324 
H. Beveridge — The Site of Kama Suvarna. 
[No. 4, 
is told in Chapter YT of the Mahavansa, and in the 1 Itli book of the 
Si-yu-ki. A more historical event is referred to by Wilford and 
Layard when they mention the local tradition that Rahgamati was 
destroyed by an expedition from Ceylon. This must have occurred after 
Hiuen Tsiang’s visit to Karna Suvarna, and in my opinion, it belongs 
to the 12th century. I think that there is no reason to doubt the legend, 
for people are not in the habit of inventing disasters. But if true, it 
can only, I think, have occurred in the time of Parakrama Bahu, the 
Great. Bis reign is described by Tumour as having been the most 
martial, enterprising, and glorious in Singhalese history. He, too, seems 
to have been the only prince of Ceylon who carried his arms across 
the Bay of Bengal, or who possessed a fleet. There is an account of 
the expedition in the 76th Chapter of the Mahavansa.* It was 
directed against the king of Aramma, or Ramamma, which accord- 
ing to Mr. Wijesinlia lay between Arracan and Siam. Five ships 
came to the port Kusumi, in the country of Ramamma and the troops 
“ like furious elephants destroyed a great number of cocoa-nut and 
“ other trees, and the places round about them, and burnt many 
“villages with fire and destroyed half of the kingdom.” A 
Tamil general named Adhikari, who had volunteered for this ser- 
vice, cast anchor in the port of Papphala (Pippli ?). One of the ships 
attacked the island of Kalcadvipaf ( ?) or Crow Island, and brought away 
many of the inhabitants as prisoners to Ceylon. Arimaddana, the king 
of Ramamma was killed by the invaders. Perhaps his name was Ari- 
Mardana, i. e., the trampler of foes, or it may have been Hari-Madana. 
(It seems worth while to note here that there was a king of Orissa who 
was called Madana Mahadeva, and who had a short reign of four years 
from 1171-75.) 
Kusumi as the name of the port, reminds us of Wilford’s statement 
that Rahgamati used to be called Kusumapuri. The name, however’, 
is a common one, and was applied to Patna and other towns. The 
statement that Ramamma is the country between Siam and Arracan 
is, perhaps, only a conjecture of Mr. Knighton, though I find that Sir 
Arthur Phayre mentions Ram-ma-we-li as a town and country near 
Sandoway (J. A. S. B. XIII. 27). On the other hand, we have Ranrana 
marked in Gastaldi’s old map, j as a place east of Orissa and near Hijli. 
* Wijesmha’s translation. Colombo, 1889. See also Lassen IV. 328. 
t Probably this is Cocanada in the Madras Presidency. According to the 
Imperial Gazetteer of India the proper spelling is Kaka-nada and the meaning is 
Crow-oountry. If the Coromandel coast was the point of attack one can see why the 
services of a Madras officer were valuable. 
1 Cluverius mentions Hamama as the capital of Orissa and as a mart famous 
for ivory and precious stones. He also says that the country was rich in salt. See 
