During the absence of the rightful sovereign, and in the confusion which ensued on his decease, various members of the royal family arrived at the sovereignty of Rohuna, the only remnant of free territory left. Four brothers, each assuming the title of king, contended together for supremacy; and amidst anarchy and intrigue, each in turn took up the reigns of government, as they fell or were snatched from the hands of his predecessor1, till at length, on the retirement of all other candidates, the forlorn crown was assumed by the minister Lokiswera, who held his court at Kattragam, and died A.D. 1071.2 1 TURNOUR'S Epitome, p 39. 2 Mahawanso, ch. lxi. 1028. CHAP. XI. 1071. THE REIGN OF PRAKRAMA BAHU. A.D. FROM the midst of this gloom and despondency, with usurpation successful in the only province where even a semblance of patriotism survived, and a foreign enemy universally dominant throughout the rest of Ceylon, there suddenly arose a dynasty which delivered the island from the sway of the Malabars, brought back its ancient wealth and tranquillity, and for the space of a century made it pre-eminently prosperous at home and victorious in expeditions by which its rulers rendered it respected abroad. The founder of this new and vigorous race was a member of the exiled family, who, on the death of Lokiswera, was raised to the throne under the title of Wijayo Bahu.1 Dissatisfied with the narrow limits of Rohuna, he resolved on rescuing Pihiti from the usurping strangers; and, by the courage and loyalty of his mountaineers, he recovered the ancient capitals from the Malabars, compelled the whole extent of the island to acknowledge his authority, reunited the several kingdoms of Ceylon under one national banner, and, "for the security of Lanka against foreign invasion, placed trustworthy chiefs at the head of paid troops, and stationed them round the coast."2 Thus signally successful at home, the fame of his exploits "extended 1 A.D. 1071. ratnacari, p. 58; Rajavali, p. 251; 2 Mahawanso, ch. lix.; Raja- TURNOUR's Epitome, p. 39. over all Dambadiva', and ambassadors arrived at his court from the sovereigns of India and Siam." As he died without heirs a contest arose about the A.D. 1126. succession, which threatened again to dissever the unity of the kingdom by arraying Rohuna and the south against the brother of Wijayo Bahu, who had gained possession of Pollanarua. But in this emer gency the pretensions of all other claimants to the crown were overruled in favour of Prakrama, a prince of accomplishments and energy so unrivalled as to secure for him the partiality of his kindred and the admiration of the people at large. He was son to the youngest of four brothers who had recently contended together for the crown, and his ambition from childhood had been to rescue his country from foreign dominion, and consolidate the monarchy in his own person. He completed by foreign travel an education which, according to the Mahawanso, comprised every science and accomplishment of the age in which he lived, including theology, medicine, and logic; grammar, poetry, and music; the training of the elephant and the management of the horse.2 On the death of his father he was proclaimed king by the people, and a summons was addressed by him to his surviving uncle, calling on him to resign in his favour and pay allegiance to his supremacy. As the feeling of the nation was with him, the issue of a civil war left him master of Ceylon. He celebrated his coronation as King of Pihiti at Pollanarua, A.D. 1153, and two years later, after reducing the refractory chiefs of Rohuna to obedience, he repeated the ceremonial by crowning himself "sole King of Lanka."3 There is no name in Singhalese history which holds the same rank in the admiration of the people as that of Prakrama Bahu, since to the piety of Devenipiatissa he united the chivalry of Dutugaimunu. 1 India Proper. 2 Mahawanso, ch. lxiv. 3 Mahawanso, ch. lxxi. A.D. 1153. A.D. 1155. The tranquillity ensured by the independence and consolidation of his dominions, he rendered subservient to the restoration of religion, the enrichment of his subjects, and the embellishment of the ancient capitals of his kingdom; and, ill-satisfied with the inglorious case which had contented his predecessors, he aspired to combine the renown of foreign conquests with the triumphs of domestic policy. Faithful to the two grand objects of royal solicitude, religion and agriculture, the earliest attention of Prakrama was directed to the re-establishment of the one and the encouragement and extension of the other. He rebuilt the temples of Buddha, restored the monuments of religion in more than their pristine splendour, and covered the face of the kingdom with works for irrigation to an extent which would seem incredible did not their existing ruins corroborate the historical narrative of his stupendous labours. Such had been the ostensible decay of Buddhism during the Malabar domination that, when the kingdom was recovered from them by Wijayo Bahu, A.D. 1071, "there was not to be found in the whole island five tirunansis," and an embassy was sent to Arramana1 to request that members of this superior rank of the priesthood might be sent to restore the order in Ceylon.2 A part of the Chin-indian peninsula, probably between Arracan and Siam. 2 Raja-ratnacari, p. 85; Rajavali, p. 252; Mahawanso, ch. lx. From the identity of the national faith in the two countries, intercourse existed between Siam and Ceylon from time immemorial. At a very early period missions were interchanged for the inter-communication of Pali literature, and in later times, when, owing to the oppression of the Malabars certain orders of the priesthood had become extinct, in Ceylon, it became essential to seek a renewal of ordination at the hands of the Siamese hierarchy (Rajaratnacari, p. 86). In the numerous incursions of the Malabars from Chola and Pandya, the literary treasures of Ceylon were deliberately destroyed, and the Mahawanso and Rajavali make frequent lamentations over the loss of the sacred books. (See also Rajaratnacari, p. 77, 95, 97.) At a still later period the savage Raja Singha, who reigned between A.D. 1581 and 1592, and became a convert to Brahmanism, sought eagerly for Buddhistical books, and "delighted in burning them in heaps as high as a coco-nut tree." These losses it was sought to repair by an embassy to Siam, sent by Kirti Sri in A. D. 1753, when a copious supply was obtained of Burmese versions of Pali sacred literature. 1155. During the same troublous times schisms and heresy A.D. had combined to undermine the national belief, and hence one of the first cares of Prakrama Bahu was to weed out the perverted sects, and establish a council for the settlement of the faith on debateable points.1 Dagobas and statues of Buddha were multiplied without end during his reign, and temples of every form were erected both at Pollanarua and throughout the breadth of the island. Halls for the reading of bana, image rooms, residences for the priesthood, ambulance halls and rest houses for their accommodation when on journeys, were built in every district, and rocks were hollowed into temples; one of which, at Pollanarua, remains to the present day with its images of Buddha; "one in a sitting and another in a lying posture," almost as described in the Mahawanso.2 In conformity with the spirit of toleration, which is one of the characteristics of Buddhism, the king "erected a house for the Brahmans of the capital to afford the comforts of religion even to his Malabar enemies." And mindful of the divine injunctions engraven on the rock by King Asoca, "he forbade the animals in the whole of Lanka, both of the earth and the water, to be killed," and planted gardens, "resembling the paradise of the God-King Sakkraia, with trees of all sorts bearing fruits and odorous flowers." For the people the king erected almonries at the four gates of the capital, and hospitals, with slave boys and For a 1 Mahawanso, ch. lxxvii. 2 Mahawanso, ch. lxxii. description of this temple see the account of Pollanarua in the present work, Vol. II. P. x. ch. i. 3 Mahawanso, ch. lxxvii. Among the religious edifices constructed by Prakrama Bahu in many parts of his kingdom, the Mahawanso enumerates three temples at Pollanarua, besides others at every two or three gows distance; 101 dagobas, 476 statues of Buddha, and 300 image rooms |