Page 1


Page 2


Page 3

ROYALTY
IN
ANCIENT CEYLON
DURING THE PERIOD OF THE GREAT DYNASTY”

Page 4

ROYALTY
N
ANCIENT CEYLON
DURING THE PERIOD OF THE “GREAT DYNASTY'
JOHN. M. SENAVERATNE
ASIAN EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
NEW DELH MADRAS 2000

Page 5
ASIAN EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
* 31, HAUZ KHAS VILLAGE, NEW DELHI - 110016
el: 656O187.6568594 Fax. 0.6852805. 6855.499 e-mail; asianedsGenda.VSnline is
* 5, SRIPURAM FIRST STREET MADRAS - 600 014,
e 8265040 Fax: 821129 e-mail: asianedsGmd3.vsni.net in
: SL. Rs. 145 (Special Price for Sri Lanka only) First Published: Colombo. 1918, Journal, R.A.S. (Ceylon) # 71 AES Reprint : New Delhi, 2000.
SBN 81-206-1530-1
Published by J. Jetley
of ASIAN EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
31, Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi - 110 016
Processed by AES Publication Pvt Ltd., New Delhi-110 016 Printed at Choudhary Offset Process, CELH - 110 051

No. 71-1918 Roy ALTY IN ANCIENT CEYLON 09
ROYALTY IN ANCIENT CEYLON. During the Period of the "Great Dynasty." BY JoHN M. SENAVERATNE.
Foreword. The following is the first of a series of articles intended to depict “Life in Ancient Ceylon' from material available to us in authentic histories, published or otherwise. The rest of the articles will deal respectively with (a) The People, (b) Religion, (e) Government, and (d) Tarfare. I have of set purpose studiously refrained in the present article-as I propose to do in each of the others-from letting my knowledge of later conditions and things colour my survey of the period under review-roughly some 900 years-limited (on the one hand by the establishment of the Vijayan dynasty in the 5th century B.C., and on the other by the death of Mahasena in the 4th century A.D. I have said nothing without warrant or authority for it in the works I have laid under contribution. Unprefixed numerical references imply that the quotation is from Professor Geiger's edition of the J/ahdivansa.
The King.
The rightful King of Jianka was and had to be of the Adilinga-Cakravarti-kula, i.e., of the dynasty founded by Wijaya. Any sovereign-and ny "renmarks have reference to the earliest times only-who was not of the Kálinga-vansa was a usurper. It was the recoginition of this right of the Kálinga-vansa that impelled the ministers of Vijaya, upon his death without issue, to send for a prince from India who was a kinsmar of Wijaya’s. Panduvásudeva fulfils this requirement, and he comes over and assumes the sovereignty of Lanka as of right.

Page 6
O лоURNAI, в.A.s. (сExLoN). VoL. XXVI
Succession.
“Is there any law permitting the younger children to succeed to the throne in preference to the elder?' asked the Dutch Governor von Falk in 1769, and the answer given by “some of the best-informed Candian Priests respecting the antient Laws and customs of their country' was as follows: “The succession is not regullated according to seniority; but that prince is appointed to the sovereignty who is most eminent for wisdom, virtue, and a good disposition. The second son of Muta Siva (who reigned over Lakdiwa in the city of Anuradpoor), in consequence of his having been adorned with these amiable qualities, obtained the sovereignty, even during the life-time of his elder brother; as is shewn in the book entitled Raja Ratnakare.'
The answer was not correct. The case of Devanampiyatissa was the exception which proved the rule. And even here it is not quite certain that Devánampiyatissa succeeded his father because he “was foremost among all his brotherstin virtue and intelligence' (11.6) or because he was adorned with the 'amiable qualities' referred to above. Abhaya, the elder brother,-histories give aus no information at all of him-may have been blind, 'or an idiot, or suffering from some other physical disability. Or it may even be that a mésalliance barred his way to the throne, just as Dutthagámani's son, Prince Sáli, was by reason of his love for and marriage with a
low-caste woman, the Chandála Asokamáládevi.
Bertolacci, Ceylon, Appendix A, p. 454. at Mutasiva's '' ten sons' were: Abhaya, Devånampiyatissa, Mahånåga, Uttiya, Mattåbhaya, Mitta, Malåsiva, Stratissa, Asela. and Kira.
It is only fair to say that, according to the Mahdi 'asa. Frince Sáli “ cared nothing for kingly rule; therefore Dutthagámani's brother, Saddhátissa, anointed king after his death, ruled, &c.,' the implication being that, if he cared, he could still have been king. The people, it is safe to presume, would gladly have forgiven many things to Dutthagámani's son, even his mésaliance, and accepted him as king; but they would scarcely have accepted a Chandala woman as Queen, however beautiful and virtuous she may have been. It was. this consideration probably which impelled Frince Sáli to sacrifice his throne for his love,

No. 71-1918) Roy ALTY IN ANCIENT CEYLoN l
The eldest son's right to succeed the father was admitted and generally observed. Where there was a failure to act up to it, recourse was had to force of arms to assert that right. † When King Kákavanna dies, Tissa, the younger son, crowns himself king. It is improper and unusual, and therefore “the whole of the ministers, who had met together, sent letter to Dutthagámani' (24.16), the elder son, to acquaint him with what in their eyes was the violation of a custom. Dutthagámani comes with armed forces and fights his brother who, when defeated, says to the thera Godhagatta Tissa: “I have done ill, sir; I will make my peace with my brother' (24.49). The thera takes Tissa in order to effect a reconciliation and, leaving him on the stairs, goes into the presence of Dutthagámani and pleads for the penitent prince. Dutthagámani asks: "Where is the traitor. ' (l.c. 53), but the mother also intervenes and the brothers are reconciled. Tissa was guilty of treason in crowning himself king in the life-time of his elder brother.
The case is the same when Tissa himself dies. Ministers and monks meet together-the meeting is
The Rámáyana knows only direct succession, to the eldest. Any other transfer was a crime. Compare Rindiyana II. 7. 18-9 for a true summary : bahúnám api putránám ekorájye " bhigicyate jyerthegu putregu råjyatantråni pårthivå åsajanti (and these again on their eldest, never on their brothers).
See the Mahdibhdirata I. 85. 22 f; W. 149. l f : A king had caused it to be known that he intended to make his younger son heir, because the eldest had revolted, or (in another version) had not obeyed his wishes. Thereupon the people, headed by the priests, came en maase and demanded how he could do this; protesting that a younger son might not " overstep the elder, and closing this formal address with the words: "This we make known to thee; see that thou do thy duty.' The king now mildly argues with the people, and says sophistically that a son who opposes his father is by good men regarded as not being a son at all, and the law of Cukra (a semidivine authority) has induced me to do this. In consequence solely of these arguments, the people retire and submit : not because of the king's will, but because of his reasoning; and in closing they say expressly, " and if it is Cukra who has commanded it, there is no more to say.” Thus it was that Yayáti was enabled to establish Firu, his ounger son, as heir instead of Yadu, his eldest.-Compare Vishnu. urána, IV. 10; Váyu Purána, II. 31. 75. (Hopkins, Positions of the Ruling Caste in Ancient India, p. 140).

Page 7
12 JoURNAL, R.A.s. (cEYJoN). VoL XXVI.
obviously designed to invest an improper, even treasonable, proceeding against a presumably unpopular prince with the sanction and strength of a representative assembly's vote-and, ignoring the claims of Lanjatissa, the eldest son, proceed to consecrate the prince Thalathana, a younger son, as king. In less than six weeks Lanjatissa overpowers (kills) his younger brother and takes upon himself the government which was his by right of prior birth. The sequel is interesting and should resolve all doubt on the point. For the chronicler tells is that “during three years (afterwards) did Lanjatissa use the brotherhood slightingly and neglect them with the thought: 'They did not decide according to age'' (33.20). The succession, then, was regulated according to seniority.
The son naturally succeeded the father;' but when there was no son-daughters apparently had no claimt r-the deceased king's brother had the next best right. Vijaya, just before his death, muses as follows: “I am old and there lives no son of mine. The kingdom peopled with (such great) difficulty may come to naught after my death; therefore would I fain have my brother Sumitta brought here (that I may give) the government into his hands' (8.1-2). Then, again, after Devānampiyatissa's death, "his younger brother since there was no son, the prince known by the name Uttiya, held sway piously as king' (20.29).
The rule, then, as to the succession, was that the eldest son, provided he lay under no disability, physical or otherwise, succeeded the father. If there was any such (disability, he gave place to the younger brother just next to him, though the popular preference might be for the
In the Mahdibhdrata, the royal laws especially recommend that a king shall "make his son sure in the kingdom before his own death.' (XIII. 63. 19), and this is also enjoined in Manu’s law-book.
t The single exception was Sivali, who succeeded her brother Chláibhaya but reigned only 4 months, when she was deposod by her cousin Ilanáva

No. 71-1918 RoyalTY IN ANCIENT cey LoN 3.
prince-if there were several-who was distinguished by the possession of the most amiable qualities. Where there was no son, the brother succeeded, his selection being governed apparently by the same rule of primogeniture. For it is to be noted that upon Devanampiyatissa's death without issue-Mahánága having fled to Mahágáma where he has already founded a principality, - it is the younger brother just next, Uttiya, who succeeds him, and Uttiya is in turn succeeded by his younger brother Mahāsiva. Of the two intervening brothers Mattábhaya had already “received the pabbajjā' (17.58) and become a monk and Mitta was presumably dead or had himself entered the priesthood. Mahásiva is succeeded by the younger brother just next to him, Sáratissa (Suvannapindatissa), who is in turn followed by his next younger brother. Asela, after the latter had driven away the two Tamil usurpers (Sena and Guttaka). Again, when Lanjatissa dies without issue, he is succeeded by his younger brother Khallátanága who is, in turn, succeeded by his younger brother Wattagámani.
Regal Wirtues,
When the boy-prince Pandukábhaya meets the Brahman Pandula in Pandulagámaka, the latter says: * “Thou wilt be king, and full 70 years wilt thou rule; learn the art (of kingly rule), my dear', and he instructed him, and by his son Canda also that art was mastered in a short time' (10. 22-23). Dutthagámani, we are told, was 'well versed in the duties of kings' (31.36), and Wohárikatissa is said to have reigned 22 years 'with knowledge of the law and the tradition' (36.27).
What was this 'art' of governing, this “knowledge of the law and the tradition', the acquirement of which formed part of the 'duties' of every king worthy of the name? It was the practice of the dasa-rdia-dharma and the catussangrahavastu, i.e., that which the Sulu transa describes respectively as “the ten virtues óf kings and

Page 8
JUUR NAL, K.A.S. (CEYLON). VOL. XXV l.
the four means of conciliation' (52.43), or as Mahinda IV. in his Wessagiri Inscription has it, “the ten regal virtues and the four elements of popularity'.
What were, firstly, the dasa-raja-dharma or 'ten royal virtues'? Childers enumerates them under rdiadhammo as follows: dánam, silam, pariecágo, akkodho, avihimsá, khanti, ajjavam, maddavam, tapo and avirodhana.t And this is how the Kandyan Priests referred to above described them to Governor von Falk. 1. Charity: viz., giving rice and cloth to priests, Brahmins, and poor people.
2. Religion : viz., constantly maintaining the ordinances of Boodho.
3. Liberality: viz., bestowing fields, gardens, and other valuable property.
4. Uprightness: viz., being void of deceit. 5. Mercy : viz., not being of an obdurate mind. 6. Temperance: viz., mortification of sensual desires. 7. Placability: viz., not continuing to be angry after the cause of displeasure has ceased.
8. Humanity: viz: not punishing, tormenting, or molesting innocent persons.
9. Forbearance: viz., not being angry at faults before they have been well inquired into.
10. Impartiality: viz., shewing no undue preference to any one.
The catussangrahavastu : or “four elements of
popularity', which partook largely of the nature of some of the dasa-raja-dharma, were:
* Epigraphia Zeylanica, I. 34.
t That is, almsgiving, observance of the precepts, generosity, freedom from wrath, mercy, forbearance, rectitude, mildness, selfmortification, freedom from enmity. Cf. also Dhammapada, 341,416. In answer to perpetual questions in regard to duty, Márkandeya says to the king: "'Be merciful, be kind, be fond, be not sulky, be truthful, mild, generous, glad to protect the people; do right, avoid wrong; worrhip the fathers and the gods; practise all this in deed, in thought, and in word ” (Mahábhárata, III. 191 23 ff). w
† 10 Cf. Alvis, Introd. to Kachcháyana's Pali Grammar, 73; Alwis,
Attaтagaluvanaа, 138.

No. 71-1918 Roy ALTY IN ANCIENT CEYLON 5
1. Danam =largesse or liberality. 2. Piyavacanam = affability. 3. Atthacariyá = beneficent rule. 4. Samdinattatai = impartiality. The first and last of both are identical, and the third of the latter really represents what would result from the observance of the former as a whole. The statement that Dutthagamani was “well versed in the duties of
kings' is now pregnant with meaning.
It explains how
the greatest warrior of the period of the Great Dynasty came to be regarded also as its greatest and most popular
ruler.
“ Abhiseka ” or Consecration.*
I. THE CEREMONY.
"What ceremonies are observed at the coronation of a king?' asked Governor Falck on the occasion already referred to, and the answer given was in fact a summary of the interesting description given in the Sinhalese commentary of that portion of the Majjhima
Wikdiya known as
Cullasiihanada suttavannamá and
quoted in the Mahuvansa Tikai. Both summary and description are given below in parallel columns :-
ASummary.
On the day of his installation, the Royal Mandapa is beautifully decorated with all sorts of precious ornaments; within that Mandapa is erected another, made of
Description.
In the first place, he who wishes to be duly inaugurated as king should obtain for this purpose three chanks (golden and otherwise), water from the Ganges river, and a maiden of the Kshatriya
38
"To be consecrated, to sacrifice, and to protect, the people, are the chief duties of a king,' says the Ramayana, II. 13. 23.
Bertolacci, Ceylon, Appendix A. pp. 454-5. : C. B. R. A. S. Journal, Vol. XIV., No. 47, pp. 120-7.

Page 9
6 Journ AL, R.A.s. (cEYLoN). Vol. XXVI.
Summary.'
the branches of the Udum
bara or Attika tree;. and in the centre of this inner Mandapa is placed a seat, made of the wood of the same tree:-the King, covered with jewels, and invested with the insignia of royalty, wearing the sword, the pearl umbrella, the forehead-band, the slippers, and the chowrie made of the white hairs of the Semara's tail, repairs to the abovementioned seat: a royal virgin, adorned with costly ornaments, and holding in her hand a seachank filled with river water and opening to the right, then approaches the place where the King is seated, and, lifting up the chank with both hands, pours its contents upon the King's head, addressing him, at the same time, in these words: 'Your Majesty is anointed to rule over this whole assembly of Rohatries; may it therefore
Description.f
He must himself be ripe for the ceremony (i.e., be over 16 years of age) and be a Kshatriya of noble lineage, and must sit on a splendid udumbara chair, well set in the middle of a pavilion made of udumbara branches, which is itself in the interior of a hall gaily decked for the ceremony of abhiseka.
First of all, - the Kshatriya maiden of gentle race, clothed in festive attire, taking in both her hands a right-handed seachank, filled with Ganges water, and raising it aloft, pours the abhiseka water over his head, and says as follows :-
“ Sire, by this ceremony of abhiseka all the people of the Kshatriya race make thee their Mahárája for their protection. Do thou rule over the land in uprightness, and imbued with the ten royal virtues. Have thou for the Kshatriya race a heart filled with paternal love and solicitude. Let them (in return) protect, and guard, and cherish thee.' Next, the royal chaplain, splendidly attired in a manner befitting his office, taking in both hands a silver chank filled
Bertolacci, Ceylon, Appendix A. pp. 454-5. it C. B. R. A. S. Journal, Vol. XIV., No. 47, pp. 126-7.

No. 71-1918) RoYALTY IN ANCIENT CEYLoN 7
Summary.'
please your Majesty to perform the duties of a Sovereign, and to exercise your sway with benignity and justice.'-After this, the Purohita Bramin (the Head Bramin), arrayed with ornaments adapted to the nature of his office, lifts up, with both hands, a silver chank filled with river water, and, pouring its contents on the King's head, addresses him in the manner above mentioned, and recommends him to govern with gentleness and iustice. Then a principal Sita, adorned with suitable ornaments, taking up with both hands a golden chank, likewise filled with river water, pours the contents upon the King's head, admonishes him to reign with justice and gentleness, and to perform the established duties of a Sovereign.- These ceremonies being ended, and the King invested with the crown,
Descriptiот.л
with Ganges water, and raising it aloft, pours the abhiseka water over his head, and says as follows: “ Sire, by this cere. mony of abhiseka all the people of the Brahmin race make thee their Mahárája for their protection. Do thou rule over the land in uprightness, and imbued with the ten royal virtues. Have thou for the Brahmin race a heart filled with paternal love and solicitude. Let them (in return) protect, and guard, and cherish thee.
Next, he who holds the office of Setthi, attired in a suitable manner, taking ilu both his hands a golden chank filled with Ganges water, and raising it aloft, pours the tabliska water over his head, and says as follows:-
“Sire, by this ceremony of abhiseka all the grotha. pati, for their protection, make thee their Maharāja. Do thou rule over the land in uprightness and imbued with the ten royal virtues. Have thou for the grahapati a heart filled with paternal love and solicitude. Let them (in return) protect, and guard, and cherish thee''. Those who address the
Bertolacci, Ceylon, Appendix A. pp. 454-5.
C. B. R. A. S. Journal

Page 10
8 JoURNAL, R.A.s. (CEYLON).
Summary."
the following reflections
ought to present them
selves to his royal mind:
The addresses which have beeu just now made to me may be construed either as an imprecation or as a blessing; and I am to consider the substance and actual purport of them to be to the following effect: 'If your Majesty act in coınfoTımity to our suggestions, it is well; otherwise it is to be hoped that your head will split into seven pieces.’
[Vol. XXVI.
Description..t
above form of words pronounce, as it were, a curse upon the king, as if they should say:-
'It is meet that thou shouldst rule the land in accordance with these our words. Should it not be so, mayest thy head split in seven pieces'.
In this Island of Lanka be it known that a Kshatriya princess, sent by Dhammasoka, performed the ceremony of abhiseka over the head Qf Devånampiyatissa with a righthanded sea-chank filled with water from, lake Anotatta. Previous to this no such ceremony was known (in Lanka).
The ceremonial of consecration was borrowed from India; it was integrally Hinduistic, modified later in
details under the influence of Buddhism.
It was.
Bertolacci, Ceylon, Appendix A. pp. 454-5. t C. B. R. A. S. Journal, Vol. XV., No. 47, pp. 126-7.
In the Rindyana, the
priestly council meet in the sabhá
(assembly-hall), and the chief priest makes an address, explaining the death of the king and the necessity for having a new one consecrated. The elder son being banished, the younger must reign, for many ills ensue to a kingless people. The older councillors say: " Even when the king was alive, we stood at your orders (caeane); proceed, then, give your orders' (ea nah cadhi). After this the election is practically over, and there remains only the ceremony: Ram. II. 69. 1 ff., 33; from 70. 1, the councillors are all priests, as usual in later legal assemblies (parisad). Hopkins, Position of the Ruling Caste in Ancient India, p. 145.
“There is no reason to suppose that the ceremony was of purely Buddhistic origin. A new religion seldom adopts an entirely fresh ritual. It rather adopts and assimilates an existing ritual so as to suit the new circumstances, and in the abhiseka ceremony one sees but a revised edition of the Vedantic ceremony of the royal inauguration. From what can be gathered from the Vedantic literature, the Hindu ceremony of the royal inauguration was but the parent of the Buddhistic ceremony.' C. B. R. A. S. Journal, Vol. XIV., No. 47. p. 128.

No. 71-1918 RoYALTY IN ANCIENT CEYIoN 19
“according to custom' (7.71) that Vijaya was consecrated king, and the 'custom' followed was presumably that obtaining in India, i.e., in Bengal, 'in the country of the Wangas' (6.1).
The statement in the above 'description' that 'previous to this (i.e., Devānampiyatissa's abhiseka) no such ceremony was known in Lanka' appears to be scarcely correct in view of the fact, explicitly stated, of Wijaya’s consecration 'according to custom in full assembly' (7.71) and of the manner in which Pandukábhaya "solemnised his own consecration'' (10.78). The only way to reconcile the two would be to assume that the consecration of both Vijaya and Pandukábhaya lacked the pomp, ceremonial and full ritual with which Devánampiyatissa's abhiseka was undoubtedly invested.
Consecration.
II. ACCEssoBIEs.
Asoka's gifts to Devānampiyatissa (11.28f) are of interest as enumerating all that was "needful for consecrating a king' (l.c. 32). They are as follows, the first five being of course what are known as raijakakudhabhanddini, i.e., ensigns or symbols of royalty: (1) a fan, (2) a diadem, (3) a sword, (4) a parasol, (5) shoes, (6) a turban, (7) ear-ornaments, (8) chains, (9) a pitcher, (10) yellow sandalwood, (11) a set of garments that had no need of cleansing, (12) a costly napkin, (13) unguent brought by the nāgas, (14) red-coloured earth, (15) water from the lake Anotatta, (16) water from the Ganges, (17) a (spiral) shell winding in auspicious wise, (18) a maiden in the flower of her youth, (19) utensils as golden platters, (20) a costly litter, (21) yellow and emblic myrobalans, (22) precious ambrosial healing herbs, (23) sixty times 100 waggon-loads of mountain rice brought thither by parrots, etc.

Page 11
2U Journal, R.A.s. (CEYLON). WoL. XXVI.
1. Fan:" This was a chowrie or fly-whisk (Skt.: caimara) made of the hair of a yak's tail. At the consecration it was held or waved, presumably by a noble or minister in attendance.
2. Diadem: We have no description of this ornament as worn by the earliest Sinhalese kings, but it was probably simpler in design and less costly than that which -decked the brow of modern rulers. That, however, it did not lack splendid jewellery is evident from the fact that, when Wattagamani was fleeing from the Tamils, he "gave to (Queen) Somadevi his splendid diadem-jewel' (cuildimanim) before letting her descend from the car.
3. Sword: This was borne at the consecration probably by either a beautiful maiden or a great minister.
4. Parasol: It was of white, and of the five ensigns or symbols of royalty it was the one most en evidence on all state occasions. In fact, no state function or public festival was complete unless the king had his setachatta. In preparation for the arrival of the Relics, Mahinda tells Devānampiyatissa : "Go thou, in the evening, mounted வ் thy state-elephant, bearing the white parasol' (17.7). And, later, when the
On the occasion of the consecrating of the Lohapásáda, "on the exceedingly beautiful throne covered with costly cushions was placed a beautiful fan of ivory, gleaming magnificently' (27.35). And at the (enshrining of the Relics, Samtusita is said to have held "the yak-tail whisk' and Suyáma. the jewelled fan (31.78).
See the description of the crown of the last King of Kandy : The king of Kandy's Crown, of a very singular but tasteful form, gold, with projecting angles, from which are suspended ornaments of table diamonds, small rubies, &c.; round the circle, which embraces the forehead, are 15 ornaments of gold, set with rose diamonds, and rubies, which screw on ; on the top is an ornamental tuft of gold and ERÈ and in front attaches an enamelled gold ornament of great beauty, in the form of a plume, covered with table diamonds,
•emeralds, and rubies, the centre ruby of a very large size, forming altogether a singularly splendid and costly mark of royalty.' Catalogue of the Regalia of the King of Kandy. Printed by W. Smith, King Street London), 1820.
Note at the making of the Relic-Chamber the reference to “ irows of sword-beariag devas ” (30.93) and at the enshrining of the Relics “ the four great kings stood with swords in their grip.' (31.79).

No. 71-1918 Roy ALTY IN ANCIENT CEYLoN 2
young Bodhi-trees came, Devānampiyatissa “worshipped them by the gift of a white parasol and bestowed royal consecration on them” (19.59). Just before the - enshrining of the Relics, Dutthagámani is seen standing, “holding a golden casket under the white parasol' (31.39).
An idea of the beauty and the costliness of the royal parasol may be formed from the description we have of the one which graced the throne within the Lohapásáda pavilion: “A white parasol with a coral foot, resting on mountain crystal and having a silver staff, shone forth over the throne. On it, depicted in the seven gens, were the eight auspicious figures" and rows, of figures of beasts with jewels and pearls in between; and rows of little silver bells were hung upon the edge of the parasol” if (27.36ff).
The king has his parasol even on the battlefield. Note the ruse practised by Dutthagámani to deceive Elára's. warriors when he formed 32 bodies of troops and in them 'placed parasol-bearers and figures of a king' (25.56) i.e., wooden figures to represent the king (raio patiripakam kathamayarapakam ti).
Of the rájakakudhabhandáni the parasol was the. one most directly associated in the popular mind with duly constituted authority and symbolical of kingly rank. Five months after Wattagámani's accession, Tissa, the Brahman, and seven Damilas, who would wrest the power from the king, send him "a written message concerning the handing over of the parasol' (33.40). Ilanaga dethrones Sivali and "raises the parasol (of sovereignty) in the capital' (35.15,38), and so does Wasabha when he has conquered Subharāja in battle (35.69).
Lion, bull, elephant, water-pitcher, fan, standard, conch-shell, lamp were the attha mangalikdini.
t Over the Buddha-image in the Relic-Chi aber was ' a silver para sol” (30.74).

Page 12
22 Journal, R.A.s. (CEYLoN). WoL. XXVI.
It was not unusual for a king to be consecrated or to “raise the parasol of sovereignty' more than once, the second occasion being usually when the enemies of the king, who had disputed his sovereignty by force of arms, had been completely defeated and driven and the country thus united (25.71) 'under one rule (ekditapattaka = lit. “being under one parasol'); or to put it thus, when the king was able once more to rule “in single sovereignty'' (25.75) or to 'come into the capital as victor in battle' (35.38). Both Dutthagánani and Ilanága are thus consecrated twice (24.17; 26.6ff; 35.15, 38). The ceremonial at the second consecration was possibly simpler than at the first, though there may have been no diminution in the scale of the attendant festivities.
At the abhiseka the parasol was either held aloft over the king's head by a great Minister of State" or more probably fixed on to the back of the “splendid udumbara chair' referred to above. The parasol used by Abhaya at his consecration was possibly the one used by his two predecessors, Panduvásudeva and Wijaya. It was certainly the identical one used by his successor and nephew, for we learn that 'when he had caused the (state) parasol of his uncles to be brought and purified in a natural pond that is here (Anurádhapura), Pandukábhaya kept it for. . . . . . his own consecration” (10.77f). It had to be 'purified' presumably because it had been 'polluted' by being in the hands of his enemies (uncles) whom he had fought and slain.
5. Shoes it These must have been something not unlike the gold or silver worked velvet shoes or slippers
At the enshrining of the Relics, Brahma is said to have “held the parasol' (31.78).
In an enumeration of the reijakakudhabhandcini the Raidivaliya (p. 9) has the following: chowri, diadem, royal sword, golden slippers, and white parasol, ivory knobbed.

No. 71-1918) Roy ALTY IN ANCIENT CEYLoN 23
(leather-soled) of modern times." Note the 'ornamented shoes' (30.14) which Dutthagámani presented to a skilful master-builder.
6. Turban : It was probably of silk, like the “silken turban' (23.38) which Dutthagámani, in order to reward Siranimila's dexterity, orders should be wound round the latter's head. Among the lower classes, then as now, the turban did duty for the hat. Note that in the elaboration of the royal jest which ended in grim tragedy, King Yasalálakatissa is found “binding the guard’s turban about his own head' (35.53).
7. Ear-ornaments: The ear-ring was, in the ancient days, as much a man's, as it is to-day a woman's, ornament. In the battle of Kolambahálaka, Phussadeva, sitting behind Dutthagámani on the elephant, lets fly an arrow into Bhalluka's mouth wherewith (as the arrow passed) 'he lightly touched the king's ear-ring' (25.91). And one of Dutthagámani's meritorious deeds, recounted in his dying moments, was that 'in the mountain-region called Kotta, at the time of the Akkhakháyika famine, two precious ear-rings were given by the king, and thus a goodly dish of sour millet-gruel was gotten for five great theras who had overcome the disacas and offered to them with a believing heart' (32.29f).
8. Chains: They were probably of gold, gen studded, and wern round the neck.
9. Pitcher: This was of gold and contained the 'sacred' or 'pure' water for pouring over the king.
Largely used by village dansels, and even matrons, when coming into 'town,' attired in their best, or when proceeding to temples on poya days.
t “Make a golden chain with that will I bind him '' (24.6) says Kákavanna when his son Dutthagámani sends him in contempt a woman's ornament.
Pitchers were put to various uses in ancient times. Note their domestic use : " ' pitchers filled with ball-sugar, oil, sugar-dust, and honey" (27.23). As an article of household adornment it was used as a flower-vase: “The king had three pitchers with jasmineblossoms placed in the court-yard of the sacred Bodhi tree' (30.27);
As lamps : "' pitchers five cubits high, filled with fragrant oil, with
wicks made of duküla fibres continually alight' (30.93 fî).

Page 13
24 JoURNAL, R.A.s. (cEYLoN). VOL. XXVI.
If at the abhiseka there was not," such as there was at the ceremony of the beginning of the Great Thuipa, what is described as “the consecrated place of the "filled pitcher''' (29.48), the vessel was probably borne by a high caste and beautiful woman. Note the “thousand and eight beautiful women from the city with the adornment of well-filled pitchers” (31.40) who surrounded Dutthagámani's car at the solemn ceremony of the enshrining of the Relics."
10. Yellow sandalucood: This was probably intended both to perfume the abhiseka water and to ensure a fragrant or perfumed atmosphere round about the place of consecration.
ll. A set of garments that had no need of cleansing: These were 'festival array' (29.50), i.e., new garments (not washed before). They may well have been of such costly material, such as velvet or satin, as did not lend themselves to cleansing, i.e., washing. Of this stuff possibly was the “state-raiment' (29.25) in which Dutthagámani was clad at the ceremony of the beginning of the Great Thúpa. The set of garments sent by Asoka was presumably much costlier than the 'pair of garments worth a thousand pieces of money' (30.14,36) which Dutthagámani gave on one occasion to a skilful master-builder, and on another to the thera resident in Kotthalhálaparivena.
12. A costly napkin: This was presumably to wipe the king's head (and body) after the pouring of the water. 13. Unguent brought by the niqas: This anjanam is a collyrium applied to the eyelashes to darken them.t Collyrium brought by the nāgas was precious by reason of its rarity and so fit for use by a king.
* Cf. Mahavasa. 30.93 for the representation in gold (in the Relio Chamber) of 'devas bearing pitchers.'
f Childers, p. 85.
Says the Queen in Rajasekhara's Karpara-Manjari (a drama written about 900 A.D.) : “What sort of fun can we have without “our worthy Kapinjala jester) or how adorn our eyes beautifully

No. 71.-1918 Roy ALTY IN ANCIENT CEYLoN 25.
14. Red-coloured earth: A rare substance. Like sandalwood, it was moistened with water and used for smearing the body.
15 & 16. Water from Lake Auotatta* and water from. the Ganges: t Water from Lake Anot atta or the Ganges. was not used in Lanka before Devānampiyatissa's time. So we find that his predecessor, Pandukábhaya, “solemnised his own consecration with the Water of a natural pond that is here, i.e., at Anurádhapura (10.78). Even after Devānampiyatissa's time Ganges water was. not always used if at all, and it is possible that the same “natural pond' or some other at Anurádhapura was requisitioned for obtaining the consecrating water.
17. A (spiral) shell winding in auspicious wise : This is the shell which the Kshatriya maiden, referred to above, uses for pôuring the water over the king's head, the shells used for the same purpose by the Brahman and the Setthi being respectively of silver and gold. It is. to be noted that the pouring of water has to be done with both hands.
8. A maiden in the floacer of her youth. It was a Kshatriya princess who consecrated Devānampiyatissa, though 'a maiden of the Kshatriya race' would have aus wered the purpose quite as well. (See my remarks. below under the heading “By whom consecrated').
19. Utensils as golden platters: It is not clear what purpose these served at the abhiseka unless to hold the yellow sandalwood, or the costly napkin, or the unguent, or the red-coloured earth, or the auspicious shell or the myrobalans and herbs.
without collyrium ?” Harvard Oriental Series, Vol. IV., p. 234 See also p. 236 (loc. cit.) : “Her eyes are red with the washed-off collyrium''. Also p. 250 : " With native collyrium they adorned her eyes.'
Name of one of the seven great lakes of the Ganges.
t For a brief but interesting summary of the origin of the Gangar. as detailed in several sections of the first part of the Rámáyana, see Garrett's Classical Dictionary of India, pp. 222-3.

Page 14
26 JoURNAL, R.A.s. (CEYLoN). VOL. XXV 1.
20. Costly litter: Presumably this brought the king to the abhiseka p vilion and took him back. (For fuller reference to the litter, see my notes under 'Ancient Vehicles '')."
21. Yellow and emblic myrobalans: To what use these were put at the consecration ceremony it is difficult to say.
22. Precious ambrosial healing herbs: The manner of their use, too, at the consecration, does not transpire.
23. Mountain-rice: This rice, brought by parrots, was rare and precious and so meet for distribution by a king.
Consecration. II. BY WHOM PERFoRMED.
Though three distinct persons-the Kshatriya maiden, the Purohita Brahmin or Royal Chaplain, and the Setthi or Merchant-pour the water over the king's head, only one would Reem to have been essential for the ceremony, viz., the Kshatriya maiden. For the quotation given above from the Cullasihanada.suttavannandi, while including 'a maiden of the Kshatriya race'- -omitting reference to the other two-in its enumeration of the “necessaries' for an abhiseka, also explicitly bids us understand that it was the 'Kshatriya princess sent by Dhammāsoka (who) performed the ceremony of abhiseka over the head of Devānampiyatissa'. The omission, again, to refer to the other two-Chaplain and Setthi-is significant.
Were they not an absolutely necessary part of the ceremony P . It appears they were not, and such evidence as we have seems to point to the fact that even 'a maiden of the Kshatriya race' was not a sine gua non at the abhiseka of early Sinhalese kings. It is “the ministers' who carry out the consecration both of Wijáya (7.7l) and of Panduvâsudeva (8.27); but in the case of Abhaya it is his brothers who preside at the ceremony (9.29). Pandu
* Wide Ceylon Antiquary, Vol. IV. Pt. III., pp. 135-142.

Νο. 1-1918) RoYALTY IN ANCIENT CEYIAON 27
kábhaya, we are told, "solemnised his own consecration' (10.78). On the young Canda-son of the Brahmin Pandula who had befriended him earlier and had taught him the art of kingly rule (10.23)-he “conferred the office of his chaplain'' (10.79). This Canda, as Royal Chaplain, may not impossibly have performed Pandukábhaya's consecration, but the conferment of the chaplaincy would appear to have taken place after the consecrationu.
However that may be, we know the name of the chaplain who officiated at Devānampiyatissa's abhiseka as also of that of the Setthi who probably figured at that ceremony. According to the Mahdivansa Tikdi they were Tálipabbata' and Tissa. They were members of the embassy to Asoka who, before sending them back along with the things needful for Devānampiyatissa's consecration, conferred on them the dignities of Chaplain and Guild-lord respectively.
Thilathana himself is consecrated by the ministers; but the latter in this case-since Lanjatissa is the rightful heir-are careful to do it 'with the consent of the brotherhood’ (33.18), the chief of whom probably acted as chaplain at the ceremony. Samghatissa is consecrated by his two ministers, Samghabodhi and Gothakábhaya (36.63), and when Samghabodhi becomes king, Gothakábhaya performs the ceremony. Mahásena's abhiseka was carried out by the “lawless bhikkhu' (36.114), the thera Samghamitta, who 'came thither from the further coast to consecrate him' (37.2).
It was not unusual for the king to adopt another name upon accession or consecration. In regard to Mahásiva's younger brother who succeeded him, we are told that 'Suvannapindatissa was his name before his reign, but he was named Siratissa after the beginning of the reign' (21.9).
* Hálipabbata in the Kambodian Mahávagasa.

Page 15
28 JoURNAL, R.A.s. (CExLON). VoL. XXVI.
Consecration. IV. THE QUEEN.
The Queen's consecration followed in all probability immediately that of the King, and was performed by the King himself with as much solemnity as his own." “With solemn ceremony', be it noted, “Vijaya consecrated the daughter of the Pandu king as his queen” (7.72). Again, it is Panduvásudeva himself who “consecrated Subhaddakaccáná, of noble stature, as his own queen' (8.28). It is the same with Pandukábhaya: 'Suvannapáli, his spouse, he consecrated queen' (10.78). And when the winds waft Viháradevi's 'golden vessel' to the south and she lands on the shore at Mágama, king Kákavannatissa conducts her to his capital and himself 'consecrates her as queen' (22.22).
Gonsecration.
W. THE AssBMBLY.
It is easy to conceive how large and thoroughly representative (of every section of the people) the assembled throng must have been at so important and so magnificently imposing a ceremony as the consecration of a king. It was a ceremony calculated to draw thousands, and the thousands, clad in festal array, would come gladly to the capital-to watch the rare ceremony and to take part in the festivities which usually extended to a week.
We have no pen-picture of such a crowd assembled 2,000 years ago in Ceylon or of the festal garb which the city wore against the event which decreed a general holiday throughout the length and breadth of the land. But we can forms some idea, however vague, of both, from the following:
When Dutthagámani, glad at heart, had had preparation made upon the spot where the Great Thuipa was
* In the tahdibhdirata (II., 67.30) the Queen shares the sprinkling.

No. 71-1918) RoYALTY IN ANCIENT CEYLoN 129
to be built, “he arranged. . . . an assembly of the brotherhood of the bhikkhus, and spoke thus: ". . . . Let our whole brotherhood assemble here, to the end that a festivai may be held. . . . . . . ; let the people in festal array, with fragrant flowers and so forth, come to-morrow. . . .' He entrusted ministers with the adorning of the place They. . . . . adorned the place in manifold ways. On the following morning he placed at the four gates of the city many barbers and servants for the bath and for cutting the hair, clothes likewise and fragrant flowers and sweet foods did, the king place there for his people's good, he who rejoiced in the people's welfare. Taking, according to their wish, the things thus put before them, townsfolk and country-people went to the place. . . . .
'The king, supported in order of their rank, by many ministers, richly clothed as befitted their office, surrounded by many dancers richly clothed like to celestial nymphs, he himself being clad in his state-raiment, attended by 40,000 men, while around him crashed the music, he being glorious as the king of the gods'. (29.14f).
Or look at this picture:
'He commanded that the whole city and the road leading hither be carefully adorned and that the burghers be clad in festal garments. . . . . At the four, gates of the city the ruler of men had garments, food and so forth placed for the use of the people.
“On the 15th uposatha day in the evening, the king, glad at heart, well versed in the duties of kings, arrayed in all his ornaments, surrounded on every side by all his dancing-women and his warriors in complete armour, by a great body of troops, as well as by variously adorned elephants, horses and chariots, mounted his car of state that was drawn by four pure white Sindhu-horses and stood there. . . . . A thousand and eight beautiful women from the city, with the adornment of well-filled pitchers,

Page 16
30 JoURNAL, R.A. s. (cEwon). VoIL. XXVI.
surrounded the car and even as many women bearing baskets filled with various flowers, and as many again bearing lamps on staves. A thousand and eight boys in festal array surrounded him, bearing beautiful manycoloured flags. While the earth seemed as it were rent asunder by all manner of sounds from various instruments of music, by the thundering noise of elephants, horses and chariots, the renowned king shone forth. . . . . , in glory like to the king of the gods when he goes to Nandavana” (31.33f).
We can now visualise something of the pomp and circumstance, the splendour and stately ceremonial which attended the abhiseka of kings un ancient Ceylon.
Consecration.
V1. LARGEssE.
Of the catus sangrahavastu or 'four elements of popularity' enjoined upon a king, that which he would be most careful, even anxious, should mark the beginning of his reign would naturally be the first, daimam or largesse, than which there could be nothing more calculated to ensure his popularity. And the bounty of the ancient Sinhalese kings was, if anything, carried too far, to an extravagance that might be considered reckless.
Vijaya, immediately after his abhiseka, not only 'bestowed wealth on his ministers,' but also 'every year (i.e., probably on the anniversary of his consecration) sent to his wife's father a shell-pearl worth twice a hundred thousand pieces of money' (7.73). Devanampiyatissa held his consecration 'bestowing good upon his people' and the 'good' may well have been largesse upon a very large scale. Dutthagámani was not likely to be behind-hand in generosity as compared with his predecessors. We know at least that “he distributed places of honour to his warriors according to their rank' (26.1), and we may be sure it was only one of many mani

No. 71-1918 Roy ALTY IN ANCIENT CEYLoN 3.
festations of bounty on the occasion. If at the festival of consecrating the chatta on the Great Thuipa, Samghatissa 'distributed the six garments to the brotherhood (in number) forty thousand' (36.67), his generosity at his own consecration was probably on no meaner scale."
The object of largesse being to secure the good-will of the people and to lay them under obligation, the other 'elements of popularity' would not be lost sight of by kings. And even as Sirinága, availing himself of the festival of the consecration of the Lohapásáda, 'remitted the tribute of families throughout the island' (36.26), it is possible that other kings took advantage of the abhiseka similarly to make a pronouncement which would be in the nature of what is termed atthacariydi, i.e., 'wise or beneficent conduct’t-the third of the "four elements of popularity' or conciliation so highly recommended for royalty. It may well be that it was at his consecration that Sirinága's son, taking a leaf out of his father's book, promulgated the 'law that set aside bodily injury as penalty' (36.28) and which won for him the name he is best known by in history, viz., Wohárikatissa. Even the royal penalty: “Whosoever gives food to a bhikkhu dwelling in the Mahávihára is liable to a fine of a hundred pieces of money' (37.5) may not impossibly have been established at Mahásena's consecration. It was enacted at the instance of the “lawless' thera Samghamitta who came hither from India expressly to carry out Mahāsena's consecration and, what is more significant, consecration and penalty are spoken of in one and the same sentence.
'' For the occasions when the Ariyavamsa was read he (Vohárikatissa) decreed over the whole island a regular giving of alms.' 36.38).
t De Alwis (Attanagaluvansa, 138) renders it 'fruitful conduct acts productive of benefit, well-being in law." Cf. also De Alwis, Introd. to Kachchâyana's Páli Grammar, 81, and Burnouf, Le Lotus de la Bonne Loi, 406.

Page 17
32 JoURNAL, R.A. s. (cEYLoN). [VoL. XXVI.
Consecration
VII. Festivities
The consecration was immediately followed by festivities which generally lasted a week. The ministers, after consecrating Vijaya king, “appointed a great festival' (7.71), and Pandukábhaya's abhiseka is described as “the great festival of consecration”* (9.29). The festivities were not confined to the capital, for we learn that after Devánampiyatissa's consecration, "in every place they (the people) held high festival’’ (ll.42). We have no precise knowledge of the nature of these festivities, but we may be sure they included, inter alia, “mimic dances, songs and music' (34.77) such as formed part of the rejoicings on the Cetiya mountain which Mahádáthikamahánága once commanded.
The festivities in the capital were, it would seem, wound up with a water-féte at the Tissa tank, the king usually presiding: “When the week of the festival of kingship was gone by the fearless king Abhaya (Duttha gámani), who had carried out the consecration with great pomp, went to the Tissa-tank, that was adorned according to the festival custom, to hold festival plays there and to observe the tradition of crowned kings'' (26.6, 7). And Ilanága, when he had raised the parasol of sovereignty, 'went to a festival at the Tissa tank' (35.38). Devānampiyatissa himself 'arranged a water-festival for the dwellers in the capital'' (14.1); but without apparently observing what is termed “the tradition of crowned kings', he. 'set forth to enjoy the pleasures of the chase' (l.c.). The water-sports must have been a most pleasant form of recreation, for we find that Dutthagámani once
Cf. also '. In that great festival of consecration. . . . . . . . w a shall the great king Devánampiyatissa take part '' (13.l3).
The Paidivaliya suggests that Devānampiyatissa, ' who had decorated the city like unto a divine city,' had himself been “holding sports for the past seven days '' (p. 7).

No. 71-1918) Roy ALTY IN ANCIENT CEYLoN :133
'disported himself in the water the whole day through, together with the women of the harem' (26.10).
Royal Recreations or Amusements.
Water-sports were not, as suggested by the above, \ an extraordinary form of royal recreation in ancient times; or to put it thus, indulgence in them by kings was not necessarily restricted to occasions of consecration. Thus Dutthagámani, after destroying Vijitanagara, gradually approaches Anurádhapura and pitches his camp south of the Kasa mountain. He has time to indulge in sports, and so, “when he had made a tank there. . . . he held a water-festival'' (25.51). And Ilanaga's son, after 8 years and 7 months' rule, meets with his death at just such a water-féte: 'Having slain Candamukha Siva in the festival-sports at the Tissa tank his younger brother, known by the name Yasalálakatissa, reigned as king in delightful Anurádhapura” (35.49).
Hunting was a favourite form of amusement both among royalty and populace in the days before Buddhism was established and forbade the “destruction of life'. Thus Pandukábhaya, in his infancy, narrowly escapes death at the hands of his uncles 'who had gone a-hunting in the Tumbara forest' (10.2) and who are led away from his presence by giving chase to 'a great boar' that appears at the moment. Between the Lower Cemetery and the Pásána mountain, a 'line of huts for the huntsmen' (10.95) was built by direction of Pandukábhaya who, presumably, was a great hunter; and Devānampiyatissa himself, in his 'unregenerate' days, goes elkshooting-"set forth to enjoy the pleasures of the chase' (14.1).
After the establishment of Buddhism we hear of no kings going a-hunting, but it still remained a pastime of the people, though perhaps not so extensively as in the olden days. Of Khanjadeva, before he took service under

Page 18
34 Journal, R.A.s. (CEYLoN). Vol. XXVI.
Dutthagámani, we learn that “ when he went a-hunting with the village-folk, he chased at those times great buffaloes, as many as rose up, and grasped them by the leg with his hand, and when he had whirled them round his head the young man dashed them to the ground breaking their bones' (23.79). Again 'a huntsman who went into the forest with his dogs' (28.9) pursues an iguana, and further references to 'the chase' as a pastime are not wanting.
There may have been other regular royal recreations, but of them we have no precise knowledge. We know, however, of one king's favourite form of amusementYasalálakatissa's exchange of places with his gate-keeper -an amusement which cost the king his throne and his life. Says the Mahávansa (35.51 f) :
'A son of Datta the gate-watchman, named Subha,
who was himself a gate-watchman, bore a elose likeness to the king. And this palace-guard Subha did the king Yasalálaka, in jest, bedeck with the royal ornaments and place upon the throne and binding the guard's turban about his own head, and taking himself his place, staff in hand, at the gate, he made merry over the ministers as
they paid homage to Subha sitting on the throne. Thus was he wont to do from time to time. Now one day the
guard cried out to the king, who was laughing: 'Why does this guard laugh in my presence? And Subha the guard ordered to slay the king and he himself reigned here six years under the name Subharāja'.
X Another king, Samghatissa, liked nothing better
than 'with the women of the royal household and the ministers. . . . . . to go to Pácínadípakat to eat jambufruits' (36.70). But this pastime too ended as fatally as the other, for ' vexed by his coming the people dwelling
сt. Mahalacва, 28,41.
t According to the Mahdivasa Tikdi, it was one of the islands between the north point of Ceylon and the Indian continent.

No. 71-1918 Roy ALTY IN ANCIENT CEYLoN 35
in Pácinadipa poisoned the fruit of the jambu-tree from which the king was to eat... When he had eaten the jambu-fruits he died forthwith even there' (l.c. 71).
Royal Occupations and Duties.
We have no picture-not even a vague indicationof the king's daily life; but the 'system approved by the Mánavas', which Hopkinst regards as generally obtaining in ancient India, may not impossibly have been folllowed, to some degree at least, in Ancient Ceylon as well. This account, quoted from Hopkins, is called Instruction, and is given by the old king of Hastinapur to his
CCeSSO
"The king ought to rise early in the morning, dress, and pay his respects to the elders of the court (here assumed to be necessarily priests). His first business should be to enquire what work there is on hand for the day. This will be explained to him by the elders, and they will also advise him how to act. His councillors (for with the vulgar he must not consult) should be regenerate men, wise, aristocratic, skilled in determining what is right and useful; his general officers should be of hereditary office and superior to deceit. He should consult with his ministers both collectively and individually; and, to do so, should (early in the morning) enter the well-encircled Hall-of-Council, or, if he choose, may go into any other secret place, such as a wood, hill, or housetop. He should exclude from the place of consultation any people or talking birds that might betray what is said. Night consultations are a mistake. When he meets his council,
The universal rule, according to the Mahibharata, was that one should devote himself to ' duty in the forenoon, wealth in the middle pf the day, pleasure in the latter part of the day ' (dharman parve dha nam madh' e jaghanye kamam dicaret, ahary an u cared evan e8a çástrakrto vidkih, III., 33.40.
it Position of the Ruling Caste in Ancient India, p. 29.
Loc. cit. pp. 129-32.
For an interesting list of the king's attendants, jesters, pages, etc., see Rdimâyana. III., 32.20.

Page 19
36 Journal, R.A.s. (CEYLON). Vol. XXVI.
he should make a speech, repeating the formula that declares the sins of those that betray council.
“Business affairs and legal matters he should personally superintend, or have attended to by experts and judges. In making judgments, he should condemn to fines or death, according to circumstances, thieves, adulterers, violent men, cheats, and (among others) those that destroy halls and places of assembly. His morning duties consist also 'of a conference with those that have the control of his finances. He should then dress, eat, and exercise, examine the arms, and later, in the evening, give audience to ambassadors and interview spies-for he should have well-trained native spies of every sort. The latter part of the night is the proper time for him to decide as to what ought to be done. His meals should be taken at noon and at midnight; but in respect of these divisions of time the general rule is that any time is good for action if there is anything to be done. The next day he should rise, dress, and go through the same duties over again: "forever turning is the wheel of duty'. At all times he should take particular care to protect himself from assassination, and have his women especially supervised by proper old men.
“As to his foreign policy, he must remember that it is all-important to have a capable commander-in-chief, and should elect him that is faithful, brave, pains-taking (rather than one only of good family).
'Each king is surrounded by a 'circuit' of consideration, and every king should be familiar with his own and his neighbours affairs. A technical enumeration of these by the teachers of polity makes 72 subjects for consideration.
"The king (it may be assumed) actually went each morning to the court-house and heard cases, deciding them by the help of those learned in the law. Such help must have been mainly in quoting precedents, fol.

No. 71-1918) Roy ALTY IN ANCIENT CEYLoN 37
of all rules this is the strictest, that the law as handed down shall not be changed. The business was, however, chiefly shifted to the shoulders of the judge, in press of other business, ahd of course wholly so in all but the imperial city. The king whose justice in judgments is especially sought must always 'let his rod fall alike on friend or foe, and, as an incorporation of the god of justice, always opens the court by a set speech, in which he conjures the witnesses to speak the truth. The king himself may not be a witness'
We have some reference to the king in the role of judge. Elára's “bell'." (21.15) was probably an extraordinary-even freakish-form of dispensing royal justice. But of Kanirajánutissa we learn that 'he decided the lawsuit concerning the uposatha-house in the (vihára) named after the cetiya, but sixty bhikkhus who were involved in the crime of high treason did the king order to be taken captive, with all that was theirs, upon the cetiya-pabbata, and he commanded these evil-doers to be flung into the caves called Kanira' (35.10-11).
Royal Justice.
The above brings us naturally to a consideration of the nature of the 'justice' which the king dispensed whenever the occasion arose. Elára was in some respects a madman, certainly in his view of what con
* For parallels of the story of the bell, see J. R. A. S., 1913, pp. 530-1 ; Geiger's Dipavamsa und Mahávamsa, p. 25, note; Weber's Indische Studien, III., 363, note, and 368, note; Longfellow, The Bell of Atri; Langbein, Das blinde Ross; Rückert, Die Leidglocke; Joh. Pauli, Schimpf und Ernst, c. 648; K. Simrock, Das Pferd als Kläger; Lidzbarski, Neuramäisch Handschriften, II, 153.
t The theory was, as in Ancient India, that “it is better for a man that he even kill an Aryan than that he rule by overstepping the right” (Cf. Mahábhárata, XII., 25.6 ff., and III., 34. l5). But the practice was different.
Just such a madman-a benevolent madman-was Sirisamghabodhi of whom the Mahdivasa says: “At the news : " Rebels are risen here and there,' the king had the rebels brought before him, but he released them again recretly; then did he send secretly for bodies of dead men, and causing terror to the people by the burning of these he did away with the fear from rebels' (36.80 fi).

Page 20
38 Journal, R.A.s. (CEYLoN). Vol. XXVI.
stituted justice, and the only word which can adequately describe the punishment he inflicted on his son for 'unintentionally' killing a calf is-murder. Other kings, however, if they did not go to the lengths which Elára did, nevertheless inflicted punishments and generally behaved in a manner which showed that they were little, if at all, restrained by settled laws, or actuated by regard for the principle-the unwritten law which governed civilised humanity in ancient times as in modern-that 'the punishment must fit the crime'. The king had absolute power and against those who offended him (personally) or the state, he wielded it arbitrarily, not infrequently cruelly, just as his fancy prompted or his mood dictated.
Thus Kelanitissa, enraged by the discovery of his Queen's infidelity, casts the latter alive into the river, kills the messenger who brought the fatal billet-dour and similarly casts his corpse into the river, and flings a suspected but innocent High Priest into a cauldron of oil which he keeps 'boiling for seven days'." Ilanaga punishes the desertion of the Lambakannas by ordering 'that they, even they themselves, should make a road to the Mahá Thuipa, commanding to stamp it down firmly, where it ran beside the tank, and he set candalas to be their overseers' (35.17-18). These same Lambakannas he later 'yoked two and two behind one another to his car and thus did he enter the city in front of them' (35.40). Abhayanága has an innocent 'uncle's hands and feet cut of ' (36.43). Jetthatissa's punishment of ' the hostile ministers who would not go in procession with him, at the performing of the king's funeral rites' is that he has them 'slain and their bodies impaled on stakes round
Rdidivaliya, p. 26. According to the Mahdivasa, however, Kelanitissa 'caused the thera and the man to be slain and thrown into the sea. '' (22.19).

No. 71-1918) Roy ALTY IN ANCIENn CEYLox 39
about his father's pyre'" (36.121). As of interest in this connection it may be mentioned that Ancient Ceylon produced at least one Sinhalese Chief Justice who was honourable- and brave-enough to ignore, nay to defy, his sovereign's wishes and to discharge his duties 'according to right and law'. For, as the Mahavansa tells us: “Within the brotherhood of bhikkhus a complaint touching an offence of the gravest kindt was raised against the thera Tissa, who had received the (Jetavana) vihára. The high minister, known to be just, who decided the matter excluded him, according to right and law, from the Order, albeit the king's wishes' (37.38-39). Failure to make proper obeisance before royalty costs a minister his life. At the very time when the minister Kapisisa, having gone up to the courtyard of the Akása-cetiya to sweep the building, had come down from thence, the king, who was going up with the queen, saw him sitting by the road, and being wroth with him that he had not flung himself down before him, he slew Kapisisa' (33. 68-69). And in the battle with Bhaluka, Phussadeva sitting behind Dutthagámani lets fly an arrow into Bhalluka's mouth wherewith (as the arrow passed) he lightly touched the king's ear-ring. When Bhaluka had fallen, “to make known his fault Phussadeva himself cut of the lobe of his own ear and showed the king the blood streaming down. When the king saw this he asked: “What does this mean?' 'I have carried out the royal justice upon myself he said (in answer) to the ruler of the land. And to the question: 'What is thy guilt?” he answered: "Striking thy earring''' (25. 94-6). Did the 'royal justice' demand the peculiar punishment in this case? One is reminded of the story of Rája Sinha II. which Knox relates:
... " Turnour's translation of the sentence seems to me better than Geiger's : " He, . . . . . transfixed them (the nobles) on impaling-poles around his father's funeral pile.'
Antimavattu is a matter that involves expulsion from the Order.

Page 21
40 Journal, R.A.s. (CEYLoN). Vol. XXVI.
'Once, to try the hearts of his attendants and to see what they would do, being in the water a-swimming, he feigned himself to be in extremity, and near drowning, and cryed out for help; upon which two young men more venturous and forward than the rest, immediately made way and came to his help: who taking hold of his Body brought him safe to Land. At which he seemed to be very glad. Putting on his Cloaths he went to his Palace: then he demanded to know who and which they were that had holpen him out of the Water. They, supposing by his Speech it was to give them a reward for the good Service they had so lately done him, answered, We were they. Whereupon he Commands to call such a great Man. (For it is they whom he appoints always to see Execution done by their Soldiers). To whom he gave Command. saying, Take both these, and lead them to such a place, and cut of their Heads, who dared to presume to lay their hands on my Person, and did not prostrate themselves rather that I might lay my hand on them for my relief and safety. And accordingly they were Executed.' (Ceilon (1681), Ch. iii., pp. 46-7).
The Princes.
The eldest son, if of suitable age, was generally appointed Vice-Regent or Sub-King, his formal installation in that dignity being accompanied by a ceremonial almost as imposing as that of the king's abhiseka. Thus 'Panduvâsudeva consecrated his eldest son Abhaya as vice-regent' (9.12). When there was no son or the son was of tender years, the king's brother was consecrated sub-king, as Mahánága was in the reign of Devānampiyatissa.
If there were several sons, these and the other scions of the royal house-uncles, cousins, nephews, &c., of the king-not unusually served him in the capacity of ministers. Devānampiyatissa's 'nephew Mahárittha, who was the chief of his ministers' (11.20), heads an embassy

No. 71.-1918) Roy ALTY IN ANCIENT CEYLox l4
from Ceylon to the Emperor Asoka; and the same Arittha goes again to India to bring hither the great Bodhi tree and the theri Samghamittá (18.4).
Such princes as were unencumbered with ministerial responsibility presumably spent their time in luxurious ease, doing nothing, or gave themselves up to 'the pleasures of the chase' (14.1). Saddhátissa's sons, however, were apparently religiously bent; and we find the eldest Lanjatissa getting “built the beautiful vihára called Girikumbhila’’ (33.14), and Thuilathana, a younger son, “the vihára called Kandara” (I. c. 15).
An important casual occupation-it may have been regular employment-of Princes was as a sort of Director of Agriculture or Superintendent of the Harvest. Dutthagámani's brother Saddhátissa, before he came to the throne, fills this post. “And thither too (i.e., to Dighavāpi) he (Dutthagámani) sent his brother to direct the work of harvest; and he too, when he had made it known by beat of drum, directed the work of harvest' (24.58). Prince Girikandasiva, uncle of Pandukábhaya, is similarly employed, so much so that his food, as also that for the reapers, is brought to him by his daughter to the field where he is at work (10.31). So honourable was labour in the rice-field considered to be-in fact any form of manual labour-so fit for princes, that we find even a crowned king, Maháctili Mahátissa, engaged in the work of a farmer: “Since he heard that a gift brought about by the work of a man's own hand is full of merit, the king, in the very first year (of his reign) went in disguise and laboured in the rice-harvest, and with the wage that he received for this he gave food as alms to the thera Mahásumma' (34.2-3). The same king "laboured also in Sonnagiri three years in a sugar-mill' (l.c. 4).
Royal Cremation. When the king died his remains were cremated, not buried. The body was first embalmed and there was

Page 22
42 JoURNAL, R.A.s. (CEYLoN). Vol. XXVI.
a "lying-in-state' for three, five, or seven days. The city was gaily decorated and, on the day appointed for the cremation, the coffin placed on a costly bier was taken in solemn and imposing procession to the spot where the last rites were to be performed.
The ceremonial observed as regards the cremation of Mahinda differed probably very little from that usually followed when a king died. The details we have of the former are suggestive of the regular procedure upon the demise of royalty. When Mahinda died king Uttiya 'caused the dead body of the thera to be laid forthwith in a golden chest sprinkled with fragrant oil, and the well closed chest to be laid upon a golden, adorned bier; and when he had caused it then to be lifted upon the bier, commanding solemn ceremonies, he caused it to be escorted by a great multitude of people, that had come together from this place and that, and by a great levy of troops; commanding due offerings (he caused it to be escorted) on the adorned street to the variously adorned capital and brought through the city in procession by the royal highway to the Mahávihára.
“When the monarch had caused the bier to be placed here for a week in the Paihambamálaka-with triumphal arches, pennons, and flowers, and with vases filled with perfumes the vihára was adorned and a circle of three yojanas around, by the king's decree, but the whole island was adorned in like manner by the decree of the devas-and when the monarch had commanded divers offerings throughout the week he built up, turned toward the east in the Theránambandhamálaka, a funeral pyre of sweet smelling wood, leaving the (place of the later) Great Thtipa on the right, and when he had brought the beautiful bier thither and caused it to be set upon the pyre he carried out the rites of the dead' (20.35 ff).
* The Rajaratnakaraya (p. 36) gives us the additional information that the body was 'anointed with the richest perfumes.'

No. 71-1918) Royalty IN ANCIENT CEYLON 43
Exactly similar honours were paid to Mahinda's sister, Samghamittá, when she died.
There was no settled place of cremation for royalty in those ancient times. That spot was chosen which was most convenient or most closely associated with some incident in the deceased's life. Thus Mahinda's funeral pyre was "turned toward the East in the Therinambandhamálaka. . . . . leaving the (place of the later) Great Thuipa on the right' (20.43). And Samghamittá's cremation took place 'to the East of the Thtipáráma, near the Cittasálá (of later times) in sight of the great Bodhi tree, on the spot pointed out by the theri herself' (20. 52-3). The cremation of Elára took place 'on the spot where his body had fallen' (25.73) in the battle with Dutthagámani; and Dutthagámani himself, in his dying moments, chooses his cremating place: "In a place whence the Great Thipa may be seen, in the málaka (bounded about) for the ceremonial acts of the brotherhood, do ye burn the body of me the servant of the brotherhood' (32.58). Kutakannatissa "burned the licentious Anula in the palace' where she had lived (34.34).
Some monument, simple or imposing as the case may be, marked the site of each king's cremation-place. Thus there was "a monument' (25.73) built on the spot where Elára's body was burned, and the Sohona is pointed out to this day. The Rájamálaka is the name of the malaka 'in which they burned the body of the king Dutthagámani” (32.80). A “cetiya” and a “thúpa” respectively were built where Mahinda and Samghamittá received 'the last honours' (sakkdiram antimam).
The Queen.
The King had several wives, but the chief one among them was his consecrated Queen who was invariablyand perhaps necessarily-of royal or noble lineage. Thus

Page 23
44 JoURNAL, R.A. s. (OEYLoN). VoL. XXVI.
Vijaya forsakes Kuveni-he considered her a "superhuman being' (7.60)-and refused consecration 'unless a maiden of a noble house were consecrated as queen at the same time' (7.47).
The Radivaliya tells us (p. 20) that Subhaddakaccáná was Panduvâsudeva's 'principal queen', the implication being that he had other queens or rather wives. The only Queen who figures prominently in Devánampiyatissa's reign is Anulá, the consort of his brother, the vice-regent Mahánága. Devánampiyatissa's own Queen is referred to but once--as accidentally poisoning her own son in the attempt to murder Mahánága (22.45)--but that he had his own harem we have evidence: On the occasion of the acceptance of the Mahávihára, Devānampiyatissa is described as coming in his car "together with his ministers and the women of the harem' (15.189). The “women of the royal household’ (17.63) who on the arrival of the Relics brought each their offerings were presumably the members of “the harem' referred to above. The sub-king Mahánága himself takes “his wives' (22.6) with him when he goes, to save his life, to Rohana. Kákavanna, the father of Dutthagámani and husband of Viháradevi, has “another wife' (23.17) by whom he has Dighabhaya. Dutthagámani's '' Queen' presumably died early after giving birth to Prince Sáli, for at all the public functions in his reign we find him surrounded either by 'his dancing-women' (31.37) or the 'women of the harem', the Queen being conspicuous by her absence. Wattagámani had “two Queens' (33.47), only one of whom presumably was the Queen. Samghatissa had his harem '-the women of the royal household’ (36.70)-and Mahásena had a plurality of wives (37.26). Only one
* At Mahdivasa, 16.5, Devánampiyatissa is described as "taking the two queens with him.' These were probably his own and his brother's consort.

No. 71-1918) RoYALTY IN ANCIENT CEYLoN 翼45
Queen of ancient times may be said to have been of lowly birth, and she was Wankanásikatissaka's Queen, Mahámattá, daughter of the gate-watchman Subha who became king under the name Subharája; but it is quite possible that she was born when her father was on the throne-a circumstance which would make her descent at least 'royal'.
The King's harem was probably recruited from the noble houses in the land, from the 'numbers of women of noble families' (15.4) such as those who, we are told, sat at Mahinda's feet filling the Nandana Park. Even the lowlier-born but beautiful maids of the country may have been brought thither. We find one such, “the daughter of a scribe' (37.26), who was 'exceedingly dear' to Mahásena, inducing a labourer to kill a lawless and impious thera.
The Queen, qua Queen, had no right to rule. It is for this reason that the licentious Anulá, after murdering her way to the throne, gives the government, even nominally, into the hands of each of her successive husbands (34.15 f). Sivali's case is different. When her brother Cuilábhaya dies, no one has a better claim than she, and she rules for 4 months till dethroned by Ilanága only to be enthroned again as his Queen.
We get no clear picture of the daily life of the Queen. What glimpses we have of her show that she lived a life of comparative freedom, not immured like a prisoner as were the inmates of harems in other lands. She had (from villages allotted to her) “her own revenues' (35.48) which she not infrequently spent in the cause of religion, endowing viháras or building or rebuilding places of worship. Thus Damiládevi allots her own revenues (l.c.) to the temple known to-day as Isurumuniya, and we find Queen Mahamatta, in the life-time of her husband, 'collecting money to build a vihára' (35.114). When her husband dies and her son succeeds,

Page 24
6 Journal, R.A.s. (CEYLoN). Vol. XXVI.
she buys a plot of land and constructs monastery buildings, inducing her son to build a thipa and to present the necessary lands for the inmates of the monastery. Potthá builds 'a splendid thupa and a beautiful temple for the thuipa'' (35.90).
The Queen seldom or never interfered in politics, in the administration of the country; but she sometimes offered her counsel and it was not ignored. Ilanaiga drives into the city with the Lambakannas “yoked two and two behind one another to his car', and at the palace door he gives the order to strike of their heads. But the Queen-mother intervenes: ''These are but oxen yoked to thy chariot, O Lord of chariots; therefore let their horns and hoofs be struck off'; thus admonished by his mother the king recalled (the order) to behead them and commanded that their nose and toes be cut of' (35.42f)。
The Queen appears even on the battle-field (25.9); she is in one instance a member of the 'High Command' and advises as to the plan of battle and the disposition of troops. ' The king Dutthagámani also took counsel with his mother and by her counsel formed thirty-two bodies of troops. In these the king placed parasol-bearers and figures of a king; the monarch himself took his place in the innermost body of troops' (25.55-6).
The Queen was never the sister of the King, i.e., the King never took his sister to wife. In legendary lore, of course, it was not unusual for the brother to marry the sister t-Sihabáhu makes his sister Sishasfvali his queen (6.36) and Vijaya's son and daughter by Kuveni marry each other (7.68)-but in sober history we read of no such union. It has been said that Devå
* That is, wooden figures to represent the king.
t Cf. also the Mahdisastu I. 3488-3528 and the Dulva (Rockhill, p. 1 foll.)-the story about the rise of the Sákya and the founding of Kapilavastu-where Iksváku's sons withdraw into the wilderness and there take to wife their sisters who have accompanied them. Geiger, Mahdivasa, App. A., p. 274.

No. 71-1918 ROYALTY IN ANCIENT CEYLON W 47
nampiyatissa’s brother Mahánága's consort was his sister Anula; but this is no more than a mere surmise, based on the chance resemblance of a name.
It would not be out of place here briefly to refer to the practice, so widely prevalent in the past in the Kandyan districts, for one woman to have two (or more) brothers as associated husbands, more especially as the practice is traced to the ancient times with which we are now dealing. But there is no record of the practice in those early days whether among kings and princes or people. “As is the king, so is his people''. The king was the norm of morals and set the fashion. What he did not do-or rather what he considered it impious to do-the people would certainly not be guilty of, nor would it be tolerated among them. And there is abundant evidence that the early kings not only considered the practice impious and unholy, but also visited the most terrible punishments upon such of their brothers-and accomplices-as sought to take liberties with their Queens.
Take the case of king Wohárikatissa: 'This king's younger brother, known as Abhayanāga, who was the queen's lover being discovered (in his guilt) took flight for fear of his brother’ (36.42). Why “discovered' if it was not an intrigue necessarily secret? And why the 'flight for fear of his brother' if it did not arise from the consciousness of guilt and the fear of just punishment? Certainly then in the 3rd century A.D. it was not the practice for two brothers to live as associated husbands of one wife.
Neither was it in the period before Christ. We have the well-known story of Kelanitissa. Says the Raidivaliya: “Kelanitissa had a younger brother, who held forbidden intercourse with the queen. This came to the king's ears. The latter ordered a Rodiyā to come to him privately, and said to him: "I shall summon my
o Yadrço rájá tádrçojanah (Mahábhárata, XI, 8.32).

Page 25
148 joURNAL, R.A.s. (CEYLoN). VoL, XXVI.
royal retainers and my younger brother;.. if I then ask thee, Is there any one who is of lover caste than thou ? thou shalt answer, The younger brother who lives in the same house (with the elder brother) is of lower caste than I." When the Rodiyā was asked in the midst of the royal company, he answered just as he had been instructed. The prince feeling the disgrace of these words left Kelani and went to dwell in Udugampola'.
So, then, the younger brother who lives in the same house with the elder brother is worse than a Rodiyā. What sanction of ancient usage or custom is there for the immoral practice of our day? None at all. Only, the caste worse than the Rodiyās is still strong in numbers,
I am told, stronger than is seemly in this year of grace
1918.
6. Sir Ponnambalam Arunāchalam said they were under obligation to Mr. Senaveratne for the scholarly and interesting paper he had read. There were some points he would like to see further elucidated. Mr. Senaveratne had quoted no authority for the statement that the rightful king of Lanka had to be of the Kalinga dynasty. Mr. C. E. Corea, who was rather wellinformed on these matters, had contested that statement and a note by him would be read later by one of the Secretaries. ln regard to the consecration of kings, Sir Ponnambalam said, the custom of Ganges water being poured on the king's head by a royal maiden was a Hindu one, and there was something analogous in the consecration ceremonies of English kings, in which case Jordan water was used instead. The parasol to which the author of the paper had referred was one of the most important symbols of Royalty and continued to be in use in India. Recently, when King George was at Delhi, in accordance with anciont Hindu custom this white parasol of pearls was held over the King and Queen even when driving round the city. In Ceylon this royal symbol was, with singular bad taste, being used of late at the funerals of some wealthy Sinhalese. It was important that the Queen's consecration should take place at the same time as the King's. This was essential to the regularity of the ceremony. In one of their old Epics they read that when King Rama was consecrated, the Queen being separated from him was not available for the purpose of the consecration. So they made a golden image of her and consecrated it side by side with the king. Not only in this instance but in almost all cases, no religious ceremony was deemed valid unless the wife took part. Mr. Senaveratne had quoted, with regard to royal occupations and duties, an account by Hopkins. The speaker wondered why he did not refer to a very much older work than Hopkins'--a work as old as Alexander the Great. At that time there was a great king, Chandragupta (Sandracottus of the Greek writer Megasthenes, who was ambassador at his Court) who had a minister, Chanalya,

No. 1 -1918) PROCEEDINGS 49
who wrote a famous book, still extant in Sanskrit, on kingly duties and statecraft. Mr. Senaveratne had referred to instances of truel and arbitrary conduct on the part of Sinhalese kings. The speaker thought it would convey a wrong impression if those were taken as the rule rather than the exception, which he believed they were. In a long line of kings, extending over 24 centuries, there must have heen some arbitrary rulers. But, he thought, on the whole, the Sinhalese kings would, for justice and wisdom, compare verv favourably with the kings of any other country in the world. Mr. Senaveratne nentioned that on one occasion the failure to make proper obeisance before Royalty cost a minister his life. Sir Ponnamalam remenbered hearing, many years ago, fron Sir Harry Dias, that the Chief Justice of his day was once travelling in a palanquin from Colombo to Galle and happened to pass a house where a Sinhalese was lying down on his verandah with his legs high up. The Chief Justice held this to be contempt of court. and lad him brought up to Galle and flogged. That could not be taken as characteristic of English Judges, no more than the act mentioned by Mr. Senaveratne was of Sinhalese kings.
7. Mr. A. de S. Kanakaratne read the following note :- Mr. Senaveratine's paper is a valuable and interesting contribution and reflects credit on him. But I regret I cannot agree with him in several points, of which I should like to refer to a few. The statement that the rightful king of Lanka was and had to be of the Kálinga-Chakravarti-Kula is open to much doubt.
The 'art' of governing and the 'knowledge of the law and the tradition' were not simply the practice of the' dasa-ráiadharma' and the 'Catussangrahavastu' as stated. These were regal virtues which every good king ought to possess. When we say that the king exercised the ten regal virtues in reigning over the country, it may not mean anything except that he ruled justly. But the 'art' of governing was quite different from these regal virtues.
In the first place a 'kingdom' must consist of seven constituent parts called “Saptánga,” viz: swami (ežEɔSN amáptya (FeSoes S»s), mitra (SS), dhana (603), rata (SS), bhala (Soc), and séni (eezs)o); i.e., prohita, ministers, friends, riches, country, power or strength and army.
The king must possess a knowledge of the law and the tradition “ rája-níti ” and “loka-níti ” (63 eszé8zŝñ, escias) 2556), and must possess the 'trividha-sakti' (583)32S5), i.e., the three kinds of regal power, viz : “ pabhá, ussá. mantánRn ” (essoɔdeeeeep Ð exsozo) meaning dignity, energy and deliberation or consultation. He must have a knowledge of 'shadguna' see Sco-s), i.e., the six measures of royal policy in foreign politics and must possess a knowledge of “clhaturópáya, ” (DGSM6ɔesɔco), viz : “ bhédó, dandó, sáma, dáná ” (EAES3eMČ. ệSIKSKE5æDo. eeɔÐ&SYo). i.e.. the four means of success employed by kings against enemies. They are dissension, punishment or open attack, conciliation or negotiation and gifts.
King Woháratissa or Vyavaháratissa was a great lawyer. Originally he was known as Tissa; later, on account of his vast knowledge of the law and the tradition, he was named Voháratissa. Wohára is law.
It is worthy of note that there were three kinds of 'abhishéka” or consecration ceremonies, viz : “ abhishéka,” “ purnábhisheka' and 'mahábhishéka' and the consecration of King

Page 26
50 ЈоURNAL, R.A.s. (сEYLoN). Vol. XXVI.
Devánampiyatissa appears to have fallen under the category of “mahábhishéka ”.
Mr. Senaveratine's surmise about the garments sent by Emperor Asóka can hardly be correct, because Maháwansa. Tika shews that they were made of such stuff as rendered it possible to cleanse by holding against fire.
The costly napkin sent by the same Emperor was not meant for wiping the King's head as stated. The original Páli Text shows it as “hattha purchanin' (ros) eacefse), that is, a handkerchief. If it was used in wiping the head it might have been termed “ Sisa puñchanin ” (Besea FreeSB.).”
Powder of the leaves of the amblic myrobalan was mixed with the anointing water, as will be seen in Rajéndralála Mitra's 'IndoAryans.' The two kinds of myrohalans mentioned were sent, no doubt, to be reduced to powder and mixed with the anointing water.
The medicinal pill given as 'mahaggan amatosadhan (esoocoo ese Syear) in the Påli Text of the Mahduransa as one. of the presents sent by Emperor Asóka was, I think, to be taken by the king at the end of the consecration ceremony, according to the Indian rites. It was considered that the enjoyment of that medicine gave some peculiar energy to a 'Kshatriya' who is inaugurated.
I cannot understand why Mr. Senaveratne has altogether omitted one of the most important items, viz: the 'Royal Education.' All the princes were given a good education. One of the accomplishments of a king-elect was a thorough knowledge of the 64 minor and 18 principal Arts and Sciences.
Roy ALTY IN ANCIENT CEY TON
In Mr. Senaveratine's interesting paper on the above subject, he has somehow omitted to touch upon the education of Rovaltv. The following is taken from Sanskrit bodks and will be of interest:-
About 500 years B.C. Raia Neetriya, Danda Neetriya and Arthe Neetiya were written by Brahmans to teach the Royalty of India. In later years it is said that these same sciences were turned into poetry by Kantilya to teach King Chandragupta. Panchatantra says that that book was written to teach the three sons of King Amara sakti. Hitopa Desa savs that that book was written to teach the children of King Sudarsana.
Turn we now to Ceylon and we find in the Mahdiwansa, that King Pandukabhaya had his education under Brahman Punduhe and his son Canda. But the introduction of Buddhism into Ceylon did away with the Brahman as a teacher, for we find Prince Gamunu and his brother Tissa had their education in the Temple. Vide Mahdiwansa. There are also other instances in the Minh firm rs7, where it is said that the Buddhist monks were employed as teachers. .
Mr. C. H. Collins read a note sent by Mr. C. E. Corea.
MR. C. E. CoREA’s CRITIcsM
The following is a note sent in by Mr. C. E. Corea on the paper 'Royalty in Ancient Ceylon,' read by Mr. John M. Senaveratine at the meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society (Ceylon Branch):-
Mr. Senaveratne begins with a wholly unsound proposition, for which there is no historical foundation, namely, that “the

No. 71-1918) PROCEFINGS 15
rightful king of Ianka had to be of the Kalinga-ChakravartiKula ”............ any Sovereign who was not of the Kalingavansa was a usurper.' The only dynasty recognised under the ancient constitution was the "Mahasamnata-raja-wansa': that is to say, the line of elected kings. The Sinhalese constitution was founded on the Aryan tradition, which insisted that the Sovereign authority was derived from the "Sammata' of the people. No divine or hereditary right was dreamt of in the original Aryan political philosophy. Of the kings of Lanka. the Roja valija savs: ' Be it known that from the beginning all Royal princes are of the Maha Sammata race.' Both the Raia valiya and the Mahdíívansa mention the Maha Sammata succession, and while many sannas etc., connect the king with the Maha Sammata param parava, I have not met with the term Kalinga-Chakravarti-Kula in any ancient document. The Sammata port 'a mu pa ra var or succession has no reference to anything hereditary or dynastic, but is analogous to the Apostolic succession claimed by a section of the Christian hierarchy. The Nikaya Sangrahava defines it: “The line (of kings) who had been called to the Royal state.' If Mr. Senaveratine's rule governed, some of the most 'popular' kings in Sinhalese history, whose legitimacy was the least questioned, were not rightful kings, but usurpers. For instance, Sri Prakrama Bahu VI. belonged to Msalaiman dynasty of Conjeveran, called in Sinhaleso (Girira insa. Mr. Senaveratne’s ipse diarit that the answer given by '' the best informed Candian priest' in 1769 to the question as to how the succession of kings was regulated '' was not correct' is very bold. He tries to explain away the preference of Devanampiyatissa to his elder brother by a series of may-have-beens and he will have to penetrate further into the realm of wild conjecture to find a reason why Asela, 'the ninth among his hirothers' (I thiransa, XXI., 12) was allowed to supersede the sixth, seventh and eighth of the brothers. Again, on the death of Kasappa III., leaving three sons, 'the Prince Mahinda, although the youngest of then, had the kingdom conferred on him '' (Maharansa, XLVIII.). The words “had the kingdom conferred' are of the greatest significance, and differentiate rightful succession by the will of the people of ' the foremost in virtue and intelligence' irrespective of age or seniority from usurpation by force of arms irrespective of the popular choice, as in the case of Lankatissa. Mr. Senaveratne unconsc jusly concedes the point when he says 'the eldest son's right......... vras generally observed.' It was a general observance, but not an imperative rule. The custom of “calling to the throne' a scio, of the Royal race nearest in kin to a deceased monarch will be found to have been “generally observed' in all elective monarchies. It is understandable and but natural that the first choice should be given to members of the Royal family. Thus, in England, while the Aryan tradition, upon which the political constitutions not only of Ceylon and India but of most of the European kingdoms were founded, yet prevailed and the Government was an elective monarchy, that is to say, in the period just preceding the cataclysm of the Norman conquest which precipitated absolutism. rulers were always chosen from among the Athelings. The rule “generally observed '' is clearly stated by Rev. Franck Bright, M.A., in his History of England: “The Witam. could elect and discrown a king and practically did elect him, though usually among the nearest relations of the late king............ It seems to have heen regarded as necessary that he

Page 27
152 JotRNAL, R.A.s. (cЕYLoN). Гуот. XXVI.
should be an Atheling (or born in legitimate wedlock). With this limit, and with a certain preference to the eldest son, and to the one whom the dying king nominated, choice of the Witan was free, and, practically, the prince of the royal house best fitted for the immediate circumstances of the kingdom was chosen. Thus the king's brother was sometimes chosen instead of his son, who, in his turn, might succeed his uncle, to the exclusion of the uncle's children.' Substituting 'chiefs of the people' for the word Witan, and 'born of the Solar race that came from the Maha Summata line' (Devundara Sannas) in place of an Atheling, the above exposition of the rule of succession of English kings applies in every particular to the royal paramps rava in ancient Ceylon. The most pertinent statement of the learned priests who were consulted by Governor Falk's Commission in 1769 is the following, and it is absolutely correct: 'The king when he dies may, with the concurrence of the chiefs, deliver over the kingdom to his son: or, at the king's decease, the chiefs appoint to the sovereignty any person of the Raja teamsa whom they may be able to find in Ceylon. In case, however, this source is exhausted it has from ancient times been the custom of the Great City (Kandy) to send presents to any prince and princess of the race of the Sun, who may be residing at Madura, or in any of the countries adjacent and to place them on the throne. If this is not done, a person is selected from amongst the nobles of the Empire, and invested with the regal power.' Mr. Senaveratne is unfortunate in his choice of Lankatissa to illustrate his theory of the hereditary right of the eldest son. Perhaps he has been misled by Turnour's wrong translation of the narrative in the Mahdi camsa, which really is very careful to show that the younger brother Thultahana was the lawfully inaugurated and consecrated king, and that the elder Lankatissa rebelled against the law and usurped the sovereignty, and not as Turnour has it 'assumed possession of his rightful sovereignty.' The correct translation by Professor Geiger shows that Lankatissa was guilty of a crime, and did atonement for it. “When Saddhatissa died all the Counsellors assembled, and when they had summoned together the whole brotherhood of bhikkus, they, with the consent of the brotheirlhood, consecrated the Prince Thulathana as king. When Lamkatissa heard this he came hither, overpowered him and took the Government upon himself...... Afterwards the king built in atonement three stone terraces to the Great Cetiya.' This is not the only inst n nce where a 'rightful king of Lanka' was 'overpowered' by violence and wrongful usurpation, and the usurper afterwards purchased reconciliation with the most influential section of what may be called the Electoral Committee, namely, the 'Brotherhood,' by gifts to the Religion.
9. Mr. Hartley proposed a vote of thanks to Messrs. Joseph and Senaveratne. This was seconded by Dr. Andreas Nell.
His ExOELLENCy's REMARKs
10. His Excellency then said: Ladies and gentlemen.--It is proposed that a hearty vote of thanks be passed to the lecturers, and I think the proposer of the vote of thanks meant to include the seconder's vote of thanks to Mr. W. M. Fernando, for the admirable work he has done in taking a record of these pictures. I have been in Polonnaruwa and I noticed what was obviously the deterioration of these paintings. It is unavoidable: You see the same thing in every archaeological excavation. I mean you must

No. 71.-1918 PROCEENGS 153
cover up the frescoes almost as soon as they are uncovered, or allow them to deteriorate, so that one generation at least may get the benefit of them. With the assistance of Mr. Bell and the P.W.D. I am doing what lean to preserve them from unnecessary damage, and to shore up the walls which are in danger of falling down. And I hope we may arrest the decay. The only other observation I have to make is forestalled by Sir Ponnambalam Arunāchalam. That is with regard to Mr. Senaveratine's note on the benefit of them. With the assistance of Mr. Bell and the would put it even more strongly than Air. Hartley and say, that the very fact that these little instances were mentioned is an index that they were really exceptional. If one king was in the habit of boiling his high Priests in oil, it was an exception and therefore worth while mentioning. So the occasion of mentioning these striking instances is an index that the general character of the Sinhalese kings commended itself to their subjects. The only point in the paper which has been attacked is as regards the race to which the rightful king of Lanka belonged. And I look for\ with interest to what Mr. Senaveratne has to say in answer
JAV.
ll. Sir P. Arunāchalam proposed a hearty vote of thanks to His Excellency for his presence.
Mr. John M. Senaveratine's reply.
THE SINBALEsR THRONE
As His Excellency remarked at the close of the discussion on my paper, the only material point on which there was a difference of opinion was as regards my statement that 'the rightful king of Ancient Lanka was and had to be of the Kalinga-Chakravartikula, i.e., of the dynasty founded by Vijaya.'
The dissentients are Mr. C. E. Corea and Sir P. Arunáchalam, the former of whom bases is dissent on an ancient theory which, in this country at least, never obtained in practice and which he defends with reasons which appear to me to be entirely unconvincing and inadequate. To as Mr. Corea does, of the ““ Maha Sammata Paramparaiva' and the 'original Aryan political philosophy '' is to drag a red herring across the trail, to confuse the issue, which is sinply this: ' IDid the kingdom originally belong to the Kalinga-Chakravarti-kula or did it not let us sce:
Firstly, was Vijaya, the founder of the Sinhalesc dynasty, of the Kalinga-Chakravarti-kula : Mr. Corea says he has "not met with the term Kailinga-Chakra varti-kula in any ancient document.' But there is, for instance, that famous ' document in stone,' the Galpota linscription, which speaks of 'KalingaCakravarttin-valiansé-kulen á Vijaya-rájayan ' =“ King Vijaya descended from the family of Kálinga Chakravarttin, etc.'
It may be urged, however, that Vijaya's Kálinga connection was on his mother's side, not his father's. Even so, how does all this talk of the 'Maha Sammata Paramparaiwa' affect or disrove the correctness of my statement that ' the rightful king of anka was and had to be............... of the dynasty foundcod by I’m.jdყct ** ?
The question is simply this: Did Vijaya dispose of as he chose (i.e., confined to his family) the kingdom which he had founded; or (as Mr. Corea urges) did the prople insist om electing the king
* Epigraphia Zeylanicu, Vol. ii., No. 17, p. 104.

Page 28
laj4 | JoURNAL, R.A.s. (CExLoN). (VoL. XXVI.
of their own choice Obviously, it was the former, for we read: ''The Great King Vijaya, being in the last year of his life, bethought him: "I am old and there lives no son of mine. The kingdom peopled with such great difficulty may come to naught after my death; therefore would I fain have my brother Sumitta brought here that I may give the government into his hands.' ' (Mah. VIII., Il-2). Vijaya’s brother is too old to accept the invitation. Instead, he sends his youngest son Panduvasudeva. The latter duly arrives and the ministers '' entrusted Panduvásudeva with the sovereignty of Lanka ” (Mah. VIII., 17). Panduvasudeva's son Abhaya succeeds him. Abhaya is eventually constrained to abdicate in favour of a regent and the regency is soon terminated by the accession of_Abhaya’s sister’s son, Pandukábhaya. Pandukábhaya's son, Mutasiva, succeeds him and Mutasiva is in turn succeeded by his son Devanampiyatissa. After Devānampiyatissa's death his younger brother, since there was no son, the prince known by the name Uttiya, held sway piously as king ” (Mah. XX., 29).
Unprejudiced study of subsequent history still further demonstrates what is clear from the above and proves the correctness of my statement, that “the rule as to the succession was that the eldest son, provided he lay under no disability, physical or otherwise, succeeded the father. If there was any such disability, he gave place to the younger brother just next to him, though the popular preference might be for the prince-if there were several-who was distinguished by the possession of the most amiable qualities. Where there was no son, the brother succeeded, his selection being governed apparently by the same rule of primogeniture.''
What becomes, then, of Mr. Corea’s contention that anybody was rightful king who was chosen or accepted by the people? Mr. Corea is great on the authority of the Nikaiya Sangrahaca and of the Raiji valiya. If his contention were correct, how is it that the ruler whom the Nikuiya Sangraha wra refers to as 'the great King Golu Abha' (p. 13), whom the people accepted as king for full 13 years, is described by the Rajd valiya (p. 50) as having '' usurped the kingdom' Can a king, accepted by the people as rightful king, be a usurpor? And were Anula's five husbands rightful kings of Lanka, viz: (1) the infamous Coranaga, (2) the gate-watchman Siva, (3) Vatuka, the Tamil city-carpenter, (4) the wood-carrier Tissa, and (5) the palace-priest, the Brahman Niliya ? If not, why not ?
The fact is that this ancient theory-it was no more than a theory—which Mr. Corea resuscitates at this day, never obtained in practice in Ceylon, if anywhere else; and any argument founded upon it scarcely merits the serious consideration which, out of courtesy to Mr. Corea, I have given it.
Mr. Corea's references to Kásyapa Ili... and Parákranma Bahu VI. are irrelevant, since these kings do not belong to the period to which my paper restricted itself.
RoΥ ΑΙ, JυSTICE ln regard to certain of my remarks on the subject of 'Royal Justice 'I am bound frankly to admit that Sir Ponnambalam Arunāchalam's criticism, or rather reproach, is deserved. Reading my renmarks over again, it is unfortunately true that my words do give the impression that the Sinhalese kings of the Mahdivansa were generally arbitrary and crucl.

No. 71.--1918) PROCEEDINGS 55
This is not correct, and I gladly avail myself of this opportunity of reply explicitly to say, in the interests of historical truth that the Sithalese kings were, as a rule, not one whit more cruel
or more arbitrary, than their contemporaries in any other part of the world. On the contrary, most of them were just and humane to a fault, and not a few of them were demonstrably in advance of
their age in the possession and exercise of those sentiments of benevolence, charity and good-will towards all men, whick in our day we usually associate with Christianity and European civilisation.
Such acts of cruelty or high-handedness on the part of a few Sinhalese kings as I quoted-and they are the only ones of which we have any record-do not afford sufficient ground for generalisation. As His Excellency Mr. Stubbs remarked, “ those little incidents were selected for mention in the Mahdiva nea and other documents as indicating that they were eacceptional.’ To have ignored then would be to have laid myself open to the charge of suppressio veri, of taking a partial and distorted view of history.
REGAL VIRTUEs AND DUTIES
Mr. Kanakaratne's statements and assumptions are interesting but lack authority, or rather relevance, at least as regards the period covered by my paper. I could have quoted, with equal irrelevance, many passages from works dealing with these special sciences of polity which, starting with rules (nayah) such as taught by Brihaspati and Ucanas, were afterward to develop into 'that Machiavellian state-polity that in later times governed the policy of the Hindus.' But cui bono? In my Foreword I stated that I had 'studiously refrained......... from letting my knowledge of later conditions and things colour my survey of the period under review.' Mr. Kanakaratne might, with advantage, have exercised a similar restraint in his criticisms.
In regard to Sirinága's son and successor, Mr. Kanakaratne is incorrect in saying that it was 'on account of his vast knowledge of the law and the tradition he was named Voháratissa.' The 'vastness' of the latter's knowledge is an assumption for which there is no warrant. He was certainly not the only king of the Mahdivansa who ruled the country with 'knowledge of the law and the tradition.' But why not accept as true what we are told so definitely and so explicitly: "Because he first in this country made a law that set aside bodily injury as penalty, he received the name King Vohárikatissa ” (Mah. VI., 28).
THE PRINCEs
My omission-deliberate, not accidental-to refer to the subject of 'Royal Education' was due to the very good reason that, in the absence of any information whatsoever on the point, I had determined to avoid just that very thing which Mr. Kanakaratne complacently 'rushes' into, viz: speculation. To say, as Mr. Kanakaratne does, that 'all the princes were given a good education' is to state exactly that which requires to be proved. We want something more than Mr. Kanakaratne’s ipse diacit, and that something is still wanting.
I knew of course-who does not ?-that the later Sinhalese princes were expected to be proficient in '' the 64 minor and 18 principal arts and sciences,' but I refrained from the foolishness
Hopkins, p. 129.

Page 29
56 JбURNAL, R.A.s. (сEYLoN). VoL. XXVI.
of arguing from this that the earliest Sinhaiese princes, too, were likewise proficient, or were even expected to be so. Criticism becomes irresponsible, even mischievous, not only when it is declamatory without proof or warrant, but also when it refuses to bear in mind the limitations which the person criticised had deliberately imposed upon himself.
A real omission in regard to the earliest Sinhalese princes was my failure to say that, when they came of age, their marriages were generally arranged for them by their parents, as is so largely the practice to-day among all classes of the . Sinhalese. Royal birth was, apparently, nota sine gua non for a maiden to become the wife of a Sinhalese prince. The lowliest Sinhalese maid, provided she was beautiful and accomplished, might aspire to become the wife of royalty. To illustrate:
“How did King Vasabha, when his sen Wankanásikatissa had come to (full) age, seek a fitting wife for him? When those people who understood the (auspicious) signs in women saw the maiden in the brick-worker's village they told the king; the king thereon was about to send for her. And now the brick-worker told him that she was a king's daughter, but that she was the daughter of Subharaja he showed by the mantle and so forth. Rejoiced the king gave her (in marriage) to his son when all had been duly provided ”* (Mah. XXXV., 108-111).
The princes who had attained their majority had also their separate establishments, separate servants and separate Treasury. Note that when Dutthagámani rewards Suranimila with a 1,000 pieces of money, "the other servitors of the prince grew envious, then ordered he to honour the youth with 10,000 pieces. And when (according to his charge) they had cut his hair and bathed him in the river, and had put on him a pair of Punnavaddhana garnents and a beautiful fragrant wreath, and had wound a silken turban about his head, they brought him to the prince, and the latter commanded that food from his own stores be given him. Moreover, the prince bade them give his own bed, worth ten thousand pieces (of money), to the warrior as a couch' (Mah. XXIII., 36-39).
The prince had, evidently, a large amount of ready money to draw upon at will. The 'bed worth 10,000 pieces of money' indicates how luxurious the prince's home life must have been.
JoHN M. SENAvERATNE.
* Skt. korta mangala means (says Geiger) a person over whom players have been pronounced or who is arrayed with the auspi|ိနှို things for some undertaking; the Pali kata maggala must
be taken in the same sense.

Page 30


Page 31