The Lost Cities of Ceylon," Is an Writer 10 Has Travelled R.Uch
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THE LOST CITIES OF CEYLQN . Mittor of considerable repute, By G. E. MITT^ni;^:-^ on Normandy and the Thar The romance of dead cities and a lost civilisation makes an almost inexpressible appeal. There are in Ceylon remains of ancient buildings, records of a history that was all but forgotten. The book tells the story of those dead stones and what they represent }. 5. Mi b ton author of "The Lost Cities of Ceylon," is an writer 10 has travelled r.uch. She wrote "A Bachelor Girl ic Railway," "Children's Book of London," "Children's 'itten several novels, and is joint author of books THE LOST CITIES OP CEYLON. By G. E. .. , MITTON, Author of "Round the Wonderful World," In the of Grip the Wild Wa, etc. nth numerous Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 10*. 6d. net. the latest book of the 1 e are accustomed to in average histories of lost civilizations' a rT^ ^ the as ^^ S ' he book possible, the air of has - as UttJe uncontrollable knoknnJJIedPH e a i -! J- so . "d its achievement is much of historv \vithoutivifh^^ 11 ^ to ustory dullness and problems." Dailv r.i"~~j,T, NEW YORK: THE F. A. STOKES Co. - /> IN THE RUINED CITY OF ANURADHAPURA (THUPARAMA IN THE DISTANCE) Frontispiece. THE LOST CITIES OF CEYLON BY G. E. MITTON AUTHOR OF "ROUND THE WONDERFUL WORLD' "IM THE GRIP OF THE WILD WA," KTC. ' ' writes The Moving Finger ; and having writ, nor all nor wit Moves on ; your piety Shall lure it back to cancel half a line, Nor all your tears wash out a word of it." RUBAlYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS 1917 TO MY SISTER EVELYN MAYNARD, WHO SHARED WITH ME THB JOY AND WONDER INSPIRED BY THESE MYSTERIOUS RUINS. CONTENTS PAOB INTRODUCTION xi TABLE OF PRINCIPAL KINGS Xvi CHAPTER I THE WONDER OF THE PAST .... I CHAPTER II THE ROAD THROUGH THE JUNGLE ... 36 CHAPTER III THE BEAUTIFUL CITY OF ANURADHAPURA . .48 CHAPTER IV LANKARAMA DISTRICT I A WORLD OF MONKS . QO CHAPTER V THE TWO GREATEST DAGABAS .... 105 CHAPTER VI ABOUT AND AROUND Il6 CHAPTER VII PAVILION, PALACE, OR MONASTERY? . 127 CHAPTER VIII VIJAYARAMA A JUNGLE SOLITUDE . 134 vii viii CONTENTS CHAPTER IX TWO OUTLYING MONASTERIES .... 141 CHAPTER X MIHINTALE, THE SACRED HILL .... 146 CHAPTER XI SIGIRIYA: A PALACE ON A ROCK . 158 CHAPTER XII POLONNARUWA : THE JUNGLE CITY . 170 CHAPTER XIII THE EPIC OF PARAKRAMA 178 CHAPTER XIV POLONNARUWA : THE CITADEL . IQ3 CHAPTER XV A NECKLET OF ARCHITECTURE .... 205 CHAPTER XVI SACRED SHRINES 21 6 CHAPTER XVII A FLOWER IN STONE 22Q CHAPTER XVIII THE BEAUTY OF THE BUND .... 237 CHAPTER XIX YAPAHUWA : A FOURTEENTH-CENTURY FORTRESS . 245 TABLE OF DISTANCES . 253 INDEX 254 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE RUINED CITY OF ANURADHAPURA . Frontispiece FACING PACK TISSA-WEWA 48 ANURADHAPURA HOTEL 48 THE SACRED BO-TREE 49 THE PEACOCK PALACE 56 MOONSTONE AT ANURADHAPURA .... 57 THE BRAZEN PALACE 57 RUANWELI DAGABA 64 MAKARA BALUSTRADE .65 DALADA MALIGAWA, ANURADHAPURA .... 65 COBRA AND MONGOOSE FIGHT 80 THE PILLARS OF THUPARAMA 8l " THE GUARD-STONE AT THE SO-CALLED ELEPHANT " STABLES ....... 96 ONE OF THE TWIN POKUNAS . 97 " " SECTION OF MOONSTONE, KING'S PALACE . 112 SEVEN-HOODED COBRA AT ABHAYAGIRIYA . .112 BATHING-PLACE NEAR THE BUND OF TISSA-WEWA . 113 CARVING ON WALL OF LOWER TERRACE AT ISURUMUNIYA 113 ISURUMUNIYA MONASTERY 128 MONK'S CAVE-CELL AT VESSAGIRIYA .... I2Q ix x LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS VACXITO PAGE A PORCH OF ONE OF THE PAVILIONS . 134 VIJAYARAMA * . ...'. ... 135 THE HIGHEST STAIRCASE AT MIHINTALE . 144 . THE POOL OF THE FIVE-HOODED COBRA . 145 SIGIRIYA FROM THE NORTH SIDE .... l6o THE LION'S CLAW, SIGIRIYA l6l " DWARF-STONE AT VIJAYARAMA . 176 SKIN OF LEOPARD SHOT NEAR THE REST-HOUSE, POLON- NARUWA 176 THE ROYAL PALACE, POLONNARUWA .... 177 SIVA DEVALE, NO. I (COMMONLY CALLED DALADA MALI- GAWA) 192 THUPARAMA TEMPLE IQ3 SAT-MAHAL-PRASADA 2C>8 JETAWANARAMA TEMPLE 20Q A BALUSTRADE AT POLONNARUWA .... 224 THE FLORAL ALTAR . 224 ANANDA SORROWING FOR THE BUDDHA WHO HAS PASSED INTO NIRVANA 225 THE LOTUS BATH 240 " ROCK-CUT FIGURE, POPULARLY CALLED PARAKRAMA THE GREAT "..'.. \ ... 241 MAPS ANURADHAPURA 72 MIHINTALE I5 2 POLONNARUWA 232 CEYLON . At the end 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 struck the ruins, and was immensely 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 Polonna- ruwa, as they then were, was taken by Mr. Lawton, and official attention to archaeology in the island began. Two years later a survey of Anuradhapura xii INTRODUCTION 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 archaeological 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 Archaeo- logical Commissioner. Mr. Bell began systematic work at Anuradha- pura 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 and all of have a bulk completeness ; them certain amount of illustration, and the later ones contain perfect galleries of photographic reproduc- tions, 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 par- ticular excavation through many of them, to get a complete picture of it. The Reports are also, it must be remembered, official records, and con- tain 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 INTRODUCTION xiii 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 im- possible 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 it all comes ; homely words, 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 xiv INTRODUCTION 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.