100 



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



Henceforth Sigiriya drops altogether out of the Mahd- 

 wansa record, save for a passing allusion to the murder 

 there of King Sarigha Tisa and his son about 608 A.D. 



Too broken and weathered to permit of much of the con- 

 tents being read, the stone has yielded the name of the 

 royal grantor, " Siri Bang Bo" who, from the form of the 

 Sinhalese characters, should be Sena II., so that the existence 

 of a Buddhist temple at Sigiriya as late at least as the 

 beginning of the tenth century is now assured. 



(2) Excavations. 



In pursuance of the plan of work decided on last year 

 (viz., to complete the digging of the Rock citadel before 

 commencing to break ground at its base and elsewhere), the 

 whole force was concentrated on the effort to finally round 

 off, if possible, the excavation of the summit. 



The accompanying " Plan of the summit of Sigiri-gala, 

 1895-1897," explains, by varied colouring, the direction and 

 extent of our annual advance in digging. As pointed out 

 in my first Report — 



The general fall of the ground is from west to east and, less abruptly, 

 from north to south,— doubtless following the slope of the living rock 

 below. This natural declivity was evidently turned to account in the 

 adaptation of the ground for the terraces and buildings which once 

 occupied it. The terraces along the high ground bordering the west 

 edge and stretching inwards to about the axis of the hill fall away 

 very gradually from north to south, as do those from the central 

 pokuna, or pond, to the south and east verge of the Rock. The 

 steepest bank runs longitudinally south from the north end of the 

 Rock, marking the high ground off from the low-level area. The only 

 high bank lying east and west adjoins the Rock's north-east edge.* 



We started in 1895 at the north-east corner, and keeping 

 to the foot of the high ground on the west, worked our way 

 slowly — and, from total ignorance of what to expect, some- 

 what clumsily — down to the brink of the pokuna. 



Last year (1896), strengthened in numbers as well as by 

 the valuable experience gained, far more digging was done, 

 and that cleaner withal. 



* C. A. S. Journal, vol. XIV.. No. 46, 1895. p. 49. 



