493 66 CHAP. VIII. DOMESTIC LIFE. CITIES. Anarajapoora. - Striking evidences of the state of civilisation in Ceylon are furnished by the descriptions given, both by native writers and by travellers, of its cities as they appeared prior to the 8th century of the Christian era. The municipal organisation of Anarajapoora, in the reign of Pandukabaya, в.c. 437, may be gathered from the notices in the Mahawanso, of the naggaragutiko," who was conservator of the city, of the "guards stationed in the suburbs," and of the "chandalas," who acted as scavengers and carriers of corpses. As a cemetery was attached to the city, interment must have frequently taken place, and the nichi-chandalas are specially named as the "cemetery men ";1 but the practice of cremation prevailed in the second century before Christ, and the body of Elala was burned on the spot where he fell, B. C. 161.2 The capital at that time contained the temples of numerous religions, besides public gardens, and baths; to which were afterwards added, halls for dancing and music, ambulance halls, rest-houses for travellers3, almshouses, and hospitals; in which animals, as well as men, were tenderly cared for. The "corn of a thousand fields" was appropriated by one king for their use; another 1 Mahawanso, ch. x. p. 65, 66. 2 Ibid., ch. xxv. p. 155. 3 These rest-houses, like the Choultries of India, were constructed by private liberality along all the leading highways and forest roads. “Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodgingplace of wayfaring men."-Jer. ix. 2. 4 Rock inscription at Pollanarua, A.D. 1187. 5 Rajaratnacari, p. 39; Mahawanso, ch. x. p. 67; HARDY'S Eastern Monachism, p. 485. 6 Mahawanso, ch. lxviii. UPHAM'S version, vol. i. p. 246. set aside rice to feed the squirrels which frequented his garden; and a third displayed his skill as a surgeon, in treating the diseases of elephants, horses, and snakes.2 The streets contained shops and bazaars3; and on festive occasions, barbers and dressers were stationed at each of the gates, for the convenience of those resorting to the city.1 The Lankawistariyaye, or "Ceylon Illustrated," a Singhalese work of the 7th century, gives a geographical summary of the three great divisions of the island, Rohuna, Maya, and Pihitee, and dwells with obvious satisfaction on the description of the capital of that period. The details correspond so exactly with another fragment of a native author, quoted by Colonel Forbes, that both seem to have been written at one and the same period; they each describe the "temples and palaces, whose golden pinnacles glitter in the sky, the streets spanned by arches bearing flags, the side ways strewn with black sand, and the middle sprinkled with white, and on either side vessels containing flowers, and niches with statues holding lamps. There are multitudes of men armed with swords, and bows and arrows. Elephants, horses, carts, and myriads of people pass and repass, jugglers, dancers, and musicians of all nations, with chank shells and other instruments ornamented with gold. The distance from the principal gate to the south gate, is four gows; and the same from the north to the south gate. The principal streets are Moon Street, Great King Street, Hinguruwak, and Mahewelli Streets, -the first containing eleven thousand houses, many of them two stories in height. The smaller streets are innumerable. The palace has large ranges 1 Mahawanso, ch. xxxvii. p. 249. 2 Ibid., p. 244, 245. 3 Ibid., ch. xxiii. p. 139. 4 Ibid., ch. xxviii. p. 170; ch. xxxiv. p. 214. 5 Eleven Years in Ceylon, vol. i. p. 235. But there is so close a re semblance in each author to the description of the ancient capital of the kings of Ayoudhya (Oude) that both seem to have been copied from that portion of the Ramayana. See the passage quoted in Mrs. SPIER's Life in Ancient India, ch. iv. p. 99. of buildings, some of them two and three stories high, and its subterranean apartments are of great extent. The native descriptions of Anarajapoora, in the 7th century, are corroborated by the testimony of the foreign travellers who visited the capital about the same period. Fa Hian says, "The city is the residence of many magistrates, grandees, and foreign merchants; the mansions beautiful, the public buildings richly adorned, the streets and highways straight and level, and houses for preaching built at every thoroughfare." The Leang-shu, a Chinese history of the Leang Dynasty, written between A.D. 507-509, describing the cities of Ceylon at that period, says, "The houses had upper stories, the walls were built of brick, and secured by double gates." 2 Carriages and Horses.- Carriages and chariots 4 are repeatedly mentioned as being driven through the principal cities, and carts and waggons were accustomed to traverse the interior of the country. At the same time, the frequent allusions to the clearing of roads through the forests, on the approach of persons of distinction, serves to show that the passage of wheel carriages must have been effected with difficulty, along tracks prepared for the occasion, by freeing them of the jungle and brushwood. The horse is not a native of Ceylon, and those spoken of by the ancient writers must have been imported from India and Arabia. White horses were especially prized, and those mentioned with peculiar praises were of the "Sindhawo" breed, a term which may either imply the place whence they were brought, or the swiftness of their speed.1 In battle the soldiers rode chargers2, and a passage in the Mahawanso shows that they managed them by means of a rope passed through the nostril, which served as a bridle. Cosmas Indicopleustes, who considered the number of horses in. Ceylon in the 6th century to be a fact of sufficient importance to be recorded, adds that they were imported from Persia, and the merchants bringing them were treated with special favour and encouragement, their ships being exempted from all dues and charges. Marco Polo found the export of horses from Aden and Ormus to India going on with activity in the 13th century.* Domestic Furniture. Of the furniture of the private dwellings of the Singhalese, such notices as have come down to us serve to show that their intercourse with other Buddhist nations was not without its influence on their domestic habits. Chairs, raised seats, footstools, metal lamps, were articles comparatively unknown to the Hindus, and were obviously imitated by the Singhalese from the East, from China, Siam, or Pegu. The custom which prevails to the present day of covering a chair with a white cloth, as an act of courtesy in honour of a visitor, was observed with the same formalities two thousand years ago.10 Rich beds 11 and woollen carpets 12 were in 1 Sighan, swift; dhawa, to run; Mahawanso, ch. xxiii. p. 142, 186. 2 Mahawanso, ch. xxii. p. 132; ch. xxiii. 142. 3 The Prince Dutugaimunu, when securing the mare which afterwards carried him in the war against Elala, "seized her by the throat and boring her nostril with the point of his sword, secured her with his rope."— Mahawanso, ch. x. p. 60. 4 Marco Polo, ch. xx. s. ii.; ch. xl. 5 Mahawanso, ch. xiv. p 80; ch. xv. p. 84; Rajaratnacari, p. 134. 6 Ibid, ch. xiii. p. 82. 7 Ibid., xxvii. p. 164. use at the same early period, and ivory was largely employed in inlaying the more sumptuous articles.' Coco-nut shells were used for cups and ladles 2; earthenware for jugs and drinking cups 3; copper for waterpots, oil-cans, and other utensils; and iron for razors, needles, and nail-cutters. The pinga, formed of a lath cut from the stem of the areka, or the young coco-nut palm, and still used as a yoke in carrying burdens, existed at an early period, in the same form in which it is borne at the present day, and is identical with the instrument for the same purpose depicted on the monuments of Egypt. C EGYPTIAN YOKE, SINGHALESE PINGA. Form of Government. The form of government was at all times an unmitigated despotism; the king had ministers, but only to relieve him of personal toil, and the institution of Gam-sabes, or village municipalities, which existed in every hamlet, however small, was merely a miniature council of the peasants, in which they settled all disputes about descent and proprietorship, and maintained the organisation essential to their peculiar tillage; facilitating at the same time the payment of dues to the crown, both in taxes and labour. Revenue. The main sources of revenue were taxes, 1 Mahawanso, ch. xxvii. p. 163. Rajaratnacari, p. 134. so often mentioned in the Old and New Testament as an emblem of bondage and labour; and figured, with the same significance, on Grecian sculpture and Ibid., p. 103. This implement is gems. identical with the "yoke VOL. I. K K |