NO. 43.— 1892,] SIRIVADDHANAPURA. 



213 



Sirivaddhana was described to be, should have been 

 mentioned that once only, and then entirely lost sight of. It 

 seemed to us also improbable that two celebrated places 

 should have borne the same name, and yet that the historian 

 should have not drawn attention to the distinction. I argued 

 further, and the Pandit — looking only hastily at the matter — 

 agreed with me, that the mention of an " ordination " (as it 

 is called in the English) held by the same king in the Maha- 

 veli-ganga showed that he was at Kandy. Both these 

 arguments of mine were founded — as I will show presently 

 — on mistakes. 



At the same time I asked the help of Mr. William 

 Goonetilleke, the learned Editor of the Orientalist. He had 

 not looked into the question, and was still of the old opinion ; 

 but he kindly undertook to search into the matter. 



The result of Mr. Goonetilleke's careful reading of the 

 Mahdwansa, and of his inquiries about the true manuscript 

 authority as to the "eight" or "half," was that he was 

 convinced, and convinced me, that the place in question was 

 not Kandy, but some spot about 7 miles from Dambadeniya. 

 The true reading stated that as the distance, and this agreed 

 much better with the statement that the whole road was sanded 

 and decorated. It was also more probable that Parakrama 

 should have been born near Dambadeniya, where his father 

 lived, than among the mountains of the Central Province. 

 Further, the Mahdwansa, after stating that the tooth was 

 taken in procession to Sirivaddhanapura, goes on to say that it 

 was carried to Polonnaruwa from Dambadeniya ; it had not 

 gone far, therefore, from Dambadeniya : in fact, Sirivaddhana 

 was reckoned with Dambadeniya. Finally, as to the " ordi- 

 nation " in the Mahaveli-ganga, this took place not from Siri- 

 vaddhana, but from Polonnaruwa ; and the exact site of it 

 was Sahassa-tittha, the place still well known as Dastota, 

 about six miles from Polonnaruwa. 



Mr. Goonetilleke's arguments, founded, it will be seen, 

 simply on a careful study of the Mahdwansa itself, con- 

 vinced also the learned Sumangala Terunnanse. 



