No. 43.— 1892.] 



PROCEEDINGS. 



219 



In chapter LXXXIX. we read that he built a palace for 

 these relics near his own royal residence and placed them 

 there, and then, after Polonnaruwa was cleared of the enemy, 

 the relics were taken thither by himself and his son [Bosat] 

 Vijaya Bahu, from Dambadeniya, and not from Kandy. 



It is said in the chapter LXXXV. of the Mahdwansa that 

 the king's birthplace was Sirivaddhanapura. That the cur- 

 rent name of this place was Nanbambara is quite clear from 

 the Dambadeni As?ia . The following are the words : — 



Tavada bohodenatat pin puravanu pinisa tama upan Nanbambara 

 sita Dambadeniyata satara gavuvak ten pululin visi riyanak ten da 

 bheri talayak men tana kalu veli piya sudii veli atuta vaduven pas 

 riyanakata pili toranak da * * ° visituru kota tuii masak dalada 

 puja karana lesata rajahu vidhana karannahaya. 



" Moreover, in order to fill many with merits he made the space 

 between Nanbambara, wherein he was born, and Dambadeniya, a 

 distance of four gavs and in width twenty cubits, like unto the face 

 of a drum, and removing the black sand covered it with white sand, 

 and erecting a cloth arch at the distance of five cubits, ° f ° and 

 having thus decorated it, the king ordered offerings to be made to the 

 tooth-relic during three months." 



The Avords satara gavuvak, " four gavs," here seem to be 

 a clerical error for atara gavuvak. Had it been the former 

 the author would have written yodunak, as four gavs make 

 one yoduna. 



According to the same authority, when he was crowned in 

 1824 A.B.* he was surnamed Nanbambara Kalikdla Sangita 

 Sahitya Sarvajna Pandita Pardkrama Bahu, where it 

 is said — 



Buddha varshayen ek dahas atasiya su vissakvu awurudu vap magul 

 karana dinayehi Nanbambara Kalikala Sangita Sahitya Sarvajna Pandita 

 Parakrama Bahu nam Maharaja yayi kiya otunu pelanda rajjaya 

 karana samayehi. 



" On the day of the shaving or sowing feast in the year of Buddha 

 1824, having been crowned as Nanbambara Kalikala Sangita Sahitya 

 Sarvajna Pandita Parakrama Bahu Maha Raja, and whilst he was 

 reigning." 



* This date is evidently a mistake. It is perhaps the date of his second 

 coronation. 



[The crux how to reconcile the date as found in the Dambadeni Asna with 

 those given by other authorities for the accession of Parakrama Bahu II. — 

 which has puzzled Messrs. Nevill and Ranasinghe — is solved by the 

 Attanagaluwansa (chap. XI., p. 4), a work on good grounds supposed to have 

 been composed in this reign. (See Alwis' edition, Introduction, CLXXV. ff.) 

 It is there stated that Parakrama Bahu was inaugurated king, in the 1824th 

 year — not from the parinirvana in 543 B.C., but from " the enlightenment " 

 of Buddha, which works out to [1824-45 A.B. = 1779-543 =] 1236 a.d. 

 (See " Report on the Kegalla District," Sessional Paper XIX., 1892, p. 77.) — 

 ;B., Hon. Sec.'] 



F 2 



