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



The " Potgul Vehera " and its appurtenant ruins form one 

 monastery, and were doubtless connected with the granite-cut 

 ascetic (commonly misnamed Bang Parakrama Bahu) and small 

 dagaba, about two hundred yards to the north, where some work 

 was done in 1904. 



These ruins and the adjoining rock-hewn figure (11 ft. 6 in. 

 in height) were briefly alluded to in the " Summary of Operations " 

 for that year. 



" South of the statue some two hundred yards, and within its 

 direct purview, is situated a unique ruin now known as the 

 ' Potgul Vehera ' or ' Library Dagaba.' The chief feature is its 

 circular back room, once domed, on the interior wall of which 

 still exist traces of painting. 



" This part of the ruin was gutted some years ago by villagers 

 working under the orders of a Kandyan Chief, since deceased ; 

 and has been left exposed to the very foundations."* 



Excavations were this year (1906) begun from the back, round 

 the outside of the circular portion of the building, and gradually 

 carried north and south along the rectangular vestibule which 

 unites with the " rotunda " on the east front. 



The outer face of the ruin was found to be embellished by 

 pilasters and a series of false altars with niches above a moulded 

 basement. 



The ornamentation is in lime stucco, as at " Thuparama'' and 

 " Jetawanarama;" but simpler. There is an entire absence of 

 those elaborate zoophorous band-courses (dwarfs, lions, hansas, 

 &c. ) to be seen at the larger shrines. On the whole the mouldings , 

 &c, are well preserved. 



The back room of the structure was originally domed in the 

 overlapping style of brick and mortar work, of which the vaulted 

 roof of " Thuparama " Vihare furnishes a still existing example. 

 The walls are even now sixteen feet high in places, and exhibit 

 clearly at top the bellying shape they assumed from the spring 

 of the dome. 



What is left of the painting on the wall inside shows faint 

 signs of flowers, &c. 



Through a breach made in the circular wall, the room had 

 been dug out by treasure seekers down to its foundations 3 ffc; 

 6 in. below the stone sill of the only entrance from the vesti- 

 bule, a doorway now choked with debris* Its real object is, 

 therefore, unascertainable. 



The " Potgul Vehera " stood on a rectangular maluwa, or 

 terrace, stretching about 43 yards by 37, approached on the 

 east. Its revetment still displays remains of a series of fronting 

 elephant caryatides in bas-relief. 



At each of the four corners of the maluwa is a diminutive 

 pseudo -dagaba. These definitely fix the ruins as Buddhistic, not 

 Hindu, though not a vestige of any images has been unearthed. f 



* C. A. S. Journal, vol. XVIII., No. 56, 1905, p. 339. 

 f Confirmed by a short inscription of Chandavati, chief queen to 

 Parakrama Bahu, cut on a fallen door jamb. 



