No. 54.— 1903.] 
OLA GRANTS. 
15 
18. — Paraveni. Ancestral property, or land given to be possessed 
by the recipient and his descendants for ever. 
Id.—Madisungan. Duty levied on tavalam cattle while crossing 
ferries. 
20. — No head of cattle belonging to Sultan Kuttiya could be taken 
by any one for any kind of service,'"' nor seized for trespass. 
6. W. F. GUNAWARDHANA, Mudaliyar, said he unfortunately had 
not had the opportunity of seeing copies of the original sannas until 
that day, and then only for a short time. 
The first of these sannas bore the date Saka 1553, Sunday, the 
thirteenth day of the waning moon of the month of Yesak. He had 
looked into Sir Alexander Cunningham's " Table of Dates." According 
to that work the " thirteenth day of the waning moon of the month 
of Yesak in the year of Saka 1553" fell not on a Sunday, but on a 
Wednesday ; so that there was a discrepancy. The writing, too, of the 
sannasa^ of which he had seen a facsimile copy, did not appear to him to 
be the writing of the Sinhalese of the seventeenth century. He did 
not, therefore, think that this could be a genuine sannasa. Perhaps, 
if he saw the original, he might have reason to change his opinion. 
As to the second sannasa^ he thought there was a good deal to say 
on the side of its genuineness. The writing did look like the writing 
of the seventeenth century. Further, the document seemed to be 
not of a kind to be forged for any purpose ; because the deed seemed 
to grant certain exemptions to one Suluttan Kuttiya ; and he believed 
these privileges did not descend on his successors. Therefore it 
was difficult to see why at any subsequent date any person should 
have forged that document. There was still the same difficulty as 
with the first sannasa with regard to the date. He had tested the date 
according to Sir Alexander Cunningham's " Table of Dates,'' and he 
found that " the seventh day of the waxing moon of the month Esala 
in the year of S aka 1567" fell not, as stated in the sannasa^ on a Thursday, 
bat on a Sunday. That objection he thought was very fatal to the 
genuineness of the documents. The Sinhalese had their calendar of 
dates, and were guided by that calendar in documents that passed 
under their hands. So far, therefore, the presumption was against the 
admission of the genuineness of the sannas.f 
The Hon. Mr. J. Ferguson said he could not follow the previous 
speaker into his technical criticism. For himself, he was chiefly 
attracted by the historical notes ; by the reference to the mur- 
derous priest-king, who caused both his rival to the hand of the 
queen and the young princely heir to be put to death. The time was 
a critical one for the Siighalese monarchy, just when it was welcoming 
the Hollanders as protectors from the Portuguese — a case very much 
of " iut of the frying-pan into the fire," as they soon proved. The 
incident as to the grant of land within the circuit of the bangle had its 
parallel in the case of the founder of the Hay (Erroll) family in 
Scottish history, and no doubt in other countries. He was interested 
in what was mentioned in regard to the origin of certain Mosques, and 
would suggest that an interesting Paper might be compiled out of the 
history of the leading Mohammedan mosques in the Island. 
* Following the prohibitions in grants to temples as recorded in lithic 
inscriptions of earlier date. — B., Hon. Sec. 
t See m/ra, p. 46, and footnote. — B., Hon. Sec. 
