sible not to be struck with a curious resemblance between this description and that in the 10th book of the Odyssey, where Eurylochus, after landing, returns to Ulysses to recount the fate of his companions, who, having wandered towards the palace of Circe, had been imprisoned after undergoing transformation into swine. Ulysses hastens to their relief, and having been provided by Mercury with antidotes, which enabled him to resist the poisons of the sorceress, whom he discovers in her retreat, the story proceeds: Ως φάτ' · ἐγὼ δ ̓ ἄορ ὀξυ ἐρυσσάμενος παρα μὴροῦ "She spake, I, drawing from beside my thigh Thy sword, and let us on my bed recline, The goddess spake, to whom I thus replied: * And gentle, who beneath thy roof detain'st The story of Wijayo's interview with Kuweni is told in nearly the same terms as it appeared in the Mahawanso in the Rajavali, p. 172. 1 COWPER'S Odyssey, B. x. p. 392. Another classical coincidence is curious: we are strongly reminded of Homer's description of the Syrens by the following passage, relative to the female Rakshasis, or demons, by whom Ceylon was originally inhabited, which is given in the memoirs of HIOUEN-THSANG, the Chinese traveller in the 7th century, as extracted by him from the Buddhist Chronicles. "Elles épiaient constamment les marchands qui abordaient dans l'isle, et se changeant en femmes d'une grande beauté elles venaient au-devant d'eux avec des fleurs odorantes et au son des instruments de musique, leur adressaient des paroles bienveillantes et les attiraient dans la ville de fer. Alors elles leur offraient un joyeux festin et se livraient au plaisir avec eux: puis elles les enfermaient dans un prison de fer et les mangeaient l'un aprés l'autre." 1 HIQUEN-THSANG, Mém. des Péler. Boudd. 1. xi. P. 131. 335 CHAP. III. THE CONQUEST OF CEYLON BY WIJAYO, B.C. 543, AND B.C. THE sacred historians of Ceylon affect to believe in the assertion of some mysterious connection between the 513. landing of Wijayo, and the conversion of Ceylon to Buddhism, one hundred and fifty years afterwards; and imply that the first event was but a pre-ordained precursor of the second. The Singhalese narrative, however, admits that Wijayo was but a "lawless adventurer," who being expelled from his own country, was refused a settlement on the coast of India before he attempted Ceylon, which had previously attracted the attention of other adventurers. This story is in no way inconsistent with that told by the Chinese Buddhists, who visited the island in the fifth and seventh centuries. FA HIAN states, that even before the advent of Buddha, Ceylon was the resort of merchants, who repaired there to exchange their commodities for gems, which the "demons" and "serpents," who never appeared in person, deposited on the shore, with a specified value attached to each, and in lieu of them the strangers substituted certain indicated articles, and took their departure.2 HIOUEN-THSANG, at a later period, disposes of the fable of Wijayo's descent from a lion3, and of his 1 Mahawanso, ch. vii. 2 FA HIAN, Foe-Kouě-ki, ch. Xxxviii. See a notice of this story of FA HIAN, as it applies to the still existing habits of the Veddahs, Vol. I. P. I. ch. vii. 3 The legend of Wijayo's descent from a lion, probably originated from his father being the son of an outlaw named "Singha." B.C. 543. B.C. divine mission to Ceylon, by intimating, that, according to certain authorities, he was the son of a merchant (meaning a sea-faring trader), who, having appeased the enmity of the Yakkos, succeeded by his discretion. in eventually making himself their king.1 Whatever may have been his first intentions, his subsequent policy was rather that of an agriculturist than an apostle. Finding the country rich and fertile, he invited merchants to bring their families, and take possession of it. He dispersed his followers to form settlements over the island, and having given to his kingdom his patrimonial name of Sihala3, he addressed himself to render his dominions "habitable for men." + He treated the subjugated race of Yakkos with a despotic disdain, referable less to pride of caste than to contempt for the rude habits of the native tribes. He repudiated the Yakko princess whom he had married, because her unequal rank rendered her unfit to remain the consort of a king; and though she had borne him children, he drove her out before his second marriage with the daughter of an Indian sovereign, on the ground that the latter would be too timid to bear the presence of a being so inferior. Leaving no issue to inherit the throne, he was suc504. ceeded by his nephew?, who selected a relation of Gotama Buddha for his queen; and her brothers having dispersed themselves over the island, increased the number of petty kingdoms, which they were permitted to form in various districts, a policy which was freely encouraged by all the early kings, and which, though it served to 504. accelerate colonisation and to extend the knowledge of B.C. agriculture, led in after years to dissensions, civil war, and disaster. It was at this period that Ceylon was resolved into the three geographical divisions, which, down to a very late period, are habitually referred to by the native historians. All to the north of the Mahawelliganga was comprised in the denomination Pihiti, or the Raja-ratta, from its containing the ancient capital and the residence of royalty; south of this was Rohano or Rohuna, bounded on the east and south by the sea, and by the Mahawelliganga and Kaluganga on the north and west; a portion of this division near Tangalle still retains the name of Roona.1 The third was the Maya-ratta, which lay between the mountains, the two great rivers and the sea, having the Dedera-oya to the north, and the Kaluganga as its southern limit. The patriarchal village system, which from time immemorial has been one of the characteristics of the Dekkan, and which still prevails throughout Ceylon in a modified form, was one of the first institutions organised by the successors of Wijayo. "They fixed the boundaries of every village throughout Lanka2;" they "caused the whole island to be divided into fields and gardens;" and so uniformly were the rights of these rural municipalities respected in after times, that one of the Singhalese monarchs, on learning that merit attached to alms given from the fruit of the donor's own exertions, undertook to sow a field of rice, and "from the 3 1 The district of Rohana included the mountain zone of Ceylon, and hence probably its name rohana, meaning the "act or instrument of ascending, as steps or a ladder." Adam's Peak was in the Maya division; but Edrisi, who wrote in the twelfth century, says, that it was then called "El Rahoun,"-Géographie,&c. viii. JAUBERT's Transl. vol. ii. p. 71. VOL. I. Ꮓ Rahu is an ordinary name for it 2 It was established by Pandukaa- 3 Rajaratnacari, ch. ii., Rajavali, b. i. p. 185. |