her for a long time; and the mouth of the pit they also covered with planks, and over the planks they laid earth; then the four princes returned back to the city. In the mean time, the king called Rama, who reigned in the city called Barenes, was seized with the same disease, and knowing himself that it was a dangerous disease, resigned the throne to his own son, and went into the wilderness; and in his great hunger and thirst he began to eat the bark, leaves, and flowers of a tree, and lived in a hole which was in the middle of a tree called Kolongaha, and by that means he was recovered from his disease; and, after he was perfectly recovered, he made a wooden stage in the tree twelve cubits from the ground, there he preserved fire; and, after that time, his only support was the remainder of the beasts which he found killed by the lions, tigers, and other dangerous animals. And while he lived in this manner, on a certain night a tiger came near to the pit in which the above mentioned princess was buried; and as soon as he caught the human smell, he began to draw away all the earth which covered the surface of the pit; and as soon as he had broken open the planks which were placed over the mouth of the pit, the princess perceived the tiger, and cried out with a dreadful noise; and, upon hearing the human voice, the tiger left the place, and run away. The king, Rama, who lived on the neighbouring tree, was surprised to hear a human voice in the midst of the wilderness; and, as soon as the day began to break, he descended from the tree, and searched round about for the person that he heard in the night; and when he discovered the mouth of the pit which was covered with planks, he removed the same, and found a human being in the pit. The king Rama_asked, "Who was there?" The princess answered, human being, and a female." King Rama thereupon answered, "I am a man, come out." The princess answered, "I am the daughter of the king Ókawre, and though I should lose my life, I will not lose my honour and rank." Thereupon king Rama said, "I am the king Rama of the city called Barenes, come out." The princess replied, "My lord, I am afflicted with a dangerous disease." King Rama replied, I had the same disease, but was cured by myself, and I know a remedy to cure that disease: come out." Thus, upon the persuasion of the king, the princess came out of the pit, and the king carried her into his hole in the tree, and provided her with the same remedy which removed his disease; and after she was recovered of the "I am a same, the king lived with her, and the said princess bore to the king sixteen pairs of twins, all together thirty-two beautiful princes, and they all lived together in the hole in the said tree. When an archer of the city, called Barenes Nuwera, went a hunting into this wilderness, he accidentally met the king in the midst of the wilderness; and after making a low bow to the king, he informed him that he was an archer of the city called Barenes Nuwera; and thereupon the king inquired from him after the health of his son, who was the king of that city, and the king was greatly satisfied with the good information that he received from the archer. The archer, seeing the thirty young princes standing round about the king, he asked the king, "Whose sons are they?" And the king answered that they were his own. The archer returned to the city called Barenes Nuwera, and informed the king of Barenes of the above circumstances, and how his father lived in the wilderness. The king of Barenes, together with a great multitude of people, thereupon went into the wilderness in search of his father; and when he found his father, he embraced him with joy, and requested him to come to his country; but the father refused to comply with the son's request. On which account, the son sent to his city for every thing necessary to found a new town; and caused the colon tree to be cut down, and built a new town upon the spot; and caused to be cultivated many paddy fields, and many dams and ponds to be made; and also furnished his father with a proper guard, and many citizens to live in the new town: and after he had finished every thing to his father's satisfaction, he returned back to his city, Barenes. And the new city was called by the name of the colon tree, viz. Colon Nuwara *. The four kings, the brothers to the queen of king Rama, had eight daughters each, altogether making thirty-two princesses; and when king Rama asked the thirty-two princesses in marriage for his sons, the father of the princesses refused, saying, that it was a disgrace to give their daughters in marriage to the sons of the king of Barenes. However, the thirty-two young princes sent private letters to the daughters of the four great kings; and when the princesses came to bathe in the river, the princes came there also; and each taking a princess by the hand, carried them into the city called Colia, or Dewodanam Nuwera +. • A city in the middle kingdom of Dambediwa. + Ibid. The fathers of the princesses heard that their daughters were carried to the city called Colia Nuwera by their own nephews, and laughed; and since that time the princes of the city called Kimboolwat have continued to take in marriage the princesses of the city called Colia, and the princes of the city called Colia to take the princesses of the city called Kimboolwat; and by that means the royal families of the said two cities are of one rank. From the king Maha Samate to the king called Sudeson, or Soododene, there reigned seven hundred and seven thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven kings; and out of them were three hundred and thirty-four thousand five hundred and ninety-three crowned kings. The king Sadene had two younger brothers called Amitodinea and Pasodenea. We shall now relate about the kings, or royal families of Srilake, that is, Ceylon. The king called Calingo, in his reign gave his daughter in marriage to the king called Wanyo, and the said queen bore a beautiful daughter to the said king. The astrologers prophesied by the birth planet of the said princess, that when she should attain to the years of maturity she should become united to a lion, and bear him children, and they reported the same to the king; on which account the king caused to be made a palace which contained seven galleries, and he kept the young princess therein, with proper guards around the same. However, after the said princess had attained the years of maturity, she privately left the palace, from sensual desire; and coming into a road, she fled away with a party of merchants who were passing on the said road; and on their way through a wilderness of the country, called Lade Desay *, a lion fell upon them, and caught the said princess; and the lion seeing her beauty, carried her into the wilderness, and married and lived with her. And it came to pass, that the said princess bore twins to the lion; the eldest of the twins was a male, and the youngest a female. When the twins grew up, he asked from his mother what was the reason that she and his father were not alike? upon which the mother informed him of the whole circumstances, and how she came to marry with the lion, his father. And on the next morning, after the lion went in search of food, the son of the lion opened the stone door of the cave in which they were shut up, and walked fifty yodoons; and on perceiving that he was then at a great distance, he turned · Properly Rawdha, a country near Gonde Desaya. back and returned to the cave, and took his mother and 'sister upon his shoulders, and began his journey towards the city called Wango Ratte, where he safely arrived. And at that time, this city was governed by the son of the uncle of the princess who lived with the lion; and the princess and her two children presented themselves to the king, and lived in that city. When the lion returned back to his cave, he found missing his wife and children, and was greatly vexed on that account; and the next morning he left the cave, and followed his wife and children, And when he came into the vicinity, he killed some people, whom he met in a village belonging to that city. When the king was informed of this, he gathered his troops, and sent them to destroy the lion; but when the people surrounded the wilderness, the lion roared, and fell upon, and killed some of them, and the others es-caped, and ran away. And the king having been informed of the case, ordered the tom-toms to beat, proclaiming that any person who should kill the said lion, should have a part of the country, as a reward for his valour. And when this proclamation was made through all the city, the son of the lion offered his service, and prepared himself to go and kill the beast, and accordingly took his bow and arrows, and went into the wilderness where he was, and cried with a loud voice, "Come, lion!" The animal was greatly satisfied on hearing his son's voice, and came running to meet him: but as soon as the lion's son saw his father, he shot the first arrow; but, on striking him, its point was turned backward, and fell harmless on the ground; in like manner did it fall out with the second and third arrows which were shot at the lion by his son: but when the lion's son took the fourth arrow, the father saw it, and thought within himself, that his son wished to kill him, and, therefore, resolved that he would tear him in pieces, and with that intention he fixed his eyes upon him; and, in that moment, the arrow wounded him on his forehead, that the lion fell to the ground, and calling his son, and laying his head on his knees, requested to be affectionately commended to his wife and daughter, and died. And the lion's son cut off his father's head, and presented it to the king. This king caused a new city to be built in the country called Lader Desay, and gave it the name of Sinhaba pura Nuwara*; and the son of the lion, whose name was now Prince Sinhaba, was made king of the new city. Then A city in Wagoe Ratta. king Sinhaba took to wife his sister, the daughter of the lion, otherwise called princess Sinhaba, and she produced king Sinhaba sixteen pair of twins; out of them, the first born, called Wijaya, was a great and fortunate prince. On marking his planet, the astrologers prophesied at his birth, that he should have such power as to destroy the devils of Srilake or Ceylon, and become king of the same; and also seven hundred boys were born on the birth-day of the said prince, who all grew to be giants. When the said prince Wijaya attained his age, he gathered the said seven hundred giants who were born on his birthday, and they were his only attendants and companions. Now when the valiant prince Wijaya, with his seven hundred giants, began to torment the inhabitants of the city, they gathered together, and represented the same to king Sinhaba; and upon the information of the people, the pious king became enraged against his son, prince Wijaya, and on the seventh day after the death of our Buddha, the said prince Wijaya and his seven hundred giants were sent on board ship, and banished from his father's kingdom. Whilst the ship was sailing towards the country called Rune-Ratte*, in the midst of the sea they perceived the large rock called Samante Booteparwetay, (or Adam's Peak on Ceylon), and then they concluded among themselves that it was a good country for them to reside in, and so they landed at the place called Tammene-Totat, on Ceylon, and went to rest under the shadow of a neighbouring tree, called Nogihaga. At that time Ceylon was inhabited only by devils, but no human inhabitants were to be found therein. And after the war of Rawena, before the present or fourth Buddha appeared as such, Ceylon had been inhabited by devils for the space of 1840 years but no human inhabitants during that time were on Čeylon. And after the fourth Buddha came, and on the day when he was preaching to a great multitude at the place called Wilwena-Rameyat, in the city called Rajegaha Nuwere, he saw in a vision that Ceylon was inhabited by devils at that time, and also that it was formerly inhabited by human inhabitants; and that during the reign of the three former Buddhas, they revealed the religion amongst the inhabitants of Ceylon, and that there were built different temples thereon. After the expiration of nine months from the day that he became Buddha, according to The southern third part of Ceylon. A ferry near Wanny. One of the Buddha's own temples, situated in a Bamboo forest. |