of sin, he has exhibited the pride of the wicked. The knowledge which we have imparted to him has proved to be nothing short of milk, with which a highly venomous serpent has been fed!" . The prose of this age sustains a like character as the poetry which we have reviewed. For a good specimen thereof the reader is referred to the selection from the commentary on the Bawudha' Sataka, which we made at p. lxvii. It is far more elegant than the following extract from an Inscription now found at Pepiliana, a few miles from Cotta. ශ්‍රී බුද්ධ වරුෂයෙන් එකදහස් නවසිය අට පනස් අවුරුද්දක් පිරු නුසඳ සිරිලක රජ පැමිනි මහා සම්මත පරමිපරානුයත සූර්යව ශාභිජාත මහාරාජාධි රාජසීසංඝබෝධි සුප්‍රාක්‍රමබාහු චක්‍රවර්තී ස්ව මින් වහන්සේට එකුන්සාලි දුනුම දිදින පුර පස ස් වකජයර්ධන පුරපුරයෙහි සුමංගල සාදා ගිමට චිම ප යෙහි සිංහාසනයෙහි සිරි නිවෙස්හ ඔටුනු සිව්සැට බර නින් සෑදී රජ යුවරජ ඇමතිගන පිරිවරා දේව්ද්‍යාලියාවෙන් වැඩ හිඳ හැම තන්හී කලමනා කටයුත්තට දිව්‍ය ස්ථාදාරණතැන ස්ව නිස්ථ වූ මවුබිසවුන්වහන්සේට පින් පිණිස අභිනව විහාරයක් කරවන ලෙසට රානිවාසල කාරියෙහි නියුක්ත සිකුරා මුදල් තුන්ට වදාල මෙහෙවරින් පස් විසිදහසක් ධන වියදම් කොට පා නබුනු බඳ පැපිලියානෙහි සාකාර හෝපුර ප්‍රතිග්‍රහ ඬපබෝ ධී චෛත්‍ය සංඝාවාස දේවාලසස්තරය පුස්තකාලය දැස්පාරාමඡ ලාරාමාදින් යුක්ත කොට සමුර්ධරවිහාරය චිර ස්ථායි ර්ධන වන පිනිස පිදුයෙන් පො "Whereas with a view to its stability and prosperity, the following things, to wit; ramparts, towers, image-houses, halls, Bô trees, dagaps, (pagodas or monuments), pansils (or houses for priests), outer temples or dèwàlas, buildings or repositories for books, flower gardens, and orchards or parks, have been offered for (the use of) the Temple, which was founded or built at an expense of 25000 (current coins of the highest value), at Pepiliàna in the district of Pànabunu (Pantura), and in pursuance of the orders (unto Sikuru Mudal, one of the chiefs of the king's household, directing him to erect a new temple with a view to impart merit unto the Queen, the king's mother, who had gone to heaven), given on the 15th day of the lunar month of Medininna (March-April), when the moon had attained her fulness, in the 1958th year of the renowned Budaistical era, and in the 39th of the reign of the Emperor Sree Sungabodhi Sree Pakkrama Bahu, born of the Solar Race, and a descendant of the King Maha Sammata; orders given by the king himself, whilst he presenting his noble appearance, attired in his four and sixty ornaments, crowned with his crown, and surrounded by kings, governors, subkings, and ministers, sat like Indra, giving orders in respect of the affairs of the whole state, on his throne which was erected on the adorned hall opposite to the square (palace) called Sumangata in the chief city of Jayawardana (Cotta): " In the course of our narrative and before entering upon a period during which the Portuguese held sway in the island, we are enabled to present to the notice of the reader, a name which stands illustrious amongst the brightest luminaries of science-Weedagama, called after the name of his village in the Rygamkorle. He was a priest of great learning, deep research, and much piety. In iis Budgunalankà a, he has drawn a correct picture of Buha and Buddhism. His imagery drawn from Budhistical literature and nature is felicitous; his language elegant and happy, and his diction beautiful and correct. In the selection which we have already made from this work (see p. xcii.) the poet says that he composed it in the 3rd year of the reign of Buwanekabahu, i. e. in the year of our Lord 2015. According to the Mahawansa, Buwanekebahu VI. ascended the throne in 1464, A. D., or 2307 A. B. Thus, then, there is a discrepancy of 5 years between the two accounts. We can hardly believe that the poet who gives the date of his own work could be mistaken. Indeed it is more probable that the historian is in error. Weedágama wrote another work, the Lowedasangrahaya; and it is also believed that he was the author of a Tisara Sandesa. At all events, the two works which bear the name of Tisarasandesa, were written at this period. The Lòwedasangrahaya, is a work containing maxims of a moral, religious, and prudential character; and the Tisarasandese is a poetical epistle of considerable length. Beneath we extract from both: FROM THE LOWEDA SANGRAHAYA. වේ ගෙ ව හ ස සර දුක් බුදුබණ නා කුමගනැටුම් කෙලිකවට සිනා අද අ ද එ යි මරු පින් කර ඟන් චමරුගන් තිසිතන් සද කි ල ද හ සන්මරු ඇපවණ් නේ කු මඳ දකුසලට කම්මැලිවන් "Wherever we may be, death finds no impediment. The prosperity which we enjoy will last only so long as we have merit wherefore, then, do you enjoy yourselves in dance, play, joke, and mirth, without faith in Budha's doctrines, which are able to save you from the ills of metempsychosis? Do ye meritorious acts, knowing that to-day even to-day will death conte. How know ye that he will not come to-morrow! Will death of mighty forces ever indulge you with (a postponement) delay? Wherefore then, are you slothful [to perform] meritorious acts?" FROM THE TISARA SANDEse. 33 ඹනතුනුඟින් තුඟු පූ පිය ත ව ස යන්නනසිරි නිවෙස් ව මුව වර ඈ ර සෙසු ද න ව "Proceed on thy course and next behold Colombo, an habitation of much prosperity, the incessant abode of thousands of lovely young women, whose full-orbed bosoms which are borne by their slender bodies, at a glance captivate the eyes and affections of the beholder. And passing through Mutwall, the mouth of the river, behold its females who ever swarm before the sensual;—females, who like the very goddesses, are the delight of all except the ascetic, and whose lips (mouths) by reason of their redness resemble the colour of tender buds." We also extract below the following from the other Tisara Sandesa, which was written at this period, and which is characterized by correctness of versification and great elegance of style: ලෙ ල මුතු ද ල් ද ල පුඞු සේ සතෙ යි ය සින් දෙපස සිටි ක සැදි රජ කුමර; වෝගො සින් “When the sun, having risen on mount Udaya, shall have at once illumined the world, and lovely [dazzling] king Parakkramabahu shall have taken his seat on his high throne, lined with white silk, and under an ivory umbrella of waving pearl-strung net-work; and when, like heavenly beings in the society of India, scions of royalty, (the brilliancy of whose jewels and dress is like that of the Sun, and the splendour of whose personal charms wins the affections of women-kind), shall have assembled on both sides [of the king:]" As a specimen of alliteration in prose, we give the following paragraph which was written at this period. It is composed by avoiding all letters inflected with vowels; and contains extraordinarily long compounds. As there is a commentary or paraphrase to this, there can be no great difficulty in translating it into English. We leave it, however, untranslated, as an exercise for the student. සසරගතසමතස - අතමහතල තසමතව නපවර දසබදෙස නරදනනදසරදගන පහස කලදවලපහපත රජ බවන වහසල අනතදරණසමව - ණනර පවල තපබව පලකරණ පදසරණහස සහසපතපතර මසර ද බට බමර ගණ බමණ වනමකර ද දගහනව නහඹර වැට අගලකලකරලතරහසලපල සඳලදල පලලකඟහගහ නකලම ලබල ගහණගනඟතරඟර ඟ පනනහය පරඟරද වලඟ කරස කරපද රහස අඟ අසල කල පහසල දහනවන අමදමද ජලද හර වහරදි රසමතල කනටර මහල ගජරලසරගමනයනහ සපරදවන පවරන නබරණදර අමර හරප දවන නයනමන දහ තපසකලණලදර දන අලකමදස මදවන ජය වඩන නගර වර බර තගණත සඳලකර සඳ සකරනවමතන කල සමතසත තඹර වන සහසකර බදර කලකලඹවන. රතණ අනවරතපවකනකදන අන තසත ́ මනමන මගත මහ සතත කර කර තවතව තඅජරවරරසන රඟමඬල යසන ලඟ ලවන නද රජගහනතලකඳටපරණරපව ර පතඟ කලස වන වදහල වදනසවන අඹරණකරණ කන කමයව දනහස පහ වතමඬ නදසපද සතපතටබට සතර රජසපදකල රණවක තට ගතසර ණපරලද පලසරණගත තඅනවර තරක චරණකලපරණ ජදහමම රඟ සතර සඟර වන සතරලඟන කර ණවත සම තමඟ ලබඹසවන රද පවතසත දනසක බබලවනදස ටරටසතර සටමණ බරණ කලකලදි ර කරණ බලතස නසර ඟරණ උරණ තබලහලර ණ මහතකළඹයවන බසවනණදය සත බ බලව නමහත බවන ́ තරණහතවරඟනසතහුසලනව සඳකරණසල ලඟණ හට දරණමදනර දවනපරණගමනයන හර වරණකඹ රඹ රණඹවරණ අනතසතසජාසරඟප ගමන මනහර වරණ සතට අසරණසරණ කට අගරජ කරණපවර අපනරවාණසතතඅගජ සගහන කරණ බවයහපතය Shortly after the period upon which we have now entered, the Portuguese obtained a footing in Ceylon ; but since the natives did not altogether lose their political power for a long time afterwards, the literature of this period met with but little discouragement, except at the hands of their own Sovereigns. |