*No. 43.— 1892.] 



PROCEEDINGS. 



221 



• of them may or may not be the Sirivaddhanapura in 

 question. But, in my humble opinion, there is not at 

 present satisfactory evidence to support any one of these 

 theories. 



It may perhaps be useful and interesting to know that there 

 is a city in ruins called Sirivaddhanapura, in the Katuwanna 

 Korale of the North- Western Province. But [ am not pre- 

 pared to admit that even this buried city is the Sirivaddhana- 

 pura referred to in chapter LXXXV. of the Mahdwansa. 



The best way, in my opinion, of settling this question is for 

 some [competent] person to visit these and other places in the 

 neighbourhood of Dambadeniya to discover the buried city 

 Sirivaddhanapura , which was situated at a distance of only 

 half a yoduna, or two gaws, from the"ancient capital Damba- 

 deniya, in the North- Western Province. 



Those who have read only the Sinhalese and the English 

 translations of the Mahdwansa, and not the original Pali 

 text, will no doubt be surprised to learn that the distance from 

 Dambadeniya to Sirivaddhanapura is only half a yoduna ; 

 because the Sinhalese translators and the English translator 

 have given the distance in their translations as " eight yodunas 

 and an isba." A yojana, or yoduna, is four gaws, equal to 

 about 12f English miles, and eight yodun exceed 100 

 English miles. 



According to the Pali text of the Mahdwansa the distance 

 from Dambadeniya to Sirivaddhanapura is half a yoduna. 

 The Pali text may appear to be a little ambiguous as to whether 

 the distance is " half a yoduna " or " half a yoduna and an 

 isba." I will quote the passage :— 



The distance given in the Pali text is " half a yoduna and 

 an isba in length and breadth." The writer of the 

 Mahdwansa here speaks of the road from Dambadeniya 

 to Sirivaddhanapura made by King Pandita Parakrama 

 Bahu III. The correct rendering of the Pali text is that 

 " the length (of the road) is half a yoduna, and its breadth 

 an isba " which is equal to 20 yatas, or poles of 7 cubits 

 each (140 cubits). This stands to reason and agrees with the 

 Pali Text. 



The distance of the road or street given by the Sinhalese 

 translators and the English translator of the Mahdwansa is 

 eight yojanas and an isba in length and breadth. To suppose 

 that the road was 100 miles in length and breadth is absurd 

 in the extreme, and the more so when the Mahdwansa says 

 that that road was made level "like the eye (face) of a 

 drum, and was covered with sand." 



