potism, which thrice led to the destruction of the greater part of our literature; and the fact, that in this age too an Elu-Sanscrit style was adopted, as if our forefathers (to use the language of Dr. Heylin) "were ashamed of their mother-tongue.’ This period of our narrative commences with the reign of Parakkrama Bahu I. (A. D. 1153), who is said to have been not only a great proficient in the religion of Budha; but a scholar of the highest eminence. Having mastered different subjects of study, amongst which we may enumerate Logic, Rhetoric, Grammar, Poetry, and Music, he was one of the few princes who completed a royal education by a tour through the continent of India. During this reign, which is characterized as "the most martial, enterprising, and glorious," in the history of Ceylon, we read of the existence of several Courts of Justice, and no less than 128 libraries— Vast treasures indeed these must have proved, if they had been handed down to us at the present day! During the days of this Prince (A. D. 1165) the Winayartha Samuch' chaya, was written by a priest of the name of Mèdankara; the following extract is from that work. මෙසේ දන්නට වටනා බැවින් මේ විනය පාලියටද විනය අටුවා වටද සන්නය ලියන දිඹුලාගල මේධංකර මහතෙර නමට අසන තැන් වදාල ආවරය. පාචරියයන් වහන්සේගේ මහ විහාරවාසි වූ ආ වරිය සුද්දිය මෙසේ දත යුතු බුදුන් පිරි නිවිසාරසිය සූපනස්හ වුරුද්දෙහි පටබ්ද එක්වාදහස් දෙසිය සූ පනස් හවුරුද්දක්තුබූ බුදුසස්න පරාක්‍රමබාහු මහ රජානන්ඇරගෙණ දෙනානක බගි රිනක යන අසුධ වූ දෙනකයෙහි විපන්න තැන්හැර මහ විහාරවා සිවු පරිසුද්ධ වූථෙරවාදයම ගෙන පවත්නා පිරිසිදු තැන්හා සුඬ සං භයා සමග කොටතුන්නකය සමගකල දිඹුලාගලමාසුප් මහතෙ රුන් වහන්සේගේ අන්තේවාසික වූ එමන්කාය සාමග්ගියට ආචා රින් වහන්සේට සහයව සිටි මහාසාරත්‍ථදීපනීචුල්ලසාරත්ථදීපනි කාලපංචිකාලංකාර වූ මහත් ග්‍රසාරය කල සැරියුත් මහ හිමි යන් වහන්සේගේද මොග්ගල්ලාන ව්‍යාකරණය කල මුගලන් මහ තෙරුන්වහන්සේගේ සමීපයෙහි විනය පිටකය ද අටුවා ටීකාස හී තකොට අසා මේ විනයසන්නය අපිලිම්හ "Thus, as it is as well to be learned, know ye the pure teaching (which continued in the great temple Mahawihara) of the tutor and grand tutor that instructed Mèdankara, the high priest of Dimbulàgalla, who writes this paraphrase on the the Vinaya text, and the Atuwas thereof. That is to say; we have written this paraphrase upon the Vinaya Pitaka, having first learned the same, and the Teeka upon the Atuwas thereof, from his Highness Mugalan, who composed the Grammar called Muggallána; and from his Lordship Seriyut, who composed Mahasarath'thadeepanè, Chullasarath' thadeepanè, Kùlapanchika, and other great and beautiful works; priests, who were the disciples of his Highness the Right Rev. Mahasup of Dimbulagala, and who assisted their said tutor in reconciling the priesthood (which, having in the year of Budha 454 divided itself, continued so divided for 1254 years), and in reconciling also the three societies of that priesthood, and in the establishment of the orthodox principles of the chief establishment, Mahawihara, by means of the assistance rendered by the monarch Parakkrama, and also by means of the removal of the apostate priests belong. ing to the impure establishments of Denánaka, and Bagirinaka; and by the association with such of them as were imbued with pure principles of religion." It may be remarked, that about this period the Sanscrit became mixed up with the Singhalese. Not that the pure Elu became obsolete, but it became the fashion of the time to interweave the one with the other, or to adopt a variety of Sanscrit expressions into the Elu, as to use the language of Butler in his Hudibras;— "English cut on Greek and Latin, Like fustian heretofore on satin." This possibly arose from the successful wars of Parakkrama bahu, who made two of the Indian states tributary to him— a circumstance which necessarily led the Hindu Brahmins to resort to this Island, perhaps more freely than before, and to bring along with them almost the greater part of their literature in Sanscrit and Pali. We thus find that Parakrama's successor, Wijayabahu II. (A. D. 1185), "a prince of great promise, composed a Pali letter of great merit to the King of Aramana, soliciting him to depute learned and pious Budhist priests to Ceylon to decide on certain controverted points of doctrine in their mutual faith." The growing prosperity of this Island continued for nearly halfa-century from the above date, during the latter part of which period many poets contributed much to Singhalese literature. The Malabars who inhabited the frontiers of the Island soon became the bane of Ceylon! They kept up a constant warfare with the natives, and whenever they were successful in usurping the Singhalese throne, for however short a time, they demolished our institutions, extinguished our literature, and attempted to uproot the religion of the land. Thus, at this period the national religion of the Singhalese and their literature suffered not a little at the hands of the Malabars, who were the masters of the Island: and amidst the disturbances which ensued from the treachery of Neekanga, who sought the aid of Sollians, usurped the throne, and deposed its royal occupant, Queen Leelawati-two poets of great merit produced the well-known Sasadawa, and Muwadewdàwa, in blank verse. We trust we shall not be far wrong if we assign to these works the same date as that upon which the deposed Queen was restored to the throne for the second time (A. D. 1216.) FROM THE SASADAWA. හිමි කුලබඳ අදර ති සිතුමි නෙව්රක්නා හුදු සගුණ බර ණරි විසඳකුල මුදුන්මල් පසක් සිරි කත විලසින් මුළු ලෝමන නුවන්ගත්. පලකල දහම් රජ සිරිමෙවැටුම්හි පිටුබල වී. "My Muse has (indeed) experienced fresh support from the prosperity, the result of the righteous reign of Queen Leelawati; a lady who has ameliorated (the condition of) the world, and religion; who as it were a visible (Lakshmee) Venus, won the hearts and affections of mankind; who is an ornament (crown) to the Solar and Lunar races, which are adorned by truth and gentle virtues; who is surrounded by renowned chieftains and ministers; who is a banner unto her caste Ruanpà; who like a Situmini-gem, preserves inviolate the honor (love) of her royal consort's house.” FROM THE MUWADEWDAWA. අනේනුවර දෙලේනුදුල දඹදිව් තලවි මල් දැකසීමා දුරොරේ උවපිසුමවර ගනන්. දොරටු ගැළු මිනිවැ නිර ලෙසින්එපුරේ හැලි හිරුමෙර ජයිදු නිතොර වීමෙන්. පිලිඹුහුනුමරාමිණිතොරනිචෝර ජනා "The city of Miyulu, like unto the great pericarpium of the golden-lotus-like holy Dambadiva, resplendent with the foliage of numerous towns, shed its glory around. The sun of that city, who beheld the lotus-like visage of the fair sex upon the square windows, was indeed delighted at the height of its buildings. The lustre of the gem-studded porches of this city was such, that it seemed as if the sun had not withholden from it his rays even at night. And the walls which were covered with splendid crystal mirrors, upon which fell the shadow reflected by the Situmini-gem is a fabulous jewel, which we may render "the wishconferring jewel." ruby-studded (triumphal) arches, exhibited the brilliant, (but) hare-spotted moon." After the reign to which we have just referred, the Malabars again usurped the Singhalese throne; and not only did the growing prosperity of this Island at this time suffer at their hands, but the Singhalese language itself was nearly sacrificed to their animosity; for whilst the scriptures of the Singhalese were destroyed, the foreigners failed not to extinguish their literary records. Few indeed are the works that escaped the fury of the Malabars; and those few we have hitherto reviewed. This was the third act of the kind; but alas! it was not the last. The anarchy which resulted from the disturbances on the part of the Malabars was, happily, but of short duration; and scarcely lasted 24 years, when Wijebahu III. ascended the throne (A. D. 1240), restored Budhism, and paved the way for science, which now revived amidst the labours of one of her most devoted sons, Kalikúla Sahitya Sarwa Gnana alias Panditha Parakkrama Bahu III., who succeeded to the throne A. D. 1267. This Prince, much beloved by his subjects and courted by foreign powers, devoted his attention to the arts and sciences, in which he was well conversant. The Dambadeni Asna, a small pamphlet, enlarges on the merits and qualifications of this illustrious monarch, and mentions 64 arts and sciences in which, it is stated, he was a proficient. But on a careful inspection we find this to be an exaggeration; the number being swelled up by an enumeration of the different branches of the same subjects. From the Raja Ratnácara Mr. Knighton cites the principal of them, 18 in number; and we give the following list of studies for which we can ascertain their equivalent English names, whilst we omit many, with whose significations we are not acquainted. ⚫ Siksha, Moksha, Itihasa, Agnisthamba &c. may be mentioned amongst a variety of other names, with whose significations we are not acquainted. We may |