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CHAPTER III

THE BEAUTIFUL CITY OF ANURADHAPURA

IT is difficult to do justice to the beauty of Anuradhapura; it combines so much not usually found in an eastern town. The wide park-like spaces of short grass are shaded by the beautiful spreading "rain-trees," so-called because their leaves fold together at night, and, opening in the morning, drop dew on the heads of those who pass below. The grass is studded with ruins, showing many a specimen of exquisite carving in granite, fresh as the day it was done, possibly 2,000 years ago. The three mighty dagabas, Ruanweli, Abhayagiri, and Jetawanarama, with their treegrown summits great mounds of millions and millions of bricks-can at some points be seen all at once; while the glimmering of the blue or sunset-dyed water of Tissa Wewa or Basawak Kulam seen through the trees adds distance and mystery to many a view. Kulam is the word for tank in Tamil, as wewa is in Cingalese, and wapi or vapi in Pali or Sanskrit. Further north, where the people are almost all Tamils, the word kulam is generally used.

Many people "do" Anuradhapura in a day

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(THE OLDEST HISTORICAL TREE IN THE WORLD).

P. 54

and think they have seen it all. It is possible that they can see a good deal, for the principal sights are near together, but many weeks may easily be spent here without exhausting its wonders. Fergusson' says that Ceylon alone of all known countries possesses a series of Buddhistic monuments extending from the time of Asoka to the present day. Most of them may be found in this city.

The walls of this wonderful city have never been discovered, its exact boundaries are unknown, the royal residence of its kings has not been unearthed. Nearly all the ruins which lie together have obviously been of some ecclesiastical or sacred use, so that it has been suggested that the residential part of the city lies elsewhere and has still to be discovered. Some people have even professed to find in the "pavilions" on the Outer Circular Road westward the remains of this district, for these buildings, though similar in character among themselves, are entirely different in construction from the ordinary type of monastery or vihara. This theory concerning them will be discussed more fully later on. Apart from this we can picture ancient Anuradhapura lying due north and south, equalling presentday London in extent, housing a huge population, and presenting evidence of a civilisation we are accustomed to consider exclusively our Major T. B. Skinner, who visited the place in 1832, says, "No one that I could ever hear of had travelled through it, not even a government agent, and from the fact of its being so completely a

own.

1 History of Indian Architecture. (Murray. 1910 edition.)

terra incognita I took an unusual interest in exploring it." In this, however, he was not quite correct, for Major Forbes had visited it in 1828 in company with a government agent.

In 1907 a fine hotel was opened to supersede the little rest-house, now the post-office, which until then had served for visitors, but in the season even the accommodation of the hotel is strained to the utmost, and rooms must be booked some time beforehand. It stands on the south-west of the town on large grounds, once the government gardens. Numerous species of trees have been brought together here; they are labelled or numbered, and there is a list of them in the hotel, so that it is easy to identify any especially noticed. Prices are fixed by government (8 rupees a day inclusive), and out here terms really are inclusive, covering baths and afternoon tea and other items, by means of which European hotel-keepers run up exorbitant bills. The hotel has all the charm of eastern style, with open verandahs and deep eaves; it faces north, a great consideration in this climate. At night the peevish whine of the flying foxes is heard in the trees and a myriad fireflies shine among the branches like wandering stars. From far off come the weird screams of a pack of jackals racing along the bund of the tank or searching for scraps round the outlying huts.

For those who have arrived by train and do not possess motor-cars, transit around the district is not difficult. The hotel trap can be hired very reasonably (a rupee first hour, half a rupee each 1 Fifty Years in Ceylon.

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