No. 60. — 1908.] couto : history of ceylon. 139 



This city is very large 1 , and is situated amidst four moun- 

 tain ranges, and this same Matual river (which by another name 

 is called the Calane) divides it in the midst 2 , which comes from 

 the confines of the kingdom of Candea. On the south side 

 on an eminence is the king's palace, which is built in the form 

 of a handsome fortress, with its walls very thick and strong, 

 and one ascends to it by twenty very wide and large steps. 

 The fortress is square, and in each side it has three gates for 

 service ; on this side lies half the city, and on the other to the 

 north the other half ; and in this part is the most superb and 

 sumptuous pagode 3 that exists in the whole island, which is 

 dedicated to an idol of theirs called Paramisura 4 . The archi- 

 tecture of this pagode is strange 5 , and it is asserted that nearly 

 twenty years were expended on it, more than two thousand 

 workmen being employed on it continuously. 



Our people having entered the city, the king took up his 

 residence in his brother's palace, where he found many valu- 

 ables ; and Dom Jorge de Crasto with his soldiers in that part 

 of the city, which was put to the sack by our men, who found 

 much gold, drugs, and wares of all sorts, with which they 

 loaded themselves well. Then they passed over to the other 

 side, and did the same, without touching the pagodes, as Dom 

 Jorge de Crasto had ordered them for the sake of the king of 

 Cota, who sent and placed guards over them 6 . And the king's 

 people were the ones that stole most, because like house rob- 

 bers they dug and disinterred much treasure. Madune, who 

 had retired to the mountains of Dinavaca, seeing himself 

 beaten and routed, and his brother master of his city, thought 

 to employ his guile, and sent to the king his brother and to 

 Dom Jorge de Crasto his ambassadors, who entered Ceitavaca 

 and were conducted to the king, who heard them in the 

 presence of Dom Jorge de Crasto 7 . 



1 Compare what follows with Bell's Rep. on Keg. Dist. 62-5, and 

 the sketch plan there given. 



2 It was actually the Sitavaka-gahga, a tributary of the Kelani-ganga, 

 that divided the city. 



3 The Berendi Kovil (see Bell's Rep. 63-5 and plates). 



4 Paramesvara (supreme lord), a title of Siva, of whom Mayadunne 

 was a worshipper. 



5 Or " foreign." As a fact, Berendi Kovil is modified Dravidian in 

 style (see Bell's Rep. 65). 



6 The Berendi Kovil was not so fortunate in the following year, when 

 the avaricious viceroy D. Affonso de Noronha entered Sitavaka (see 

 infra, p. 152). 



7 The Rajavaliya is silent regarding this embassy. 



