in my realm in any spot whatever even the 

 space of one small plot of ground that is not of use. 



He had unbounded confidence in the capacity of human 

 skill to redeem the desert into garden ground, and inspired 

 his ministers with the same. 



Meanwhile he was collecting stores, and by the sale of 

 gems (for the gem-producing part of the country was in his 

 dominion) he was accumulating money ; and he was train- 

 ing soldiers and captains. He was evidently convinced that 

 the hope of a restored national unity lay in the training of 

 native troops ; he knew how ruinous was the system, which 

 had come very largely into use, of depending on Velakkara or 

 mercenary troops from among the Tamils (as their title 

 Velakkara shows) and other races of the continent. Our 

 author does not expressly state this, but he represents his 

 hero as a Sinhalese to the backbone, who always preferred 

 the homeborn to the foreign. Of this the striking episode 

 of the Sinhalese sword is an illustration, though it occurs 

 at a later period of Parakrama's career. 



Again and again, with that prudence which the author 

 delights to extol, side by side with his impetuous bravery, 

 the king counted up his resources in men and material, and 

 decided that the time for movement was not come ; but at 

 last it did come, and he entered on the great career of con- 

 quest. That career was not exhausted by the attainment of 

 his immediate object, for after he had subdued the north of 

 his own Island and erected his royal canopy over all Lanka, 

 he had many rebellions at home to quell, and he carried 

 his victorious arms, we are told, to the continent of India, and 

 even to the far shores of Araccan. 



