( il ) 
authority. So far the Professor's argu- 
ment is clear and cogent, and amply 
carries his conclusion, that the Buddliist 
literature, in tlie main, existed some ccu- 
sidei-able time before the end of the third 
century, B. C. But how long was this con- 
siderable time ? We believe that the whole 
may well have taken shape within a cen- 
tury at the longest before tha,t date, and 
that there is no trustworthy evidence what- 
ever that any of these works existed earlier 
than thai. So that when the Professor ends 
by adopting, though with caution, Buhier's 
opinion that these books " are good evidence, 
certainly for the fifth, probably for the sixth 
century B. C," we hold that he has left the 
region of proof for that of conjecture. 
The Introduction to the Kutadantix Sutta 
contains an interesting excursus on the word 
Lokayata : and that to Kassapa Sihanada 
Sutta, one on the Brahman sj'stem of 
Asramas or Pour Stages of life, in its re- 
lation to tbe Buddhist view of withdrawal 
from the world. 
ANCIENT RUINS AND ALLEGED VANDAL- 
ISM AT KOTTE. 
[To the Editor.] 
Colombo, Nov. 6. 
Sir,— At a time when the archteology and 
history of Ceylon are attractiiij? the attention of 
scholars in foreign lands, it is greatly to be re- 
gretted that at home the ancient monumenls 
themselves should be allowed to be wantonly 
destroyed. As a case in point, I might instance 
the vandalism that is at present going on at 
Kotte, for over two centuries tlie seat of Gov- 
ernment. " On the southern side of Kelaniya," 
runs the classic page of the Ilahawansa," nigh 
unto the village of the mighty wood, which contaiude 
a large pond and wherein dwelt men of 2;reat 
wisdom and virtue, Alakeswara built the famous 
city of -Tayawardhana Kotte, and adorned it with 
rows of great rampnrts and gates and towers." 
It is to these fortilications that the attentions 
of the Philistines have recently been directed. 
Surviving the stress of storm and siege of 
five centuries, still the trace of the massive 
walls built of huge blocks of cabook stand out 
clear round the old Sinhalese fort ; but at the 
place where the wall had been best preserved in 
height and massive proportion it was ruthlessly 
torn down by a new purchaser of the land, and 
two rows of coconut plants take up the ground 
once occupied by the ancient rampart. And 
daily the huge slabs are removed one by one 
until even the trace of it has disappeared, en- 
tirely in some parts, and unless immediate steps 
are taken to arrest further ravages, there will 
in a couple of years not be the faintest trace of 
it left for purposes of an archaeological survey 
of the ground plan of the ancient city. 
The Eajawalu/a relates how the great Minis- 
ter Alakeswara to break the power of Arya 
Chakkravvarti raised the walls of Kotte, threw 
up massive dams (amunu) to keep back the 
water, and laying in a good supply of provisions 
to stand a long siege, lianged the tax-collectors, 
who had been quartered in parts of the country 
to levy dues in kind for the king of Jaffna, and 
ended by flooding the country round the city by 
opening the sluices. These ancient embankments 
which remain to the present day on the Talan- 
gama road about a mile and a half from Kotte 
are called Parana Amuna (the old dam) and 
E^uda Amuna (the small dam) respectively. 
The old countryside tradition supplementing 
the Bajawaliya tells us how, after building his 
city, tlie ambition of Alakeswara to become king, 
bade Widagama Maha Sami place the crown of 
Lanka on his liead and as he sat on the coro- 
nation slab facing the tank, the old Priest gave 
the state sword vv'hich was to have girded the 
new king into the hands of his protege Prince 
Parakrama ; how the head of Alakeswara roiled 
into the tank below, and the lad of sixteen was 
hailed king under the title of Sri Parakrama 
Bahu VI. The coronation seat, a raised dais 
composed of slabs of dressed granite, had ^ong 
escaped the ravages of the villagers being covered 
with turf. But recently digging near the spot, 
a rustic accidently struck at the granite base- 
ment, and now the stones forming one side of 
the throne have been removed to a neighbour- 
ing temple garden where they are being utilised 
in the building of a new Vihare. If the proper 
authorities would wake up, there is still time to 
get the stones replaced in situ and preserve an 
interesting monument. The old tank, tradition- 
ally ascribed to Alakeswara, has so far escaped, 
being covered over with thick lantana, but this 
state of things cannot lastjvery long, the stones, 
etc., will be removed and the place of the tank 
will know it ho more. Both these monuments 
stand in the old Palace garden still known as 
the Pas Mai Pcya Watte, the garden of the five 
storied palace.* Only one or two broken stumps 
of stone pillars mark the place of the stately 
pile where the mighty Parakrama held court. 
What Portuguese and Dutch invaders spared, the 
exigencies of the Public Works Department could 
not do without, and the few perfect stone 
columns that remained were carted away some 
years ago to build the bridge at Hendala ! ! ! 
Proceeding along the old royal street now dis- 
used, the Maligawatte is reached, the site of 
the three-storied Temple of the Sacred Tooth. 
Torn down by the fanaticism of Portugal and 
converted into a Romish Church, it was levelled 
to the ground, and if we are to credit Prid ham, 
most of the materials removed to build the 
Dutch Church at VVolfendahl. At last the land 
came into the hands of the tribe of Genesserie, 
the Vandal. Not content with selling the pillars, 
carved capitals, pilasters and dressed slabs 
lying about, the massive foundations of the 
palace were attacked on one side and the hrmly 
cemented granite rubble sold and carted away. 
In the course of these " excavations," the huge 
iron tripod or lamp on which the lights blazed 
at festivals was, I understand, unearthed, and 
other sundries, but where they are at present, 
the deponejit not knowing, cannot say. For a 
short period operations were suspended, the pro- 
perty being encumbered ; the land has however 
reverted and the work of destruction recom- 
menced. It has entered on anew phase, and the 
digging lias commenced on the hitherto un- 
touched sjtes of the Natha, Vishnu, and Savian 
Dewala^ which supported the Temple of the Tooth, 
and some beautifully carved granite capitals 
have been already thrown up. Their fate is not 
uncertain as the Maligawatte is the common 
quarry of the village. To set out one more ins- 
tance of ttie kind, at the village of Pita Kotte, 
which constituted the outer city, stood the Dagoba 
and Temple where, according to tradition, before 
their coronation, the monarchs of Kotte used to 
ride on horse-back for the ceremony of cutting 
the Talipot tree, springing into life again like 
the golden bough of Virgil with the advent of 
each successive ruler ; and the same spot, adds 
the legend, will see the palm sprout again, when 
a prince of the Sinhalese should be born to wield 
the sceptre. The Temple had vanished centuries 
* Vide Selalihini Sandesa, 
