284 JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON), [YOL. XVIII. 
distinction. " Thereafter," runs the Mahdwansa^^ " in the 
fair and delightful city on the banks of the Mahaveli-ganga, 
renowned under the name of Peradeni Nuwara, and in the 
days of Wikkrama Bahu the King, the distinguished Alagak- 
k6nara,born of the lofty race of the Giriwansa, a man of great 
understanding, endowed with majesty and faith and such 
like virtues, became Prabhuraja. He was exceeding mighty, 
and desired to promote the welfare of the church and 
kingdom." The office, of Prabhuraja to which Alakeswara 
was appointed appears to have carried the powers and dig- 
nity of a Viceroy, though it is difficult to state what the post 
exactly implied. The times were troublous, and the country 
required a vigorous and capable ruler at the helm of affairs, 
a man with the brain to think and the hand to strike. Such 
a man was found in the Prabhuraja. Wikkrama Bahu III., 
like his immediate predecessors and his successor, appears 
to have been more devoted to literature and the peaceful 
arts than to fighting the Tamils. However, he was " wise " 
enough to realize that the only chance of national safety 
lay in creating an office conferring full powers of Govern- 
ment on the holder, more than were vouchsafed to Minister, 
and appointing Alakeswara thereto, preserving to himself 
the quasi sacerdotal character of the Sinhalese monarch. 
The Prabhuraja, no sooner he received his command, 
appears to have gone down to Rayigama, his native village, to 
concert measures to drive out the Tamils. Making Rayigama 
his headquarters, which he fortified and improved, he 
decided on building and garrisoning a new stronghold near 
Colombo as the surest means of checking the enemy. The 
contemporary record of the Nikdya Sangrciha^ to which we 
are indebted for much of the history of this period, contains 
a vivid description of the erection of the new fortress with 
* Malidwansa^ c. 91, vv. 2-4. The passage is incorrectly rendered in 
Wijayasijgha's translation. Cf. the Pali and Siighalese versions. The 
crowning blunder occurs in v. 9, where the translator says, " And this man 
(i.e.^ Alakeswara) became king in that city as Bhuvaneka Bahu V." The 
text only says " the illustrious (so) Bhuvaneka Bahu was king in that city 
(Kotte)." 
