ANURADHAPURA AND MIHINTALE
Isurumuniya—Yoga-stones—Proverbs—Water-lilies—Beautiful jungle shrubs—
The Kuttam Pokuna—The oldest tanks—Rainfall—The modern town—
Mihintale—Mahindo—The great mountain-stair—Dagobas—Naga Pokuna—
Mahindo’s bed—Rock cells—Inscriptions.
Amid such a labyrinth of ruins, all on such level ground, the network of
jungle paths would be bewildering were it not for two broad grassy roads
which have been cleared, forming an inner and outer circle, so as
greatly to facilitate finding all the chief objects of interest.
One of these is Isurumuniya, an ancient temple which, three hundred
years before the birth of Christ, was hewn out of a mass of solid rock,
by order of King Dewenipiatissa, the ‘Delight of the Gods.’ There are
temple buildings and sculptures all about and around the rock, and a
number of very remarkable grotesque frescoes—so grotesque and so unlike
orthodox Buddhist art that they are attributed to Hindoo sculptors (that
is to say, Hindoo in religion: as regards nationality, we know that
Wijayo and his Singhalese followers also came to Ceylon from the valley
of the Ganges).
The name of this temple, however, seems to mark this spot as one revered
by the islanders ere either Buddhism or Brahminism was here established—
at least it seems probable that it was derived from ‘Eiswara’ and
‘Muniya,’ _i.e._, ascetic.
The worship of Eiswara,[124] the Almighty, as still observed on the
Saami Rock at Trincomalee, seems to have been the original worship of
Ceylon, and probably this rock also was specially sacred from the
earliest days. But the Hindoo worshippers of Siva artfully identified
Eiswara with Siva, and it is probable that, in some of their many
invasions, a community of Sivites may have settled in the neighbourhood
of King Tissa’s temple, which otherwise presents all the usual features
of Buddhist art—the fine semicircular moon-stone at the base of
sculptured stairs, at each flight of which stand the invariable
janitors, canopied by a seven-headed cobra.
-----
Footnote 124:
See Chapter xix.
-----
Within the Rock Temple sits a small image of Buddha, hewn from the solid
rock, and flanked by two very ancient wooden figures, apparently
preaching. Four boldly designed elephants’ heads stand out from the rock
in low relief, and there are other details of interest.
Near the temple is a _pansala_, or dwelling house for the priests; but
the chief-priest has a _galgé_, or cell to himself—a most uninviting
little room, cut out of the solid rock. These occupy themselves in doing
homage to a Sri-patula, or sacred footprint, recently cut on the summit
of the rock to represent the footmark on the summit of Adam’s Peak—as
also in offering flowers on the altar of a young Bo tree, which has been
carefully planted in a crevice of the rock. Some very incongruous
foreign-looking modern building has in recent times been erected on the
rock, and looks thoroughly out of place in the strange jungle temple.
Amongst the minor objects of interest pointed out to us were certain
‘Yoga’-stones, most puzzling to the uninitiated, as they are simply
square stones, each having a certain number of square holes cut into
them: these holes vary from nine to twenty-five in number. One might
suppose they were designed for playing some game; but those who are
learned in Buddhist mysteries tell us that they were an aid to intensify
meditation, used by such of the priests as desired to attain the highest
grade of sanctity. The method adopted was for the devotee to fill these
holes with sweet-oil, sandal-wood, and other ingredients, and then sit
hour after hour gazing intently on the stone, till at last the weary
dazed eyes began to see a dazzle of light, which gradually increased
till the watcher beheld through that medium all the hells and
purgatories of the under-world. Then, raising his eyes, he beheld
through the same dazzle all the graduated heavens of the demi-gods, and
the glory of Buddha in the highest heaven.
I remembered how at Benares I had watched the Brahmin priests practising
_habsidum_, or ‘the retention of breath,’ as a similar method of
attaining sanctity! Verily, ‘men have sought out many inventions’!
We were also shown some interesting old stone coffins, made of solid
blocks of stone, hollowed out so as just to fit the figure of the dead.
The cover, which is more or less sculptured, is a heavy slab of stone
cemented to the main block. One of these was said to have been the
coffin of King Dutugemunu (of whose death, about B.C. 150, I have
already spoken): if so, it speaks little of reverence for the mighty
dead that his tomb should have been thus rifled. But most of these have
been taken from graves of
Chiefs who under their grey stone
So long have slept, that fickle Fame
Hath blotted from her rolls their name.
With regard to the king’s sarcophagus, however, there is a tradition
that this was not his coffin, but his medicine-bath, in which he lay to
counteract the poison of a serpent’s bite. It is to be hoped the bath
was ready beforehand!
Recent excavations have brought to light many things intensely
interesting to archæologists, such as a very remarkable stone railing,
peculiar to Buddhist architecture, various images of Buddha, and
portions of ancient buildings. But until quite recently the Goths and
Vandals made such free use of any building-stone that seemed suitable
for any modern work—bridge-building or repairs—and so many stones,
inconvenient to farmers, disappeared, when portions of the jungle were
_chenaëd_ (_i.e._, cleared for temporary cultivation), that the work of
excavation and restoration is very much less satisfactory now than it
would have been twenty years ago.
Of course nowadays every stone is rigidly protected; but in too many
cases this is too late to avert the mischief. By the way, the Singhalese
version of ‘locking the door when the steed is stolen’ is ‘fencing the
field while the oxen are within devouring the corn.’
Many of the time-honoured proverbs of Europe have their equivalent among
the common sayings of the Singhalese. Thus, for ‘_Parmi les aveugles les
borgnes sont rois_,’ we find ‘In the tank where there is no loolā,
kanapaddi is the pundit’ (the latter being an insignificant fish as
compared with the loolā).
For ‘Let sleeping dogs lie’ we have ‘Why awaken sleeping cheetas?’
_i.e._, leopards. For ‘_Chat échaudé craint l’eau froide_,’ the Eastern
equivalent shows that the man who was beaten with a firebrand shrinks
from the glimmer of the firefly.
In place of forbearing to ‘add fuel to the fire,’ these travellers
through thorny jungle bid us ‘not sharpen thorns.’
That ‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’ is suggested by the
wisdom which prefers ‘a snipe to-day to an elephant on the morrow,’ and
esteems crow’s flesh which is near above peacock’s flesh which is far
off.
To ‘run with the hare and hunt with the hounds’ is described by
‘drinking of the river but praising the sea.’
Divers social grades are justified by asking ‘whether all five fingers
are of one size?’ while of a man overwhelmed with trouble, it is said,
that when the waters have risen above his head it matters little whether
their height be a span or a cubit.
Notwithstanding all the new attractions opened up by the extensive
clearing of the forest, I almost doubt whether the ancient city can be
quite so charming or so romantic now that she has become a centre of so
much interest, as in the lonely days of her utter desolation. But
certainly there is no doubt as to the advantages for the inhabitants,
who from a mere handful of poor, sickly, half-starved villagers, now
number about three thousand healthy well-fed people, chiefly owing to
the clearing of great tracts of jungle and the restoration of the tanks—
the one dispelling malaria, and the other securing a fair supply of good
water, which, it is hoped, may ere long be made quite permanent.
At the time of our visit there was sufficient drought to enable us to
realise what the lack of water _might_ be. The beautiful river—the
Malwatte-oya (‘river of the Garden of Flowers’)—which in time of monsoon
rains flows in a rushing flood, was almost dried up, the small
artificial lakes had scarcely sufficient water to float the lovely
water-lilies, and the minor tanks were altogether dried up.
Oh, the beauty of those water-lilies!—white, blue, yellow, or pink—
nestling among their glossy leaves on the still waters. The fragrant,
large, pink _manel_ (the true lotus)[125] is, I think, the handsomest of
all water-plants. Of course it is not so splendid as the _Victoria
regia_ of South America (on the great leaves of which, six feet in
diameter, and with upturned rims four or five inches high, Indian
mothers deposit their babies while they do the household washing), nor
is it so dainty as some of the smaller lilies, with flat glossy leaves;
but it certainly is a beautiful object, as, with the first ray of the
morning, it rises high above the surface of the water, and unfolds its
rosy petals to drink in sunlight all the day, closing them again at
sunset, when the blossoms hide beneath the great blue-grey leaves, and I
am told, sink beneath the surface of the water.
-----
Footnote 125:
_Nelumbium speciosum._
-----
When the flower fades the petals fall, leaving a seed-pod the shape of a
funnel, and internally divided like a honeycomb, each cell containing
one seed about the size of a filbert, and with much the same flavour,
only rather more oily, like an almond. The roots are also very good
food; but fortunately, the blossom is so much prized for offering in the
temple (the lotus being especially sacred to Buddha), that it escapes
being pulled up wholesale.
Notwithstanding the drought, all through the jungle every now and again
there arose a general fragrance like the scent of a hothouse wafted from
blossoms often hidden from sight. But there were a tree and a shrub
whose wealth of flower and intensity of colour formed a very marked and
attractive feature in the forest. The former, called _Cassia fistula_,
is like a magnificent laburnum, but grows to the size of an English
ash-tree, and its bunches of large golden blossom are each about two
feet in length. Its foliage is also something like that of the ash. The
French name for laburnum—‘golden rain’—would in this case describe a
truly tropical shower!
And instead of bearing neat little seeds like our familiar friend, these
gorgeous blossoms develop into very peculiar jet-black pods, perfectly
cylindrical, and from two to three feet long, divided into a number of
compartments, each containing one seed. It has been suggested that the
tree at this stage seems as though it had borne an abundant crop of
ebony rulers, each suspended to the bough by a short string! There is
another species of cassia which bears a shorter thicker pod, only about
a foot in length. Each seed of both species is embedded in a sweet,
sticky, black pulp, which has valuable medicinal properties.
Unfortunately, its bark is also very highly valued for other medical
purposes, consequently it is difficult to preserve this beautiful tree
near cities, because the natives almost invariably contrive to find some
opportunity to peel the poor thing, and leave it to perish.
The other shrub which so fascinated me was one which I have never seen
elsewhere; but as its blossoms only last three or four days, I may have
passed it often at other times without observing it. During that short
period it is covered with such a luxuriant wealth of small flowers of
the very purest cobalt blue, that it seems as though a bit of the blue
heaven overhead had fallen on this favoured bush. I am told that this
lovely plant rejoices in the name of _Memecylon tinctorium_, and that
its glossy green leaves, strange to say, yield a delicate yellow dye;
also that it bears dark-blue berries something like our blaeberry, which
the natives eat, and which possess astringent qualities.
Another very pretty common jungle shrub is the ipecacuanha, which bears
clusters of bright orange-coloured flowers.
And besides the flowers there were the butterflies—such beauties, and so
many of them, of such infinite variety!—floating in the hot quivering
air. And hot it certainly was beneath the noonday sun, when the
atmosphere seemed to our tired eyes to be visibly vibrating and
dazzling. Still, by taking rational precautions—such as carrying a large
white umbrella, and wearing a damp sponge suspended inside my solar hat,
so as to keep a cool damp atmosphere above my head, and a fairly thick
jacket to protect the spine—I never found any evil from sitting out
sketching the livelong day; and I am inclined to think that women in
general live far too much in the dark in tropical countries.[126]
-----
Footnote 126:
May I be forgiven for referring to one small medical detail, attention
to which has, I know, proved my own safeguard in many years of travel.
The commonest of all forms of illness in tropical countries is
diarrhœa; and the general impulse seems to be at once to check it by
the use of brandy or chlorodyne, whereas common-sense might surely
suggest that when Nature thus endeavours to throw off some irritant
she ought rather to be helped in so doing. I therefore strongly
recommend a small bottle of castor-oil in a wooden case as part of
every traveller’s indispensable outfit and safeguard—quite as
essential as quinine.
-----
I referred just now to the medicinal use of cassia-bark. The native
Singhalese doctors are fully aware of the value of many plants and
shrubs, such as the sarsaparilla, nux-vomica, and gamboge tree. The
latter yields its golden juice on the bark being stabbed, and its
intensely acid fruit is dried and used in curries. The bark of the
cashew-tree yields tannin. Charcoal obtained from the burnt root of the
jak-tree is a remedy for malignant sores and ulcers.
In 1886 Dr. Trimen, the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, had
collected samples of 362 of the vegetable drugs in use among the native
village doctors in the Central Province, and considered his series to be
by no means complete. They seem to include remedies for every ill that
flesh can possibly endure; but though really good in themselves, most
are villainously prepared, and so many are given in combination to make
up huge doses that they often neutralise one another. Besides, as each
phase of the moon is supposed to preside over a different set of organs,
remedies are not administered on the day when the patient requires them,
but according to astronomical laws. Thus, however necessary may be a
purgative medicine, it must on no account be administered on the day
when the moon influences the bowels, nor may an emetic be given on the
day when the stomach is under lunar control!
In looking over this list, I see sixteen different plants which are
accounted remedies in cases of snake-bite: for instance, the resin of
the Kekuna[127] is used with other drugs in preparing a vapour-bath in
cases of cobra-bite. It is also used as a fumigation to drive away
serpents from houses. In cases of bite by the polonga, the poison is
expelled by stroking the wound hundreds of times with a bundle of the
leaves of the Madatiya.[128] These leaves and the bark also reduce
sprains. The flour obtained from the seeds of the Madu[129] is useful in
rheumatic affections and polonga bites. The resin of the Bú-hora[130] is
applied in cobra-bites, and the oil which oozes from the bark is applied
to cattle afflicted with murrain. The leaves of the Kurinnan[131] are
used in cases of dysentery and snake-bite, and are eaten as a vegetable
by nursing mothers to increase their supply of milk.
-----
Footnote 127:
_Canarium Zeylanicum._
Footnote 128:
_Adenanthera pavonina._
Footnote 129:
_Cycas circinalis._
Footnote 130:
_Dipterocarpus hispidus._
Footnote 131:
_Gymnema lactiferum._
-----
The tuberous roots of the gorgeous Niyangala lily—the _Gloriosa
superba_—are used in snake-bite, and also in difficult cases of
childbirth. The Nidi-kumba[132] is distinguished as a REAL CURE for
cobra-bite; and it is added that should anything fall into the eye, the
sufferer must chew the whole plant, when the foreign body will be driven
out. The roots of the Attana (_Datura fastuosa_) are used as a remedy
against the bite of mad dogs, and also as a cure for insanity. The whole
plant dried and smoked as tobacco is a useful remedy in cases of asthma.
-----
Footnote 132:
_Mimosa pudica._
-----
However, I need not pursue this subject further. Suffice it to say that
those native prescriptions, many of which are of great antiquity, and
have been handed down from generation to generation, provide for every
conceivable ailment—from a wasp’s sting, a hiccough, or a headache to
all stages of indigestion, fever, cutaneous diseases, and internal
complications.
But while speaking of divers remedies, I may mention that though the
Singhalese pharmacopœia is apparently free from such horrible decoctions
of animals as figured so largely in the _materia medica_ of our own
ancestors,[133] some curious recipes for the preparation of charms are
quite in the style of our best witch’s cauldrons. Here, for instance, is
one for the preparation of a deadly poison known as the cobra-tel, which
was obtained by Mr. Morris in 1840, on the occasion of a trial for
murder by means of this poison.
-----
Footnote 133:
I have quoted many examples of extraordinary ‘Anglo-Saxon Leechdoms’
in a paper on ‘Strange Medicines’ in ‘The Nineteenth Century’ for June
1887.
-----
First of all, a cock must be sacrificed to the yakkos or demons. Then
live venomous snakes—the hooded cobra, the cara wella, and the tic
polonga—must be taken, and a sharp cut made on the head of each. They
are then suspended alive over a chattie, that their poison may drip into
it. To this is added arsenic and other drugs, together with the froth
from the lips of three wretched kabragoyas (gigantic lizards), which are
tied up on three sides of the fire, with their heads towards it, and are
tormented with whips to make them hiss that the fire may blaze. All
these horrid ingredients are then mixed and boiled in a human skull, and
so soon as the oily scum rises to the surface the cobra-tel is ready.
The fat of the kabragoya applied externally is good for various skin
diseases, but taken internally is accounted poisonous. (It is said,
however, that the Veddahs eat a kabragoya with as much relish as we
would eat a hare.)
A horrid magic love-potion is said to be prepared by Singhalese
sorcerers from the large beautiful eyes of the little loris—nice little
furry beasts which creep slowly about on trees, and roll themselves up
like a ball, to sleep. It is said that the barbarous mode of preparing
the love-charm is by holding the poor little creature close to the fire
till its eyeballs burst.
Special virtue is believed to attach to a _Narri-comboo_ or jackal’s
horn—a small horny cone, about half an inch long, which occasionally
grows on the head of a jackal, and is hidden by a tuft of hair. Both
Singhalese and Tamils believe that this horny knob is a talisman, and
that the happy man who owns one is certain to have every wish fulfilled,
and his jewels and other treasures are safe from robbers.
As regards medicines obtained from animal substances, the musk-gland of
the civet cat is greatly prized in certain maladies; peacock’s flesh is
considered desirable food for persons suffering from contraction of the
joints; and bezoar stones, which are smooth dark-green concretions,
occasionally found inside of monkeys and other animals, are greatly
esteemed in Ceylon, as well as in India, as an antidote to poison.
I may add that with the Ceylon Medical College annually turning out its
complement of medical students, highly trained in all the learning of
European schools, such details as these are happily fast receding to
their right place as antiquarian curiosities, soon, we may hope, to be
as wholly memories of the past as are the grey ruins of this ancient
city.
Among the various remarkable objects to which I have not alluded, I must
mention a group of tall grey monoliths standing upright, each 16 feet
above ground, and 2 feet square, the mere placing of which must have
been a wondrous difficulty. They must have supported some palace; but
now large trees, matted with jungle-vines like enormous ropes, have
grown up amongst them.
Still more worthy of note are the Kuttam Pokuna, or twin bathing-places—
two beautifully constructed tanks, lined with great stones laid in
terraces, and flights of steps, with handsome balustrade descending from
every side to where water once was. The twins are only separated by a
narrow grassy path. The largest is 132 feet long by 51 feet wide, and
the depth is about 30 feet. I thought this strange ruin of ancient
luxury, now encompassed by the great lonely forest, was as remarkable a
scene as any in the jungle city. One of these tanks has now been
restored as a bathing-place, and the other is left as an interesting
archæological study.
Not very far from here sits a great dark stone image of Buddha, quite by
itself in the heart of the forest.
Smaller pokunas are found in connection with almost all the old
buildings.
Of course the semi-marshy artificial lakes were very attractive spots,
none the less so for the numerous dark objects which, on nearer
inspection, invariably turned out to be crocodiles! These are from 12 to
18 feet in length, and by no means pleasant bathing companions. I think
Anuradhapura owns eight large tanks, and a good many small ones: about
three of the former may be dignified with the name of lake.
The oldest of all is that now known as the Basawa-kulam, but originally
as the Abaya-wewa, constructed B.C. 505 by King Panduwaasa. (I may
mention that _kulam_ and _wewa_ both mean tank.) The second and third
were the Jaya-wewa and the Gamini tank, both constructed about B.C. 437
by Panduka-abaya. Then, about B.C. 300, King Dewenipiatissa made the
Tissa-wewa, which is more than three miles in circumference. (This was
restored in 1878.)
Within a short distance of the town lies the Nuwara-wewa, ‘the city
tank,’ which is supposed to be the aforesaid Jaya-wewa, a very pretty
tank-lake, covered with water-lilies, and with sedgy shores haunted by
many wild-fowl. It lies embosomed in forest, beyond which rise Mihintale
and other blue hills. We rode to see its interesting old sluice, 2,000
years old, but were nearly sickened by the horrid smell of bats.
Now, thanks to the energy of the recent governors, all these tanks have
been restored, and are in good working order. The Giant’s Canal, the
Yoda Ela, brings the blessed water from the great reservoir at Kala-wewa
to supply Tissa-wewa, whence it is distributed to the other tanks, great
and small. Three of the latter are severally reserved, one for cooking
and drinking, a second for bathing, the third for washing clothes, and
for horses and cattle. Every Sunday evening all these are emptied, the
water finding its way back to the river. Then the tanks are refilled
with fresh water from Tissa-wewa. To avoid the possibility of pollution,
no one is allowed to take water from the lake itself.
As regards the direct gifts of the clouds, the rainfall of Anuradhapura
averages 54 inches; 50 inches falling in the course of a hundred days
annually. Its longest period of drought in recent days was from May to
September, 1884, when the land endured 121 ‘fine sunny days.’ (Manaar in
the far north gets on an average 15 inches less rain, and so recently as
1887 it numbered 159 consecutive days of blazing scorching sun! Well may
its inhabitants pray for the speedy restoration and multiplication of
their irrigation works.)
Responsive to the gift of water, the greatful land now yields her
increase in abundant crops of luxuriant rice; the Government Hospital
reports fewer and fewer patients from malarial fevers, parangi, and
other diseases due to dirt and hunger, bad air, bad water, and bad food;
and in a corner of the long desolate city there has arisen a pleasant
modern town, with post office, telegraph, courthouse, rest-house, Church
Mission school, and neat, well-ordered bazaars.
I recently heard a little incident of that school, very suggestive of
the work it is doing, as one has said, in confronting the dreary
negations of Buddha with the glorious affirmations of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It was on the occasion of the first baptism in the school. When
it became known that two or three boys had resolved to accept Christ as
their Master, some of the leading boys called on all to declare
themselves. ‘Let Buddha’s boys come to Buddha’s side, and let Christ’s
boys go to Christ’s side,’ they said. All except two went to Buddha’s
side. Then said the others, ‘What! only you two?’ And then one began to
waver, and his courage failed him.
[Illustration: THE LOWER FLIGHT OF THE 1,840 ROCK STEPS AT MIHINTALE.]]
When the time came for the candidates for baptism to present themselves,
both lads came forward, but one objected. ‘You denied the Lord,’ he
said. Humbly and contritely the penitent answered, ‘I was tempted, and I
was overcome. I repent, and I believe.’ So both were baptised in
presence of many witnesses, and these were the first-fruits of the
Christian school in Anuradhapura.
When, on July 4, 1891, Sir Arthur Havelock, the present Governor, paid
his first visit to this historic city, he was received by the children
of this school singing ‘God save the Queen,’ and by a great gathering of
the people. All the tanks were full, everything around was fresh and
green. At every turn there were graceful arches of welcome, decorated
with the choicest spoils of the forest; the broad grassy roads were in
perfect order; and at night these and the principal buildings and one of
the great dagobas were all illuminated, a grand display of fireworks
completing the attractions of the scene. Of course native music and
dancing were inevitable, but there was the consolation of knowing that
if the guests did not fully enjoy these details, the entertainers did so
themselves.
Leaving Anuradhapura, we rode eight miles eastward to Mihintale, a rocky
mountain which from time immemorial has been held in the highest
veneration. It is about a thousand feet high, densely clothed with
forest, and crowned with huge granite rocks. It is alluded to in
pre-historic legends as the Cliff of Ambatthalo, and was the sanctuary
where, long ere the dawn of the present era of Buddhism, the Buddhas of
earlier ages appeared for the enlightenment of races whose name and
history are alike forgotten.
Consequently, when in B.C. 307 Mahindo, ‘the royal missionary,’ King
Asoca’s son, was impelled to leave his father’s court at Patali-puri
(now Patna), to make known the doctrines of Buddha, he was miraculously
transported through the air and deposited on the summit of this mountain
which now bears his name. It so happened that King Dewenipiatissa was
hunting the great sambur deer, when a _devo_, or good spirit, assuming
the form of a deer, enticed him onward almost to the summit of the
mountain, when Mahindo appeared to him and spoke so persuasively, that
the king was converted then and there, and forty thousand of his people
immediately followed suit.
Naturally the mountain where such a miracle had occurred became the
centre around which gathered all manner of saintly men and supernatural
legends. The ascent from the base to the summit, once so toilsome, was
made easy by the piety of royal pilgrims; and now a rudely laid stair of
1,840 great slabs of dark gneiss rock enables one to mount without the
slightest difficulty: indeed, it is possible to ride to the summit,
which doubtless accounts for many of the steps being broken and somewhat
displaced. Each of these great stones averages 18 feet in length, some
are over 20 feet. Near the summit the steps are hewn in the solid rock.
Ancient records attribute this good work to King Maha Dailiya, whose
reign ended A.D. 20. But inasmuch as this mountain has been held sacred
from time immemorial, it is supposed that in the dim twilight of remote
antiquity many successive generations contributed their share to
facilitating the ascent, so probably it is partly of incalculable age.
That grand stairway is of itself a most striking picture, with pilgrims
and yellow-robed priests ascending and descending, and the dark forest
overshadowing it on either side, while great weird tree cacti stretch
out far-reaching arms, like uncanny spirits. Some of these have stems
from three to four feet in circumference.
In the days of old, the whole distance from Anuradhapura to Mihintale
was one continuous street, along which passed solemn processions,
pausing to worship at countless shrines and temples; for traditions
cluster thick along the way, and on the mountain itself every crag is
sacred: and so they toiled up the long stairs, as we also did, but I
fear less reverently, till they reached the Etwehera dagoba on the top
of the highest peak, and there adored one single hair plucked from a
mole which grew between Buddha’s eyebrows, and which, in the year 1
A.D., was enshrined in this mass of solid brickwork, about 100 feet
high, by the devout Rajah Battiyatissa.
He was so pleased with his work, that when it was completed he is said
to have enveloped it in a jewelled covering ornamented with pearls, and
to have spread a carpet all the way from the sacred rock to
Anuradhapura, that pilgrims might walk thence with unsoiled feet!
Happily there was no difficulty in obtaining water near the summit
wherewith to wash soiled feet, for the Naga Pokuna, or snake
bathing-place, lies near the path. It is a pool about 130 feet in length
hewn out of the rock, and guarded by a mighty five-headed cobra,
sculptured in high relief from the background of dark rock. It is only
about seven feet high and six feet across the hood, but somehow it looks
much larger as it rises from the dark still pool, where small white
lilies float so peacefully. It impressed itself on my memory as a very
suggestive picture.
[Illustration:
FIVE-HEADED NAGA.
(At the Bathing-place, Mihintale.)
]
I found a good point for a comprehensive picture from the Maha-Seya
dagoba, overlooking two great dagobas built on huge rounded shoulders of
rock, and surrounded by tall fruit-bearing cocoa-palms, whose presence
at this height, and so far inland, is very unusual; and far beyond all
extended the vast panorama of the great plain. From another point I
overlooked the site of the distant city itself, with its glittering
lakes, and the great monuments towering above the level expanse of
forest. But here the chief interest centred round one of those near
dagobas—namely, the Ambustele—which is of graceful form, and differs
from most others in that it is built of stone instead of the usual
brick. It is surmounted with the customary pinnacle—circular on a square
base; and around it are grouped about fifty very slender octagonal
pillars, some of which retain their finely sculptured capitals, on which
the sacred goose figures alternately with grotesque human beings. Some
of these had fallen, and lay half buried in creeping plants.
This dagoba is said to have been erected on the very spot where Mahindo
and the king first met, and is supposed to contain the ashes of the
royal Teacher, who died here B.C. 267.
It was decidedly hot on that hill-top, and never was drink more
acceptable than were the cool young cocoa-nuts provided for us by the
considerate priests. It is one of the ever-recurring miracles in the
Tropics, that all newly gathered fruit—especially cocoa-nuts,
pineapples, oranges, and mangoes—are so deliciously cool when first
gathered, even under a scorching sun; but within a very few minutes
after being separated from the parent stem all their freshness vanishes,
and they are subject to the laws of heat like all other things animate
and inanimate.
A singularly dangerous and uncomfortable ledge on a high rock-summit was
pointed out as having been the bed of the royal priest. It is canopied
by another rock-mass, forming a natural arch over it; but the rocky bed
is but 5 feet by 2, with a precipice on either side, suggestive rather
of penitential vigil than of repose. However, for any one thoroughly
awake and owning a good head, it is a fine resting-place, commanding a
grand view. It is said that on a very clear day you can see the ocean on
either side to east and west. On the one hand you overlook the
widespread forest with patches of level rice-fields, and the road along
which, two thousand years ago, King Tissa sent his chariot to bring
Mahindo from his mountain sanctuary to the capital, and along which the
Lady Abbess, Princess Sanghamitta, travelled with her company of nuns
and all their retinue to deposit on Mihintale the sixteen precious
relics which were to add sanctity to the holy hill. On the other side
lies a deep ravine, where huge masses of grey gneiss or granite lie
partly veiled by luxuriant creepers.
One high shoulder of the mountain is crossed with such enormous angular
boulders, that one marvels how they can possibly have got there. They
are suggestive of the _blocs perchés_ left by old glaciers; but I
believe there is no trace in Ceylon of any glacial action. Campbell of
Islay, speaking of all this district, says: ‘The plains are studded with
hills which are rocks; many of these are rounded as rocks are in
glaciated countries. On top of some are large loose stones of the same
rock, gneiss—nothing but gneiss and angular _débris_ of gneiss. Some
have caves which look like sea-caves.... These rocks, plains, and hills
might easily be mistaken for glacial work; ... but in travelling over
600 miles in Ceylon, I could find no mark whatever of glaciation.... I
looked for ice marks, and found none.... After careful study, I believe
them to be the work of the Indian Ocean, aided by a tropical sun and
tropical rains.’
I may mention that this gneiss is capable of taking a beautiful polish,
and specimens from the Mahara quarries near Colombo (which furnished
material for the great breakwater) show a most harmonious blending of
grey, green, and black; while a short distance to the north, near
Heneretgodda, there is a fine granitic gneiss like our own red granite.
Not far from ‘Mahindo’s bed’ we came to a curious _galge_, or rock-cut
chamber, where ascetics of old must have lived in much discomfort. It
looks as if there had originally been a small cave, and this has been
divided into cells, with portals of solid masonry, altogether out of
proportion to the humble interior. A number of tall stone pillars seem
to have supported a temple, and water was supplied by the Kaludiya
Pokuna close by. Now a group of banyan-trees have taken possession of
the rock; and their white twisted stems and roots form a strange network
overspreading the whole, while a large colony of bats hold undisputed
possession of the rocky cells.
Birds of bright plumage chatter in the trees, careless butterflies float
in the sunshine, squirrels and lizards of various sorts dart to and fro,
and give a touch of life to the deserted shrines; while sundry
wild-flowers and graceful silver and maidenhair ferns adorn many a
crevice in the rocks and in the crumbling ruins.
These are too numerous to name. One group, however, impressed itself
vividly on my mind—namely, the Gal Sannaso looking up a flight of steps
through the jungle to two great upright oblong stone slabs, whereon are
sculptured inscriptions in the ancient Pali, granting lands to the
temple. All around are the usual lot of tall monolithic pillars, which
seem to have once supported a temple protecting these ‘stone books,’ and
high above all towers a red crumbling dome, seen through a framework of
dark foliage.
Such inscriptions are numerous, both on rocks and on old buildings. Some
are in the Nagara or square character, said to have been introduced by
Mahindo himself. On a huge rock slab near the Naga Pokuna there is a
very lengthy inscription, supposed to have been cut about A.D. 262, in
the reign of King Sri Sangabo, recording curiously minute regulations
for the daily lives of the priests, and the ordering of all matters,
temporal and spiritual, concerning the Buddhist monasteries and temples
in this place. So many cells are assigned to each ecclesiastical rank—
the readers, the expounders, the preachers—each of whom took up a
separate branch: some taught metaphysics, and some Buddhist law. The
hour of rising, subjects for meditation, ceremonial ablution, the
correct manner of assuming the yellow robe, the morning service in the
temple, the breakfast on rice and congee (rice-water), and the care of
sick priests, are all minutely detailed. So also are the duties of the
servants, the cooks, the workmen, the overseers of the village, and all
who had services and offices allotted to them.
It is enacted that none who follow the chase, kill poultry or otherwise
destroy life, shall be permitted to dwell near the mountain. All matters
relating to temple lands and offerings are minutely regulated; and it is
required that all details of daily expenditure shall be entered in
account books, which shall be collected monthly, and that in like manner
the year’s accounts shall be duly examined and verified by the assembled
priests.
Another long inscription specifies the exact allowance of rice, and of
money for the purchase of flowers, to be made to every person engaged in
the service of the temple, from the bana (_i.e._, preaching) priest down
to the hewers of wood and drawers of water. In this list we find mention
of the persons who furnish lime, the plasterers, and the whitewashers—
those who spread the cloths on the floor, and those who do likewise for
the ceiling; there is the shoemaker who keeps the monastery in sandals;
the chief thatcher and the eleven inferior thatchers; the five potters,
who are to furnish five earthenware chatties daily, and another who
supplies ten water-pots each month; a new water-strainer is also
supplied every month. To some of these are allotted temple lands for
cultivation.
Amongst the inmates of the monastery we find mention of the warder of
the granary, the warder of the preaching-house, the receivers of the
revenues, various clerks, a manager of the festivals, an upper servant,
‘who communicates orders to the twenty-four menials,’ several watchmen,
twelve cooks, the man who procures fuel, the man who goes errands, and
last, not least, a physician, who receives what appears to be a good
allowance, besides holding a farm, whereas the surgeon receives less
than a common watchman or a thatcher.
The laundry department is not forgotten—the washing of cloths,
vestments, and bed-linen is all ordered; but the most characteristic
details are those which provide for the regular supply of incense, oil,
and flowers for daily offering at each of the sacred shrines. The
cultivator of lotus flowers in the village Sapoogamiya undertakes to
furnish one hundred and twenty blossoms each month, while some one else
ekes out a living by daily sweeping away the withered flowers.
How little those who graved these words on the enduring rock foresaw
that, after the lapse of sixteen centuries, when they themselves were
altogether forgotten, pale-faced men from far away isles would come to
decipher this record of their domestic regulations!