CHAP. X.

1: TURNOUR'SEpitome, p. 27.2: HARDY'SBuddhism, ch. i. p. 22.

1: TURNOUR'SEpitome, p. 27.

2: HARDY'SBuddhism, ch. i. p. 22.

Medicine.—Another branch of royal education was medicine. The Singhalese, from their intercourse with the Hindus, had ample opportunities for acquiring a knowledge of this art, which was practised in India before it was known either in Persia or Arabia; and there is reason to believe that the distinction of having been the discoverers of chemistry which has been so long awarded to the Arabs, might with greater justice have been claimed for the Hindus. In point of antiquity the works of Charak and Susruta on Surgery and Materia Medica, belong to a period long anterior to Greber, and the earliest writers of Arabia; and served as authorities both for them and the Mediæval Greeks.[1] Such was their celebrity that two Hindu physicians, Manek and Saleh, lived at Bagdad in the eighth century, at the court of Haroun al Raschid.[2]

1: See Dr. ROYLE'SEssay on the Antiquity of Hindu Medicine, p. 64.2: Professor Dietz, quoted by Dr. ROYLE.

1: See Dr. ROYLE'SEssay on the Antiquity of Hindu Medicine, p. 64.

2: Professor Dietz, quoted by Dr. ROYLE.

One of the edicts of Asoca engraved on the second tablet at Girnar, relates to the establishment of a system of medical administration throughout his dominions, "as well as in the parts occupied by the faithful race as far as Tambaparni (Ceylon), both medical aid for men, and medical aid for animals, together with medicaments of all sorts, suitable for animals and men."[1]

1:Journal Asiat. Soc. Bengal, vol. vii. part. i. p. 159.

These injunctions of the Buddhist sovereign of Magadha were religiously observed by many of the Ceylon kings. In the "register of deeds of piety" in which Dutugaimunu, in the second century before Christ, caused to be enrolled the numerous proofs of his devotion to the welfare of his subjects, it was recorded that the king had "maintained at eighteen different places, hospitals provided with suitable diet and medicines prepared by medical practitioners for the infirm."[1] In the second century of the Christian era, a physicianand a surgeon were borne on the establishments of the great monasteries[2], and even some of the sovereigns acquired renown by the study and practice of physic. On Bujas Raja, who became king of Ceylon, A.D. 339, theMahawansopronounces the eulogium, that he "patronised the virtuous, discountenanced the wicked, rendered the indigent happy, and comforted the diseased by providing medical relief."[3] He was the author of a work on Surgery, which is still held in repute by his countrymen; he built hospitals for the sick and asylums for the maimed, and the benefit of his science and skill was not confined to his subjects alone, but was equally extended to the relief of the lower animals, elephants, horses, and other suffering creatures.

1:Mahawanso, ch. xxxii. p. 196.2: Rock inscription at Mihintala, A.D. 262.3:Mahawanso, ch. xxxvii. p. 242-245.

1:Mahawanso, ch. xxxii. p. 196.

2: Rock inscription at Mihintala, A.D. 262.

3:Mahawanso, ch. xxxvii. p. 242-245.

Botany.—The fact that the basis of theirMateria Medicahas been chiefly derived from the vegetable kingdom, coupled with the circumstance that their clothing and food were both drawn from the same source, may have served to give to the Singhalese an early and intimate knowledge of plants. It was at one time believed that they were likewise possessed of a complete and general botanical arrangement; but MOON, whose attention was closely directed to this subject, failed to discover any trace of a system; and came to the conclusion that, although well aware of the various parts of a flower, and their apparent uses, they have never applied that knowledge to a distribution of plants by classes or orders.[1]

1: MOON'SCatalogue of Indigenous and Exotic Plants growing in Ceylon.4to. Colombo, 1824, p. 2.

Geometry.—The invention of geometry has been ascribed to the Egyptians, who were annually obliged to ascertain the extent to which their lands had been affected by the inundations of the Nile, and to renew the obliterated boundaries. A similar necessity led to like proficiency amongst the people of India andCeylon, the minute subdivision of whose lands under their system of irrigation necessitated frequent calculations for the definition of limits and the division of the crops.[1]

1: The "Suriya Sidhanta," generally assigned to the fifth or sixth century, contains a system of Hindu trigonometry, which not only goes beyond anything known to the Greeks, but involves theorems that were not discovered in Europe till the sixteenth century.—MOUNT-STUART ELPHINSTONE'SIndia,b. iii. ch. i. p. 129.

Lightning Conductors.—In connection with physical science, a curious passage occurs in theMahawansowhich gives rise to a conjecture that early in the third century after Christ, the Singhalese had some dim idea of the electrical nature of lightning, and a belief, however erroneous, of the possibility of protecting their buildings by means of conductors.

The notices contained in THEOPHRASTUS and PLINY show that the Greeks and the Romans were aware of the quality of attraction exhibited by amber and tourmaline.[1] The Etruscans, according to the early annalists of Borne, possessed the power of invoking and compelling thunder storms.[2] Numa Pompilius would appear to have anticipated Franklin by drawing lightning from the clouds; and Tullus Hostilius, his successor, was killed by an explosion, whilst attempting unskilfully the same experiment.[3]

1: The electrical substances "lyncurium" and "theamedes" have each been conjectured to be the "tourmaline" which, is found in Ceylon.2: "Vel cogi fulmina vel impetrari." —PLINY,Nat. Hist.lib. ii. ch. lii.3:Ibid. There is an interesting paper on the subject of the knowledge of electricity possessed by the ancients, by Dr. FALCONER in theMemoirs of the Manchester Philosophical Society,A.D. 1788, vol. iii. p. 279.

1: The electrical substances "lyncurium" and "theamedes" have each been conjectured to be the "tourmaline" which, is found in Ceylon.

2: "Vel cogi fulmina vel impetrari." —PLINY,Nat. Hist.lib. ii. ch. lii.

3:Ibid. There is an interesting paper on the subject of the knowledge of electricity possessed by the ancients, by Dr. FALCONER in theMemoirs of the Manchester Philosophical Society,A.D. 1788, vol. iii. p. 279.

CTESIAS, a contemporary of Xenophon, spent much of his life in Persia, and says that he twice saw the king demonstrate the efficacy of an iron sword planted in the ground in dispersing clouds, hail, and lightning[1];and the knowledge of conduction is implied by an expression of LUCAN, who makes Aruns, the Etrurian flamen, concentrate the flashes of lightning and direct them beneath the surface of the earth:—

"dispersos fulminus ignes Colligit, et terræ mæsto cum murmure cendit."

Phars

. lib. i. v. 606.

1: PHOTIUS, who has preserved the fragment (Bibl.lxxii.), after quoting the story of CTESIAS as to the iron it question being found in a mysterious Indian lake, adds, regarding the sword, [Greek: "phêsi oe peri autou hoti pêgnimenos en tê gê nephous kai chalazês kai prêstêrôn estin apotropaios. Kai idein auton tauta phêsi Basileôs dis poiêsantos."] See BAEHR'SC'tesiæ Reliquiæ,&c., p. 248, 271.

There is scarcely an indication in any work that has come down to us from the first to the fifteenth century, that the knowledge of such phenomena survived in the western world; but the books of the Singhalese contain allusions which demonstrate that in thethirdand in thefifthcentury it was the practice in Ceylon to apply mechanical devices with the hope of securing edifices from lightning.

The most remarkable of these passages occurs in connection with the following subject. It will be remembered that Dutugaimunu, by whom the great dagoba, known as the Ruanwellé, was built at Anarajapoora, died during the progress of the work, B.C. 137, the completion of which he entrusted to his brother and successor Saidaitissa.[1] The latest act of the dying king was to form "the square capital on which the spire was afterwards to be placed[2], and on each side of this there was a representation of the sun."[3] TheMahawansostates briefly, that in obedience to his brother's wishes, Saidaitissa "completed the pinnacle,"[4] for which the square capital before alluded to served as a base; but theDipawanso, a chronicle older than theMahawansoby a century and a half, gives a minute account of this stage of the work, and says that this pinnacle, which he erected between the years 137 and 119 before Christ, was formedof glass.[5]

1:Mahawanso, ch. xxxii. p. 198. Seeante,Vol. I. Pt. III. ch. v. p. 358.2:Ibid., ch. xxxi. p. 192.3:Ibid., ch. xxxii. p. 193.4:Ibid., ch. xxxiii. p. 200.5: "Karàpesikhara-pindunmahá thupè varuttame." For this reference to theDipawanoI am indebted to Mr. DE ALWIS of Colombo.

1:Mahawanso, ch. xxxii. p. 198. Seeante,Vol. I. Pt. III. ch. v. p. 358.

2:Ibid., ch. xxxi. p. 192.

3:Ibid., ch. xxxii. p. 193.

4:Ibid., ch. xxxiii. p. 200.

5: "Karàpesikhara-pindunmahá thupè varuttame." For this reference to theDipawanoI am indebted to Mr. DE ALWIS of Colombo.

A subsequent king, Amanda, A.D. 20, fixed a chatta (in imitation of the white umbrella which is emblematic of royalty) on the spire[1], and two centuries later, Sanghatissa, who reigned A.D. 234 to 246, "caused this chatta to be gilt, and set four gems in the centre of the four emblems of the sun, each of which cost a lac."[2] And now follows the passage which is interesting from its reference, however obscure, to the electrical nature of lightning. TheMahawansocontinues: "he in like manner placed a glass pinnacle on the spireto serve as a protection against lightning."[3]

1:Mahawanso, ch. xxxv. p. 215.2:Ibid., ch. xxxvi. p. 229.3:Ibid., ch. xxxvi. p. 229. This belief in the power of averting lightning by mechanical means, prevailed on the continent of India as well as in Ceylon, and one of the early Bengalese histories of the temple of Juggernauth, written between the years A.D. 470 and A.D. 520, says that when the building was completed, "aneclchukrowas placed at the top of the temple to prevent the falling of thunderbolts." In an account of the modern temple which replaced this ancient structure, it is stated that "it bore a loadstone at the top, which, as it drew vessels to land, was seized and carried off two centuries ago by sailors."—Asiat. Res.vol. xv. p. 327.

1:Mahawanso, ch. xxxv. p. 215.

2:Ibid., ch. xxxvi. p. 229.

3:Ibid., ch. xxxvi. p. 229. This belief in the power of averting lightning by mechanical means, prevailed on the continent of India as well as in Ceylon, and one of the early Bengalese histories of the temple of Juggernauth, written between the years A.D. 470 and A.D. 520, says that when the building was completed, "aneclchukrowas placed at the top of the temple to prevent the falling of thunderbolts." In an account of the modern temple which replaced this ancient structure, it is stated that "it bore a loadstone at the top, which, as it drew vessels to land, was seized and carried off two centuries ago by sailors."—Asiat. Res.vol. xv. p. 327.

The term "wajira-chumbatan" in the original Pali, which TURNOUR has here rendered "a glass pinnacle," ought to be translated "a diamond hoop," both in this passage and also in another in the same book in which it occurs.[1] The form assumed by the upper portion of the dagoba would therefore resemble the annexed sketch.

1: In describing the events in the reign of Dhaatu-Sena, the king at whose instance and during whose reign theMahawansowas written by his uncle Mahanamo, between the years A.D. 459, 477, the author, who was contemporary with the occurrence he relates, says, that "at the three principal chetyos (dagobas) he made a golden chatta and a diamond hoop (wajira-chumbaton) for each."—Mahawanso, ch. xxxviii. p. 259. Similar instances of gems being attached to the chattas of dagobas are recorded in the same work, ch. xlii. and elsewhere.The original passage relative to the diamond hoop placed by Sanghatissa runs thus in Pali, "Wisun satasahassagghé chaturócha mahamanin majjhé chatunnan suriyánán thapápési mahipati;thupassa muddhani tatha anagghá wajira-chumbatan," which Mr. DE ALWIS translates: "The king caused to be set four gems, each of the value of a lac, in the centre of the four emblems of the sun,and likewise an invaluable adamantine(or diamond)ring on the top of the thupa." Some difficulty existed in TURNOUR'S mind as to the rendering to be given to these two last words "wajira-chumbatan." Prof. H.H. WILSON, to whom I have submitted the sentence, says, "Wajirais either 'diamond,' or 'adamant,' or 'the thunderbolt of Indra;'" and with him the most leaned Pali scholars in Ceylon entirely concur; De Saram, the Maha-Moodliar of the Governor's Gate, the Rev. Mr. Gogerly, Mr. De Alwis, Pepole the Hight Priest of the Asgiria (who was TURNOUR'S instructor in Pali), Wattegamine Unnanse of Kandy, Bulletgamone Unnanse of Galle, Batuwantudawe, of Colombo, and De Soyza, the translator Moodliar to the Colonial Secretary's Office. Mr. DE ALWIS says, "The epithetanagghan, 'invaluable' or 'priceless,' immediately preceding and qualifyingwajirain the original (but omitted by Turnour in the translation), shows that a substance far more valuable than glass must have been meant." "Chumbatan," Prof. Wilson supposed to be the Pali equivalent to the Sanskritchumbakam, "the kisser or attractor of steel;" the question he says is whetherwajirais to be considered an adjective or part of a compound substantive, whether the phrase is adiamond-magnet pinnacle, orconductor, or aconductororattractor of the thunderbolt. In the latter case it would intimate that the Singhalese had a notion of lightning conductors, Mr. DE ALWIS, however, and Mr. GOGERLY agree that chumbakais the same both in Sanskrit and Pali, whilst chumbatais a Pali compound, which means acircular proporsupport, a ringon which something rests, ora roll of clothformed into a circle to form a stand for a vessel; so that the term must be construed to meana diamondcirclet, and the passage, transposing the order of the words, will read literally thus:thapapesi tatha muddhani thupassahe placed in like manner on the top of the thupoanagghan wajira-chumbatan.a valuable diamond hoop.TURNOUR wrote his translation whilst residing at Kandy and with the aid of the priests, who being ignorant of English could only assist him to Singhalese equivalents for Pali words. Hence he was probably led into the mistake of confoundingwajira, which signifies "diamond," or an instrument for cutting diamonds, with the modern wordwidura, which bears the same import but is colloquially used by the Kandyans for "glass." However, as glass as well as the diamond is an insulator of electricity, the force of the passage would be in no degree altered whichever of the two substances was really particularised. TURNOUR was equally uncertain as to the meaning ofchumbatan, which in one instance he has translated a "pinnacle" and in the other he has left without any English equivalent, simply calling "wajira-chumbatan" a "chumbatan of glass."—Mahawanso, ch. xxxviii. p. 259.

The original passage relative to the diamond hoop placed by Sanghatissa runs thus in Pali, "Wisun satasahassagghé chaturócha mahamanin majjhé chatunnan suriyánán thapápési mahipati;thupassa muddhani tatha anagghá wajira-chumbatan," which Mr. DE ALWIS translates: "The king caused to be set four gems, each of the value of a lac, in the centre of the four emblems of the sun,and likewise an invaluable adamantine(or diamond)ring on the top of the thupa." Some difficulty existed in TURNOUR'S mind as to the rendering to be given to these two last words "wajira-chumbatan." Prof. H.H. WILSON, to whom I have submitted the sentence, says, "Wajirais either 'diamond,' or 'adamant,' or 'the thunderbolt of Indra;'" and with him the most leaned Pali scholars in Ceylon entirely concur; De Saram, the Maha-Moodliar of the Governor's Gate, the Rev. Mr. Gogerly, Mr. De Alwis, Pepole the Hight Priest of the Asgiria (who was TURNOUR'S instructor in Pali), Wattegamine Unnanse of Kandy, Bulletgamone Unnanse of Galle, Batuwantudawe, of Colombo, and De Soyza, the translator Moodliar to the Colonial Secretary's Office. Mr. DE ALWIS says, "The epithetanagghan, 'invaluable' or 'priceless,' immediately preceding and qualifyingwajirain the original (but omitted by Turnour in the translation), shows that a substance far more valuable than glass must have been meant." "Chumbatan," Prof. Wilson supposed to be the Pali equivalent to the Sanskritchumbakam, "the kisser or attractor of steel;" the question he says is whetherwajirais to be considered an adjective or part of a compound substantive, whether the phrase is adiamond-magnet pinnacle, orconductor, or aconductororattractor of the thunderbolt. In the latter case it would intimate that the Singhalese had a notion of lightning conductors, Mr. DE ALWIS, however, and Mr. GOGERLY agree that chumbakais the same both in Sanskrit and Pali, whilst chumbatais a Pali compound, which means acircular proporsupport, a ringon which something rests, ora roll of clothformed into a circle to form a stand for a vessel; so that the term must be construed to meana diamondcirclet, and the passage, transposing the order of the words, will read literally thus:

thapapesi tatha muddhani thupassahe placed in like manner on the top of the thupoanagghan wajira-chumbatan.a valuable diamond hoop.

TURNOUR wrote his translation whilst residing at Kandy and with the aid of the priests, who being ignorant of English could only assist him to Singhalese equivalents for Pali words. Hence he was probably led into the mistake of confoundingwajira, which signifies "diamond," or an instrument for cutting diamonds, with the modern wordwidura, which bears the same import but is colloquially used by the Kandyans for "glass." However, as glass as well as the diamond is an insulator of electricity, the force of the passage would be in no degree altered whichever of the two substances was really particularised. TURNOUR was equally uncertain as to the meaning ofchumbatan, which in one instance he has translated a "pinnacle" and in the other he has left without any English equivalent, simply calling "wajira-chumbatan" a "chumbatan of glass."—Mahawanso, ch. xxxviii. p. 259.

Crown of the Dagoba.

A. Crown of the Dagoba.B. The capital, with the sun on each of the four sides.C. The spire.D. The umbrella or chatta, gilt and surrounded by "chumbatan," a diamond circlet.

A. Crown of the Dagoba.

B. The capital, with the sun on each of the four sides.

C. The spire.

D. The umbrella or chatta, gilt and surrounded by "chumbatan," a diamond circlet.

The chief interest of the story centres in the words "to serve as a protection against lightning," which do not belong to the metrical text of theMahawanso, but are taken from the explanatory notes appended to it. I have stated elsewhere, that it was the practice of authors who wrote in Pali verse, to attach to the text a commentary in prose, in order to illustrate the obscurities incident to the obligations of rhythm. In this instance,the historian, who was the kinsman and intimate friend of the king, by whose order the glass pinnacle was raised in the fifth century, probably felt that the stanza descriptive of the placing of the first of those costly instruments in the reign of Sanghatissa, required some elucidation, and therefore inserted a passage in the "tika," by which his poem was accompanied, to explain that the motive of its erection was "for the purpose of averting the dangers of lightning."[1]

1: The explanatory sentence in the "tika" is as follows:"Thupassa muddhani tathá naggha wajira-chumbatanti tathewa mahà thupassa muddhani satasahasaggha nikan maha manincha patitha petwa ta—ahettà asani upaddawa widdhanse natthan adhara walayamewn katwa anaggha wajira-chumbatancha pujeseti atho."Mr. DE SARAY and Mr. DE AIWIS concur in translating this passage as follows, "In like manner having placed a large gem, of a lac in value, on the top of the great thupa, he fixed below it,for the purpose of destroying the dangers of lightning, an invaluable diamond chumbatan, having made it like a supporting ring or circular rest." Words equivalent to those initalics, Mr. TURNOUR embodies in his translation, but placed them between brackets to denote that they wore a quotation.

1: The explanatory sentence in the "tika" is as follows:

"Thupassa muddhani tathá naggha wajira-chumbatanti tathewa mahà thupassa muddhani satasahasaggha nikan maha manincha patitha petwa ta—ahettà asani upaddawa widdhanse natthan adhara walayamewn katwa anaggha wajira-chumbatancha pujeseti atho."

Mr. DE SARAY and Mr. DE AIWIS concur in translating this passage as follows, "In like manner having placed a large gem, of a lac in value, on the top of the great thupa, he fixed below it,for the purpose of destroying the dangers of lightning, an invaluable diamond chumbatan, having made it like a supporting ring or circular rest." Words equivalent to those initalics, Mr. TURNOUR embodies in his translation, but placed them between brackets to denote that they wore a quotation.

The two passages, taken in conjunction, leave no room for doubt that the object in placing the diamond hoop on the dagoba, wasto turn aside the stroke of the thunderbolt.

But the question still remains, whether, at that very early period, the people of Ceylon had such a conception, however crude and erroneous, of the nature of electricity, and the relative powers of conducting and non-conducting bodies, as would induce them to place a mistaken reliance upon the contrivance described, as one calculated to ensure their personal safety; or whether, as religious devotees, they presented it as a costly offering to propitiate the mysterious power that controls the elements. The thing affixed was however so insignificant in value, compared with the stupendous edifice to be protected, that the latter supposition is scarcely tenable. The dagoba itself was an offering, on the construction of which the wealth of a kingdom had been lavished; besides which it enshrined the holiest of all conceivable objects—portions of the deified body ofGotama Buddha himself; and if these were not already secured, from the perils of lightning by their own sanctity, their safety could scarcely be enhanced by the addition of a diamond hoop.

The conjecture is, therefore, forced on us, that the Singhalese, in that remote era, had observed some physical facts, or learned their existence from others, which suggested the idea that it might be practicable, by some mechanical device, to ward off the danger of lightning. It is just possible that having ascertained that glass or precious stones acted as insulators of electricity, it may have occurred to them that one or both might be employed as preservative agents against lightning.

Modern science is enabled promptly to condemn this reasoning, and to pronounce that the expedient, so far from averting, would fearfully add to, the peril. But in the infancy of all inquiries the observation of effects generally precedes the comprehension of causes, and whilst it is obvious that nothing attained by the Singhalese in the third century anticipated the great discoveries relative to the electric nature of lightning, which were not announced till the seventeenth or eighteenth, we cannot but feel that the contrivance described in theMahawansowas one likely to originate amongst an ill-informed people, who had witnessed certain phenomena the causes of which they were unable to trace, and from which they were incapable of deducing any accurate conclusions.[1]

1: I have been told that within a comparatively recent period it was customary in this country, from some motive not altogether apparent, to surmount the lightning conductors of the Admiralty and some other Government buildings with, aglass summit.

The literature of the ancient Singhalese derived its character from the hierarchic ascendency, which was fostered by their government, and exerted a preponderant influence over the temperament of the people. The Buddhist priesthood were the depositories of all learning and the dispensers of all knowledge:—by the obligation of their order the study of the classical Pali[1] was rendered compulsory upon them[2], and the books which have come down to us show that they were at the same time familiar with Sanskrit. They were employed by royal command in compiling the national annals[3], and kings at various periods not only encouraged their labours by endowments of lands[4], but conferred distinction on such pursuits by devoting their own attention to the cultivation of poetry[5], and the formation of libraries.[6]

1:Pali, which is the language of Buddist literature in Siam, Ava, as well as in Ceylon, is, according to Dr. MILL, "no other than the Magadha Pracrit, the classical form in ancient Behar of that very peculiar modification of Sanscrit speech which enters as largely into the drama of the Hindus, as did the Doric dialect into the Attic tragedy of Ancient Greece." In 1826 MM. BURNOUF and LASSEN published their learned "Essai sur le Pali," but the most ample light was thrown upon its structure and history by the subsequent investigations of TURNOUR, who, in the introduction to his version of theMahawanso, has embodied a disquisition on the antiquity of Pali as compared with Sanskrit (p. xxii. &c.).2:Rajaratnacari, p, 106.3:Ibid., p. 43-744:Ibid., p. 1135:Rajavali, p. 245;Mahawanso, ch. liv., lxxix.6:Rajavali, p. 244.

2:Rajaratnacari, p, 106.

3:Ibid., p. 43-74

4:Ibid., p. 113

5:Rajavali, p. 245;Mahawanso, ch. liv., lxxix.

6:Rajavali, p. 244.

The books of the Singhalese are formed to-day, as they have been for ages past, ofolasor strips taken from the young leaves of the Talipat or the Palmyra palm, cut before they have acquired the dark shade and strong texture which belong to the full grown frond.[1]After undergoing a process (one stage of which consists in steeping them in hot water and sometimes in milk) to preserve their flexibility, they are submitted to pressure to render their surface uniformly smooth. They are then cut into stripes of two or three inches in breadth, and from one to three feet long. These are pierced with two holes, one near each end, through which a cord is passed, so as to secure them between two wooden covers, lacquered and ornamented with coloured devices. The leaves thus strung together and secured, form a book.

1: The leaves of the Palmyra, similarly prepared, are used for writings of an ordinary kind, but the most valuable books are written on the Talipat Seeante,Vol. I. Pt I. ch. iii. p. 110.

WRITING WITH A STILE.WRITING WITH A STILE.

WRITING WITH A STILE.

On these palm-leaves the custom is to write with an iron stile held nearly upright, and steadied by a nick cut to receive it in the thumb-nail of the left hand. The stile is sometimes richly ornamented, shaped like an arrow, and inlaid with gold, one blade of the feather serving as a knife to trim the leaf preparatory to writing. The case is sometimes made of carved ivory bound with hoops of filigreed silver.

The furrow made by the pressure of the steel is rendered visible by the application of charcoal ground with a fragrant oil[1], to the odour of which the natives ascribe the remarkable state of preservation in which their most sacred books are found, its aromatic properties securing the leaves from destruction by white ants and other insects.[2]

1: For this purpose a resin is used, calleddumulaby the natives, who dig it up from beneath the surface of lands from which the forest has disappeared.2: In Ceylon there are a few Buddhist books brought from Burmah, in which the text is inscribed on plates of silver. I have seen others on leaves of ivory, and some belonging to the Dalada Wihara, at Kandy, are engraved on gold. The earliest grants of lands, calledsannas, were written on palm-leaves, but an inscription on a rock at Dambool, which is of the date 1200 A.D., records that King Prakrama Bahu I. made it a rule that "when permanent grants of land were to be made to those who performed meritorious services, such behests should not be evanescent like lines drawn on water by being inscribed on leaves to be destroyed by rats and white ants, but engraved on plates of copper, so as to endure to posterity."

1: For this purpose a resin is used, calleddumulaby the natives, who dig it up from beneath the surface of lands from which the forest has disappeared.

2: In Ceylon there are a few Buddhist books brought from Burmah, in which the text is inscribed on plates of silver. I have seen others on leaves of ivory, and some belonging to the Dalada Wihara, at Kandy, are engraved on gold. The earliest grants of lands, calledsannas, were written on palm-leaves, but an inscription on a rock at Dambool, which is of the date 1200 A.D., records that King Prakrama Bahu I. made it a rule that "when permanent grants of land were to be made to those who performed meritorious services, such behests should not be evanescent like lines drawn on water by being inscribed on leaves to be destroyed by rats and white ants, but engraved on plates of copper, so as to endure to posterity."

The wiharas and monasteries of the Buddhist priesthood are the only depositaries in Ceylon of the national literature, and in these are to be found quantities of ola books on an infinity of subjects, some of them, especially those relating to religion and ecclesiastical history, being of the remotest antiquity.

Works of the latter class are chiefly written in Pali. Treatises on astronomy, mathematics, and physics are almost exclusively in Sanskrit, whilst those on general literature, being comparatively recent, are composed in Elu, a dialect which differs from the colloquial Singhalese rather in style than in structure, having been liberally enriched by incorporation from Sanskrit and Pali.[1] But of the works which have come down to us, ancient as well as modern, so great is the preponderance of those in Pali and Sanskrit, that the Singhalese can scarcely be said to possess a literature in their national dialect; and in the books they do possess, so utter is the dearth of invention or originality, that almost all which are not either ballads or compilations, are translations from one or other of the two learned languages.

1: TURNOUR'S Introd. to theMahawanso, p. xiii. A critical account of the Elu will be found in an able and learned essay on the language and literature of Ceylon by Mr. J. DE ALWIS, prefixed to his English. translation of theSidath Sangara, a grammar of Singhalese, written in the fourteenth century. Colombo, 1852. Introd. p. xxvii. xxxvii.

I. PALI.—Works in Pali are written, like those of Burmah and Siam, not in Nagari or any peculiar character, but in the vernacular alphabet. Of these, as might naturally be expected, the vast majority are on subjects connected with Buddhism, and next to them in point of number are grammars and grammatical commentaries.

The original of the great Pali grammar of Kachchayanois now lost, but its principles survive in numerous treatises, and text-books written at succeeding periods to replace it.[1] Such is the passion for versification, probably as an assistant to memory, that nearly every Singhalese work, ancient as well as modern, is composed in rhyme, and even the repulsive abstractions of Syntax have found an Alvarez and been enveloped in metrical disguise.

1: The Rev. R. SPENCE HARDY, to whom I am indebted for much valuable information on the subject of the literature current at the present day in Ceylon, published a list in theJournal of the Ceylon Branch of the Asiatic Societyfor 1848, in which he gave the titles of 467 works in Pali, Sanskrit, and Elu, collected by himself during his residence in Ceylon. Of these about 80 are in Sanskrit, 150 in Elu (or Singhalese), and the remainder in Pali, either with or without translations. Of the Pali book 26 are either grammars or treatises on grammar.This catalogue of Mr. Hardy is, however, by no means to be regarded as perfect; not only because several are omitted, but because many are but excerpts from larger works. The titles are seldom descriptive of the contents, but in true Oriental taste are drawn from emblems and figures, such as "Light," "Gems," and "Flowers." The authors' names are rarely known, and the language or style seldom affords an indication of the age of the composition.

This catalogue of Mr. Hardy is, however, by no means to be regarded as perfect; not only because several are omitted, but because many are but excerpts from larger works. The titles are seldom descriptive of the contents, but in true Oriental taste are drawn from emblems and figures, such as "Light," "Gems," and "Flowers." The authors' names are rarely known, and the language or style seldom affords an indication of the age of the composition.

Of the sacred writings in Pali, the most renowned are thePitakattayan, literally "The Three Baskets," which embody the doctrines, discourses, and discipline of the Buddhists, and so voluminous is this collection that its contents extend to 592,000 stanzas; and the Atthakatha or commentaries, which are as old as the fifth century[1], contain 361,550 more. From their voluminousness, the Pittakas are seldom to be seen complete, but there are few of the superior temples in which one or more of the separate books may not be found.

1: They were translated into Pali from Singhalese by Buddhaghoso, A.D. 420.—Mahawanso, c. xxxvii, p. 252.

The most popular portion of the Pittakas are the legendary tales, which profess to have been related by GOTAMO BUDDHA himself, in hisSutrasor discourses, and were collected under the title ofPansiya-panas-jataka-pota, or the "Five hundred and fifty Births." The series is designed to commemorate events in his own career, during the states of existence through which he passed preparatory to his reception of the Buddhahood. Instructure and contents it bears a striking resemblance to the Jewish Talmud, combining, with aphorisms and maxims, philological explanations of the divine text, stories illustrative of its doctrines, into which not only saints and heroes, but also animals and inanimate objects, are introduced, and not a few of the fables that pass as Æsop's are to be found in the Jatakas of Ceylon. There are translations into Singhalese of the greater part of its contents, and so attractive are its narratives that the natives will listen the livelong night to recitations from its pages.[1]

1: HARDY'SBuddhism, ch. v. p. 98.

The other Pali works[1] embrace subjects in connection with cosmography and the Buddhist theories of the universe; the distinctions of caste, topographical narratives, a few disquisitions on medicine, and books which, like the Milindaprasna, or "Questions of Milinda,"[2] without being canonical give an orthodox summary of the national religion.

1: A lucid account of the principal Pali works in connection with religion will be found in the Appendix to HARDY'SManual of Buddhism, p. 509, and in HARDY'SEastern Manichian, pp. 27, 315.2: The title of this popular work has given rise to a very curious conjecture of Turnour's. It professes to contain the dialectic controversies of Nagannoa, through whose instrumentality Buddhism was introduced into Kashmir, with Milinda, who was the Raja of an adjoining country, called Sagala, near the junction of the rivers Ravi and Chenab. These dicussions must have taken place about the year B.C. 44. Now Sagala is identical with Sangala, the people of which, according to Arrian, made a bold resistance to the advance of Alexander the Great beyond the Hydraotes; and it has been supposed by Sir Alexander Burnes to have occupied the site of Lahore. Its sovereign, therefore, who embraced the doctrines of Buddha, was probably an Asiatic Greek, and TURNOUR suggests that the "Yons" or "Yonicas" who, according to the Milinda-prasna, formed his body-guard, were either Greeks or the descendants of Greeks from Ionia.—Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng.v. 523; HARDY'SManual of Buddhism, p. 512; REINAUD,Mémoire sur l'Inde, p. 65.

1: A lucid account of the principal Pali works in connection with religion will be found in the Appendix to HARDY'SManual of Buddhism, p. 509, and in HARDY'SEastern Manichian, pp. 27, 315.

2: The title of this popular work has given rise to a very curious conjecture of Turnour's. It professes to contain the dialectic controversies of Nagannoa, through whose instrumentality Buddhism was introduced into Kashmir, with Milinda, who was the Raja of an adjoining country, called Sagala, near the junction of the rivers Ravi and Chenab. These dicussions must have taken place about the year B.C. 44. Now Sagala is identical with Sangala, the people of which, according to Arrian, made a bold resistance to the advance of Alexander the Great beyond the Hydraotes; and it has been supposed by Sir Alexander Burnes to have occupied the site of Lahore. Its sovereign, therefore, who embraced the doctrines of Buddha, was probably an Asiatic Greek, and TURNOUR suggests that the "Yons" or "Yonicas" who, according to the Milinda-prasna, formed his body-guard, were either Greeks or the descendants of Greeks from Ionia.—Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng.v. 523; HARDY'SManual of Buddhism, p. 512; REINAUD,Mémoire sur l'Inde, p. 65.

But thechefs d'oeuvreof Pali literature are their chronicles, theDipawanso, Mahawanso,and others; of these the most important by far is theMahawansoand its tikas or commentaries. It stands at the head of the historical literature of the East; unrivalled by anything extant in Hindustan[1], the wildness of whose chronologyit controls; and unsurpassed, if it be equalled, by the native annals of China or Kashmir. So conscious were the Singhalese kings of the value of this national monument, that its continuation was an object of royal solicitude to successive dynasties[2] from the third to the thirteenth century; and even in the decay of the monarchy the compilation was performed in A.D. 1696, by an unknown hand, and, finally, brought down to A.D. 1758 by order of one of the last of the Kandyan kings.

1: LASSEN,Indis. Alt., vol. ii. p. 13-15.2: COSMAS INDICO-PLEUSTES, EDRISI, ABOU-ZEYD, and almost all the travellers and geographers of the middle ages, have related, as a trait of the native rulers of Ceylon, their employment of annalists to record the history of the kingdom.—EDRISI,Clim.i. sec. 8, p. 3.

1: LASSEN,Indis. Alt., vol. ii. p. 13-15.

2: COSMAS INDICO-PLEUSTES, EDRISI, ABOU-ZEYD, and almost all the travellers and geographers of the middle ages, have related, as a trait of the native rulers of Ceylon, their employment of annalists to record the history of the kingdom.—EDRISI,Clim.i. sec. 8, p. 3.

Of the chronicles thus carefully constructed, which exhibit in their marvellously preserved leaves the study and elaboration of upwards of twelve hundred years, PRINSEP, supreme as an authority, declared that they served to "clear away the chief of difficulties in Indian genealogies, which seem to have been intentionally falsified by the Brahmans and thrown back into remote antiquity, in order to confound their Buddhist rivals."[1]

1: PRINSEP, in a private letter to Turnour, in 1836, speaking of the singular value of theMahawansoin collating the chronology of India, says, "had your Buddhist chronicles been accessible to Sir W. Jones and Wilford, they would have been greedily seized to correct anomalies at every step."

But they display in their mysterious rhymes few facts or revelations to repay the ordinary reader for the labour of their perusal. Written exclusively by the Buddhist priesthood, they present the meagre characteristics of the soulless system which it is their purpose to extol. No occurrence finds a record in their pages which does not tend to exalt the genius of Buddhism or commemorate the acts of its patrons: the reigns of the monarchs who erected temples for its worship, or consecrated shrines for its relics, are traced with tiresome precision; even where their accessionwas achieved by usurpation and murder, their lives are extolled for piety, provided they were characterised by liberality to the church; whilst those alone are stigmatised as impious and consigned to long continued torments, whose reigns are undistinguished by acts conducive to the exaltation of the national worship.[1]

1: Asoca, "who put to death one hundred brothers," to secure the throne to himself, is described in theMahawanso, ch. v. p. 21, as a prince "of piety and supernatural wisdom." Even Malabar infidels, who assassinated the Buddhist kings, are extolled as "righteous sovereigns" (Mahawanso, ch. xxi. p. 127); but a Buddhist king who caused a priest to be put to death who was believed to be guilty of a serious crime, is consigned by theRajavalito a hell with a copper roof "so hot that the waters of the sea are dried as they roil above it."—Rajavali, p. 192.

The invasions which disturbed the tranquillity of the throne, and the schisms which rent the unity of the church, are described with painful elaboration; but we search in vain for any instructive notices of the people or of their pursuits, for any details of their social condition or illustration of their intellectual progress. Whilst the commerce of all nations was sweeping along the shores of Ceylon, and the ships of China and Arabia were making its ports their emporiums; the national chronicles, whose compilation was an object of solicitude to successive dynasties, are silent regarding these adventurous expeditions; and utterly indifferent to all that did not affect the progress of Buddhism or minister to the interests of the priesthood.[1]

1: It has been surmised that in the intercourse which subsisted between India and the western world by way of Alexandria and Persia, and which did not decline till the sixth or seventh century, the influences of Nestorian Christianity may have left their impress on the genius and literature of Buddhism; and in the legends of its historians one is struck by the many passages that suggest a similarity to events recorded in the Jewish Scriptures. The coincidence may also be accounted for by the close proximity of a Jewish race in Afghanistan (the descendants of those carried away into captivity by Shalmanasar) which eventually extended itself along the west coast of India, and became the progenitors of the Hebrew colony that still inhabits the south of the Dekkan near Cochin, and are known as the "Black Jews of Malabar." The influence of this immigration is perceptible in the sacred books, both of the Brahmans and Buddhists; the laws of Menu present some striking resemblances to the law of Moses, and it was probably from a knowledge of the contents of the Hebrew rolls still possessed by this remnant of the dispersion that the Buddhists borrowed the numerous incidents which we find reproduced in the historical books of Ceylon. Thus the aborigines, when subdued by their Bengal invaders, were forced, like the Israelites, by their masters "to make bricks" for the construction of their stupendous edifices (Mahawanso, ch. xxviii.). On the occasion of building the great dagoba, the Ruanwellé, at Anarajapoora, B.C. 161, the materials were all prepared at a distance, and brought ready to be deposited in their places (Mahawanso, xxvii.); as on the occasion of building the first temple at Jerusalem, "the stone was made ready before it was brought, so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard whilst it was building." The parting of the Red Sea to permit the march of the fugitive Hebrews has its counterpart in the exploit of the King Gaja Bahu, A.D. 109, who, when marching his army to the coast of India, in order to bring back the Singhalese from captivity in Sollee, "smote the waters of the sea till they parted, so that he and his army marched through without wetting the soles of their feet."—Rajaratnacari, p. 59. King Maha Sen (A.D. 275), seeking a relic, had the mantle of Buddha lowered down from heaven: and Buddha had, previously, in designating Kasyapa as his successor, transmitted to him his robe as Elijah let fall his mantle upon Elisha. (Rajavali, p. 238; HARDY'SOriental Monachism, p. 119.) There is a resemblance too between the apotheosis of Dutugaimunu and the translation of Elijah when "in a chariot and horses of fire he went up into heaven" (2 Kings, ii. 11);—according to theMahawanso, ch. xxii p. 199, when the Singhalese king was dying, a chariot was seen descending from the sky and his disembodied spirit "manifested itself standing in the car in which he drove thrice round the great shrine, and then bowing down to the attendant priesthood, he departed for tusita" (the Buddhists' heaven). The ceremonial and dogmatic coincidences are equally remarkable;—constant allusion is made to the practice of the kings to "wash the feet of the priests and anoint them with oil."—Mahawanso; ch. xxv.—xxx. In conformity with the denunciation that the sins of the fathers were to be visited on the children, the Jews inquired whether a "man's parents did commit sin that he was born blind?" (John, ix. 3) and in like manner, in theRajavali, "the perjury of Wijayo (who had repudiated his wife after swearing fidelity to her) was visited on the person of the King Panduwaasa," his nephew, who was afflicted with insanity in consequence(Rajavali, pp. 174-178). The account in theRajaratnacariof King Batiya Tissa (B.C. 20), who was enabled to enter the Ruanwellé dagoba by the secret passage known only to the priests, and to discover their wealth and treasures deposited within, has a close resemblance to the descent of Daniel and King Astyages into the temple of Bel, by the privy entrance under the table, whereby the priests entered and consumed the offerings made to the idol (Bel and the Dragon, Apocryp. ch. i.-xiii.;Rajaratnacari, p. 45). The inextinguishable fire which was for ever burning on the altar of God (Leviticus, ch. vi. 13) resembles the lamps which burned for 5000 years continually in honour of Buddha (Mahawanso, ch. lxxxi.;Rajaratnacari, p. 49); and these again had their imitators in the lamp of Minerva, which was never permitted to go out in the temple at Athens, and in the [Greek: luchnon asbeston], which was for ever burning in the temple of Ammon. The miracle of feeding the multitude by our Saviour upon a few loaves and fishes, is repeated in theMahawanso, where a divinely endowed princess fed Pandukabhaya, B.C. 437, and five hundred of his followers with the repast which she was taking to her father and his reapers, the refreshment being "scarcely diminished in quantity as if one person only had eaten therefrom."—Mahawanso, ch. x. p. 62. The preparation of the high road for the procession of the sacred bo-tree after its landing (Mahawanso, ch. xix. p. 116), and the order to clear a road through the wilderness for the march of the king at the inauguration of Buddhism, recall the words of the prophet, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight a highway in the desert." (Isaiah, xl. 3.) And we are reminded of the prophecy of Isaiah as to the kingdom of peace, in which "the leopard shall lie down with the kid and the calf with the lion, and a young child shall lead them," by the Singhalese historians, in describing the religious repose of the kingdom of Asoca under the influence of the religion of Buddha, where "the elk and the wild hog were the guardians of the gardens and fields, and the tiger led forth the cattle to graze and reconducted them in safety to their pens."—Mahawanso, ch. v. p. 22. The narrative of the "judgment of Solomon," in the matter of the contested child (1 Kings, ch. iii.), has its parallel in a story in every respect similar in the Pansyiapanas-jataka.—ROBERT'SOrient. Illustr. p. 101.

II. SANSKRIT.—In Sanskrit or translations from it, the Singhalese have preserved their principal treatiseson physical science, cosmography, materia medica, and surgery. From it, too, they have borrowed the limited knowledge of astronomy, possessed by the individuals who combined with astrology and the casting of nativities, the practice of palmistry and the interpretation of dreams. In Sanskrit, they have treatises on music and painting, on versification and philology; and their translations include a Singhalese version of those portions of theRamayana, which commemorate the conquest of Lanka.

III. ELU AND SINGHALESE.—There is no more striking evidence of the intellectual inferiority of the modern, as compared with the ancient inhabitants of Ceylon, than is afforded by the popular literature of the latter, and the contrast it presents to the works of former ages. Descending from the gravity of religious disquisition and the dignity of history and science, the authors of later times have been content to limit their efforts to works of fiction and amusement, and to ballads and doggerel descriptions of places or passing events.

But, to the credit of the Singhalese, it must besaid, that in their compositions, however satirical or familiar they may be, their verses are entirely free from the licentiousness which disfigures similar productions in India; and that if deficient in imagination and grace, they are equally exempt from grossness and indelicacy.

The Singhalese language is so flexible that it admits of every description of rhythm; of this the versifiers have availed themselves to exhibit every variety of stanza and measure, and every native, male or female, can recite numbers of their favourite ballads. Their graver productions consist of poems in honour, not of Buddha alone, but of deities taken from the Hindu Pantheon,—Patine, Siva, and Ganesa, panegyrics upon almsgiving, and couplets embodying aphorisms and morals.

A considerable number of the Sutras or Discourses of Buddha have been translated into the vernacular from Pali, but the most popular of all are thejatakas, the Singhalese versions of which are so extended, that one copy alone fills 2000 olas or palm leaves, each twenty-nine inches in length and containing nine lines in a page.

The other works in Singhalese are on subjects connected with history, such as theRajavaliandRajaratnacai, on grammar and lexicography, on medicine, topography, and other analogous subjects. But in all their productions, though invested with the trappings of verse, there alike is an avoidance of what is practical and true, and an absence of all that is inventive and poetic. They contain nothing that appeals to the heart or the affections, and their efforts of imagination aspire not to please or to elevate, but to astonish and bewilder by exaggeration and fable. Their poverty of resources leads to endless repetitious of the same epithets and incidents; books are multiplied at the present day chiefly by extracts from works ofestablished popularity, and the number of qualified writers is becoming annually less from the altered circumstances of the island and the decline of those institutions and prospects which formerly stimulated the ambition of the Buddhist priesthood, and inspired a love of study and learning.

It is difficult to attempt any condensed, and at the same time perspicuous, sketch of the national religion of Ceylon—a difficulty which arises not merely from the voluminous obscurity of its sacred history and records; but still more from confusion in the variety of forms under which Buddhism exhibits itself in various localities, and the divergences of opinion which prevail as to its tenets and belief. The antiquity of its worship is so extreme, that doubts still hang over its origin and its chronological relations to the religion of Brahma. Whether it took its rise in Hindustan, or in countries farther to the West, and whether Buddhism was the original doctrine of which Brahmanism became a corruption, or Brahmanism the original and Buddhism an effort to restore it to its pristine purity[2],—all these are questions which have yet to beadjusted by the results of Oriental research.[3] It is, however, established by a concurrence of historical proofs, that many centuries before the era of Christianity the doctrines of Buddha were enthusiastically cultivated in Baha, theMagadha, or country of the Magas, whose modern name is identified with theWiharasor monasteries of Buddhism. Thence its teachers diffused themselves extensively throughout India and the countries to the eastward;—upwards of two thousand years ago it became the national religion of Ceylon and the Indian Archipelago; and its tenets have been adopted throughout the vast regions which extend from Siberia to Siam, and from the Bay of Bengal to the western shores of the Pacific.[4]

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