INTRODUCTION

THE ruins of Egypt have been known for centuries, but it is only in comparatively recent years the ruins of Ceylon have been unearthed. Since then numbers have been attracted by these strange and beautiful specimens of architecture quite unlike anything found elsewhere. After the final victories of the Tamils, when the Cingalese kings were driven to their last stronghold, Kandy, which lies among the hills in the centre of the island, the jungle growth, so extraordinarily rapid in the moist atmosphere of Ceylon, sprang up in wave upon wave, engulfing in a vast green sea the sites of these ancient capitals. That such cities had existed had long been known, but knowledge of their whereabouts only remained as a tradition.

In the early part of the nineteenth century an Englishman, Lieut. Fagan, came upon some of the ruins, and was immensely struck with them; he wrote an account in The Ceylon Gazette, Oct. 1820. The ruins were subsequently visited by one or another of the European officials in Ceylon, notably by Major Skinner on his road-making excursions in 1831, and subsequently. But it was not till 1871 that any steps were really taken to reclaim and preserve them. Then a series of fine photographs of both Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, as they then were, was taken by Mr. Lawton, and official attention to archæology in the island began. Two years later a survey of Anuradhapura

was carried out, and measurements of the heights of the dagabas and other details of the ruined temples were made. In 1884-5 a good deal of investigation was done under Mr. S. M. Burrows, of the Ceylon Civil Service, who as office assistant to the Government Agent of the North Central Province was deputed to undertake this work. After this a series of "Sessional Papers" were issued from time to time describing progress, and in 1890 the first direct vote for archæological purposes was recorded. Mr. H. C. P. Bell, of the Ceylon Civil Service, who had already been doing some of the work, was appointed the first Archæological Commissioner.

Mr. Bell began systematic work at Anuradhapura in the June of that year, and from that time Annual Reports recording the work were made, though, owing to lack of funds, or other causes, they sometimes appeared years after the date to which they referred. These Reports grew rapidly in bulk and completeness; all of them have a certain amount of illustration, and the later ones contain perfect galleries of photographic reproductions, and are most interesting and informative, giving an idea of the work in every stage. In the nature of the case, however, these Reports deal with all the ground covered in each year, and it is often necessary to trace the course of any particular excavation through many of them, to get a complete picture of it. The Reports are also, it must be remembered, official records, and contain a great deal which, though of the utmost value for reference, is tedious to the general reader, who can hardly be expected either, to carry about

with him the vast bulk and weight of several of them, which would be necessary if he is to gather what is said about all the places visited.

Mr. S. M. Burrows issued a little handbook to the ruins in 1905. This has since been reprinted, but it suffers from the common fault of an expert's work, it presupposes too much. It is quite impossible for a new-comer to gather from it where he is to find anything, and in arrangement it leaves much to be desired. Mr. Cave's Ruined Cities of Ceylon, issued in 1897, attracted some attention at the time it came out, because of its beautiful photogravures, but very much has been discovered since then, and the references to Polonnaruwa in particular are at the present date entirely inadequate. It has been felt, therefore, that on account of the quickly growing number of visitors to these beautiful " cities," and also because of the intrinsic interest of the ancient history of the Cingalese, as illustrated by them, a book was imperatively required to collate and put in compact and readable form all that is known, so that it might be used either as a guide-book on the spot or be read by those unfortunate ones at home, whose travel is solely " in the mind."

As for myself, I am merely an interpreter. I have to plead only a curiously intense interest in these relics; in homely words, "it all comes natural to me." The mighty monuments of Egypt left me cold, the many attractions of Burma amused and interested me superficially, in Ceylon from the first moment I was at home. Maybe in one of those previous lives, of which we sometimes have a shadowy notion, I lived there, and the

faculty of being able to see it all as it was is merely the stirring of a long-buried experience.

If by means of this book, which has been written with genuine enthusiasm, I send a few people to study for themselves these monuments, or to burrow further in Mr. Bell's exhaustive Reports; if I carry one or two away from a war-worn world into the realms of hitherto unknown history, it is all I ask.

A few explanations are necessary. The Reports so constantly referred to in the body of the book are of course the Ceylon Archæological Survey Reports issued by the Government. All historical quotations enclosed in inverted commas without a reference are from Mr. Turnour's and Mr. Wijesinha's translations of the Mahawansa. The Cingalese words, which seem somehow so much more expressive than the English in certain cases, are here and there used. The first time they are so used they are printed in italics with an interpretation. If any one wants to gain an elementary notion of Tamil or Cingalese, the two languages of the island, he cannot do better than get the little manuals, Tamil Self-Taught and Sinhalese Self-Taught, by Don M. de Z. Wickremasinghe (Marlborough & Co.).

On page xvi will be found a table giving the dates of the principal kings mentioned in the book. The first column of figures is compiled from the Mahawansa by the simple method of reckoning backwards and adding up the numbers of years and months specified for each king's reign. This is a rough-and-ready way. Recently new light has been thrown on these dates by the

researches of Don M. de Z. Wickremasinghe, who has gathered new data from ancient inscriptions unearthed in Ceylon. By his permission these figures are given in another column. They are in most cases to be accepted as only provisional, though confirmation of their accuracy has been afforded by comparing them with accounts of embassies to Ceylon from China and India in olden days, of which the dates are known, for in these reference is sometimes made to the then reigning king of Ceylon, and in this striking way it has been found possible to prove Mr. Wickremasinghe's deductions.

Of the help received on the spot from all officials, including Dr. Joseph Pearson, D.Sc., Director of the Colombo Museum, Mr. H. C. P. Bell, ex-Archæological Commissioner, and the representatives of the Survey, Muhandiram D. A. L. Perera at Anuradhapura and Mr. Jayasekera at Polonnaruwa, I cannot speak too warmly. The work would have been quite impossible without their cordial co-operation.

I have also to acknowledge with thanks the very prompt permission accorded me by the Colonial Secretary in Ceylon in reply to my request to reproduce plans and two photographs from the Survey Reports, where my own had failed. The two photographs of which I made use in accordance with this permission are duly notified, the rest are my own. I am grateful also for the kindly help of Mr. G. F. Plant, C.C.S., in reading my proofs while at home in England on "leave," which was wholly occupied by work.

G. E. M.