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CHAPTER XIV

POLONNARUWA: THE CITADEL

THE rest-house stands on ground that was once part of an extensive and beautiful garden or park laid out by King Parakrama the Great. As he began to reign in 1164 (or 1153) and reigned thirty-three years, he was contemporary with our English King Henry II. This great park was called Nandana, the "Park of Heaven," and as it enjoyed all the advantages of the fine climate of Ceylon, it must have been charming indeed. It was filled with flowers, and flower and fruitbearing trees. Swarms of bees were attracted by the smell of the jasmine and other scented blossoms; peacocks spread their gorgeous tails and screamed as they strutted about the grass; and the Indian cuckoo made his voice heard. The area was broken up by artificial pieces of water, on which grew the lotus, and any one who has seen the red and white lotus growing together will understand the richness of that scene! The park was enclosed by railings decorated with rows of images carved in ivory. And actually some of the buildings set in it and minutely described in the Mahawansa are to be seen to this very day.. Turning out of the rest-house we pass to the left under the shade of a great bo

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tree, and follow a roadway parallel with the tank side. Below this, on the right, are various ruins: the remains of the sluice from the lake, and of baths and pokuna. A little further, on the lefthand side, are some ruins showing not much more than the outlines of the basement of a large building. Here can be traced an octagonal hall with sides fourteen feet in length. This opened into a rectangular hall, which in its turn communicated with a square water-tower by means of a fanshaped drain on raised brick-work. The floor of the hall was laid in concrete, and sockets cut to receive wooden posts show that it was sixteen pillared. On one side were seats. The whole is obviously a bathing-house of a special kind, and the water for use therein must have been raised by artificial means to the top of the tower in order that it might spray forth with force. Now what does the Mahawansa say? This garden of Parakrama's was" ornamented with a bathing-hall that dazzled the eyes of the beholder, from which issued forth sprays of water that was conducted through pipes by means of machines, making the place to look as if the clouds poured down rain without ceasing a bathing-hall, large and splendid, and bearing, as it were, a likeness to the knot of braided hair that adorned the head of the beautiful park-nymph. It also glittered with a mansion of great splendour and brightness such as was not to be compared, and displayed the beauty of many pillars of sandalwood, carved gracefully, and was like an ornament on the face of the earth. A hall shaped like an octagon, and a beautiful and pleasant hall, formed after the fashion of the

beautiful coils of the king of serpents, adorned this park.

Notice the meticulous accuracy of the description so faithfully corroborated by these remains. "An octagon hall, and " another hall; the pillars of wood; and the arrangement for spraying the water. The fanciful comparison likening the octagon hall to the knot of hair worn at the back of the head is not nearly so far-fetched as are many.

The description of the pleasure garden goes on to include a summer pavilion, which was built on a place like an island, where the water flowed on two sides, and there—not so far in front of us-we have it. The ruins of a pavilion stand on a boss or mound with a deep depression all round. This building was a "snow-white" house, and to it was attached a hall "for displaying divers branches of knowledge and the arts," a museum in fact! Near it was a "swinging hall" in which was a swing hung with tinkling bells of gold.

In this same park was a bath overlaid "with stones coloured like unto the body of the serpent Ananta" and another with "paintings of divers colours." No doubt these had their position among that group of baths now in ruin close to the rest-house. The coloured stones have all gone.

Before proceeding to the "pavilion of the island" there are other ruins which must be passed. The first of these stands right in front of us, a curious little isolated block, which, owing to the fact that it had neither door nor window, is supposed to have been a Mausoleum. Very little is known about it, though some of the sky

blue paint edged with terra cotta still adheres to its panels, showing that when freshly painted it must have been a striking object.

The first large building on the right after this, just beyond the bungalow of the Archæological Survey, is the Audience Hall, and close beside it, but with its axis at right angles to it, is the Council Chamber built by King Nissanka Malla (1198), if the inscription found in it is to be trusted. The pillars in this are unusually thick, and a small stone lion is perched on a pedestal at the main or northern entrance. It was near here that the mighty stone lion, which once supported the throne of the king, was found. Nissanka Malla was of Kalinga lineage, and came third in succession after Parakrama the Great. Parakrama's immediate successor was his nephew Wijaya Bahu II., who was dethroned and killed by a man of the Kalinga race; the usurper was able to call himself king for five days only, before a stronger than he, of his own people, put him to death and reigned in his stead. Nissanka had been sub-king under Wijaya, and there is nothing to show that he was not loyal to his sovereign. lie reigned for only nine years when his turn came, but he managed to impress his own name on almost every bit of stone building or monument in Polonnaruwa. He certainly did a good deal of building on his own account, including a temple for the Tooth Relic, and several viharas. But perhaps his chief claim to remembrance is the mighty Lion-Throne, which he designed. This huge beast, six feet high from the sole of its foot to its crown, and of stupendous girth, is in its style distinctly reminiscent of Assyrian

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