These Figures Are Of A Far Superior Class Of Sculpture To The
Idols Usually Seen In Ceylon, Especially That In
The reclining
posture, in which the impression of the head upon the pillow is
so well executed that the massive
Pillow of gneiss rock actually
appears yielding to the weight of the head.
This temple is supposed to be coeval with the city, which was
founded about three hundred years before Christ, and is supposed
to have been in ruins for upward of six hundred years. The
comparatively recent date of its destruction renders its
obscurity the more mysterious, as there is no mention made of its
annihilation in any of the Cingalese records, although the city
is constantly mentioned during the time of its prosperity in the
native history of Ceylon. It is my opinion that its destruction
was caused by famine.
In those days the kings of Ceylon were perpetually at war with
each other. The Queen of the South, from the great city of
Mahagam in the Hambantotte district, made constant war with the
kings of Pollanarua. They again made war with the Arabs and
Malabars, who had invaded the northern districts of Ceylon; and
as in modern warfare the great art consists in cutting off the
enemy's supplies, so in those days the first and most decisive
blow to be inflicted was the cutting off the "water." Thus, by
simply turning the course of a river which supplied a principal
tank, not only would that tank lose its supply, but the whole of
the connected chain of lakes dependent upon the principal would
in like manner be deprived of water.
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