capital at Dambadeniya in the Seven Kóralés, repaired the route to the peak, viâ Gampola, and with much pomp, visited and worshipped the Srí-páda. His successor Pandita Prákramabahu, improved the communications, and formed a road from the Samanala to Bentota in the Southern Province, bridging the ravines and rivers in the way, and among others, throwing a bridge of timber 193 ft. 6 in. long across the Kaluganga. Two hundred and seventy years later, Wikremabáhu, whose capital was at Kanda Nuwara, the modern Kandy, "caused bridges to be laid over the rivers, repaired the road, and caused 780 steps to be cut in the rock, in order that travellers might the more easily ascend; and also caused resthouses to be made for the convenience of travellers on the road. And after expending a large sum of money, he caused a great flambeau to be made which was capable of containing 100 pots of oil, and this he lighted as a beacon on the top of the peak, in order to make his works visible to the world; and thus this king accumulated an infinite amount of merit."* This route, there is reason to believe, is the same that is now followed in ascending to the peak, viâ Ratnapura. The practice of lighting up the summit of the mountain at sunset, during the pilgrim season, is continued to the present day, and the effect produced by the multitude of flaming lamps in front of Saman's shrine, and the Ranhili-gey, or temple of the foot-print, as seen either from Diyabetme or Heramittipane is exceedingly fine.

The belief amongst the Hindus in regard to the origin and sanctity of the hollow on the summit of Adam's Peak varies. It is by no means universal; and among those who hold it the Vishnaivites maintain it is the foot-print of Vishnu, while the Siváites insist upon it that the impression was made by Sivá, the chief of the supreme triad of Hindu divinities, after whom it bears the name of Siván-oli-pádam. They base their belief on the legend, that Sivá in one of his manifestations retired to this mountain for the performance of certain devotional austerities, and that on their conclusion, in commemoration of his abode there, he left the impress of his foot upon the mountain-top. This legend does not appear in any of the eighteen Puranas; but is gathered from hints contained in several; and it was probably concocted at some bye-gone period more from political than any other motives. That there were occasions when such motives would be likely to sway the minds of both kings and priests, will be evident to all who have studied the history of the Tamils in Ceylon.

The religion of the aborigines of the island was Nága or Serpent worship, subsequently superseded by or incorporated with the worship of Lakshmana and Ráma after their deification as incarnations of Vishnu. The head quarters of this combination of religions were, Ratnapura, in Sabaragamuwa, and Dewi Newara or Dondra, the extreme southern point of Lanka, and boundary of Ráma's conquests in that direction. This was before the Buddhist historic period. After the Wijayan invasion, successive monarchs built and

endowed Hindu temples, introducing therein the worship of Brahma, Vishnu, and Sivá, with that of other inferior deities. This worship the people clave to, while still professing to be Buddhists; and as it was tolerated by the Buddhist priests, it gradually led to the anomalous sight now almost every where to be seen, of Hindu déwáles in close proximity to Buddhist viháras, and a people addicted alike to the adoration of Buddha and the worship of Serpents and Demons.

Traditions of a remote age assert that a colony of Malabars founded the city of Trincomalee 1589 years B. C., and the earliest authentic notices of the place record the existence there of a very ancient and sacred Sivaite temple. Other traditions traceable to a period long anterior to historic times, make mention of a Tamil kingdom in the North-west of the island, ruled over by an Amazon princess named Alliarasamy, whose capital was Kudremale, where granite ruins and rock inscriptions bear evidence to the truth of the tradition; while a Tamil drama, founded on the story of the queen, declares the people to have been Sivaites in their religious faith.* But

"Hardly the place of such antiquity

Or note of these great monarchies we find ;

Only a fading verbal memory

And empty name in writ is left behind."

PHINEAS FLETCHER.

*The places considered specially holy by the educated Tamils and Hindus of Ceylon, in consequence of the presence of Sivá, are Trincomalee on the east, and Mardodde on the north-west coast.

Respecting the original peopling of the northern peninsula, the following account is given by Tamil writers.* A century and a half before the Christian era there lived in the Chola or Solí country, a certain minstrel named Yálpána Náyanár, otherwise Virarágaven. Being blind he depended for his subsistence entirely on the earnings of his wife. One day, however, she having delayed serving him with his meals at the accustomed hour, he quarrelled with her, and quitted the house, saying, that he was going to Ceylon; upon which she sneeringly observed,-"Ah! you are going to Ceylon to get a tusked elephant and a fertile field." On reaching Ceylon he made his way to Anuradhapura, where he obtained an audience of the king, and sang the monarch's praises to the accompaniment of his lute, in so agreeable a manner, that the well-pleased potentate did in fact present him with a tusked elephant, and moreover bestowed upon him in perpetuity the land on the northern extremity of the island; thus realizing the words with which his wife had ironically taunted him. The land was then covered with jungle and wholly uninhabited, but Yálpána induced a colony of Tamils from Southern India to settle upon and cultivate it; and in the course of years it became a populous, fertile and wealthy

* Extracted from the Tamil Plutarch, by the late Simon Casie Chitty, the talented District Judge of Puttalam, and author of the Ceylon Gazetteer. Several valuable papers were also contributed by him to the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, and other local Magazines and Journals, principally upon Tamil literature, and the history and customs of the Tamils, Moors and Mookwas of Ceylon.

district, which he named after himself Yálpána nadu, or the minstrel's country-a name the origin of which is still preserved in the modern Jaffna and Jaffnapatam. He did not however assume a personal sovereignty, but invited over a prince of the Solian race, and crowned him king under the title of Singariya Chakravarti, in the Kali year 3000, or B. C. 101.*

The preceding tale is by no means an improbable one, for the early kings of Ceylon were of Indian origin, and always more or less connected with that continent by matrimonial alliances; and an Indian minstrel in the olden days would count it no uncommon reward to receive gifts such as those awarded to Yálpána by the king. The colonists he imported were worshippers of Sivá, and that worship was known elsewhere in Ceylon as early as B. C. 426.

It is recorded in the Mahawansó that in the reign of Pandukabhaya [B. C. 437-367] that monarch, who seems to have been most tolerant in all matters of religion, built places of worship in his capital, Anuradhapura, for all denominations. The historian writes, chap. x. "He the king who knew how to accord his protection with discrimination," established the yakkos in the royal palace itself and annually provided demon-offerings. "He provided a nigródha tree

* The descendants of this king continued to reign in Jaffna, under the title of Ariya Chakravarti,' until near the close of the sixteenth century. They were frequently at war with the Sinhalese; and although at times conquered and deposed, recovered and maintained their power until finally subjugated by the Portuguese.