NO. 45.— 1894.] ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE WANNl. 



173 



nearly at the top four old copper coins in a very perfect state of 

 preservation, with characters so distinct that if the language be now 

 in existence some notion may be formed of the date of the remains of 

 the ancient works. 



He adds — 



I should strongly recommend them [archaeologists] to go to 

 Kompanammalai before it is too late. When the [proposed] road is 

 opened these remains will no longer be protected, as they appear to 

 have been for ages by its position in the depths of the jungle.* 



At Savarattuveli, in Karikkaddumulai South, Mr. Nevill 

 saw a ruined temple with a pond near it, and " the basement 

 of a palace or temple close to the houses at Kaddutadda- 

 malai" in the same division — pillars, slabs, stones, and 

 bricks scattered here and there. f 



A hill formed of bricks and stones at Virattucholai,. 

 also in Karikaddumulai South, marks the site of another 

 temple. 



In Karikkaddumulai North there are ruins and a broken 

 statue at Putankulam near Tanniyuttu, and an ancient tank 

 at Kanukkeni, badly breached. 



The Kumarapuram temple, a comparatively modern 

 structure, though now in ruins, need not be described here, 

 as it has received as much attention as it deserves already 

 in this Journal 4 The Putukkudiyiruppu division has a 

 similar ruin called Kuravil-kovil, about eight miles from the 

 village of Putukkudiyiruppu. It consists merely of a heap 

 of bricks with a circular stone on top of it. 



In the extreme north of Karunavalpattu, at Putumurip- 

 pukulam — 



The remains of a Buddhist monastery are to be seen in the tract 

 below the tank. Judging by the dimensions of the bricks used in the 

 dagaba the settlement seems to have been of early date. So far as I 

 am aware this monastery is the most northern ruin to which a Sinha- 

 lese origin can be attributed. It is only 8 or 9 miles from Elephant 

 Pass.§ 



* Diary of June 9, 1847. 



f Diary of January 20, 1889. 



J Vol. II., Appendix, p. cvi ; Monthly Literary Register, vol. I., p. 270. 

 § Sessional Papers, 1886, page 465. 



