Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 2.djvu/277

 INSCRIPTIONS AT PULASTIPURA. 217 September, 1873.] of a large artificial lake, which must have been 10 or 12 miles round, and can be reached in 3£ days from Kandy,—there being a carriage road for the first 59 miles, and a cart road for the remaining 20. Just at the end of this road, and on the band of the lake itself, once stood the hall in which these inscriptions were found, which has been renamed “the Audience Hall.” All that remains now are 48 large stone pillars with carved capitals supported on a stone platform, round the base of which aro sculptured a row of lions; there are also several fine stone slabs, a flight of entrance steps with handsomely carved balustrades, and the splendid Lion on which the inscription was found. This was lying almost entirely buried at some distance from the Hall, and was set up with great diffi¬ culty ; it had probably been thrown out of the Hall by the Tamils when they took Pulastipura, and may formerly have stood between the in¬ scribed pillars : search has been made for a second one, but as yet unsuccessfully. The inscriptions have only lately been noticed, Sir E. Tennant making no mention of either the ruin or its letters ; but they are very interesting, as affording a reliable glimpse at the state cere¬ monial of that place and time, from which conclusions, with a large degree of certainty, may be drawn regarding others in more distant places and in more ancient times. According to the writing on the Lion and eight of the pillars, the high officials stand near the king in the following order (see the sketch plan) :— At pillar 8. Members At pillar 1. TheSecre- of the Chamber of Com- tary f Kdyastha) with the merce. record-keepers. 7. The Police. 2. Prime Minister (pra- dhdna). 6. Members of tho 3. The Commander-in- eouncil of wise men ? Chief (senadhipati). Provincial governors. 4. The chiefs {adliipa), seated. a 5. The heir-apparent {yuivardja), seated. I am inclined to think that the king must have been seated in the position marked a, and not— as has been supposed—in that marked b : for he always pronounce the, corresponding to (and derived from) the Pali 6, as oar English >c, and not as v. It is cer¬ tainly probable, both from the traditions of tho pandits, and from the collocations in which it occurs, that the Pali let ter is also «•, and not v. ce is pronounced like the English would thus have the lower officials behind him, the great ones facing him, and the heir-apparent seated at his right hand; whereas in the posi¬ tion marked 5, the members of the Chamber of Commerce would have had the post of honour: now, although Parakrama Bahu was perhaps a very enlightened despot, and seems to have given the merchants or boutique (kada) keepers of the day a place in his Council of State, it is scarcely possible that they were nearer to his august person than the heir- apparent himself. The transliteration,* which is unusually cer¬ tain, is as follows :— On the great Lion. Sri wira duraja wira wesydbhujaga Nissanka Lankeswara Kalinga chakrawartti swamin wa- hanse w®d® hun wira Sinhasanayayi. Translation. This is the mighty Lion-throne on which sat the glorious, poicerful king, in whose arm is strength, the Lord Emperor Kdlinga Nissanka Lahhiswara. First Pillar. Sinhasanayo weed® hun kal® pot warana setulu-wfl kayasthayanta sthanayayi. When he is seated on his Lion-throne, this is the place for the Secretary, among + the record- keepers. Second Pillar. Sinliasanaye weed® hun kal® pradhanayanta sthanayayi. When he is seated on the Lion-throne, this is the place for the prime minister. Third Pillar. Sinliasanaye w®d® hun kal® senewiradunta sthanayayi. When he is seated on his Lion-throne, this is the place for the commander-in-chief. Fourth Pillar. Sinhasanayo w®d® hun kal® ®pa-warun hindina sthanayayi. When he is seated on his Lion-throne, this is the place where the chiefs sit. in hat, <v being simply tbe lengthened form of the sunn* sound (nearly the French « before r). Almost every w ord requiring some notice, and the number of the words being altogether so small, tho notes on them are thrown into the form of an alphabetical vocabulary, t See a t at u in tbe vocabulary.
 * In the transliteration w is used because the Sinhalese