No. 55.— 1904.] ALAKESWARA : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. 289 
which has come down to us, reproduces the spirit and feeling 
of the time : — 
Tatdnanta kattahha sudhddhdra hhiito. 
Salankdra lanJcd suvannaddi vdso. 
SapattehJia kumhhahhi hhede pavino, 
Virajeiu lanlmjdnddhi sa siJio.* 
(The Chief) who has lent his aid in raising many a useful 
building. 
(The Chief) who lives in the Golden Mount, Fair Lanka. 
(The Chief) mighty in cleaving the skulls of foes (strong) as 
elephants. 
May the Lion, the Chief of the people of Lanka, gloriously 
triumph. 
Arya Chakkrawarti's power was effectively broken by 
this defeat. The Tamil made no further inroads, and two 
reigns later Jaffna became a Sinhalese Province. After the 
final overthrow of the Tamils, Bhuvaneka Bahu V. returned 
to Gampola, but his subjects swore they would have no 
coward for their Sovereign,* and the old king went back 
to reign at Kottef under the aegis of his great Minister, whose 
power overshadowed the Crown (circa 1391). Thereafter 
the mountain districts were administered from Gampola by 
r 
the young yuvaraja^ Vira Bahu Epa, a brave prince, who 
re-organized the government and the army, and restored 
order in the highlands by expelling from the country 
numerous bands of foreign marauders who were roaming 
the country in search of pillage. % 
In the years that followed, Alakeswara, now exalted into a 
national hero, appears to have gradually consolidated his 
power. By the endowment of viharas, by liberal gifts to the 
priesthood, and by manifesting an interest in matters affect- 
ing fehe welfare of the church, he enlisted the powerful 
support of the clergy. In 1369, while Wikkrama Bahu III. 
yet reigned, we find him presiding at a convocation with the 
* Valentyn^loc. cit, 
f This fact is not expressly stated in the chronicles, but chapter 91, v, 9, 
Mahawansa^ and his sannases quoted in Bell's K^galla Report, pp. 93, 94, 
put the matter beyond any doubt. 
