Indian Antiquary Vol 02

SR No.: 032494
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 428
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

Page 253

AUGUST, 1873.]
"(The King) having considered (the fact) that the Vihara at Rajamaha Kelaniya was a holy spot where Buddha had vouchsafed to sit, to partake of food and preach his doctrines, inquired what works of merit by way of repairs there were to be executed there; and having ascertained that the Chaitya and all other edifices were in ruins, gave much (money for) expenses from the royal palace, and assigned the task of accomplishing the work to the chief officer of the royal revenue, and the minister Parâkkrama Bahu Vijayakkônâ, who caused the execution of the plastering of the Chaitya, and other necessary repairs and works; built a parapet wall of granite sixty cubits (in length) on the north, constructed a flight of steps with a Sandakadapahana (a semicircular stone serving as a stepping-stone) on the east; thoroughly rebuilt the Samadht image-house, the Napilimageya and the eastern gate of the same monastery and its flight of stone-steps, the minor Trivanka house, the Telkatarageya, the latrine common to the priesthood, and the east gate; repaired breaches and injuries, &c., of the Pasmahálpaya, Selapilimageya, Siwurudageya, &c., and repaired various other breaches, and other works in the Vihâra. And after having accomplished this work thoroughly, (the King) thinking it desirable that His Majesty's royal name should be perpetuated in this Vibâra, conferred on the chief priest of the monastery the title of Sri Rajaratna Piriwan Tera, and ordained that all who occupied the lands of the temple, those who served in the elephant stables, the horse stables, the kitchen, bath-rooms, and persons employed in various other occupations, the Tamil and the Sinhalese, and those who paid rent and who owned land, should give (to the Temple) two pélas of paddy (measured) by a laha which contains 4 nelis for every amuna of sowing extent, and money payment at the rate of one panama for every ten cocoanut trees, and thus accomplished this meritorious work, so that it may last while the sun and moon exist.
ASIATIC SOCIETIES.
"In obedience to the command delivered by His Majesty, sitting on the throne at the royal palace of Jayawardhan Kotte, in the midst of the Madalivaru (nobles), that a writing on stone should be made in order that kings and ministers in future ages might acquire merit by preserving and improving this work, I, Sanhas Teruvarahan Perumal, have written and granted this writing on stone.
"The boundaries to Rajamaha Kelaniya areWattala, Malsantota, Kudâ Mâbôla, Galwalutoṭa, Gongitota, Godarabgala Galpotta, the stone pillar at Gonasêna, including the Uruboruwa Liyedda, the canal Rammudu Ela, the Kessakeṭugala, the Watagala, Esalapaluwa, the inside (P) of Pasuru
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tota, the (P) of Dewiyâmulla, the boundary stone, and the great river."
The king alluded to is Dharma Paråkkrama Bâhu, the 152nd sovereign in Mr. Turnour's list of the kings of Ceylon, in whose reign "the Portuguese first landed in Ceylon, and were permitted to trade."
Both the Mahdvanso and Rájaratnákara entirely omit his reign, making his brother and immediate successor, Vijaya Bahu, supply his place; while the Rajávali (which Mr. Turnour seems to have followed in compiling his epitome) gives a graphic and interesting account of his reign.
The Rajavali, however, bears internal evidence of its being a contemporaneous record, while it is well known that the Rajaratnakara is comparatively a recent work, and that this portion of the Mahavanso too, was compiled so recently as 1758, "by Tibboṭuwâwe Terunnânse, by the command of Kirtiári, partly from the works brought during his reign by the Siamese priests (which had been procured by their predecessors during their former religious missions to this island), and partly from the native histories which had escaped the general destruction of literary records in the reign of Raja Sinha I."
In the Dondra inscription No. I., published by Mr. Rhys Davids in the Journal for 1870-71 (conf. Ind. Ant. vol. I. p. 59) it is stated that king Vijaya Bâhu ascended the throne in the year Saka 1432 (A. D. 1510), thus supporting, or rather seeming to support, the version given in the Mahdvanso and Rajaratnakara, and contradicting the Rajavali, which is supported by the Kelaniya inscription. On the discrepancy between the date given by Turnour and that recorded in the Dondra inscription, Mr. Davids had remarked-"that in the year 1432 of Saka, which is 1510 of our era, the reigning Chakrawarti or Overlord (as given in Turnour's list) was not Sanga Bo Vijaya Bahu, who came to the throne in 1527, but his brother Dharma Paråkkrama Bahu." It would however now seem that the discrepancy is not only between Turnour's date and that recorded in the Dondra inscription, but also between one series of writers and another, and between one "contemporaneous record" and another :
Mr. De Zoysa then expresses his belief that the assumption of the sovereignty by Dharma Parâkkrama Bahu was disputed by his brother Vijaya Bâhu, and that, at least for a time, one part of the nation (probably those in the south) acknowledged the latter as sovereign, while the rest adhered to his brother; and this view seems to derive support from the following fact mentioned by Mr. Turnour in his Epitome:
"His (Dharma Paråkkrama Bahu's) reign was