A subsequent king, Ananda, A. D. 20, fixed a chatta (in imitation of the white umbrella which is emblematic of royalty) on the spire', and two centuries later, Sanghatissa, who reigned A. D. 234 to 246, "caused this chatta to be gilt, and set four gems in the centre of the four emblems of the sun, each of which cost a lac." 2 And now follows the passage which is interesting from its reference, however obscure, to the electrical nature of lightning. The Mahawanso continues: "he in like manner placed a glass pinnacle on the spire to serve as a protection against lightning."

The term "wajira-chumbatan" in the original Pali, which TURNOUR has here rendered "a glass pinnacle," ought to be translated "a diamond hoop," both in this passage also and in another in the same book in which it occurs. The form assumed by the upper portion of the dagoba would therefore resemble the annexed sketch.

1 Mahawanso, ch. xxxv. p. 215. 2 Ibid., ch. xxxvi. p. 229.

3 Ibid., ch. xxxvi. p. 229. This belief in the power of averting lightning by mechanical means, prevailed on the continent of India as well as in Ceylon, and one of the early Bengalese histories of the temple of Juggernauth, written between the years A.D. 470 and A.D. 520, says that when the building was completed, “a neelchukro was placed at the top of the temple to prevent the falling of thunderbolts." In an account of the modern temple which replaced this ancient structure, it is stated that "it bore a loadstone at the top, which as it drew vessels to land was seized and carried off two centuries ago, by sailors."-Asiat. Res. vol. xv. p. 327.

In describing the events in the reign of Dhatu-Sena, the king at whose instance and during whose reign the Mahawanso was written by his uncle Mahanamo, between the years A.D. 459, 477, the author, who was contemporary with the occurrence he relates, says, that "at the three principal chetyos (dagobas) he made a golden chatta and a diamond hoop (wajira chumba 'un) for each.”—Maha

wanso, ch. xxxviii. p. 259. Similar instances of gems being attached to the chattas of dagobas are recorded in the same work, ch. xlii. and elsewhere.

The original passage relative to the diamond hoop placed by Sanghatissa runs thus in Pali, “ wisun satasahassagghé chaturócha mahamanin majjhé chatunnan suriyánán thapápési mahipati; thupassa muddhani tatha anagghún wajira-chumbatan,” which Mr. DE ALWIS translates, "The king caused to be set four gems, each of the value of a lac, in the centre of the four emblems of the sun, and likewise an invaluable adamantine (or diamond) ring on the top of the thupa." Some difficulty existed in TURNOUR's mind as to the rendering to be given to these two last words “wajira-chumbatan." Prof. H. H. WILSON, to whom I have submitted the sentence, says, " Wajira is either diamond,' or adamant,' or 'the thunderbolt of Indra ;'" and with him the most learned Pali scholars in Ceylon entirely concur; De Saram, the Maha-Moodliar of the Governor's Gate, the Rev. Mr. Gogerly, Mr. De Alwis, Pepole the High Priest of the

C

The chief interest of the story centres in the words. "to serve as a protection against lightning," which do not belong to the metrical text of the Mahawanso, but are taken from the explanatory notes appended to it. I have stated elsewhere, that it was the practice of authors who wrote in Pali verse, to attach to the text a commentary in prose, in order

four sides.

B

to illustrate the obscurities A. Crown of the Dagoba.
incident to the obligations
In
of rhythm.
this in-

B. The capital, with the sun on each of the
c. The spire.

Asgiria (who was Turnour's instructor in Pali), Wattegamine Unnanse of Kandy, Bulletgamone Unnanse of Galle, Batuwantudawe, of Colombo, and De Soyza, the translator Moodliar to the Colonial Secretary's Office. Mr. DE ALWIs says, "The epithet anagghan, 'invaluable' or priceless,' immediately preceding and qualifying wajira in the original (but omitted by Turnour in the translation), shows that a substance far more valuable than glass must have been meant." "Chumbatan," Prof. WILSON supposed to be the Pali equivalent to the Sanskrit chumbakam, "the kisser or attractor of steel; the question he says is whether wajira is to be considered an adjective or part of a compound substantive, whether the phrase is a diamondmagnet pinnacle, or conductor, or a conductor or attractor of the thunderbolt. In the latter case it would intimate that the Singhalese had a notion of lightning conductors. Mr. DE ALWIS, however, and Mr. GoGERLY agree that chumbaka is the same both in Sanskrit and Pali, whilst chumbata is a Pali compound, which means a circular prop or support, a ring on which something rests, or a roll of cloth formed into a circle to form a

D. The umbrellas or chatta, gilt and surrounded by chumbatan," a diamond circlet.

stand for a vessel; so that the term must be construed to mean a diamond

circlet, and the passage transposing the order of the words will read literally thus:

thapapesi tatha muddhani thupassa he placed in like manner on the top of the thupo anagghan wajira - chumbatan.

a valuable diamond hoop.

TURNOUR wrote his translation whilst
residing at Kandy and with the aid
of the priests, who being ignorant of
English could only assist him to
Singhalese equivalents for Pali words.
Hence he was probably led into the
mistake of confounding wajira, which
signifies "diamond," or an instrument
for cutting diamonds, with the modern
word widura, which bears the same
import but is colloquially used by
the Kandyans for "glass." However
as glass as well as the diamond is an
insulator of electricity, the force of
the passage would be in no degree
altered whichever of the two sub-
stances was really particularised.
TURNOUR was equally uncertain as
to the meaning of chumbatan, which
in one instance he has translated a
"pinnacle," and in the other he has
left without any English equivalent,
simply calling "wajira chumbatan
a "chumbatan of glass." — Maha-
wanso, ch. xxxviii. p. 259.

stance, the historian, who was the kinsman and intimate friend of the king, by whose order the glass pinnacle was raised in the fifth century, probably felt that the stanza descriptive of the placing of the first of those costly instruments in the reign of Sanghatissa, required some elucidation, and therefore inserted a passage in the "tika," by which his poem was accompanied, to explain that the motive of its erection was "for the purpose of averting the dangers of lightning."

The two passages taken in conjunction leave no room for doubt, that the object in placing the diamond hoop on the dagoba, was to turn aside the stroke of the thunderbolt.

But the question still remains, whether, at that very early period, the people of Ceylon had such a conception, however crude and erroneous, of the nature of electricity, and the relative powers of conducting and non-conducting bodies, as induced them to place a mistaken reliance upon the contrivance described, as one calculated to ensure their personal safety; or whether, as religious devotees, they presented it as a costly offering to propitiate the mysterious power that controls the elements. The thing affixed was however so insignificant in value, compared with the stupendous edifice to be protected, that the latter supposition is scarcely tenable. The dagoba itself was an offering, on the construction of which the wealth of a kingdom had been lavished; besides which it enshrined the holiest of

The explanatory sentence in the tika is as follows:

"Thupassa muddhani tathá naggha wajira-chumbatanti tathewe maha thupassa muddhani satasahasaggha nikan maha manincha patitha petwa tassahettà asani upaddawa widdhansa natthan adhara walayamewa katwa anaggha wajira-chumbatancha pujeseti atho."

Mr. DE SARAM and Mr. DE ALWIS concur in translating this passage as

follows, "In like manner having placed a large gem, of a lac in value, on the top of the great thupa, he fixed below it, for the purpose of destroying the dangers of lightning, an invaluable diamond chumbatan, having made it like a supporting ring or circular rest." Words equivalent to those in italics, Mr. TURNOUR embodied in his translation, but placed them between brackets to denote that they were a quotation.

all conceivable objects - portions of the deified body of Gotamo Buddha himself; and if these were not already secured from the perils of lightning by their own sanctity, their safety could scarcely be enhanced by the addition of a diamond hoop.

The conjecture is, therefore, forced on us, that the Singhalese, in that remote era, had observed some physical facts, or learned their existence from others, which suggested the idea that it might be practicable, by some mechanical device, to ward off the danger of lightning. It is just possible that having ascertained that glass or precious stones acted as insulators of electricity, it may have occurred to them that one or both might be employed as preservative agents against lightning.

Modern science is enabled promptly to condemn this reasoning, and to pronounce that the expedient, so far from averting, would fearfully add to, the peril. But in the infancy of all inquiries the observation of effects generally precedes the comprehension of causes, and whilst it is obvious that nothing attained by the Singhalese in the third century anticipated the great discoveries relative to the electric nature of lightning, which were not announced till the seventeenth or eighteenth, we cannot but feel that the contrivance. described in the Mahawanso, was one likely to originate amongst an ill-informed people, who had witnessed certain phenomena the causes of which they were unable to trace, and from which they were incapable of deducing any accurate conclusions.1

1 I have been told that within a comparatively recent period it was customary in this country, from some motive not altogether apparent, to

surmount the lightning conductors of the Admiralty and some other Government buildings with a glass summit.

CHAP. X.

SINGHALESE LITERATURE.

THE literature of the ancient Singhalese derived its character from the hierarchic ascendancy, which was fostered by their government, and exerted a preponderant influence over the temperament of the people. The Buddhist priesthood were the depositaries of all learning and the dispensers of all knowledge:-by the obligation of their order; the study of the classical Pali1 was rendered compulsory upon them 2, and the books which have come down to us show that they were at the same time familiar with Sanskrit. They were employed by royal command in compiling the national annals3, and kings at various periods not only encouraged their labours by endowments of lands, but conferred distinction on such pursuits by devoting their own attention to the cultivation of poetry 5, and the formation of libraries.6

The books of the Singhalese are formed to-day, as they have been for ages past, of olas or strips taken from the young leaves of the Talpat palm, cut before they have acquired the dark shade and strong texture which belong to the full grown frond.?

1 Pali, which is the language of Buddhist literature in Siam, Ava, as well as in Ceylon, is, according to Dr. MILL, 66 no other than the Maghada Pracrit, the classical form in ancient Behar of that very peculiar modification of Sanskrit speech which enters as largely into the drama of the Hindus, as did the Doric dialect into the Attic tragedy of Ancient Greece." In 1826 MM. BURNOUF and LASSEN published their learned "Essai sur le Pali," but the most ample light was thrown upon its structure and history by the subsequent investigations of TURNOUR,who,