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



373 



soldiers a sack 1 , and one day in the daybreak watch he went 

 and attacked it ; and although they met with great resistance 

 they entered it at the cost of the lives of many of the enemy, 

 and the captain-major ordered it to be set fire to in several 

 parts, whereby the greater part was consumed, after the 

 soldiers had sacked what seemed best to them, and inside it 

 they burnt three very handsome pagodes and a house full of 

 cinnamon, and captivated one hundred and ten persons, and 

 burnt a vessel of three hundred candis that was in the river. 

 Having done this, they returned to the vessels, without having 

 lost more than one soldier, for whom no one in the fleet could 

 account, nor was it known if he had been killed, or if he had 

 remained in the houses in order to loot 2 . 



And as our people continued victorious, they were not 

 willing that there should escape the pagode of Tanavar 3 half a 

 league from this city, the most celebrated and most resorted 

 to by pilgrims of all in the island, excepting that of Adam's 

 Peak 4 , the which in structure resembled a beautiful city, 

 having a circuit of a full league 5 . The body of this pagode 

 was very great, all vaulted above, with much workmanship, 

 and around it many most beautiful chapels, and above the 

 principal gateway it had a very high and strong tower, with 

 the roof all of copper gilt in many parts, the which stood in 

 the midst of a square cloister, very beautifully and finely 

 wrought, with its verandas and terraces, and in each square 

 a handsome gateway for its entrance, and all around was full 

 of flower-pots, delicate flowers, and fragrant herbs for their 

 pagode 6 to enjoy himself with when they drew him in proces- 

 sion 7 along that way. This pagode has within the enclosure 

 very fine streets, in which live persons of every occupation, 

 and the chief of these is of women dedicated to the service of 



1 The printed edition has " surfeit." 



2 We shall hear of him again at the end of the chapter. 



3 In printed edition "Tanaverem." 4 Cf. supra, V. vi, iii. (p. 118). 

 6 See supra, p. 33, note 3 . The description that follows is of. 



value. in view of the destruction of this famous temple. A comparison 

 of this description with that in the Paravisande'sa, which depicts 

 the place as it appeared in the first half of the fifteenth century (see 

 Alwis's Des. Cat. 219), would be of interest. Ibn Batuta, who visited 

 Ddndra in 1344, gives a very meagre description of the temple, probably 

 because of his being a Musalman (see C. A. S. Jl. 1882, Extra No. 55-6). 



6 Here the word pagode is applied to the idol (in this case that of 

 Vishnu), the Portuguese and other old writers using it in both senses 

 (see Hob. -Job. s.v. " Pagoda "). 



7 Towards the end of the chapter the car in which the idol was drawn 

 about is described. 



