No. 55.— 1904.] ALAKESWARA : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. 285 
which Alakeswara's name is to this day associated, the scene 
alike of his triumphs and his tragic death. 
" He issued commands through the obedient and 
faithful chiefs {mandalikas) in his service, and nigh unto 
the haven called Colombo he caused a mighty deep and broad 
ditch to be dug, dreadful to behold, like the sides of a steep 
rock, right round the village Darugrama, which was situated 
in the midst of a lake and protected on all sides by a never- 
failing stream of water,'" and he caused to be adorned with 
different devices like a creation of Viswakarma the interven- 
ing spaces on the summit of the great rampart wall, which 
for the sake of stability had been built entirely of stone from 
the base of the ditch up to the coping on the wall. Thus he 
built a famous fortress called Abhinawa Jayawardhana^^ 
well fortified with idan-gini^X puU mugam^^ hhumiyan- 
tattuX^ attalay i.e. towers, and vatta-vetta^X which were 
constructed at intervals. He caused to be built on the 
summit of the great wall of the city for the protection of its 
four sides four separate holy places, dedicated to each of the 
four great god-kings who protect the four quarters of Lanka, 
Kihireli Upulvan,|| Samanboksel,11 Vibhishana,"* and Kanda 
* Since named Diyawanndwa^ " the stream of victory " (Sri Rahula's 
Selalihini Sandesa^ v. 8), so-called after the *' City of Victory," Jayawar- 
dhanapura. The name has subsequently been corrupted into Juannawa , 
popularly supposed to be derived from Don Juan Dharmapala, the last King 
of Kotte (1542-1597). 
■j* Jayawardhanapura, or Jayawardhana Kotte, " the victory bringing* 
(lit. increasing) city," modern Kotte. 
J Old military terms, the meanings of which I have not been able to 
ascertain. 
§ Tam. pul% tiger ; mugam^ face : " tiger faces " of masonry, an archi- 
tectural term. 
II Vishnu, the tutelary deity of Ceylon. Si^. Kihireli, so called since the 
image of the god in the great shrine of Vishnu at Devinuwara, " the city of 
the god " (Dondra), was made of Kihiri wood (^Mimosa catechu) ; Si^. 
Upulvan, Sk. Utpalavarna, " green-hued," an epithet of Vishnu. 
^ Sijg. Sumana and Samana, from Sk. Lakshmana, brother of Rama ; 
and Sigi. hoksel, from Sk. hhrigusaila, rocky peak, the title by which he was 
distinguished as the tutelary deity of Adam's Peak, the district round 
which he is supposed to have ruled. Cf . Si^. Saman Demy 6. 
** Brother and successor of Ravana, He joined the Aryan invaders, and 
was placed on the throne of Ceylon by Rama after his defeat of Ravana. 
