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to the Community of the four quarters, present or

future.

(38.) Northern cave, containing a broken statue of Buddha. Fragments of bricks in the brick wall of this cave measure 3 inches, 2.30 inches, and 2 inches in thickness.

Parumaka Pita jaya Parumaka Satanasata jita Parumaka Lapusaya lene agata anagata catu sagasa. A symbol follows, apparently a flagstaff surrounded by a fence of four uprights and one cross bar at their top. Possibly it represents the Flag of Victory (of Buddhism), supported by the four great Truths.

The cave (of) the (female) Chief Alapusayā (?Alaņbushā), daughter (of) the Chief Santānasatta, wife (of) the Chief Pita; to the Community of the four (quarters), present or future.

(39.) At south end of eastern rock. Tisaguta terasa sadi wiharaya barata Majima. . . Tisaya leņa sidasano agata anagata catu disa sagasa neyate. The cave' Beautiful' (of) the royal messenger Majjhima... Tissaya, for the excellent wihāra of the thera Tissagutta, is assigned to the Community of the four quarters, present or future. (40.) Copied by Mr. Fowler. Barata Tisaha leṇe.

The cave of the royal messenger Tissa.

At Veḍikkināri Malei, a hill some miles to the north, near Ariyamaḍu.

(41.) North cave. Parumaka Pusamita puta Ma(jima) ha lene agata anāgata cudi sagaha.

The cave of Majjhima, son (of) the Chief Pusamitta ; of the Community (of the four quarters), present or future.

(42.) South cave (a). Maha Samuda puta Gutasa leņe sagasa. Parumaka Bamaheta putaha Maha Gutahe 1(ene).

The cave of Gutta, son (of) Mahā Samudda; to the Community. The cave of Mahā Gutta, son (of) the Chief Brahmahatta.

(43.) South cave (b). This is another example of ' Paeraeli Bāsa.' When the letters are correctly arranged it becomes Nele hasati dicu taba. It is read from

right to left. The Cave of the workman Cudi Tissa. At Kaccatkoḍi, a mile and a half south of Erupotāna. (44.) (1) Senapati puta Parumaka Nadika puta Pamatisaha; three dots in a vertical line, forming a full stop. Parumaka Naṭaha upasaka, (2) upasaka Anediya, upasaka Buti Sumanaha (see Fig. No. 152).

(The cave) of Pamätissa, son (of) the Chief Nandika

son (of) Senapati. Of the Chief Nața, the lay devotee; (of) the lay devotee Anediya; of the lay devotee Bhuti Sumana.

(45.) Another example of Paeraeli Bāsa.' Hagasa ṇale (Na)la Bati gaba. The inscription is read from the middle outwards, first to the right and then to the left. The room of Nāla Bhātiya, a cave of the Community.

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The cave of Asadhamma Gutta; to the Community. Some of these inscriptions, especially those at Nāval Nirāvi Malei, may be as old as the last quarter of the third century B.C., while the rest with a very few exceptions belong to the second century and the first half of the first century B.C.

The most interesting inscription after those of the king and queen is No. 34. Strange to say, apparently the same chief caused a similar one to be cut, letter for letter identical throughout the first portion, at the eastern side of a rock termed Kuḍimbigala, near Haelawa, in the extreme south-east of Ceylon. It runs as follows:1

(47.)

2

Parumaka Nadika putasa Parumaka Mitasa lene
Maha Sudasana sagasa diņa.3

1 The cave over which it is cut was occupied by a bear at the time of my visit.

2 It is a distinctive feature of this and No. 34 that this word is in the genitive case.

3 Most probably the right cut at the top of the n was accidental;

The cave Great Beautiful' of the Chief Mitta, of the son (of) the Chief Nandika; a gift to the Community.

(48.) Another on the west side of the same rock is— Bata Pusagutasa leņe Ma(ha Su)dasana leņe sagasa dine.

The cave of the workman Pusagutta, the 'Great
Beautiful' cave; given to the Community.

The bricks in a wall at this cave average 17.20 inches in length, 8.90 inches in breadth, and 3.16 inches in thickness; Bt. is 28.1 and the contents 484 inches. The size indicates the second, or early in the first century B.C. as the time when they were burnt.

The inscriptions numbered 34 and 47 are in the earliest characters and appear to date from some time prior to 100 B.C. The most probable explanation of their authorship is that the person who caused them to be cut may be one of the chiefs who accompanied King Duṭṭha-Gāmiņi from southern Ceylon during his war against the Tamils of northern Ceylon. The name of the chief's father renders it extremely likely, or perhaps certain, that the inscription may be attributed to the famous Nandi-Mitta, or Nandika Mitta, the first of the ten celebrated champions or chieftains of King Duṭṭha-Gāmiņi. If so, this would provide a satisfactory `explanation of his leaving two inscriptions at places so widely separated.

The fanciful derivations in the histories, out of which some of the champions' names have been evolved, are of course ridiculous. In the case of another of them, Gōṭhayimbara, who is said to have been so called because he was short and was strong enough to uproot' imbara' trees, the writer ignores the fact that Ayimbara was a personal name of the time. An inscription of perhaps 100 B.C. at Nayindanāwa wihāra in the North-western Province runs :

(49.)

Parumaka Mahatisa puta Cuḍa Ayimaraha leņe
Ayimare pavatahi.

the interpretation would then become the usual formula 'given to the Community.'

F F

The cave of Cuda Ayimbara, son (of) the Chief Mahātissa, at the Ayimbara mountain.

Thus Gōṭhayimbara may mean either the 'Short Ayim

bara,' or Ayimbara son of Gōṭha.

used in Ceylon for a short person.

Koṭā is a nickname now

In the same way the story regarding Nandi-Mitta may be put aside as absurd.

We learn from Mah., i, p. 88, that he belonged to a family of high position. His uncle, whose name (Mitta) he bore, was a general (cămupati) under the Tamil king Elāra, and was a native of a village in the north-eastern part of the island, near a hill called Citta, which has not been identified. Nandi-Mitta lived at his uncle's village as a youth, and afterwards with his uncle at Anuradhapura, eventually proceeding to southern Ceylon to join Duṭṭha-Gāmiņi. His residence for some years in the south might enable him to dedicate a cave to the Buddhist monks in that part of the island.

After returning to northern Ceylon as one of the Sinhalese king's leading chieftains, if his native village was in the same district as the Păcina wihāra, which is equally to the northeast of Anuradhapura, he would be predisposed to do the same for the monks connected with that illustrious famous' temple. According to the history he was of a pious disposition and a devoted Buddhist. He is expressly stated to have had the furtherance of that religion in view in joining the Sinhalese prince. "I will bring about the revival of the glory of the religion of Buddha," he is reported to have said (Mah., i, p. 89). A chieftain of such influence holding these opinions would be certain to make gifts to the monks, and therefore in the absence of any negative evidence there is good foundation for the opinion that it was he who caused both the inscriptions to be cut.

In the inscriptions at the Kaccatkoḍi caves, No. 44 belongs to a Pamatissa who was also the son of a chief called Nandika. The differences between the forms of the letters in this inscription and that of Nandi-Mitta, as seen in the use of the straight r instead of the bent one, and the employment of ha instead of sa for the genitive case, may perhaps point to some other person than a brother of Nandi-Mitta. There still remains

a possibility that this is one belonging to the same family. The father of Nandika is here termed Senapati, which may be either a personal name, or a title, the General. At this early date one would rather expect it to be the latter, especially as it is not preceded by the word Parumaka, Chief, as in the case of that of his son. Thus there is a possibility that he might be the great General of the family, Nandi-Mitta himself, Pamatissa thus being his grandson. Such an identifica

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tion would suit the forms of the letters, and would render it unnecessary to assume that there were two chiefs called Nandi, both closely connected with a Senapati, in the same immediate neighbourhood.

No other names can be identified with those given in the histories. It is surprising to see a female Chieftain mentioned in No. 38; it is the only example of the kind, I believe, but the names of two female Chiefs of the Vaeddas were given in a previous chapter.

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