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NOVEMBER, 1877.]
INSCRIPTIONS IN CEYLON.
325
of the Kshatriya caste, the sage who has comprehended (P) the Doctrine
V.--Inscription of the same as King Siri'sang boy A bahay (Mahindo III.) at Ambasthala, Mihintala.
Siribar kata kula kot Oka-was raj parapuren bat kæta usab A baba y Salam ewan mahara
'j/hat eme kulen sanajæy dew Gon bisew ræjna kusæ ipædæ æpå mahaya siri winda piliwela
sey raj wo tumî sirin Lak diw pahayamin sitæ Siri sang boy A bahay maharaj hu tuma sat
"Jangû soļoswana hawaruduyehi wap sand pun mas/hi dasa pak dawas Seygiri weherhi isa
Salamowan, an eminent Kshatriya (literally, a bull among the Kshatriyas), who is descended from an unbroken line of kings of the Ikshvaku family, which is the pinnacle of the glorious Kshatriya caste, in the womb of the anointed queen, Queen Gon, descended from the same caste ----having enjoyed the power of apa and .... having, according to the rule of succession, become king, irradiates the island of Latīkå by his splendour, his majesty king Siri sa iig boy A bahay, in the 16th year after he raised the royal umbrella, on the 10th day in the bright half of the month Wap (Sept.-Oct.)-having assembled (literally, having made become a large host), the lords of the great Bhikshu congregation dwelling both in the vihdra of Chaityagiri and in the vihdra of Abhayagiri, being pleased with those rules which his royal brother formerly established at Chaityagiri vihdra, as well as with the rules of Abhayagiri vihdra, in order to (?) establish the same rule for this vihdra, having put it together ......--this rule together with a comment has been established for the Lords of the great Bhikshu congregation who dwell in this vihdira, as well as for the officers and for the slaves, for their duties as well as for receipts and expendituros.Il
I have found little worth mentioning in other inscriptions of this period examined since my last report. There are such at Wana ma duwi (near Tirappana), in the jungle three miles from Galkulam, at Elagamuwa, at Mulgirigala. A fragmentary pillar inscription at Atta. ya la vihera (two miles from Wira kætiya)
'bahay girî weherhi isa wasana ma bik sang himiyan mahasenwa karay tumi bæ wat himiya. 'n Seygiri weherhi pere tubû sirit nija Abahay girî weherhi sirit nija ruswå genæ me we
'herat me sirit tabu wawati nisiyan ha sasende me weheræ wasana maba bik sang himiyanat iså
Skremiyanat isâ dasnat isi kata yutu ist labanu diye yutu se isâ wiwaruņen ek se kot me'sirit tabana ladi.
Literal translation. "He who, having been born unto king A bahay
Widam (PART the correspond they were a century, while
d
aplosive sounded into two bu
In the translation given in Turnour's Epitome of the History of Ceylon, which book I have not here at hand, the word wahasen in line 5, if I remember well, is taken to be the name of a king; the passage is, however, correctly translated in J. D'Alwis' Sid. Sang , Intr. xxxvi. xxxvii., which prevented me from falling into the same error.
It will be observed that the language employed in these inscriptions, though by no means devoid of adopted San. skrit ind Pali words (tatsamas), still puts them into a Simhalese shape. It is curious eveu to notice here the difference between the Sanskrit words used in the inscription of the pl Mihindå at Mayilagastota and in the inscription at Mihintala of the same person as king Siri saig boy Abahay. In the Mayilagastota inscription we find still rad (Sk. rájan), rædna (Sk. rajiii); in short, the sounds foreign to the Sinhalese of those days are changed into genuine Simhalese sounds. In the Mihintala inscription these words already approach the Sanskrit form more closely, and the tendency of transporting back, is it were, genuine Simhalese words into their Sarskrit originale is al. ready growing into fashion: thus, Sanskrit and PAli jw (person') is constantly used for Sinhalese dena; raj, rocin have supplanted rad, radna ; and there are such uncouth words as samajaya (born') for Sanskrit and Pali samjata, 848cndae 'having united'), from Páli sarissandeti, and the like. King Mahindo was also fond of words redolent of antiquity, as sey (as), Seufiri (Chaityagiri,' Mihin. tala), the younger forms of which, se and Sagiri, occur already in inscriptions undoubtedly more ancient.
On the other hand, Paråkramabhu's inscription at Galvih &ra, Polonnaruwa (below) abounde in Sanskrit words in their unaltered original shape, and it is known to what an extent they have crept into the Simhalese of the present day. It appears, therefore, that it is the time
between the beginning of the 11th and the middle of the 13th century we have to look upon as having originated the modern mixed speech. It wils in this period, too, that the Sahalese les ruel to pronounce the Aspirates of the Sanskrit and Pali languages, at least we find them used commonly in the inscriptions of the 12th century, while formerly in adopted words they were, as a rule, either expressed by the corresponding unaspirated sounds, as in bidam (Pali abhi m ) (Mahindo III's inscription at Mihintala), or divided into two by inserting a vowel between the explosive sound and the aspirant, as in dahans (Pali dlommo), Abahu (Ablunya), or al was written and pronounced i, 8 wijn (abhilluangino), waraj (Mahindo III's inscription at Mihintala), (the modern i ruda, fault, corrupted from Sanskrit and Páli a parádla, the genuine Sitabalese word derived from aparadha being boruwu.
a lie'); even to the present day the common people say Anurajapura for Anuradhapura.
Shortly after that time Simhalese literature, as far as it is now extant, must have commenced, ita language car. rying with it the spoils of many foregoing centuries. To these the poets and pandits added their own in ventions : Sanskrit (and Pali) words artificially, but often with great skill, turned into Sirnhalese, and modern Sinhalese words put back into what were supposed to be the ancient forms of them. Hence the present Sirnhalese style has come to be a strange medley of Sinhalese forms of almost all ages, of thoroughly Simhalized Sanskrit and Pali words, of the same semi-Simhalized, of unchanged Sanskrit and P&li words, and of the random inventions of poets and pandits. It is this variety of forms of the same words which Simhalese writers take advantage of to render their style elegant, although this custom very little accords with what European readers would consider good taste.
