In the reign of Buwanekebahu_VII., A. D. 1534–1542, Saddarmalankara was written-a prose work containing many little apologues, explanatory of the principles of Budhism. We extract the following which illustrates the good effects of CHARITY OR HOSPITALITY. යට ගිය දවස සැවැත්නුවරදී සන එක්තරා පුර්ෂයෙක් උත්තරා පථයට අඳමගට පැමිණියේ ගිම්හාන මාසයන්සම්බන්දි වූ මධ්‍යහ කාලයෙහි ගිනිදෙන්නාසේ ඉතාතදව පහර නාහිරු රුසින් තැවී මිරි කුනා වුසාරීර ඇතිවව ඉතා පීඩාපත්ව බුලත්ක කා පක්සෙමණෙක පව කඩක් පිටහුනේ ඉක්බිති උත්ත රා පථයෙහි සිටපන්නා වූ පුර්ෂයෙක්ද ඒ පරිද්දෙන් අවුද් විඩාව ප ලමුහුන් මි නිසා ස්වාමීපයේහිඳ යහළුපිපාසිතයෙමි බිපිසන්නට පැද්ද යිවිචාලේය,, එතෙපුල් අසාපලමුඑතන උන්තැනැත් තහු පන්න ත යිකිකල්හි පසුව ආපුර්ෂයා කියනුයේ එසේවී නම් යහළු ිප සා ඉවසිය නොහෙමි තොප අතින් මටබුලත් දෙවයි කියා ඉල්වා නොමිලයේ නොදෙන හෙයින් රසතර මස්සක දී එකම උප්පතන ඇරගෙන එතනමහිද බුලත්කා ම් දක්සැතපී පිප සාසන්හිඳුවාගෙන එපමන උපකාරයක්නිසා ඔහු කෙරෙහි සෙනහ උපදවා මිතුරුව ගෙන යහළු අපියම්හයිකි සාඅවසර ගෙන තමායන ගමට ගියේය. පසුව කල්යාමයෙන් මෑතභාගයෙහි ඒ පුතෙම පටුන්ගමකට ගොස් වෙළදාමි පිණි සනැ වන ශියාත්‍රාවෙහියන්නේ මුහුදුමැ දට ප; මිණියේය එකල්හි ඔහු නැඟි නැව එයින් සත්ත්ද?සක් මහ සළංහමාර උපැහැ ඊමෙන්බඳුන,, සියඑම නුෂ්‍යයෝ මකැ සුප් ආදීන්ට ගොදුරු වූහ. එකල්හි පු: පමණක් උපද්‍රවයක් නැතුට එක් පුවර කඩෙකාලස ඊ. බාගෙන මුහුද පීනන්ට වන අකල්හි ඕහට පලමු මිලිගෙන බුලත් දුන් පමයා ද එපරිද්ගදන්ම වෙලදාම්පිනිස නංවන ගි ගාස් මුහුද මැදනැවන ගැසුනු කලල්හි තෙමේ පමණක් ඟ ලවී බුයුවහී භාහුයේ පලමුවූ පීනමින තෙ නත්තහු ස්වමි පයටපැමින් ය,, එකලදී සත්දවසක් නිරාහාරව මුහු පීනන් ණාවූ ඔහු දෙදන ඔහුනොවුන්දක් හැඳින ගත්හ * It is believed that the Sadhaima Ratnakare was written at this period, if not shortly afterwards. "In days of yore, a certain person with a view to go to the north, entered the high-road; and being much scorched and oppressed by a summer sun, whose beams at the meridian fell as severely as (sparks of) fire, and being much exhausted, sat himself down upon a log of wood in a shade chewing betel. * Another traveller from the north arrived there under similar circumstances, and being much fatigued, sat himself also down near the person who arrived first, and said to the latter, 'Friend, I am thirsty: is there any water to drink?' The person who first arrived there replied that there was none. The (interrogator) then returned' Friend, if so, I cannot endure thirst, give me some of your betel.' And since he would not part with his betel without money, the person who arrived last bought [of the other] one single leaf for four pieces (massas) of gold, chewed the same on the spot, reclined a little, and allayed his thirst. Thence in consequence of such a [trifling] assistance he conceived an affection for the other, contracted his friendship, and saying, 'Friend, let us go'; and saluting the latter, went to his destined village. Sometime afterwards, in process of time, the (last mentioned) person, with a view to go to a (distant) country for the purpose of trade, entered a ship and proceeded to the middle of the sca. At this period the winds The properties of this leaf are thus defined in the following Sanscrit stanza in the Hitopedesa. p. 89. තාද බූලං කටුතිතමිශ්‍රමධරාක්ෂාකපාන්විතං ε 5000 කත්‍රස්‍යාහරණෝලාපහරණංකාමා නසංදීප තාමබූසෙස්‍ය සද්ධෝත්‍රයාදශගුණඃ ස්වර්ග මිල්ල "Betel is ungent. bitter, spicy, sweet, a'kaline, astringent, or carminative; a destroyer o. phlegm, a verituge, a sweetener of the breath. an ornament of the mouth, a remover o impurit es, and a kind er o the flame of love. O friend! these treen roperties o. be.el are aid to be met with, even in Leaven." became boisterous for the space of seven days, and the billows struck the vessel, and it was destroyed. All the inmates of the ship became prey unto fishes and turtles, except the aforesaid person, who having escaped danger, began to swim in the sea by reposing his breast on a piece of plank. The wight who sold betel to this person also proceeded on a similar voyage on trade; and upon the destruction of his vessel in the midst of the ocean (under like circumstances) he alone escaped, and swam, and approached the first swimmer. These two persons who had been swimming for seven days, being famished during that time, saw and recognized each other." At this time, Raja Singha I., after his war with Don Juan, relinquished Budhism and became a convert to the Brahaminical faith. Not satisfied however, with the many benefits he had conferred upon the followers of his own creed, he was cruel enough to take away from his subjects liberty of conscience, and to punish the followers of that faith which was inimical to his own. Whilst temples were built at Avisahawella for the Brahmin priests, and the shrine at Adam's Peak was bestowed on certain Andi Fakiers, the Budhist priests were extirpated, and their books, wherever they could be found, were destroyed. In this general destruction, the whole of the Singhalese literature, which necessarily, more or less, was imbued with Budhistical doctrines, was, with a few exceptions, irretrievably lost. A lasting injury was thus inflicted on the Singhalese, which notwithstanding the zealous exertions of Wimala Dharma in A. D. 1597, could not be repaired in any great measure, for want of a free communication with India, which the occupation of the Maritime provinces by European powers rendered difficult, if not impracticable. The Singhalese language and the national religion of the Singhalese were, however, the great care of the succeeding Sovereign, who, himself a scholar of great eminence, encouraged the Sciences, and directed the removal of the Dalada Relic from Saffragam (whither it had been already taken from Cotta) into Kandy. He held a great festival in commemoration of this act, and invited 2140 priests from Arracan, in whose presence he celebrated the Upasampada Ordination. These were acts to which a contemporary poet bears testimony in the following stanza, which we select from a poem written at this period, the Dalada Katàwa. න දේ ගුනැති මෙ වි මල දනර නිදු මනර සිඳේරු පුවක සාසන වැ‍නිඳු ඔ දේ ව ඞා ද ල දා හිමි ගට ක ල පු දර සඳේ අඳිමි අත දිග නැති සදාමි සම "Except that my hand is not long enough (to reach the moon) upon that orb would I delincate the splendour of that festival in honor of the Tooth Relic of Budha, which the delightfully virtuous monarch Wimala Dharma cheerfully celebrated by the destruction of Lanka's enemies and by the promotion of Budha's religion. Having recorded the last literary destruction' in the reign of Raja Singha I., about the year 1586, when the remnants of our literature, which more or less partook of a religious character, were "piled up to the height of a mountain, and consumed by fire;" and the pleasing efforts of his successor to revive literature, we are enabled to introduce to the notice of the reader Alagiwanna Mohottala, a name which is dear to every lover of the muse from its association with two celebrated poetical works, the Kusajataka, and Subasitha. Alagiawanna Mohottala is justly regarded as one of our greatest poets, occupying in S.nghalese literature the position held by Alexander Pope in that of England. No one has studied brevity more than Alagiawanna Mohottala-few have surpassed him in correctness of versification; and certainly, with three exceptions among the modern poets, he had the greatest command of elegant language. His Kusajataka (a. D. 1610) is more easily understood than haviasekara; and is all the better for being so. In can of them there are also beauties of style that are not to be met with elsewhere. Yet it is difficult to compare the priest of Tottagamuwe with the chieftain of Sina-Korle. A doubt, however, is entertained by some, as to the correctness of "the opinion of the native literati, that Kaviasekara is the greatest poem in the language." Such doubters have also given the preference to Kusajataka. This has rendered a comparison of the two works necessary. It is admitted, that "pure language, unadulterated with foreign mixtures," "strict conformity to the rules of prosody and grammar," "energy of expression, a quality not very usual in Singhalese works," and " a ready command of language," mark the style of Kaviasekara. Of the Kusajatake it is said, that the "unity of (its) plan, the steady progress of the narrative, and a certain unaffected display of genuine feeling in its principal characters," "entitle it to rank as a poem of high merit." It would indeed be idle to speak of "unity of plan," "steady progress of the narrative," &c., in reference to the merits of either of these poems; when it is remembered that neither of them have any claims to originality, both being poetical versions of a part of the prose work called Pansiapanas Jatake, with of course, a little exaggeration, which is perhaps excusable in poets. In what then consists the superior merits of Alagiawanna Mohottala, we fail to perceive. And yet we may, upon a cursory perusal of the works of these two writers, obtain abundant testimony to prove the superiority of Tottagammuwe. No writer, it is apprehended, will ever be guilty of plagiarism, unless, in his own estimation, the work from which he copies is entitled to preference over his own words and |