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turning over the two wings thus formed until they nearly met (Figs. 188 and 189).

Next we have a very large thin spear head of a broad leaf shape, found at the Tissa excavations, but unfortunately broken. The blade was nearly two and a half inches wide, and it appears to have been about seven and a half inches long. A later interesting type (Figs. 185 and 201) has a strong, very narrow, lengthened head, from six to eight and a quarter inches long, the tranverse section of which is a cross with the angles filled up; this is sharp only at the tip. It is fitted to the handle or shaft by means of four nails or rivets, which pass through the two hollowed halves of the split stem that fit on each side of the woodwork of the shaft.

A fourth form (Fig. 197) is of a long narrow leaf shape, with straight sides, like an enlarged arrow-head. It has no socket; the stem being lengthened and pointed is driven into the end of the shaft, which is prevented from splitting by an iron ring which fits over it at the end, as in Fig. 186. This was also reduced in length to 3 inches and widened at the base to make a fifth type (Fig. 200), which is often introduced in the wihāra paintings of the contest of Buddha with Māra and his demons. It is now commonly employed for keeping in check the wild elephants at Elephant Kraals when they attempt to break through the palisades of the enclosure into which they are driven. In this form there is a round socket at the end of the stem, into which the shaft is

driven, being held in place by a nail.

Another type of spear-head was narrow and elongated, with waved edges. Some had no socket to receive the shaft. There is an example in the British Museum, and drawings of it are to be seen in the wihāras (Figs Nos. 183 and 193).

Although the common winged spear-head of recent times seems to be copied from weapons carried by the early European invaders it is certainly of much more ancient date. On the side of the crown of a wooden statue which is supposed to be that of Duṭṭha-Gāmiņi, at the Nikawaewa Cave wihāra, there are carved reliefs (Fig. 217) which evidently represent spears with winged heads like those now in use, as well as others

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resembling the fourth and fifth types just described.1 I have already mentioned that these sculptures possibly date from the eleventh century A.D.

This form of spear-head has two curved wings (Tattu) at the base of the blade, each being in shape half a crescent. It might thus be described as a form of Trident with an enlarged and lengthened central prong. In modern spears the blade of such weapons has a rounded point, and is slightly hollowed on each side. The central prong is almost always straight (Figs. 195 and 202), but two specimens in the British Museum

FIG. 217.
Side of Duṭṭha-
Gāmiņi's Crown.

are waved along the edges (Fig. 194). Usually the central parts of the blade and the wings are decorated by being inlaid with brass or silver. The blade is fixed to the shaft by means of the split stem, like the third form described. The shafts of these spears and those of the third type are always covered with lac, with which handsome designs are formed, like those on bows.

The Trident, Patistāna, is undoubtedly an ancient weapon, and it is represented on some of the early oblong coins of Ceylon. I have not found it in any local reliefs, but it is depicted in the paintings in wihāras (Figs. 192 and 196.) Miniature tridents are included among the insignia kept in the dewālas, and of course they are seen in temple representations of Siva, of whom it is the special symbol. I have observed one example carved in stone in an ancient temple of Gaņēsa, where it was set up on an altar, the central prong, which evidently was considered to be a Lingam, and had that shape, being black with the oil poured over it.

1 We learn from the Commentary on the Hymn vi, 90 of the Atharva Veda (Bloomfield's Translation, p. 506) that the spear was an amulet ; this explains the presence of these spear-heads on the King's crown, as well as on the coins.

The Bident has fallen into complete disuse in Ceylon, but according to the evidence of the oblong coins it must have been a common weapon in the island in early times. It is also carved in the reliefs from Amaravati which are preserved in the British Museum (slab No. 77). The only local stone carving of one with which I am acquainted is a slab of earlier date than the twelfth century, found at the Giant's Tank, where it appears at the side of a rude figure cut in low relief (Fig. 218).

Although the Bow, Dunna, and Arrow, İya or Igaha, were the most important weapons of the ancient Sinhalese, as well as in Vedic times, I have not met with a single illustration of them in Sinhalese stone carvings; but Mr. Bell found in the panel at Welana Damana, in the North-central Province, to which allusion has been already made, four men armed with them and engaged in a fight with a giant who carried a sword and shield, aided by a kneeling spearman. They are always depicted in the representations of the Mara contest in the wihāras, and I have seen them carried many years ago by Sinhalese hunting parties, as well as by the FIG. 218. Pillar at the Vaeddas and Wanniyas.

[graphic]

Giant's Tank.

The correct length for a bow is commonly considered to be a few inches more than the height of the man who carries it. According to this, its length would be about 5 feet 6 inches; but some are much longer, and two in the British Museum are about 7 feet 6 inches and 8 feet long. According to Dr. Davy the usual length in the early part of last century was 9 feet, but no bows that I have seen were of this size. The expression Maha Dunna, Large Bow,' as a fixed measure

1 Rig Veda, vi, 75, 2.

An Account of the Interior of Ceylon, p. 244, foot-note.

of length, possibly the nine feet of Dr. Davy, shows that some were of more than the average length. The Mahā Bharata mentions one four cubits long (Adi Parva, 191, 20).

The strongest bows (Fig. 204) are made from a large thorny creeper termed the Ma Wēvael (Calamus rudentum); these are much thicker than the bows made from other kinds of wood (Fig. 203), or the strong tough ribs of the leaves of the Talipat palm which are sometimes used. Common bows have plain and rather rough surfaces, and are undecorated. Talipat leaf bows (Fig. 205) are slightly flattened on the outer side; all the rest are of a circular section throughout. The better kinds are highly decorated, being covered with effective patterns in stick lac of various colours, chiefly red, yellow and black, and in early designs also green. They have no notches; the string, Dunu-diya or Dunu-lanuwa, made of the inner bark of trees or the fibres of the Niyanda plant (Sansievera zeylanica), is merely tied permanently at one end and looped over the other when the bow is about to be used.

The Arrows are from about 3 feet to 4 feet in length, and have shafts half an inch thick; they vary greatly in the size of their steel heads (Itale), which are from 2 inches up to almost 18 inches in length, the usual size being 4 or 5 inches. All the more modern heads are practically of one type (Fig. 208), a thin narrow leaf shape, supposed to represent a leaf of growing rice; they have distinct rounded butts, with a narrow stem or tang which is driven into the shaft, and they are invariably unbarbed. The sides of the blade are usually nearly parallel in the central part; the tip is more or less rounded, and the sides converge to it in straight lines (Figs. 206, 208 and 209). The British Museum has one of a slightly different shape (Fig. 207), with a blade wider near the stem, like those of the Vaeddas. A similar form is seen in some wihāra paintings (Figs. 210 and 211), and arrowheads of this type are clearly indicated in two mason's marks of the twelfth century (Figs. 212 and 213), the date being determined by the shapes of letters cut by other masons on adjoining stones. I have already given a reference in

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