CHAPTER VI

ABOUT AND AROUND

It is obvious that the position of the hotel was determined by the fine grounds available at the government gardens, and though it is not so centrally placed as the old rest-house, which was as near the main ruins as anything well could be, it has many things of interest round it. Just outside the grounds, near the jail, is Mirisaveti dagaba, the fourth largest in Anuradhapura; it was built by King Dutugemunu, even before Ruanweli and the Brazen Palace, and so dates from the second century B.C. It has been restored with funds supplied by the King of Siam, who, as prince, stayed in Ceylon in 1888 and left a sum of money to be applied to the restoration of some Buddhist building. An outer covering of red brick has been built up round the old core. The space between the two is a mansion for an innumerable colony of bats, and it is one of the sights of Anuradhapura to see them whirring out at sunset like the sweep of smoke or leaves blown before a gale.

The origin of Mirisavetiya lies in the forgetfulness of the king, who was accustomed to offer a portion of whatever he ate to the monks, but absent-mindedly one day consumed "a condiment

flavoured with chillies, called miriswetiya, or chillisambal" (which is the word for a preparation of chillies in Cingalese), omitting the usual ceremony, and felt bound in expiation to erect the dagaba called Mirisavetiya.

The chief beauty of this rotund pile lies in the altars, which are unusually high and decorated in alto-relievo. That on the west is the finest example, having been reset. Notice the two tall stele with the flowing floral design. At the time when Tennent wrote the dagaba was merely a mound covered with scrub, and the altars were buried in the débris.

The dagaba is surrounded by monastery ruins on three sides, there being no less than fourteen monasteries in this one community. Enclosed within the area belonging to them was also a large park-like space on the shores of Basawak Kulam. Up to the time of Kasyapa IV (A.D. 912) the community of Mirisaveti, the Maricavetti of the Mahawansa, was apparently not of much account. But it was rebuilt in the reign of Kasyapa V (A.D. 929939), and richly gifted and endowed, though by that date Polonnaruwa had become the capital of the kingdom.

It is possible that the vihara, with huge columns, standing to the west of the dagaba, may be "the great house at Maricavatti," built by Prince Kasyapa in the seventeenth century for the monk Maha Dhammakathi. These mighty columns are unmatched except by those at the "Elephant Stables." They have grooves 12 inches wide, cut at the top, in which rested the beams supporting the roof.

Mirisavetiya is best reached from the hotel by a little footpath breaking away on the west and following the banks of a small stream, presently crossed by a rough bridge. This is one of the canals fed by Tissa-Wewa. At every turn one is reminded of the difference between East and West; the entire dissimilarity of the foliage, the odd creatures encountered, keep one's mind ever fresh and attract the attention even of the naturally unobservant. Along this tiny stream as I wandered one evening, a tortoise, about half the size of a football, under the tree roots on the bank, was attempting to bite a small squirming fish he had somehow caught. But the jaws of the gourmand could make no impression on the tough skin of the victim, and at last he dragged it into his home under the bank to be tackled at leisure. Only a few yards further up a mudcoloured water-snake lay motionless in the shallows waiting for prey to drop into his jaws.

If instead of crossing this tiny stream we follow the path along it, we come to a junction of three streams, in two of which people are forbidden to bathe as the water runs into the drinking-tank; but the third, being merely for irrigation, is open, and much appreciated, as the pretty sight of a mother with a young daughter just budding into womanhood, and three small children, all bathing together, showed.

From here we can mount to the bund of Tissa, which sweeps round in a magnificent curve, showing views of this most beautiful of all the lakes, which was formed by the great King Tissa. This tank it is which is kept up by a channel, Yoda Ela,

connecting it with Kala-Wewa, 56 miles away (see P. 46).

Beneath the steep slope of the bund on the landward side are some curious rock outcrops, like those at the Gal-gé and Vessagiriya; nestling beneath one of these is a small bathing-tank, with a dressing-room hewn out of solid rock. On the face of the rock, flanking the dressing-room on each side, is a most animated bas-relief, on one side of elephants bathing amid lotus plants, and on the other, charging away frightened by a sudden scare. Mr. Bell describes this as an absolutely unique piece of sculpture, and without exception the most spirited and life-like to be seen anywhere among the ruins of Anuradhapura. It is supposed to date from the time of Parakrama. A very little way beyond is a more elaborate tank, and a little columned chamber beneath the shadow of a huge boulder. There is nothing these ancient people are more to be envied for than their delightful facilities for bathing amid beautiful surroundings in the open air.

In amongst the great boulders above is a curious little lean-to dwelling, made by placing stone rafters across a niche in the rock, another example of the use of stone after the manner of wood as in the Buddhist railing.

In a further set of great boulders, facing toward the lake, under an overhanging rock, is a curious circular diagram filled with mysterious symbols and having a procession of figures scratched on the circumference. The whole is so lightly done it looks as if it might be the work of some idle tourist of yesterday playing with a knife, but it represents

the scientific knowledge of some man who lived close on a thousand years ago maybe, and the meaning of the fish, scorpion, tortoise, and other sketches which suggest, but do not follow, the signs of the zodiac, were of deep significance to him. For here we have what may be one of the very earliest maps of the world. Needless to say, it is founded on the Buddhist cosmogony, that idea which seems to us so absurdly "in the air" that it is marvellous any sane man could ever have believed it.

"The circle is 6 feet in diameter and has a double ring round the edge in which fish and crustaceans are represented-undoubtedly the ocean. The concentric circles, with their wide interspaces at the centre of the ring, can assuredly mean only the Sakvala, in the centre of which rises Maha Meru surrounded by the seven seas and walls of rock which shut in that fabulous mountain. . . . Sun and moon (in the second strips) lie on either side of the Sakvala; round about in space are scattered numerous other worlds represented by quadrisected circles. Below Below and around is the world of waters in which swarm gigantic uncouth denizens-fish, turtle, crab, chank and other marine fauna." (1901 Report.)

The Buddhist cosmogony is altogether too complicated to be referred to at length here, but a very short summary, compiled from Sir George Scott's The Burman, may explain the principal details. The central point is this great mountain, Meru, the highest peak in the world, in shape something like a cask floating end up in the water.

1 The Burman: His Life and Notions, by Shway Yoe. (Macmillan, 1896.)