NG CEYLON ] ~L~ ~ 01--IIE
SOOR
YA
ED
T
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SEEING CEYLON
By the Same Author THE GOLDEN AGE OF MILITARY ADVENTURE /ff CEYLON.
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ANCIENT IRRIGATION WORKS IN CEYLON. - PARTS /, II & /1/.
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IRRIGATION AND AGRICULTURE COLONIZATION IN CEYLON
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LAND, MAPS AND SURVEYS, VOLS. I & II. THE GAL OYA VALLEY PROJECT JN CEYLON
1951
FURNITURE OF THE DUTCH PERIOD JN CEYLON. DISCOVERING CEYLON FOOD AND THE PEOPLE
/969
In vistas of Scenery, History, Legend and Folklore
1973 1975
By
LINKS BETWEEN SRI LANKA AND THE NETHERLANDS CHANGING FACE OF COLOMBO THE GOLDEN PLAINS
SEEING CEYLON
/951
1992
1984
1978
R.L. BROHIER HON. D. Litt. (Ceylon)
SOORIYA PUBLISHERS
First Edition 1965
PREFACE
Second Edition 1971 Third Edition 1981 Fourth Edition 2000
All rights reserved ISBN 955-8425-16-8
Type set in 11 pt Times New Roman by Prasad Samarasekara Printed by S & S Printers 49, Jayantha Weerasekera Mawatha, Colombo 10 Published by Athula Jayakody SOORIYA PUBLISHERS 109, Rev. S. Mahinda Mawatha, Colombo 10, Sri Lanka. Tel - 2693607 Fax - 2690217
There are few professions, the activities of which are less krtown to a popular world, than the Survey. There are none more rich in opportunities for the study of Nature in its many aspects, for the exploration and investigation of vestiges of an old-time civilization or for gleaning the lore and legend, and the simple thoughts of people who find refuge away from civilization. This book is the product of over forty years of travel, on the highways, and along byways of Cey Ion, in association with "the theodolite and the tape". It consists largely of legends and traditions which have come down by word of mouth from one generation to the other. They therefore defy close analysis or observation, but are unconsciously held by a simple, conservative people to be true. These stories, collected in the course of my circuits, call to memory treks through forests-where the canopy of treetops shuts out sunlight, and the strange odours of herbs and leaves and rotting wood pervade everything; the sun-scorched plains-where soggy and sodden with sweat: one traverses open chenas while heat-waves dance in the dazzling sunshine; up craggy mountains-where in a biting wind as cold as charity, one patientiy waits the lifting of mist to make an observation. They call to mind many elderly "storytellers" (many of them perhaps now dead), who can always be found among the forest dwellers, the village rustic and the temple recluse-provided one is prepared to lend a sympathetic ear to what they have to tell. I plead to be excused for the seeming egotism reflected in some paragraphs of this book, and trust the reader will in other respects accept these pages in the spirit in which I have written them-a great personal esteem for this beautiful Island, its history and its wealth of traditions. Many of these chapters have been written independently of one another. There is consequently some repetition and overlapping for which I ask the reader's indulgence.
Apart from personal observation and research, I have garnered from many sources in writing this book. Where acknowledgement had not been specifically m :1de I tender the thanks which are due. I feel it necessary to say a special word regarding the assistance I have derived from the late Dr. C. W. Nicholas's contribution to the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (Vol. VI, 1959) on the Historical Topography of Ancient and Medieval Ceylon, and a word of thanks to Messrs. Vernon Grenier and S. A. Wijayatilake, who helped me when the book was in proof stage. I also express obligation to the Publishers for the great assistance · rendered. R. L. BROHIER
This book is dedicated to a kind Physician to whom the Author and his wife are deeply grateful
CONTENTS VII
PREFACE PART 1-THF. MAN-MADE LAKES OF THE DRY ZONE
I. THE CITY LAKES AND NACHCHADUWA
17
2. RITIGALA-KA.~WA
25
3. MINNERIYA: A Sentinel to Time's Reckless: Re~urring Revolutions
32
4. KAVUDULLAWEWA AND GIRITALE
46
5. POLONNARUVA: What glory is here eclipsed
52
6. THE KING OF LAKE-RESERVOIRS
60
7. KALINGA NUWARA
67
8. THE VALLEY OF THE KALA OYA
72
9. GIANT'S TANK AND AKATTIMURAIPPU
87
10. KANTALAI LAKE
93
I I. ANTIQUARIAN NOTES ON PADAVIYA
98
12. THE LAKES OF THE EASTERN SEABOARD
109
13. THE LAKES IN THE VALLEY OF THE GAL OYA
116
14. MAHA RUHUNA
124
15. BUILDING TECHNIQUES AND SKILL
129
Bibiliography PART II-THE SOUTH COAST ROAD -
135 INTRODUCTION
I. GALLE FACE AND MOUNT LAVINIA
(40
142
2. COACHING DAYS
150
3. KALUTARA
154
4. BERUWALA
158
5 BENTOTA
164
6. A DETOUR-THE SINHA RAJA ADAVIYA
16 7
7. AMBALANGODA
I 72
8. AN OLD-WORLD. WALLED TOWN. GALLE
177
9. GALLE TO MATARA
187
10. DONDRA-THE CITY OF THE GOOS
193
11. THE H0 .... 0-MANIYA : A MYSTERY CAVE
198
12. MULGIRIGALA
105
13. KATUWANA FORTLET
211
14. THE URUBOKKA. DAM AND . THE GIRUWA
217
15. MAHAPAELAESSA-WHERE ELEPHANTS GO TO Oil::
223
16. RIDIYAGAMA AND HAMBANTOTP
231
17. TISSAMAHARAMA AND KIRINDA
237
18. IN THE RUHUNA NATIONAL PARK
242
19. SERMONS IN STONE
2_51
20.ENGELBRECHT OF YALA
258 265
Bibiliography PART Ill-ADAM'S PEAK -
INTRODUCTION
270
I.THE LURE OF THEE PEAK
271
2. THE PEAK WILDERNESS
277
3.LEGENDS OF THE PEAK
284
Bibiliography
291
GLOSSARY OF LOCAL TERMS
292
INDEX
299
ILLUSTRATIONS o1. The Veda - inna-Maligawa-Minneriya (page 38) . page 02. The Vatadage or 'Round Relic House' at Madirigiriya (pages 48-50)after restoration. Courtesy, Archaeological Department, Government of Cey Ion page 03. The Vatadage-undoub.tedly the masterpiece of Polonnaruva architecture (page 55). Courtesy, Archaeological Department, Government of Ceylon page 04. The Topawewa-now merged with the Parakrama Sa~udra (page 65) showing the old Rest House. page· 05. The Potgul Vihara-standing figure; (page65) King or Sage? Courtesy, Archae!logical Department, Govern_ment of Ceylon. page 06. The railway br1dge spanning the Mahaweli-Ganga (page 68) a few miles downstream from Kalinga Nuwara (under construction in 1926). page 01. The modern sluice of the Kalawewa (page 72) and the Jaya-ganga in the foreground. · page 08. The Avukana Buddha Statue (page 79). Courtesy, Archeological Department,Government of Ceylon page 09. The Sasseruwa Buddha Statue (page 83-84).Courtes)'., Archaeological Department, Government of Ceylon page 10. A section of the old spill at Kalawewa-built A.D.477 (page 75) page
42
42
58
58
73
73
73
80
85
112
Vakaneri Lake (page 111) with Dimbulagala in the distance, and terns resting on a'sand-bar. (Photo by S.V.O. Somanader). page 12. The unique stone window lying near a Saivite temple in ruin at Moragoda (page I 06).It is 2' 9" X I' I O' with partitions 4" square of quartz. The lotus motif in reticulation is particularly striking. Courtesy, Archaeological Department, Government of Ceylon. page 13. The Parakrama Pillar at Padaviya (page I 00). 8' 6" · high, I' 9" square, crossed by a chastely designed finial in the pattern of a lotus flower, the outer petals dropping over the heads of the stone shaft. The top incised panel has an inscription in Sanskrit and the second of Old Sinhala characters in vogue during the 12th century. Reproduced from the 7th Annual Report-Bell. Courtesy, Archaeological Commissioner. page 14. Horabora Wewa (page 114 )-gleaming out of a vista of forest outspread below the Madugoda Gap, Upper Dumbara. · page 15. Colombo-looking from Mutwal. I 00 years ago (page 144). From a painting by Capt. C. G. O' Brien, 1863. page 16. The Dutch Fort at Kalutara (page 154). From a water. colour painting by Steiger, 18th century. page 11. The Galle Harbour-showing the P. & 0. station on Closenberg Island (page 180). From a painting by Capt. C. G. O'Brien, 1863. page 18. Ceylon's primeval rain forest-a section exposed by felling in the Sinha Raja Adaviya (page 169).Courtesy, Dr. John Baker. page 11.
An example of an early squat meeting house Dutch Church not the garage at the Ambalangoda Rest House (page 172). page 20. A typical ornamental lintel over the main doorway of a Dutch house in Galle Fort (page 183). page 21. Ho ... 0-'-Maniya! (page 199). page 22. Ceylon Hawk Eagle-the Devil-bird (page 229-230). Courtesy, Dr. R. L. Spittel. page 23. Forest Eagle Owl (page 229-230). Courtesy, Dr. R. L. Spittel. page 24. A villu in the National Park (page 242). Photograph C.Felsinger. page 19.
112
121
121
178
178
200
243
243
243
145
145
160
160
178
MAPS I. Map of North Ceylon 2. Parakrama Samudraya 3. Padaviya 4. The routes to Adam's Peak 5. Map of South Ceylon
Front endpapers 63 102 281 Back endpapers
Partl
THE MAN-MADE LAKES OF THE DRY ZONE
I THE CITY LAKES AND NACHCHADUWA The mountain mass of south-central Ceylon has conferred on this small island two sharply marked climatic zones. From the beginning of time, this high barrier, which crosses the monsoons more or less at right angles, has checked the damp south-west winds· which are chased by flickering lightning and thunder. Hence, while the wet-storms hiss down on the country to the windward side of the mountains from May to September, the all but barren plain on the leeward side is left dry. It is swept by a land-wind parted of its moisture, which steadily grows stronger and hotter. No person who travels over Ceylon 's dry zone when the kachan winds are blowing can fail to notice the cumulative effects of its dryness and scor~hing heat. As moisture falls below wilting point · the low scrubby jungles and the chenayayas lie seemingly tired. The yellowing leaf-blades of the growing paddy betoken the insufficiency of water. The very leaves on the forest leviathans droop unrespondingly to the zephyrs. By th~ month of August with prolonged heat, and under a brazen sky, the baked earth lies parched, the trees moveless. In back-blocks, and in the deep forests, game and vermin alike pant for the wat~r in rock-holes and ponds that is not. There is listlessness even among the birds, a waiting with drooping wings and gasping beaks. In far-flung settlement and roadside village alike, it comes to be whispered: The gods are wroth! What could man or animal do but submit, and wait their goodwill? Such is the law of Karma or destiny, and the attitude ofthe people is one of contemplation. So, in time, preceded by a few days of breathless calm, and heat which exhausts the strongest body, the north-east cloudbursts strike the island. Avalanches of rain drench the mountain-side and the plains which lie north and east, while the long-shore winds carry
17
SEEING CEYLON
THE CITY LAKES AND NACHCH:ADUWA
some of the rain to the western and southern seaboard as well. The bone-dry water courses swell to a roar. Rivers swirl down their valleys carrying a maddened flood. And a nf!w season is born. If perchance the unfavourable climate and physical conditions which have been described, had been accorded supremacy, the history of the dry zone which frames the comprehensive landscape of Ceylon's indigenous agriculture from the earliest days of colonizations, would never have been written. In this inhospitable region the age-old battle to win food from the parent earth has been waged against the twin enemies: drought and flood. The battle is pursued today in its modern phase. This mastery over climate and terrain was chiefly achieved by the ingenuity of the ancient people, aided by the bounteous care of their sovereigns. They erected man-made lakes, or "tanks" as they are popularly called, to guard against extraordinary emergencies of the seasons. An intricate system of dams and dykes was built with . surpassing skill in the shallow valleys of the plains. In this manner water which flowed down the catchment in one short season, was stored during the heavy rainfall and used to irrigate a thirsting land during the drought which another season brought: Considerable mystery enshrouds the origin and perfection of the vast number of tanks and diversion dams on the rivers, or of the network of canals, and laterals, and ditches which served as lifelines of irrigation to Ceylon's dry zone. We may safely conclude that the system was gradually evolved in cycles of time. This was because agriculture had to keep pace with the increase and movement of population. Equally because engineering is a progressive science. There seems little doubt that the knowledge gained in constructing small village tanks, with low artificial embankments in the shallow valleys of small streams eventually Jed to a second and more advanced stage of development. In this second cycle, all but the larger rivers were considered not too great to be impounded by a bund. Structures of earth, as much as 50. feet in height, and water-spreads measuring 20 to 30 miles round came to be erected in time. These large tanks corrected the earlier limitations in regard to the volume of water stored, and the extent of land which could be irrigated.
Finally, there came a third cycle of development which minimized loss by evaporation, and provided for the caprice of the monsoon. This introduced the feeder canal to the larger tanks which tapped the perennial rivers from the central mountains, up in the foot-hills. Apart from keeping the tanks fully supplied, the system permitted "ribbon-cultivation" by a distribution of water along the route of the canal. Undoubtedly the best time of the year to visit the dry zone plains and to see Ceylon 's man-made Lake District, is between December and March. This is the season when there is a sense of well-being in the air. When the gods are said to smile! The country, revivified, has put on a new mantle of rich verdure. It is the time of the year when from bush and bramble budded with new leaves, you may hear the love-song of birds excitedly busy. When the open park-lands clothed in green grass rapidly growing, spread themselves a multi-coloured carpet of blossoming weeds, and when in lowjungle and chena or sec
18
19
SEEING CEYLQN
THE Cl1Y IJJCES AND NACHCHADUWA
namely the Bo-tree, which is 2200 years old. It follows that from such a dim past we can but glean shadowy impressions of the vital part these tanks played in beautifying the , or royal pleasure gardens, by filling the bathing ponds with water, by providing for the communal needs of the population, and finally, by passing the water down to irrigate the rice fields in the suburbs of the capital. Basawakkulam, lying in a shallow valley with its waters held up by an earth-bund whose concave side faces up-stream, claims pride of place as the oldest of the three. It has been identified as the ancient Abhayawewa, constructed about 300 B.C. after Pandukabhaya (Panduk-abhaya), an intelligent young king, assumed rule over the kingdom. There is nothing in the structure to indicate its antiquity, but if evidence be needed of the remarkable achievement of that early, unnamed hydraulic engineer who designed it, there is proof that this structure remained unbreached even after the thrilling history of Anuradhapura, with its unique record of conquests, dynastic ambitions, regal triumphs and tragedies, had ended on the crest of a mighty wave of invasion 1200 years after the City was founded. Tissawewa commemorates the name of King Devanampiya Tissa of the third century B.C. This lake lies in the south-west sector of the City and filled the picturesque lotus ponds of another ancient and very interesting foundation attributed to King Tissa-the Isurumuniya rock-temple, nearby. Many legends embellish the early story of this reservoir but a link forged by history a hundred years after it was built connects it with the deeds of King Dutthagamani and admits of no doubt that Tissawewa was its ancient name. The Mahavamsa, the ancient Pali chronicle of Ceylon, narrates in its quaint poetical form of expression that when the king of high renown had united Lanka in one kingdom, he went to Tissawewa that was adorned according to the festival custom, to observe the traditions of a crowned king. Having disported himself in the water, the whole day, together with the women of the harem, the King directed his guard to prepare to return to the palace.
The guards accordingly proceeded to pick up the symbol of sovereignty: a spear with the royal relic, which had been driven into the earth on some high ground nearby. Try as they would, they could not draw it out of the ground. Observing this miracle, Dutthagamani forthwith directed that a monument be built on the spot. This monument, enclosing the spear, is the Mirisavati dagoba, originally 120 cubits high, and sited within hailing distance of Tissawewa. Its re! ic-chambers, altars and carvings, and the foundations of stone buildings raised off paved court-yards, are witness to the written story, and to the antiquity of the shrine as well as the lake to which it is linked. Still more spectacular, lashed into wavelets, and throwing back a liquid contour to full far-extending limits, is the third and last City tank: Nuwarawewa. It occupies a flat valley off the right bank of the Malwatu Oya and is not actually in the City as its name implies. There is a tradition that the water was conducted from it by means of an aqueduct across the Malwatu Oya. In all probability it was in the early part of the first century before Christ that the construction of Nuwarawewa was started. Thereafter, the City· was overrun by Cholan invaders. It was apparently when King Vatta Gamani regained his throne that the work was completed. The only clue to the age of the tank is the size of the bricks used in building the sluices. They agree closely with the bricks laid in the Abhayagiri dagoba which was built in the last three years of the reign of Vatta Gamani, or Valagam Bahu, as he is sometimes called. The conclusion drawn is that the tank was completed about the year 20 B.C. If your inclinations lead you to review the details of construction and the subsequent history of Nuwarawewa down the corridors of time, there are several citations brimful of interest. The nagagal or sculptured stones depicting the seven-headed cobra, found near the ancient sluices, are symbolical of the snake-king Muchalinda. Similar carved stones are often found placed by the sluices of tanks to represent the sacred guardianship of the waters. Robert Knox, the English captive of a Kandyan king, and the writer of the well-known book on Ceylon, lived on the borders of
20
21
SEEING CEYLON
THE CITY LAKES AND NACHCHADUWA
this tank three hundred years ago under the pretence of selling his wares. In reality he was trying to discover a way of escape through the northern ports, then in the hands of the Dutch. But what does seem strange is that in writings closer in-to a little over a hundred years old today, the City of Anuradhapura, which was once "the capital of the kingdom of Lions" (on whose splendours Chinese travellers of the early ages wrote copiously), had, we are told, shrunk into a few scattered huts that scarcely merited the designation of village. Amidst a silence as profound as that of the grave, the lofty monuments erected over relics by pious kings lay entirely covered with jungle or partly obscured by forests. The sluices of the tanks lay under a thick-covering of silt. The channels were similarly choked, and the bunds enveloped in a mantle of thorny undergrowth. Indeed, too much cannot be written of the pioneer efforts which put new life into Anuradhapura by reclaiming the City tanks, and rescuing the other monuments of this ancient and renowned City in Ceylon's dry zone plains. Today, Basawakkulam, Tissawewa and . Nuwarawewa, greet you with cheering, glistening sheets of water.They kindle more practical thoughts, in contrast to the preceding picture which showed them abandoned and desolate ... And Anuradhapura, with its eight sacred shrines (Atamastana), revitalized, and once again in the role of a Sacred City for the serene joy and emotion of the pious, holds festival ceremonies the year round, to which thousands of humble pilgrims flock. Minneriya is within two hours' motorable distance from Anuradhapura. But tarry a while on your journey, to see Nachchaduwa. It is reached by turning down a short motorable track seven miles out of Anuraqhapura. The bund of Nachchaduwa Tank trammels the waters of the Malwatu Oya before it reaches the ancient city. Enormous floods msh down the river when it is swollen by the rains. To throw a bund anoss ii was therefore both a bold and ambitious undertaking. The lnsk rnust have heen rendered infinitely more difficult because thrrt" wus nowhere on the river a very suitable site for a spill. Nrvr11hrlr11~, 11 nrw reservoir had apparently to be found to 111111111c tho rice-fields oulsidc the growing City of Anuradhapura.
Nachchaduwa was therefore buih, but everything points to the spillway having proved inadequate to pass down the floods. This would account for the four large breaches in the bund which modern engineers discovered centuries after the work had been abandoned, and when it lay mantled by forest. The restoration of Nachchaduwa was effected in 1906. More recently, the spill was again raised to increase the storage capacity of the tank. Anxiety for the safety of the bund under flood conditions remains unallayed. There seemed to be good reason for this anxiety. During the floods of 1957, the biggest in living memory, this I 0th century reservoir with a catchment of 236 square miles stood up to the on-rush of the pent up waters until the bund was completely over-topped by more than a foot of water. Actual breaching took place around the low- level sluice on the 25th of December 1957. The sluice structure stood out, a lone figure in the landscape. The gap in the bund caused by the flood was 400 feet wide. The roar of the water running over the spill when the tank is surcharged, intensified by the forest stillness, attunes the mind to the nature of the risk. There is much speculation over the ancient name of Nachchaduwa. The Mahavamsa chronicles that a dam was constructed across the Kadambanadi (Malwatu Oya) by Moggallana II (531-551 ). This reference fits in with the constructional details of Nachchaduwa. In consequence the inference can be drawn from the statement in the Mahavamsa, that the ancient name of this contribution to ancient irrigation by Moggallana was the Pattapasanavapi. Nonetheless, traditions hold that Nachchaduwa was constructed by the great tank-builder Mahasen, and that this tank is the Mahadaragala of the Mahavamsa dating from the latter half of the 3rd century. A theory has also been advanced that the work dates from the reign of Sena II (853-887). We thus see that conjecture over its original name and the period in which it has been constructed presents an alluring quest. As to the derivation of its prese,nt name, a writer to the Ceylon Antiquary and Literary Register, Vol VI, part IV, 1921,
22
23
SEEING CEYLON
associates it with Nandavapi, mentioned in the Mahavamsa as a tank near which a certain landed proprietor of the Moriyan dynasty named Dhatusena (grandfather of Dhatusena II and father of the parricide King Kasyapa of Sigiriya) had established himself. Suggesting that Nanda in Pali means "pleasure or enjoyment" and Nacca means "dancing", he infers that .the tank was a place for water festivals (diyakeliya). Although Nachchaduwa, comparatively speaking is a large reservoir, little can be seen of its over-all water-spread. At full supply level, most of its waters are lost in narrow creeks which penetrate far into forest recesses. In these dark gullies shaded by the gnarled and knotted branches of great trees, vistas of perfect natural beauty abound, and if a boat is used, many delightful hours can be spent in observing bird life. In the furtherrecesses up-stream, the watt?rs lap the embankment of the main road, on which we find ourselves continuing the journey to Minneriya.
24
RITIGALA-KANDA One of the most imposingly situated topographical features often glimpsed as a background to the beautiful view from many a tank-bund off the road between Maradankadawala and Habarana, is that conspicuous range of hills which seems to burst out of the plain from practically sea-level. It is known as Ritigala-kanda. From its complete isolation and abrupt rise on all sides, it presents a more imposing appearance than would be expected from its actual heig~t (2,514 feet). Yet strange to say, its summit is frequently bathed m mist-more especially during the south-west monsoon when the country surrounding it is parched and dry. Its story is so old as to ?e associated with the Hanuman traditions told in that great epic, Ramayana, which was, they say, written more than a thousand years before the Christian era. Ritigala is the highest ground intervening between the central mass of the Ceylon mountain system and the very similar hills of Southern India. Hence the tradition, that from Ritigala, Hanuman jumped across to India when he was carrying the joyful mess~ge ~o Rama, that he had discovered where Sita was being held captive m Lanka, by that mythical king Ravana. The legend goes further to say that when Lakshman was wounded and a medicinal herb was required for his cure, Hanuman was sent to the Himalayas to fetch it. On the way he had forgotten the name and nature of the plant, whereupon he snapped a fragment of the Himalayas, and carrying it to Ceylon twisted in his tail, dropped his load which contained rare medicinal herbs on the top of Ritigala. He then asked Rama himself to seek for the special herb he wanted. · · The legend apparently sparks from the fact that the cap of Ritigala really does present a characteristic little oasis of vegetation distinct from the dry zone forest covered slopes lower down. Time was,
25
RITIGALA-KANDA
SEEING CEYLON
even recently, when, honouring this legend, holy sanyasis braved the arduous climb to search the summit of Ritigala for a herb they called "sansevi" possessed of various sovereign powers which conferred long life. Closer in, but still in the distant past, we see Ritigala, which was also called Arishtha-the Arittha Pabbata (dreaded rock) of the pali histories-as one of the principal low-country territorial abodes of the "yakkas", as the aboriginal veddas of Ceylon were called. The Mahavamsa (Geiger, eh. X. p. 72) presents a graphic description of a great battle which took place between Pandukabhaya and his uncles about 307 B.C. in which the Yakkas of Ritigala rendered much assistance to the young warrior, who was victorious. They received in turn much favour when he later · became king. On Pandukabhaya's death, the chieftains of this clan of aborigines lost their influence and appear to have been gradually driven away from their habitations by the increasing Indo-Aryan population. It so happened, that when Buddhism was firmly established in Lanka, Ritigala, which was by then devoid of habitations, was selected as a suitable spot for building viharas. The Mahavamsa mentions two: the "Lanka Vihara" (177 B.C.) and the "Arittha Vihara" (50 B.C.). A thousand years later Sena (A.D. 83 I) added many sacred buildings which adorned the mountt;1inside, and bestowed them all, together with grants of land, on "the humble Pansukulika order of the priesthood"- by which is meant "an order of bhikkhus who had taken a vow that the robes they wore would be made of rags from refuse-heaps or from cemeteries, and pieced together". The Mahavamsa also tells that the king gave to this ecclesiastical establishment "royal privileges and honours, and a great number of keepers for the garden, and servants, and artificers". These notices of antiquity tend to show that Ritigala is a spot steeped in history, and one of a few of the older historical names still being used in Ceylon. It is therefore of great importance from a philological angle. The great scholar, the late D.M. de Z. Wickremasinghe, was of opinion that the name is a compound of two words: riti from the pali aritta, meaning "long pole" and gal (the Dravidian kal cognate 26
with the Aryan giri) meaning "rock". Hence the name would mean: "the rock (as steep and erect as a) long pole" He claims that the steep aspect of the insulated rock rising out of the flat country makes it probable that the ancients gave this hill-feature the simple rustic name Ritigala. The numerous ruins which litter the·enrire hill-range and its many once-inhabited caves, which lie beneath boulders with drip-ledges and inscriptions, afford ample support to the story of the ancient importance of the site. There seems little doubt that this institution which was earlier used as a stronghold by contending aboriginal clans, and later as a place of refuge for fugitive princes and religious devotees, was laid waste during the Chola invasions of the 11 th century. Ever since then the forest which grew in the slopes of this hill-range have hidden from view much which bears testimony to the truth of history and legend. Till recently, (if not even so today), there was a belief prevalent amongst the scanty village population in the neighbourhood that Ritigala was haunted by the spirits of the Yakka tribe, who originally inhabited it. The story was passed round, that one day a villager living nearby was benighted on the fringe of jungle at the base of the hill-range. Seated half-dozing under a tree in the darkness, he was startled by the sounds of the barking of dogs, the cries of children, and the usual bustle of a busy village. He thought it strange, knowing that there was no village nearby, and was bewildered when a little later Yaka in the form of a man carrying a lighted chulu in one hand,· and a bath-mu/a in the other, approached and laid before him a large quantity of rice and curry, with plantains and oranges. The benighted villager was enjoined to eat his fill, but sternly warned to depart in a southerly direction before the day dawned, and not to take away any of the food left uneaten lest some evil befall him. The villager was petrified by the apparition; however, being hungry, as soon as his fear subsided he ate as much of the food laid before him as he could. Thereafter, before the first glimmer of daybreak, he got up and proceeded in the direction he was bidden. It did not take Jong before he found himself back in his village. On being twitted regarding his overnight absence, he told his fellow villagers with extraordinary clearness all that had happened
a
27
SEEING CEYLON
to him. Of his stream of words all they remembered was the injunction that 'nothing should be taken out'. _Few villagers therefore _ever r~amed the Ritigala forests in search of honey, or game, or w1ld~fru1t, or even to gather brushwood, for fear of encountering the wrath of the "Yakka-spirits". As a consequence, the eritire hillrange remained for many centuries more or less untrodden by man. The first person in recent times to break the barrier and invade the peace of this singular low-country hill-top, was a survey officer, James Mantell, who was stationed on trigonometrical duties at Ritigala from the 11 th of May to the I 0th of July, 1872. A:ppare'ntly James Mantell, besides conferring the sobriquet Kod1-bendapu-kanda (the hill which was flagged), on the summit had possibly much to say of the salubrity of a plateau 400 fee; below Ritigala's wind-smitten zone where he resided for two months. It was perhaps he who kindled the idea that it would make an ideal close-at-hand retreat for officials stationed in the unhealthy climate of Nuwarakalaviya. · · Eventually, this possibility of getting away within a few hours from the hot and sultry plains to pure and invigorating air where heavy mists drive even in the hottest time of the year, seems to have registered in the mind of somebody in authority. Six years after Mantell's visit, his brother D. G. Mantell, who was District Surv_e~~r. at Kurunegala, was directed to inspect and report on the poss1b1ht1es for the establishment of a sanatorium on the ledge which was 2000 feet above sea-level . The report he made indicated that the plateau which was about twenty acres in extent was most favourably situated and sheltered from the south-west monsoon which strikes the western side of the hill; that w~ter was procurable from a perennial spring nearby, and that four miles of bndle-road would have to be built, the last mile of which would have to be carried in a zig-zag course up the eastern face _o~ the hill. "There can be no doubt", the report added, "that the prec1p1ces and enormous boulders piled in great masses beneath them will present serious obstacles to the discovery of even a very rough route." That the scheme was shelved, but did not remain unforgotten, is revealed in the diary of C. A. Murray, Actg. 28
RITIGALA- KANDA
Government Agent of the N.C.P., who got to the top of Ritigala on the 29th of October, 1889. He mentions that he rode his horse along a new road to within half a mile of the top, but thereafter had to "swarm up the face of the rock, and climb over huge boulders" before he "reached the flat, where the bungalow is to be erected, commanding a fine view of the country". The bungalow was erected the following year by R. W. Ievers, and village lore has it, that when the Government Agent was in residence there, his tapal was sent from Anuradhapura, 30 miles away, by a relay of runners, and was delivered to him within 3 I /2 hours. Another surveyor, J.B. M. Ridout, who went up in the course of his work, left a record of his visit in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic . Society, 1892; A. P. Green, an entomologist; a botanist; and the Archaeological Commissioner H. C. P. Bell were, so far as can be discovered, the only other persons to climb Ritigala in the last century. The botanist, who made the trip in 1887, was no other than Henry Trimen, the author of those rare volumes .Handbook of the Flora of Ceylon, published in 1872. He says, in a paper read before the R. A. S. Ceylon Branch, that he availed himself of some leisure to make the ascent knowing that the remarkable vegetation on the summit had never yet been seen by botanically trained eyes. He confirmed that the flora on the cap was characteristic of the hills in the neighbourhood of Kandy-stunted trees draped with pendent mosses, and different from those of the low-country hill-tops. Bell, on the other hand, explored the wooded slopes of Ritigala-kanda range, from "end to end" in August I 872. He discovered more than 32 caves and historically valuable lithic records, which he describes in detail in Sessional Paper XXXVIII of 1904. Forty-four years ago when stationed at Maradankadawala; compulsion rather than lure of exploration forced my attention on Ritigala-kanda. It was August, and the country was suffering from the effects of a long spell of dry weather. Having taken shelter, for the night in a little P.W.D. circuit bungalow at Galapitigala, we (my. labourers and I), began the ascent early the next morning. At the village of Galapitigala we engaged a guide who very reluctantly agreed to show us the way to the top: with him leading we followed a path in single file. Skirting the village tank, we proceeded for nearly 29
SEEING CEYLON
two miles through low scrubby jungle off the eastern slope of the hill-range, then turning west made for the northern slope, on which flank alone Ritigala can be ascended. A mile or so under higher forest growth brought us to the base of the hill. A little way up the forest-encompassed path which trails up the northern slope, we passed the principal congeries of monastic ruins. Most of them were surprising works in terraced building on boulderstrewn slopes. Only their foundations, composed of large slabs of stone faced with mouldings, remain. There was a pokuna (badly breached), filled by a hill stream, which from its stone facing and huge earth banks indicated the capability of once holding a large head of water. In entanglements of undergrowth surrounding the main ruins there were lichen-scarred and bleached pillars, exquisitely fashioned steps, colonnaded passage-ways with stone balustrades-all of which were collectively described by our guide as maligawas. A graceful peace pervaded this sanctuary. A tangible sadness hung in the air and invaded the senses, as one in deep melancholy contemplation pondered on the extreme age in stone and mortar which lay about under one's very feet. Truly, the heavy forest which grows on the lower slopes of Ritigala had been kinder to these ruins than man has proved himself to be. And of the numerous gal-geval (rock caves which were once lived in)-the very spirit of the place which grips one's affection, I can write much. One of them called the Na-maluwa, which nestles under a beetling rock, still exhales a spiritual dignity. From it there is a magnificent grove of very old na-gas (the graceful iron-wood tree) stretching a considerable distance to another cave. The grove of ancient trees too bears testimony to the antiquity of both cave and the images found in them . The latter half of the journey lay over very steep ground. It would have been easier but longer to follow the old zig-zag bridlepath, traces of which were; still there. If one made the trip without pausing to look about, it would take 3 hours of hard climbing to get from the base to the top. On the plateau -just before we got to the summit, we found the remains of brick-building put up by levers. An aged lime tree lent domesticity to the scene. 30
RITIGALA- KANDA
What normally rewards the climber who stands on the trigonometrical pile at Ritigala, is the wonderful amphitheatre of jungle spread for miles and miles around; an eye-full of the dagobas of Anuradhapura to the north, a glimpse of sunbeams flashing on the glassy surface of the larger tanks: Kalawewa on the west and Minneriya on the east, quaint hills bursting out of the girdling plain, and the glorious mountains of the Kandyan ranges rising up on the south, like a rampart with a jagged rim. What first greeted our eyes as we reached the cap was the gruesome spectacle of a human skeleton, bleached by the sun and rain of many seasons, lying on a slab-rock by the Trig-station. Amongst the bones which had long been disturbed by vermin when they gnawed of the flesh, we found two gilt coat buttons like those sported in those days by the low-country mudalalies. Th
31
MINNERIYA
III MINNERIYA
-
a Sentinel to Time's Reckless, Recurring Revolutions.
The spontaneous exhilaration and ex'citement which one experienced when travelling four decades ago, on a bicycle, from Habarana to Minneriya, is a memory which even the best padded luxury motor-c~r of today cannot kindle. The track was a gravel road, flanked for mdes by thick jungle diversified by glorious wild, parklike country called "damana", and alive with birds and beasts and butterflies. Today the railway has pierced this wild; the canopy of intertwined foliage which afforded shade to the cyclist has been beaten back by the "squatter", and the road is a macadarnized arterial highway where the heated air on a hot day dances in liquid waves before the bonnet of t_he moving car. The lack of any form of wild-life is very noticeable. One may not now hear the stream of golden bird-song which welcomed the coming day, or see any animal of the wild move. Compensation is sometimes afforded by the startled antics and bold s~ringy leaps of the large grey monkeys sky-larking by the roadside-the females generally carrying a young one which tightly clutc?es t?e_ mother round the belly. If you are very fortunate, you may m ghdmg round a comer run against some deer feeding in a glade ahead. They gaze with large, wondering, timid eye-then in a flash the brush-wood and thicket have swallowed them up-even though it looks so impregnable. And perchance, if you are travelling earl~, on a sunny morning preceded by a night of light rain, it is possible you may flush a jungle fowl or two feeding on the grassy verge, and catch a gleaming flash of green and gold before the . · cock-bird hides .himself in the matted undergrowth. With ~abarana bazaar and the Rest Bouse behind, the scenery changes m character. The road makes tortuous trial through the 32
few occasional patches of high forest now left. Emerging from the seclusion_ of one of these on to a corridor of grass-land where the eye has more liberty, a gleaming, glistening sheet of water breaks into view; this is your first glimpse of the famous Minneri Lakethe Minihera of the Mahavamsa. The open grass-land you pass i~ the-spill. The tum at a junction a short way beyond leads to the bund which disciplines the waters of the lake. In fact, Nature has done much more than man in forming it. The built embankments merely fill intervening gaps between adjoining hills, and are nowhere of any great length. Emerson Tennent, whose book the wise travellerreads b'efore he travels in Ceylon, likens the enchanting view of the tadk unfolded from the bund to "Killamey, warmed and illuminated by an Eastern sun." Indeed, to see Minneri in the hush of sunset with a welter of colour hung from end to end on the western sky, with deep shadows gathering on its rich grassy marshes and low wooded steeps, and with the mountains of Matale being slowly duffed out in the distance, is to carry away a never-fading reminiscence which cannot fail to awaken spontaneous homage. The influence which Minneri exerts over the feelings of the visitor, does not however end with the universal acclaim that it is one of the most charming sylvan spots in Ceylon. Its very atmosphere spells mystery. While legends, winsome in their naivete; endeavour to penetrate this veil, threads of tradition weave stories round its hills ' its glades, and its forest-fanes. Taken together, they endow both lake and environs with a halo of mystery, of hope, of awe, or of wonderment which appealed to past generations, inasmuch as they do to the present generation and doubtless will to othe_rs yet: unborn. The Mahavamsa tells us that this artificial lake was inspired by King Mahasena seventeen centuries ago, and discloses that for the first n_ine years of his reign this King, Mahasena, was an irresponsible trifler-bitter, intolerant and provocative in his dealings with the established monks of the Maha Vihara. He showered his favours on. a heterodox order of monks established at Abhayagiri, whose tenets were schismatic. 33
SEEING CEYLON MINNERIYA
Legend has it that when Mahasena was building _the Jetawanarama stupa in Anuradhapura for his prot~ges, he desired some relic of the Buddha to enshrine in it. Having failed to get these his rage knew no bounds. He stormed his way to the compound of an adjoining shrine with a golden sword in his right hand, and a pot filled with fermented toddy in his left, proclaiming that unless the relies for enshrinement were forthwith obtained he would publicly drink the toddy. His subjects, they say, were shocked, and- even so the gods and yakkas or demons. Miraculou~ly a relic for .enshrinement appeared, and the King was saved the degradation of drinking toddy at a place of worship. · Eventually the irreligious misdeeds of their monarch raised the passions of the nation. The people prepared to revolt and a conflict was imminent when, as the story go~. a comely woman who had found favour with the King took a hand in matters and drastically turned the tide. The leader of the schismatic monks was suddenly assassinated, and the others of his order were dispersed. Convinced of his errors, Mahasena reinstated the Maha Vihara fraternity in the Sacred City, but loath to remain in Anuradhap~ra himself after the rebellion of his subjects, went, it appears, with some of his staunch followers "across the stony ocean in a golden ship, to the country of Malwara (Malabar) where a thousand men of that country received him with great honour. Thence. the great, King Mahasena went to Madurapura (Madura) from whe~~e he came with a large number of men he had collected, to R1t1gala, which was a stronghold of the yakkas, avoiding Anuradhapura". The demons or yakkas were the aboriginal veddas of Ceylon who had came under civilizing influence. Later he settled down at Nuwaragala-a fortress close to the Kohonduruwewa range of hills which separate the Matale district from Tamankaduwa. It was from. this spot, they say, he got the surrounding country inspected, and devoted the last eighteen years of his reign to acts of piety, and to works which led to his being acclaimed the greatest benefactor the country has ever produced. There are many stories and traditions which tell how the. great lakl· Minneri came to be sited and built. Suppose we read it in the ljlla1n1 phraseology of translation from an old Sinhalese manuscript
34
written .on ola, which used to be sung as an eulogy in praise of Mahasena: "King Mah.asena while building a pond by engaging the services of demons (Yakkas) for stone masonry, orders the Adigar of Ritigala to fetch a site suitable for building a large lake. The Adigar, in fear of the yakkas, disguises the objects of his journey. He makes it known that he is leading a band of searchers to find a milch-cow belonging to the royal kitchen which has strayed. When they come to the spot where the Ihakula-wewa, the Talvatura-oya and the Kiri-oya waters meet, they find all the streams high owing to rains, and the plain flooded. The Adigar sees the place is good for a large tank and carries the news to King Mahasena; · he comes in person to see it-but the King is told by the Yakkas (Veddas) the land is theirs and they use it to grow small millet (minneri). Later the Yakkas agreed to give'the land and the King is very happy. After consulting preceptors versed in the law of constructing tanks, King Mahasena summons a thousand men to build the embankments ·to hold the waters of the Ihakula, the Kiri-oya and the Talvatura-oya. Standing under _the shade of a Mayila tree, he orders them to commence the work on the Friday, under the asterism of Anura. The Veva is full and the water is rushing in dancing speed, the overflow forms a milky stream, and the god-King stands on the banks of the Kiri-oya looking on-May Mahasena protect us!" Sparking from this theme there are many other hoary legends. The dwindling Vedda tribe who roamed the forests of Bintenna north.
35
SEEING CEYLON
MINNERIYA
but are now no more, cherished a tradition that they had first claim on Minihera. They held that its bed was a famous hunting ground of their forbears long before the days of Mahasena, and that the King compensated their ancestors for having submerged their huntingground. Their ancestors were, so the story runs, summoned by beat of drums from far and near to work on the building of the embankments. Another local legend tells that after seven long years of labour the tank still remained incomplete. Every year, as it neared completion the bund sank notwithstanding the efforts of the builders. At this anxious period i~ was revealed to Mahasena in a dream that the demons of the tank area demanded a sacrifice, not a mere animal sacrifice, but that of a royal prince, else they would continually destroy the work. When the King's ministers heard of his dream, they were very greatly in favour of appeasing the demons. Much against his wishes he reluctantly consented to the sacrifice, and summoning the Queen demanded that she nominate a prince for the purpose. The Queen indignantly replied: "I do not want a tank of that type, hence I have no prince to give you for sacrifice." After some time, since the completion of the work was still being hindered, Mahasena proceeded in state to his sister and begged a prince of her. She perhaps could not object and had no option but to consent to offer her son. Throwing a royal robe over the shoulders of the lad and having adorned him with gold ornaments, she presented him to the King, who bore the prince away in his entourage. It so happened that the Adigar was very fond of this young prince. When preparations were made for the sacrifice, he plotted a ruse. Hiding the prince in the jungle, he ordered a hunter to kill a bear. Sprinkling the animal's blood on a coffin which the onlookers thought contained the mutilated corpse of the prince, he placed it in the hrcud1 at the spot where the bund was giving trouble. The work111<"11 imrnl'diately began throwing in the earth, and filled the gap in thr hund Th<' King's dream having been fulfilled and the sacrifice 11111111', 1hr h111ul \lood firm and collected the water which was to
irrigate "eight thousand fields." Nevertheless, after the sacrifice had been made Mahasena was often in a dejected mood-so much so that the Adigar ventured to question him, and was answered that the King grieved for his favourite nephew. The Adigar thereupon, begging for the King's forgiveness for disobeying him, observed that if the King did so he could cure the King's grief. Assured of forgiveness, the Adigartold the King of the ruse he had practised, and disclosed that the prince was living disguised as a peasant otttside the limits of Minneriya. On the King's orders the prince was bidden to present himself to the ·Court and was restored to all his honours. That vast stretch of land known as Hingurak-damana (today called Hingurakgoda) was bestowed on him.· A manuscript (ola) in the British Museum recounts the story of the arrival of a "deva" known as Kaludaekada Kumara from India through Jaffna, to Min~eriya. The viHage populace in M'inneriya and around have come to identify the "deva" as Prince Hingurak, and regard him as the tutelary deity of the new colony, Hingurakgoda. And they say that sometimes in the cool and silence of the night, when the full moon silvers the forest, and there is no sound save that from the bull-frog and the cicadas, if you have the temperamental gift, you will hear the hoof beats of a galloping horse. The rustic would have you believe that that is Prince Hingurak riding his spotless white charger. Yet, as might be expected, when years rolled by after the great lake was completed, a grateful peasant people sought more tangible means of perpetuating the memory of a national benefactor who had built sixteen enormous reservoirs and one canal. Inspired by the . intangible, legends still current which tell how King Mahasena was opposed by the yakkas, and even demons, in his efforts to have Minneriya built, and of the assistance he received from ·other invisible agents, later generations, forgetting his earlier apostasy, exalted him to the rank of god. And so, to this day the deified King Mahasena is acclaimed the overlord of Minneriya. Some of his votaries refer to him with the sobriquet Hat RaJjuruwo-which is a name inspired by the ballads extolling Mahasena's wonderful adventures in India, which are to
\t,
37
SEEING CEYLON
MINNERIYA
this day recited in the villages. Others acclaim him as Maha Sena Deviyo, and yet others as Minneriya Swamy. In an unpretentious devala ( or shrine) which is both ancient and hallowed, and is said to cont~in a brass image of the Hat Rajjuruwo, together with other interesting sacred insignia believed to have been presented by Ra Sin Deviyo (King Raja Sinha 11), a kapurala (or lay priest) conducts ceremonies all the year round on behalf of the village people, invoking the help of the deity or propitiating him in order to avert his ill-will. And such is the veneration and awe in which he is held, that the simple folk resort to communion with this invisible power; whose overlordship extends over the beautiful lake and its environs, when sickness and misfortune befall them, when they· want their crops to be rendered secure, or tl}eir fruit-trees protected from pillage, or even when a woman's affection is sought, or when an enemy wishes to create hatred betw~en man and man. · · But it is not the peasant alone who acknowledges his· power. When I first visited Minneriya lake and was walking along its bunds, I came upon a group of broken statuettes of stone which the credulous suppose to be, representations of Mahasen, his Consort and his Minister of State. The traditionalist calls the spot: Veda-inna-Maligawa. So strong is convention and belief in the sanctity of the spot and the power of the deity believed ~o preside there, that often family disputes and lawsuits are settled by one of the parties undertaking to swear to the truth of their statement in the presence of these images washed up by tides of the ocean of Time. Some years ago there were .several other smaller jungle fanes also. on the bund of Minneriya covered with earthenware pots resembiing the finials (kot) of Buddhist vihares and devalas but they are no longer there. During recent construction, to increase the capacity of the lake, even the images of the Vedainna-Maligawa were removed from where they originally were under a venerable tree on the bund, and lodged in a modem shrine-rctom built on the bund. But these traditions, vast, rich and varied, are but a prelude to the inspiring evidence of the bountiful virtues of this man-made lake,
and of the skill and science which transformed the arid plain below it into a land of material affluence. All this, and more, was achieved long before the Normans conquered England. Minneriya lake is however unique in another sense. When as a result of reckless, recurring revolutions, the population abandoned these plains and desolation reigned supreme, it was the only large ancient tank which survived the dire effects of neglect; the bonds never breached, and· stood for centuries as lone sentinels over the waters they confined. It was actually not until Pybus, a British envoy who sought an alliance for his country with the Kandyan king, passed through on his journey from Trincomalee to Kandy in 1762, that Minneriya was first discovered to a western world. It seems stranger still to relate that in 1803 Minneriya was chosen as a military post, and was occupied by a British Regiment of Foot. Thereafter, this region, which had for long been described on maps of the time as "mountainous, unknown country", began to take more realistic shape in cartography and in narrative. In 1817, Dr. John Davy, who was Chief of the Medical Staff of the Army in Ceylon, described how man had all but deserted these woods. He found a few families, bound by ties of nativity, living in a cluster of huts on the banks of the channel which ran to waste from Minneriya lake. Their chief source of support was a little paddy ground affording one crop_ annually; their most cherished possession "the small kovilla (dewafe) dedicated to Mahasimaharaja (maha-sima-raja)." Three years later, Ralph Backhouse, who was the Collector of the District of Mannar, was lured by adventure to traverse what he described as "overgrown arid tortuous jungle paths which trailed over a sun-scorched plain" in a search for Minneriya. He found the lake surrounded by marshy lands which were capable of very extensive cultivation in rice. Passing over a decade, we find Minneriya and its environs as they appeared in 1831, delightfully pen-pictured by Major Forbes. He saw the plains "scattered over with elephants, buffaloes and spotted deer; and the winged race in every variety of form· congregating on the margin of the waters, or flitting along its narrow
38
39
SEEING CEYLON
inlets." He also wrote how he "crossed the remains of a canal which is said to connect Minneriya to the Ambanganga at Elahera, from whence it was supplied with water." This canal which Forbes mentions, was also inspired by the kings who in centuries gone entitled their memory to traditional veneration as benefactors of their race and country. It served as a hostage-if one were humanly possible against. the unfavourable seasons of drought. Fourteen years after Forbes wrote about this uncharted canal, the enthusiasm of three gentlemen: Adams, Churchill and Bailly, led to the discovery of its trace. Having und~rgone great hardship, and having literally cut their way through a wilderness of wild country,· they found the tradition true, and indicated that the abandoned remains were an inspiring reminder of "human skill" and "human industry." But what these explorers did not know, was that the special functions of the Elahera canal were not limited to Minneriya. Mingling its waters with those from other drainage lines tapped on the way, the canal is known today to have provided a continuous· lifeline to irrigation down the g~ain of the country to Tambalagam, near Trincomalee, 85 miles from. the intake. A venerable tamarind tree called the orubandi-siyambalagaha (the tamarind tree to which boats were tied), 26 feet, in girth, which stands on the embankments 5. 1/2 miles from its source, was, according to tradition, used to tether boats which plied on the canal. This historic link, a protected monument today, is a reminder that the canal was used for water-communication as well. Although the bunds ofMinneriya lake had stood the test of many centuries of abandonment, two of its three an~ient sluices lay blocked and useless even so recently as sixty years ago. When these were repaired in 1902, and the reservoir held great promise for colonization on an irrigation basis, it must be confessed that the call to the land was a vain appeal. The one and only reason-the dapple-winged dragon of malaria. The jungles which had grown on the once fertile rice-fields were left in undisputed possession of the dry-zone plains because the female anopheles mosquito, the dread carrier of the disease, reigned there, and brooked no interference in 40
MINNERIYA
her sovereignty. Rice, which is so intimately bound up with the well-being of Ceylon, was, as all know, the principal commodity for the production of which Ceylon's lakes were built. Its cultivation was, and will ever remain, the monopoly of the small-holder. The first mistake made after Minneriya lake was repaired was a venture to cultivate paddy in Ceylon on a large commercial basis. In 1919, when, after the first world war, paddy was selling at Rs. 4/- per bushel-a very high price for that time, and caused by difficulties of procuring the grain abroad-a concession to open and develop the land at Minneriya was granted to a Company formed under the auspices of the Planters' Association of Ceylon. It was subsequently registered under the Joint Stock Company Ordinance and was known as the Minneriya Development Company. The nominal capital was six million rupees divided into 120 thousand shares of Rs. 50/- each. Two million rupees were quickly subscribed and work started. The promoters hoped that by adopting a suitable form of agriculture for the region using labour-saving machinery, and by introducing the then known mechanized technical methods, rice and other commodities could be placed on the local market in quantities sufficient to compete with foreign supplies. One of the main objects of the Company was that shareholders should have the full benefit of other foodstuffs grown on the land at a cheap rate. A gentleman who was for seven years in the Irrigation Department and had considerable personal experience of growing paddy under a tank, was appointed Resident Manager. The land selected was definitely inaccessible. It was surrounded by thick jungle. The only means of access was a rough track which trailed over a circuitous route of 14 miles from the main road to the boundary of the block. The nearest railhead was 58 miles away. It was obvious at the outset that the difficulties of transport for construction work would be great. Clearing the land began in June I 920. With the dry season coming on and as the distributary channels had not been cut, much difficulty was experienced in procuring water to be used by the labour for domestic purposes. Yet with effort, wells were sunk and 41
MINNERIYA
I. Veda-inna-Maligawa-Minncriya
2. Vatada_l!e at Madiriginya
42
labour lines were built. By the month of November there came the North-East rains. The country was soaked with water, transport became a very big worry. The feeding of the labour personnel became none too easy as supplies of rice had to be transported by carriers. The few plots cultivated with maize, yams and dry grain· were damaged by wild pig and buffalo. Conditions could hardly have been worse for health, and swarms of mosquitoes added to discomfort. Under such conditions malaria was soon rife. It be.came a well-nigh hopeless task to get any work done. The labour could not be controlled and began to leave in large numbers. By the following year, the rice crisis had become an incident of the past. Cheap Indian and foreign supplies of rice were being freely imported and caused the price of local paddy to fall. Government, moreovei;, notified its decision not to proceed with an Ordinance for the compulsory production of foodstuffs by estate owners or other private bodies. It was doubtless this particular issue th'at brought matters to a head. At the end of March 1921, the Board · of Directors of the Minneriya Development Company placed a resolution beforS! the shareholders that the Company should be voluntarily liquidated as there appeared to be no prospect of the undertaking becoming even self-supporting. The resolution was accepted at an extraordinary general meeting, and confirmed at another held in May 1921. · This interesting experiment in paddy growing on an extensive scale under European management and with modem machinery then available, did useful work in proving that under prevailing conditions any attempt at large scale cultivation on commen;ial lines could not succeed. The process of opening up the first section which resulted in the loss of a considerable sum of money, shows that heavy initial expenditure was necessary to prepare the low-country jungle land for paddy growing and to render the surroundings healthy enough to attract and keep labour. It emphasizes that it must take a considerable number of years before even a moderate return on capital could be expected. And so, the reclamation of Minneriya was permitted to grow still older in story, waiting a man bles_sed with qualities of head and heart which fitted him to play the role in shaping what may be termed the
43
SEEING CEYLON
MINNERIYA
modern chapter in the irrigation, agricultural development and colonization of Ceylon. Minneriya, together with its colonies Hingurakgoda and Hathamuna, designed and constructed to bring fifty thousand acres of virgin wild to the service of this country, stands as a monument to that man-aptly termed "The Father of the Nation." We have earlier seen that ,arrayed against D. S. Senanayake's efforts, was even the failure of "Big Business". One year showed that, in prevailing conditions, no business concern could hope to restore the dry zone. What was more necessary than money, was courage and determination. It was only in 1933 that about 400 colonists, taking advantage of the offer of the then Minister for Agriculture and Lands, to which the Governor, Sir Graeme Thomson, imparted his patronage, set off from their villages for Minneriya. The· misfortune which attended the efforts of the Minneriya Development Company to open the land in this region; and an accident which ~esulted in Dr. Willis, a Director of Agriculture, losing the use of an eye while inspecting the land under the tank, at the request of Governor Blake, were both put down by the people to the displeasure of the local tutelary deity who resented the intrustion of trespassers on his preserves! It is on these, and similar coincidences that tradition thrives .. Consequently, from the very outset, before the firs·t batch of colonists began to cut down the huge forest, the goodwill of the overlords of Minneriya and Hingurakgoda was sought by ceremonial rites conducted to the satisfaction of the agricultural folk. When, a few days after the initial rites had been offered, a bubbling spring was discovered close to the first wadia (camp) erected, it was of course credited to the benevolence of the gods who had been placated. One may not inquire how long this spring ·had been there hidden by the mantle of jungle. It is sufficient that the new settlers believed it was created in response to their faithful observance of rites and that its discovery was accepted as a favourable omen. Year by year, the work of reclaiming from the jungle the rice fields once worked by the ancient kings, proceeded on a set plan.
Malaria, as usual, was taking its savage toll, but effectively organized anti-mosquito measures gradually brought the scourge under control. Since nothing succeeds like success, this initial achievement which converted a barren waste, where the wild denizens of the forest roamed and ruled, into an arable settlement, was the forerunner of other group-settlements undertaken by the Ceylon Government. And so, today, in and around Minneriya, "the gods smile". The tutelary rights acquired by the fever-carrying mosquito have been disputed and the malaria problem nearly solved. The waters gushing from the conduits of the lake sing a modem saga as they run down disciplined courses, harnessed to serve far-flung rice fields. What the visttor sees of the vast area of land which lay forlorn and neglected for centuries, is square mile on square mile of moist green field and high-land settlements; and along with it "a bold peasantry, their country's pride."
44
45
KAVUDULLA WEWA AND GIRITALE
IV KAVUDULLAWEWA AND GIRITALE "From Minnery, we went to Kowdelly Tank"-,-wrote Sir Henry Ward when on tour in I 872. He goes on to say: "the waters having burst the bund at a period so distant, what was once the bed of the tank is now a forest, abounding in trees of the largest dimensions." This little known ancient lake must at one time have retained a head of water equal to, if not even bigger than, Minneriya. Investigation goes to show that in all probability it submerged a greater area of land at full supply level than Minneriya did, before recent enlargement. We today call this feature which has lain hidden in the forests of the Vattekacci Intermediate Zone for well-nigh 600 years, Kavudullawewa. It has been identified as the irrigation reservoir called Tissavaddamanaka, which is included in the sixteen large tanks built by King Mahasena. Yet legend would have us believe that this particular lake was not built by Mahasena, but by one of his Queens,' who wished to prove to the King that the sacrifice he offered to the demons for the successful completion of Minneriya Lake was unnecessary. She was doubtless unaware of the deception. Apparently, when the bed of Kavudullawewa was submerged by the impounded waters, the Queen taunted the King for the trivial circumstances in which. he had forfeited the life of the royal prince Hingurak. By way of reproach, pointing to the lake which she had sponsored, she said: "See, it is even larger than your Minneriya!" The King, enraged that the Queen had built a lake which she was publicly acclaiming had out-sized the structure he had triumphed over, conspired with his ministers to put her away. They say, he clandestinely had her drowned in the waters of Kavudullawewa! Time was when it was very difficult to get to this abandoned irrigation-reservoir. It lay nearly midway in a thirty mile stretch of
46
continuous forest, and jungle, extending northwards from the Minneriya colonization scheme, to Kantalai off the highway to Trincomalee. The only evidence of human habitation in this desolate region given over to elephants, bear, leopard and other forest . denizens, is an isolated village of a few mud and wattle huts which is described on maps as Divulankadawala. Nevertheless, today it is much less arduous to get to the breached bund of Kavudullawewa. A trail has been blazed, and heavy machines transported to the site are doing what man accomplished laboriously with basket and mamotie in the past, to fill two breaches. in the four-mile long bund which originally impounded the waters of the Kudagala-oya and the Gal-oya to form the lake. Despite these two breaches the bed of this reservoir used to be flooded, year after year, with shallow water after the monsoon rains, and large herds of wild buffalo were not infrequently to be see~ grazing on the coarse "ramba" grass which sprang up as the water receded. In the very near future, however, this wild scenery of animal and bird life will have changed, for when the filling of the two breaches in the bund has been completed a vast expanse of water will greet the eye. Many years must roll by before one may claim for Kavudullawewa the beauty and serenity of Minneriya. Gaunt skeletons of the large trees which will stand out when the forest is drowned will mar the beauty of the landscape unfolded. Nonetheless, when the bleached remains of these forest leviathans are eventually drowned by the hand of Time, the eye will carry to the waters which reach out into the valleys formed by the spurs and strikes of the picturesque forest-clad, quartzrock formation we call the Sudukanda range. On this background another panel of beautiful lake-scenery will be added to Ceylon's dry zone. There is one other striking feature which justly merits inclusion . in these impressions of Kavudullawewa. Below the bund lies one of the vastest stretches of "park country" or damana which can be found in the island. This more or less level terrain covers an area which is not much less than ten thousand acres, and undoubtedly was at one period the paddy lands irrigated by the waters stored in the lake. Being closely associated with legends of prince Hingurak,
47
SEEING CEYLON
it has come to be called Hingurak-damana. In the more open patches of the damana it is possible to see a mile through the trees dotted over the level tract. In other parts, the trees are so close as to be of the nature of a thinly wooded forest. The trees are seldom of great size as they sprang up after the depopulation of this part of the Rajarata and the decay of the old fields, soon after the 13th century. In the dry season of the year, before the onset of the northeast monsoon, the noonday heat in the Hingurak-damana is dry and scorching. The-grass is burnt to a cinder, and the leaves on the larger trees droop, betokening the absence of all moisture. But, when after the rains, in the clear freshness of the mornings each green blade of grass drenched with dewdrops reflects a spicule of light, and the blossoming varieties of the trees such as the satin, the ehela, the mee and the damba are in flower, this damana is the most lovely country in the Island to travel through. If perchance you do find yourself in this part of the Rajarata, so packed with history, lore and legend, you will deny yourself much if you do not devote a little time to visit an architectural gem among the oldest of Buddhist shrines in Ceylon. It is referred to on the oneinch to the mile survey maps as Madirigiriya, but was known in ancient times as Mandalagiri. Reading in between historical records, it would appear that in the reign of Kanittha Tissa (A.O. 166-184) it was a flourishing religious establishment, but reached the height of fame from about the 9th to the early half of the thirteenth century. However, neither archaeology nor record has disclosed when, or by whom, the dagoba, which to all purposes was the original shrine, was constructed. Modern reports on the exploration and conservation of the site tell of "bricks containing Brahmi letters of most archaic form incised on them as mason's marks, picked up in the debris round the stupa." There is every possibility that it dated to the 2nd century B.C. H. C. P. Bell was the first antiquary to reach out to this remote and virtually inaccessible monument in the very heart of the jungle; that was, when carrying out his survey of ruins in Tamankaduwa, nearly 70 years ago. What seemed to have appealed to him most in the picturesque disorder his eye rested on, were the stone pillars 48
KAVUDULLA WEWA AND GIRITALE
with carved capitals and the stone screen-wall-the remains of the Vatadage, or circular colonnade which was the principal feature of architectural adornment built around this ancient dagoba. He strongly advocated the restoration of this choice oriental motif in artistic temple composition. Yet, it was not until 1934 that attention came to be focussed on Madirigiriya. Work had by then been started on the Minneriya colonization scheme, and this had attracted an influx of strangersamong them treasure hunters in search of ancient ruins on which to bestow surreptitiously the indelible marks of their vandalism. The dagoba-mound at Madirigiriya was rifled by them, and apparently, as happens i;nore often than not, the evidence available was insufficient to convict the culprits. Spurred by this attempt to despoil a monument of such architectural and historical interest, little time was lost in handling its conservation. The Archaeological Department's achievement in this instance is fully as worthy of record as the great deeds which the Mahavamsa has saved from oblivion. The problems which had to be confronted when work was started in June 1941 were manifold. Transport was confined to a rough jungle track negotiable only by roofless country carts drawn by bullock; water was a great problem as nearly all the ancient pokunas were breached; the country was infested with wild animals and was so terribly malaria-ridden, that work was confined to seven months of dry season each year. Shattering these difficulties came Japan's entry, at the end of 1941, into the Second World War. An aerodrome was built at Hingurakgoda, and troop-camps came to be established over this part of the country which was not far from the strategic port, Trincomalee. In these circumstances the jungle track was closed and communication was much interfered with. Epidemics of cholera which broke out in Anuradhapura and Polonnaruva spread panic, while rationing and short supply in food demoralized the labour force. Nevertheless, despite progress being sluggish, the restoration was completed in 1945. There is a wealth of silent majesty in the restored Madirigiriya. It stands in dominating possession on top of a bare rock which rises above the surrounding jungle and its solemnity is enh<;\nced by the 49
SEEING CEYLON
surprising richness of its artistic decoration and spiritual grace. The ancient dagoba is girdled by three concentric circles of graceful octagonal-shaped stone pillars, with exquisitely carved capitals. The pillars of the innermost circles are 17 feet high. Those of the second concentric circle 16 feet high and of the outer 9 feet; so arranged that the pillars once supported a sloping roof which covered a paved circular antechamber 22 feet wide. In line with the outer circle of pillars, one sees the most interesting features of the Vatadage-the screen-wall, 3 feet 6 inches in height, ornamented with a post and rail design, singularly unique and emphasizing its purpose to define the sacrosanct limits of the inner shrine. The Vatadage, which was built in the later half of the 7th century A.O. by the wealthy King Aggabodhi II, has but a single counterpart-the Vatadage built later in Polonnaruva. To Madirigiriya, and to see the images and relies reclaimed from oblivion, white-robed pilgrims now frequently go in cars and special buses using a new road from Hingurakgoda Rest House. They find there something which the hearts of all men desire. But when they have left, and the silence of night returns, the jungle creatures wander out to where until recently they were the sole masters. And so, we pass on to Giritale-wewa--one motors past it four miles out of Minneriya-on the road to Polonnaruva. It was originally built about the early half of the 7th century, in the great fight between Nature and man, when the jungles of these regions were being gradually beaten back, and the country nursed as a witness to progressive settlement. This little sheet of water, dappled on its margin by sunshine, seems to be·always playing a wild game displaying that fretted mystery of light and shade with the foliage on its fringe, and the reflections of fast-flying clouds overhead. As a pretty lake it would undoubtedly claim more attention than it does, but for its proximity to the Minnrriya Lake. The Mahavamsa names it Giritala, an accomplishment of Aggabodhi II (604-614), who, had his reign not been short, might have rivalled Mahasena as a tank- . building king;. It is well worth breaking journey to brood over the serenity and the picturesque setting of Giritale-wewa. Here is an opportunity to examine the details of construction of the features peculiar to these
50
KAVUDULl.A WEWA AND GIRITALE
ancient works. Walking on the high embankment or bund which has been built across a deep valley, one gets a fair idea of the depth of water by looking at the drop on the down-stream side which terminai:es in level ground and damp forest. Records do not tell whether Giritale-wewa was despoiled in any one of those periodic invasions from India which swept over at intervals for something like 20 centuries; but it seems certain it must have, for Parakramabahu is said to have rebuilt it. In the gloom of the decline which drove the population from the plains of Cey Ion to the central hills at the end of the 13th century, this lakelet, together with others, reverted to the jungle which sprang up and gave tranquillity to the plains. Those who saw it in this phase of abandonment indicate that the only tokens-besides the bund and its choked up sluices-which might . have spoken to this region as the popular suburb of a wealthy city, were the weathered remains of hewn stones, carved spouts and steps of masonry. They lay cloistered by thick undergrowth which throve in the luxury of forest shade. · The modem story of the restoration of Giritale-wewa goes back just 50 years. Its capacity was increased more recently. Happily, in the process of restoration many an ancient contrivance was retained, and the discerning eye which can pick them out has an opportunity to obtain some idea of their special functions and, maybe, assess the time, labour and ingenuity expended on their construction. One such contrivance is the raelapana or "wave-breaker,' composed of artificial dressed stone revetments, or pitchings, on the up-stream face of the embankment. Its purpose was to resist the action of constant wave-play which would invariably €rode and . destroy the embankment. The original raelapana at Giritale-wewa has been disturbed very little, and conveys the impression of ripplebands formed by the water on the slope of the bund. Of even greater interest is the valve-pit for releasing water to the fields. The significance of the present structure at Giritale-wewa for controlling the water down the channel is that the actual ancient bisokotuwa has been set up arn;w with concrete backing, and is one of the very few instances where it is possible to ascertain how this twenty three century old device functions.
51
POLONNARUVA
V
POLONNARUVA: WHAT GLORY IS HERE ECLIPSED! Polonnaruva, sixteen miles south-east of Minneriya, was the second and last great capital of the kings of Lanka. This medieval city owed its genesis to its strategic position. It commanded the crossing of the Mahaveli-ganga near Dastota, which had proved to be a vital point in the line of communication between Rajarata (the king's country); and the maritime plain of Rohana off the eastern base of the central mountain mass. In the latter half of the 7th century, King Aggabodhi IV vacated Anuradhapura for reasons of strategy, and went into temporary residence at Polonnaruva. They called it at the time Kandavuranuvara-which meant "the camp-city". Other Anuradhapura kings continued occasionally to use Polonnaruva for military reasons during the eighth, the ninth and the tenth centuries, but it was not until 1070 and onwards, following a Cho la invasion which had destroyed Anuradhapura, that the city came to be in esse the capital of Lanka, and to be referred to in the annals as Pulatthinagara. It continued as such until the middle of the 13th century. Nevertheless, Polonnaruva's period of pre-eminence which won for it a place in history, was much shorter than the centuries covered. Its lavish oriental architectural magnificence, and most of its splendid medieval buildings, both religious and secular-the remains of which even today serve as stimuli to the imaginationwere the handiwork of a brief and brilliant interlude of forty-two years sandwiched between two periods of very great national depressions. The King who inspired such tremendous vitalization of the nation's energy was Parakramabahu, who reigned for thirtythree years of the. forty-two which brought splendour to the city. Indeed, no King more incontrovertibly deserved his title of "the Great."
52
From his youth the ambition to bring all Lanka under one canopy had stirred within Parakramabahu the Great. Forcing his way to the throne, he expelled the invaders whose impress on the Sinhalese of the period was so marked as to even largely alter the national character. Seeing his fondest hope realized, he showed himself to be as successful an administrator as he had proved himself a warrior. This period of prosperity saw great conquests made, fortifications which secured the country against foreign inroads, the building of a great city, and works of irrigation which saved the people from fear of famine. This included besides a large·extension· of that system to meet the requirements of the part of the island which he had made most important-now known as the district of Tamankaduwa-a complete restoration of the old system and its thousands of man-made lakes which had. fallen into disrepair or · had been wantonly breached by earlier enemy invading forces. Little wonder that the Mahavamsa has more to say of this King's prowess and endowments than of any other. The time-worn, crumbling ruins which are mantled by forestgrowth below the northern end of the bund of the lake at Polonnaruwa, are the remains of Parakrama's capital. They are the bones of history, and chronicle the sites of citadel and pal~ce, of pavilions, temples of the gods, and alms-halls, of monasteries, preaching-halls, royal baths and hospitals. To compare the old city of Anuradhapura with the newer Polonnaruva would be much like picking the difference between folk-song and Rock-n-Roll! The earlier was the capital for 12 hundred years, and may metaphorically be likened to a very charming old lady, serenely gowned in old silk and lace. There is a graceful peace about Anuradhapura, an artistic and spiritual grace which lends it dignity. It is impressive. Yet, Polonnaruva is the buried city more favoured by sightseers. It is undoubtedly more spectacular with its forest background. Moreover, as the ruins are not so "ruined", they require less effort of imagination to enable one to recast scenes of the past. The difference in the styles of architecture of the two capitals is most marked. Polonnaruva dominates in weather-worn brickand a 53
SEEING CEYLON
decadent stucco ornament which whispers of imitation and of an urge to get finished with the work quickly. Anuradhapura, on the· other hand, but for the dagobas and a few buildings, is all grey stone. The carvings on rock are purer, displaying originality in style and design, and more patient craftsmanship. It has to be remembered that for nearly three centuries before Polonnaruva was built, the hand of the Pandyan and Chola invader was strong in Lanka. The country thus came greatly under the influence of Indian cultures. This, no doubt, is one reason why the style and architecture of Polonnaruva is pronouncedly Hindu in type. But it also has to be remembered that Parakrama himself was a Brahmin and chiefly of Tamil blood, as doubtless were his court and nobility, and also that the King had made his conquests largely through Tamil aid. All this may be the explanation to the puzzle why Tamil norms of architecture dominate in the buildings of Parakrama's capital ~hich are devoted to Buddhistic religious concepts. There can be but one other surmise-the regal architect of Polonnaruva realized that he had to conciliate two sections of supporters and could not afford to alienate the Sinhalese party and the Buddhist monks. The Mahavamsa strikes a charming note when it says that Parakrama "ordained that freedom from fear should be given on the four holy days of each month (even to) the beasts and fish that moved on land and water". I first found myself at Polonnaruva in 1920-exactly · a hundred years after a young first Lieutenant of His Majesty's 2nd Ceylon Regiment, marching his detachment from Batticaloa to Minneriya, rested a day at "Topary", as Polonnaruva was then called. The incident would naturally have remained long forgotten but for the fact that Lt. M. H. Fagan kept a journal of his march. Attracted by some stone pillars standing in the jungle off the road, Fagan hastened to examine them. Surprised by the massive proportions of tbe structures they formed a part of, he was allured to t•xplorc the jungle deeper, only to discover, with the help of an old vI llagt·r of "Topary" who acted as guide, others even more ntr11s1vr Ills cardully compiled notes (first published in the Ceylon c iovemmcnt Uuzcttc of August I st, 1820, and reprinted in I 885 in
POLONNARlNA
"The Orientalist", Vol. II), written with a gift for vividly painting a picture in words, are a pioneer account of the discove~y of the disintegrating remains of Pulatthinagara consigned to obhv1on under a forest of large trees-five centuries old, and covered by a mantle of lush undergrowth. Fagan· s description of the circular red-brick structure which he initially discovered by the side of the road pictures the Vatadage, meaning 'Round Relic House' ,-which today is acclaimed the masterpiece of Polonnaruva architecture. He had only a fragment of the circular wal; with its handsome cornice round the inner maluva to judge by, hence he assumed it was all built in bric~. Yet de~pite the shambles it must have been when he saw it, as piles of bncks, debris and rubbish, interlaced by the roots of an Indian fig-tree (banyan) he has very correctly gleaned that the entrances corresponded exactly with the four cardinal points; that there were double flights of six steps each which led to the lower and thereafter to the upper platforms; and that the balustrades at each entrance were flanked by guard-stones depicting the doratupalayo · or janitors, which (although male figures) he erroneously assumed were 'female figures'. In the commentary on the ruins at Madirigiriya it was remarked that the unique Vatadage there had but one other counterpart. The only notable difference in the hallowed structure later erected at Polonnaruva, is to be found in the design of the ornamental screenwall composed of carved stones covered with figures of the open lotus flower. The more thrilling aspect of Fagan's exploration is told when in the afternoon he was conducted by his guide to the Uttararama or the-northern part where he beheld the monolithic figure-carvings in heroic size which lend serenity to the shrine we call Gal-vihara. He writes: "the evening was closing fast when I found myself under a dark and gigantic human figure at least 25 feet high, I cannot describe what I felt at the moment. .. On examination I found this to be a figure of Budhoo ... close on his left lies another gigantic figure of the same person in recumbent p_o~ture .... and ~ third figure of the same proportions in the common s1ttmg attitude. 55
SEEING CEYLON
There is much more weird, as it is impressive-to be gleaned from Fagan's descriptions of other monuments discovered in his hurried tour but we must perforce move on, culli~g but one citation more: "There is a vague tradition among the people," he writes, "that the Portuguese found immense treasures in these buildings, since which time, they affirm that lam the only European by whom theseruins have been visited." The tradition is possibly true! Writing in 1831, Major Forbes says of Polonnaruva: "I had ten days previously to our visit despatched people to clear paths so as to enable us to reach the principal ruins ... Soon after entering the forest we were surprised by coming suddenly on a large building, more resembling the early ecclesiastical edifices of Europe than any other which the island possesses ... " This structure, flanked by its two polygonal pillars nearly 50 feet in height, is what we today call Lankatilaka-or the "Jewel of Lanka", ornamented inside and out with figures of deities in bas-relief, and by a gigantic standing figure of Buddha, now headless, in the sanctum. The solid pillars and various statuary of this imposing ruin are covered with a polished cement which still adheres to some of them. In former times, the Lankatilaka was popularly referred to as Jetavanarama. The figures of two snakes carved in stone near it inspired in the past a fantastic idea to account for the derivation of the present name of the city. One of the snakes is asserted to be of the hooded variety (Sinhalese Na-ya), and the other the viper (Polonga). Local tradition reads from this the derivation of the modern name Polon-na-ruva: Polan -from polonga (viper); Na-from naya (cobra); ruva-(Sinhalese)-image, Twenty years later ( 1851 ), Sir Samuel Baker, his brother Lt. V. Baker, a Mr. Palliser and Stuart-Wortley (later Lord Whamcliffe) descended into these plains on one of many excursions carrying with them 18 guns and rifles. They bagged in three weeks "50 elephants, 5 deer and 2 buffaloes" Reading through the day to day recordings of the trip at least a 100 more elephants must have been mortally wounded. "A little method and trifling extra cost will make a 11111~dt' trip anything but uncomfortable," writes Raker. So, the party had "two tents, one of which contained four beds and a general
56
POLONNARlNA
dressing table: the other was arranged as dining-room with table and chairs-we had a complete dinner and breakfast service for four persons, and abundance of linen". There was nothing, moreover, wanting in their supplies for we have the list: "sherry, madeira, brandy, curacoa, biscuits, tea, sugar, coffee, hams, tongues, sauces, pickles, mustard, sardines en huile, tins of soups, preserved meats, vegetables, currant jelly for venision, macaroni, vermicelle, flour and a variety of other things including a double supply of soap and candles." This has been a sad digression, which however seems necessary to illustrate the metamorphosis which saw a vast expanse of forest and park-land abounding in varied forms of wild life turned into a sadist's paradise for the massacre of elephants and buffaloes. What jungle revel to the mind? Even as late as the beginning of the present century, a visit to Polonnaruva was considered an adventure, and was not undertaken lightly. The road was hardly more than a bullock-cart track; the country was infested with wild animals. It was not until 1897 th~t an attempt was made to survey and site the principal ruins and limits of the old city, and not until 1901 did systematic restoration start. What I saw on my first visit ( 1920) were a few clearings around groups of ruins, scattered in disorder, in forest and thorny tangle. The Topawewa, a square mile of beautiful water covered with pink lotuses (impounded by a king called s, in the 4th century), greeted my eye from the verandah of a two-roomed Rest House erected off its embankment. The living offspring of the great city that was114 persons or 30 families in all-were herded together in a typical old North-Central Province village, their link and support a small tract of field which they cultivllted twice each year, with waters drawn from the tank. That was about the time when an Archaeological Commissioner lost his way in the jungles while accompanying a reigning Governor of Ceylon. The tale as told was that the Governor, who was more than sixty years old, wished to v:isit a ruin where some remarkable frescoes retained their colour after the tide of the jungle had flowed over it for five centuries. His Excellency did not, however, see the 57
SFEll'G Cr-:n,(JN
..'<
'"').
<~
<
Vatadage at Polonnaruva
4< Topawewa
58
POLONNARUVA
frescoes for his· mentor, while endeavouring to reduce the walk from five to three miles each way, mistook one track for another in an open pelessa (glade) and utterly lost his way. It was inevitable that the compass, when vitally required, had been left in camp. The sun was no help as this happened in the middle of the day. Happily, after some anxious hours, the party eventually fell upon a path familiar to the guide, and the agitation of'the Governor's lady was allayed when a very thirsty and tired representative of His Majesty's Colonial Service wobbled up the steps leading to the verandah of the Rest House. He was confronted by a host of minor officialdom, who were preparing to send out a search-party of "Vedda" trackers. The.Governor was a great sportsman: notwithstanding a desiccated tongue, he turned to the Archaeological Commissioner and politely crackled, "I·have enjoyed my walk and you must come to dinner!" To the ruins of the temple with the frescoes which the Governor did not see, and the several other scattered vestiges of the old city to which, at that time, one had to pick a way slowly, along trails criss-crossed by a maze of game-tracks, or walks littered with elephants' droppings, you can now go in a car. The charming old Rest House which offered you peaceful habitation, around which the fireflies were wont to congregate very brilliantly at night, has.succumbed to the urge to see places, in this age of petrol. A much more substantial, well provisioned building of many rooms is there to contribute to the comforts of traveller, tourist and pilgrim, dropped at the porch by cars which swoop in day and night. There is no adventure today in a visit to Polonnaruva; but the old, old Polonnaruva remains unchanged, most of it conserved and cared for. In its departed vestiges of glory, th~re lie enshrined the adQrations of numerous
THE KING OF LAKE-RESERVOIRS
. VI
THE KING OF LAKE-RESERVOIRS In the last chapter we saw how, in a period of conquest and well-being, Pulatthi (Polonnaruva) was transformed, in a very short span of years, into a Cai)ital worthy of the power and ambitions of Parakramabahu 1. We also noticed in parenthesis, how with the double object of providing food and filling the treasury, the old irrigation works which had been despoiled by the enemy, or fallen into decay through neglect, were repaired, and even more ambitious new works were undertaken. The King's crowning achievement in this field was a magnificent lake he built in close proximity to the city, so extensive that, in the gesture language of the Orient, it received the name Parakrama Samudra. Even by standards of today, and construction. by the aids now made available by science and mechanization, this would be considered a major und.ertaking. The Mahavamsa, chronicling the conclusion of this colossal achievement says: "To put away famine from living creatures that most excellent of men ... created the king of reservoirs . ... " Nevertheless, Parakrama's achievement, prodigious as it was for that age, did not long survive the death of the great ruler. Within a century thereafter this lake which received pride of place, and impounded twice as much water as we find today within the sheltering breakwaters of the Port of Colombo, was breached. Together with the glory that was Polonnaruva, both lake and city gradually passed into oblivion and became the floor of the jungle and forest which in time buried them. What Parakrama's engineers actually did to bring into being this "sea", was to link up a congeries of five small tanks-with Topawewa near the city and Dumbutullawewa near the Ambanganga, or Kara-ganga of old,-by constructing nine miles of embankment across the shallow valleys in which the small tanks nestled, and to
60
anchor this to four miles of rocky escarpment on a section of high ground. When the first flood was impounded and the bed of the tarik wa,; submerged, the artificial lake mingled the waters of numerous streams flowing down from the Sudukanda range of hills to the west, with a river-flow led to it from the Amban-ganga along a channel. The location of Parakrama's "Sea" was for many years the subject of intense speculation by historian, antiquarian and explorer. When discovered towards the end of the last century, it was found that in all its length of bund there was only one serious breach-60 feet deep and 600 feet wide. Through this breach a rivulet known as the Divulpitiya-ela had passed down an intensive surging flood of water in the rainy season, for centuries. This breach, borrowing the name of a hamlet nearby, came to be called the Eramudu Gap. We may not tell when the Divulpitiya-ela exerted supremacy over the built up bund and caused this breach, but those who had made a close study of the conditions at the gap suggest that there are good grounds for assuming that the tank bund had breached at this particular spot at least twice earlier-that is to say, this pride of the Chronicles had breached three times in a little over l 00 years. These past failures indicated that the impounded waters had discovered the weakest point in the bund and emphasized what formidable difficulties lay ahead if any attempt were to be made to effectively seal the breach. Nevertheless, the restoration of this medieval accomplishment long tantalized the patriot, inasmuch as it gripped the imagination of the economist in a position to visualize its great capabilities and the vast extent below it which could be reclaimed from unprofitable jungle waste to benefit a rapidly increasing population. The successful and favourable start on the development of Minneriya loosened Government purse strings, and afforded a fair measure of aid to resuscitate the broad acres of the Tamankaduwa · district. The investigation carried out disclosed that greater adv·antage would accrue by damming the Ambanganga at the Sudukanda Gap and throwing up an artificial lake rather than by restoring Parakrama's Sea. It was shown that the structure proposed would be capable of storing three times as much water as
. 6)
SEEING CEYLON
the Parakrama Samudra would hold if it were to be restored moreover, that the new scheme would make available for cultivation the six thousand acres of richly alluvial land which would be submerged by water if the project for merely restoring the old work was undertaken. It is unfortunate that discussions on the merits of the alternative projects took place at a period when national prestige was heating up. In the circumstances, economic and practical advantages were naturally outweighed by sentiment. That was how the "king of tanks," commemorated in the Mahavamsa as the crowning achievement of a martial, enterprising and glorious period of Sinhalese history, came to be restored, despite the possibilities of a modern, deep-water reservoir which to greater advantage could have supplanted it. Discussing this point during a quiet moment with Mr. D.S. Senanayake on one of his periodic circuits to Polonnaruvahe explained it in terms of the time saved in securing a large working reservoir by utilizing an existing bund and filling one serious breach. Concerning the greater utility of the other scheme, he added: "We must leave some way for posterity to solve the problems of a growing population and increasing unemployment which is going to follow us!" So today, the visitor visualizes pristine greatness, and the highest achievement in the art of the ancient hydraulic engineer, as he gazes from the Polonnaruva Rest House at the waves lapping in foamy surf on the lofty embankment. When raised to spilling-point after the north-e~st rains, Parakrama Samudra reach~s its greatest depth of 52 feet, and the sheet of water extends 3 l /2 miles directly across, at maximum limit. In August every year, when the lake is at its lowest level, the reservoir will show up as three separate lakes, and disclose the position of the old Topawewa and DumbutuUawewa which are defaced when the reservoir is at maximum level. The diagram on page 63 will help the reader to visualize the capacity and water-spread of the lake when full. No point on the margin of this man-made feature commands a view of its entire limits. Its upper reaches are crowded with gaunt spectral reminders of the forest which the centuries of
62
THE KING OF I.AKE-RESERVOIRS
abandonment had nursed and which the pent-up waters today are endeavouring to drown. Few who now live will see the water-spread entirely cleared of these obstructions to navigation and view, for it takes nearly a hundred years for the roots of the larger trees under water to rot. If you put out a boat, and get close enough, you will notice that the water, herded into these sepulchres littered with bleached skeletons of trees, is the colour of weak coffee with too little milk. When the rains come, it turns to yellow ochre. In sunlight it mirrors the seared branches in ghost-like patterns which beggar description.
63
SEEING CEYLON
Still another interesting excursion awaits the visitor who takes the opportunity to drive along the embankment, and 3 1/2 miles further to the Amban-ganga. Here a centuries-old feeder channel, popul;ly called the Angamedilla Yoda-ela, and~ diversion dam ~uilt across the river on a foundation of quartz, testify how the ancient engineers solved the problem of keeping this great reservoi_r full. The general layout of the intake and the supply channel m the recent restoration schemes differ little in its mam features from the ancient project. . To see the picturesque natural setting of the Angame?ill~ headworks is as much reward for the journey, as the opportumty it offers the visitor to ponder over the ingenuity of human efforts ~y which national prosperity through agricultural industry was built before it came to be written in the Mahavamsa: "because the fertility of the land had decreased, kings were no longer esteemed as before."... . In this secluded spot bordering the Wasgamuva Intermediate Zone, tropical vegetation runs riot. The spr~ading canopy o~ ~ree tops filters the sun's rays, creating below a dim an~ murky twilight for the scattered undergrowth of shrubs and saplmgs-the forest of tomorrow. The lianas festoon the corridors with gigantic loops, braiding their stems from branch to branch. . . And unforgettably majestic, more especi~lly a:ter the. ramy season is the river rushing with a roar which vibrates m the stillnes~, dashing with force, br~aking into spray, and whirling among the boulders in swirling masses of foam. On your way back from the headworks, paus~ a moment to pay tribute at a spot near the 7th mile on the bund. This was once known as the Eramaduwa Gap, through which a rivulet raged when charged each year by monsoonal floods. Even in ~his. machi~e age the surging flood-waters won the battle against time m the first attempt made to fill the breach, and swept away the labours of a dry season. Perhaps it was meant to lay emphasis on the difficulties which faced men in the age of manual labour to close a breach in a bund when the floods had once discovered its weakest point. But, while here, also tum your eyes to the landscape below the embankment and beyond. A mosaic of paddy, and the roofs of 64
THE KING OF LAKE-RESERVOIRS
recently established homesteads, lie spread before your gaze. They demonstrate the utilitarian value of the Parakrama Samudra. This aided land colonization scheme proceeded on much the same lines as the Minneriya Development Scheme, but had the great advantage of benefiting by experience already gained. Since the water was not impounded until October 1942, the initial 200 families who came in subsequently had the added advantage of benefit from the fundamental change in policy of Government assistance· made in 1939. There is a traditional claim that the Tamankaduwa district was a · stock-breeding centre in ancient and medieval times. The resident Moor inhabitants who tenaciously cling to their ancestral villages dotted about this plain forge an interesting link in social history. They are said to be descendants of the original caravan drivers in the days of the Sinhalese kings and raised selected herds of cattle in times gone. Apart from this legend, it has long been acknowledged that the cattle of Tamankaduwa are the finest stock in the Island. The grazing rights over the Crown damana lands have always been much in demand as the grasses of this locality are credited to be specially suitable for feeding cattle to be slaughtered for beef. It was no rare sight to see enormous herds of neat cattle feeding on the grass)'. verge of Topawewa, which you would have been told had been driven in and left to feed and fatten, by the herdsmen of Messrs Ibrahim Saibo--the famous purveyors of provisions, who once held a monopoly in the planting districts of Ceylon for the supply of meat. Hence, one of the chief objects of this colonization scheme at Pollonnaruva is to promote animal husbandry, and to this purpose a large farm, with pasture and grazing paddocks, has been provided. This line of development has all along been receiving considerable attention. We pass on to a point in the bend. of toe bund of the lake, a mile away from the Rest House. Following a path for about I 00 yards on the down-stream face of the bund, one arrives at a group of ruins called Potgul Vihara. On a boulder, resting its back against the rock from which it is cut, there stands carved the figure of a strong old 65
SEEING CEYLON
man about 12 feet high-he has a beard and long moustachios, wears on his head a conical cap and holds in his hands what would seem to be an ola book. It is accepted as a sculpture of the twelfth century. Countless thousands who have gazed on this statue have named him Parakramabahu the Great; countless others, attracted by the strange character reflected in the face and body, will continue to dub the statue as that of the King. The popular identification is open to question as some suggest that it represents a rishi named Agastya. Neither view seems convincing. If the visitor is helped to feel, even · a little, that in this block of weather-worn stone a long forgotten, patient craftsman has euphemistically stirred the mind to recall the .man who lived and loved, and fought and built the great tank and city, or that here stands a figure which is characteristic of a sagethen, much has been attained.
66
VII KALINGA NUWARA The Mahaveli-ganga-the Baracus or Ganges of Ptolemy-has long been eulogized as the "Queen of Lanka's streams." Historical . topography of ancient and medieval times refers to it by many names: Ganga or Mahaganga or Mahavaluka Ganga. Emerging from the hills into the lowlands about 7 miles north of Alutnuwara (Mahiyangana) it flows in a north-north-easterly direction to the sea offTrincomalee. The country which lies the east of Polonnaruva is the flood plain of this river. At least twice each year the surcharged waters overflow the river's banks and fill every depression in the flood plain at each overflow, fanning lakelets which are called "vii." This region is possibly the least known parcel of country to most people in Ceylon. Yet it is a locality full of interest to anybody who has cultivated a "seeing eye" and takes the trouble to give a little of his mind to objects which are linked to history, archaeology or biology. The charm of these vast sheets of marsh and water referred to as Handapan Vila, Bendiya Vila and Gengala Vila and many others which lie scattered north of Manampitiya, is indescribable; the varied bird and animal life, and withal that wondrous hush which pervades and sanctifies these open spaces where Nature is almost uninvaded by man's encroachment. You approach the southern limits of this region from Polonnaruva, making the crossing over the Mahaveli-ganga at Dastota-a ford where history is writ large, and was known by the name Sahassatittha · in the past. Four miles up-river from Dastota there is a small island about a mile long narrowing at its northern end. Around it the river flows with much impetuosity. At one time this duva (island) was known as Kalinga Nuwara, and if you have the opportunity to do some
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"sight-seeing" on it you will find many traces of ruined structures and evidence of past civilization in masses of brickbats on th~ surfac~, ~nd stumps of stone pillars, which indicate that practically the ent1re island was covered by buildings. You will find simple carved stone m~kara balustrades flanking the entrances to buildings, the foundat1_ons of large halls (72 ft. by 51 ft.), seemingly elliptical in shape, c1rcular, low brick-walled enclosures and even the traces of a roadway which runs for about half a mile. Kalinga Nuwara may well be the historical site where in medieval times the ceremony of the ordination of monks was held. A chapter in the Mahavamsa, which we are told was "composed equally for the delight and amazement of good men," refers to one · such ordination in the 13th century, when Vijaya Bahu convened the whole of the Buddhist clergy to a "treat" of ordination, to do which he se~t a princ~ and "caused him to build many thousands (sic) of beautiful dwelhng places for priests and large and lofty halls ... and sent an invitation by messenger to all parts saying, lo! we are about to hold a feast of Ordination. Now, therefore, such monks as are :,vel! disposed towards us-be they great elders, middle elders, or Juniors-let them, even all of them, endeavour to come to Sahassatittha." ~e many islets off the southern end of the larger island called Kalmga Nuwara divide the Mahaveli-ganga here into seven channels. There _is a tradition that near this spot the Sinhalese kings of old had estabhshments for building galleys and "tsampans." This perhaps bears the stamp of some truth for the section of the river between these islands and the sea off Trincomalee is of sufficient depth at all times to be navigable for small vessels, while moreover the borders of the river bear high forest timbers suitable for boat building. · When Parakramabahu at the height of his power was provoked to decl~e war against Alaungsithu, the King of Burma, as a result of_a senes of aggressions culminating with the seizure of a Sinhalese pnncess on her way to Siam, this spot-we can well imagine-must have been a great ship-building yard. We are not told what was the number of the assemblage of ships which eventually set out on the
68
KAI.INGA NUWARA
expedition-but it is written in the Culavamsa that only five ships reached the destination and "the troops landed, defeated the Burmese forces who opposed them, and laid waste the surrounding country." I cite: "if the Culavamsa narrative is construed literally .... the victories gained by six troop-ships can only be explained either by a lamentable state of unpreparedness for defence in the Burmese kingdom ... or is just another laudatory exaggeration of the marvellous power of its heroes' arms." In the upper reaches of the Mahaveli-ganga a short way from the island of Kalinga, the river loses its sandy character and flows over a reef of granite. Making the most of this rocky obstruction which presents a series of rapids and falls, the engineers of old built an anicut (dam) in the river. Great, massive square-hewn blocks of stone-some weighing 2 to 3 tons perhaps-are there to this day. When they served effectively to check the flow down the river, the pent up waters were diverted into two channels--one trailing off on the right bank, and the other over the left bank of the river. The story of the origin of this superb irrigation scheme is fogged by the mists of centuries. King Mahasena, of whose superlative achievements in the field of irrigation we have already read much, was the originator of the scheme. Infused with ardour by earlier successes, he possibly had ambitions to dam the Mahaveliganga-the largest river in Ceylon. The Mahavamsa refers to this achievement as "the great Pabbatanta canal," which in all probability was the one that flowed eastwards from the anicut at Kalinga. In the latter half of the fifth century, about a hundred years later King Dhatusena, or Dassenkelliya as he was also called, apparently augmented this work, and by raising the dam built the canal on the left bank of the river; and thereby "created fields which were permanently watered." More authentic identification of the Kalinga scheme is rendered possible on reference to the list of twenty-nine canals which the Culavamsa claims were restored, and perhaps extended, about the middle of the 9th century by Parakramabahu the Great. The record reads: "from the point at which the Aciravatl canal originated,
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KAUNGA NUWARA SEEING CEYLON
anot~er c.~nal named Gomati flowed eastward on the east bank of the nver. Nowhere on the Mahaveli-ganga is there a spot other than at Kalinga Nuwara, where there are traces of an anicu't or of c?annels which branch off to the right and left bank. In the Cir~u~stances it is beyond doubt that we here see the Pabbatanta Irngation Scheme which operated 1600 years ago. In _the strange way that places and features come to be named the nu~ed trace of the Aciravati or left bank channel is now known as Kalmga Yoda~ela. We owe this name, which cartography has adopt~d, to Nevill-a British civil servant, who bequeathed to postenty a vo_Iume of valuable antiquarian and philological research, although not mfrequently paradoxical. . The channel referred to as "Gomati' in the annals trailed over the Egoda Pattuwa of the Tamankaduva District, which lies off the east _bank of the ~aha~eli-ganga. It follows the contour of the ground, but m some sections 1s carried between double bunds 70 feet apart. In 1898, when the first topographical survey of this vast stretch of . waste and jungle was carried out, the course of the channel ~as mapped by linking up disintegrated sections of bund. One may Judge how sinuous is its course by the available evidence !hat the end of the 21 st mile of channel is but 11 miles from the mtake as the crow flies. If you folio:' t?is anci~nt channel from the anicut at Kalinga ~uwara, you will fmd the first 5 miles bedded in high forest, with a difference of only 12 feet in height between the terminals. This must h~ve ensured a very sluggish flow. Thereafter, skirting a farflung village hamlet called Yakkure, it follows the southern boundary of the _Handapan Vila--once a vast ricefield vitalized by the waters which c~me down this channel, but now rendered a great swampy_ lake, filled by the kotaliyas or back-waters which the Mahaveh-ganga throws up in flood-time. At its 18th mile, the Gomati Ela sweeps eastward, skirting the ~1,orthe~n '.ace of that rocky mass of hill we call Gunner's Quoin. I here 1s little rc.ason to doubt the validity of village tradition which s11y,grsts that this old channel continued further, in a north-easterly d11rr11011, hut 11 has not hcen surveyed. In thr ,wa111py tracts of the Egoda Pattu of the Tamankaduva I >111trn,;t wlw.:h arc covered with the long "ramba" grass, three to
70
four feet high, there lives and roams that rare giant of Ceylon elephants-the Vil-a\iya. They are a rare tuskless species confined to small herds which seldom if ever exceed four animals. They are massive, live on the water-lillies which are plentiful in the area, and are ferocious in the extreme. About four decades ago a lone pachyderm of the Egoda Pattu which had turned "rogue", was proving himself a menace to the rustic population sheltering in the village of Yakkure. Chase Wiggin.. a reputable shooter of rogue elephants, who was Superintendent of Minor Roads in the Tamankaduva District-was approached with a view to ridding the village of this marauding thief which damaged as much of the paddy crop in one night as would feed the small village population for many weeks. Wiggin had accounted for over two score rogues-but in this instance, kept a date with destiny. He tracked the elephant to the forest on the right bank of the river between Yakkure and Dastota, but mistimed his shot-changing direction, six tons of fury charged; Wiggin dived back behind the trunk of a tree, the bellowing mass rushed past him into the deeper jungle, but not before the big bull had swung his trunk in passing the spot and crushing the life out of the hapless hunter of elephants, squeezing him to the tree. They showed me the spot at Polonnaruva where Wiggin's body was carried to, and buried. A simple monument commemorates this story. Apparently, in the Egoda Pattu ·of the Tamankaduva District, and in the dreary region of forest and jungle-clad plain, of isolated rocky outcrops and caves off the right bank of the Mahaveli-ganga, there is more evidence than in any other region which pushes back the story to the remote past. Here, in a stretch of country which even today is often referred to as the Vedi Rata (country of the Veddas), one may look into the abyss of Time anterior even to the picturesque period of remote migrations to Ceylon, and far beyond that when intrepid voyagers came in frail craft from the adjacent subcontinent and took sanctuary in the upper river valleys of the dry zone. Consequently, it is here one can mentally view the aboriginal Veddas-to whom, perhaps, Ceylon's earliest past does rightly belong. 71
,; \ALl.n OF THE KA.LA OYA
., !'()(gul Vi11ara --standing figure·. King or S:igc'
VIII THE VALLEY OF THE KALA OYA About six miles from Kekirawa on the northern trunk-road, in the Valley of the Kala Oya-the Gona river of the Mahavamsathere lie the magnificent twin lakes, Kalawewa and Balaluwewa. Some authorities suggest that they are the Lake Megisba, which Pliny featured in the first century, in describing the island which he named Taprobane. The impressions these age-old works have to offer are vivid tribute to ancient ingenuity, and modem enterprise. The raising of the spill of Kalawewa, 15 years ago, has restored these features to pristine form and capacity. At times, the waters top the spit ofland which separates it from Balaluwewa. And should you be fortunate to see the lake spilling in riotous abandon when it is surcharged by the rains, you will be seeing this ancient engineering achievement in its fullest splendour. At such times the impounded water submerges 6400 acres. Although in measure of capacity the Kala-Balaluwewa gives precedence to the "Sea of Parakrama" at Polonnaruva, it long held pride of place as the largest sheet of water artificially impounded in Cey Ion. In 1952, it was eclipsed by the Senanayake Samudra in the Valley of the Gal Oya, which is four times larger. Tradition,· with a wealth of picturesque details, unfolds the legendary incidents which led to the discovery of the site of the Kalawewa. Apparently, in that dim past when legends were in the making, there was a citizen of Anuradhapura named Kadavara. His wife so disgraced him that he retired in disgust into the jungles far away, and lived in peace apd quiet among the deer and other animals of the wilds. Twelve years !ater, a Vedda hunter, whose duty it was to supply venison to the royal household, brought to the king's notice that he suspected the exile from the city was allured by a rich treasure over which he was keeping guard.
72
6. Railway r>ridge spanning the Mahavdiganga near Kalinga Nuwara (when under construction)
.,
7. Modem Sluice of the Kabwnva
SEEING CEYLON
The king was roused by this reference to rich treasure. t.Ie went in person to the spot, 25 miles south-south-east of the city, and had the man captured and brought before him. Kadavara, when questioned, replied that the only treasure he kn~w of was a st~etch of water, many miles across, which was held ~p ma sun~en plam by Kala creepers which choked its usual exit. !he kmg was so impressed by the obvious suitability of the site for a permanent reservoir, that he constructed the Kala lake. . When the great reservoir was completed, he appointed the jungle dweller, Kadavara, to be its guardian: Cour~ jealousy and envy led to accusations of disloyalty and negligence, but they had no influence on the king who knew that Kadavara was devoted to the lake. One day, after very heavy rains, the embankment sprang a leak which threatened to become a breach if not stopped early. Unable to find other means to choke the opening, Kadavara threw himself into the gap and stopped it with his body. He was drowned in the attempt, but, for his meritorious act of devotion, was reborn as Kadavara Deviyo, the guardian deity of Kalawewa. And if you would understand how generations ~f men have concentrated on this story of the past, there are the rums of a fane to Kadavara deviyo on the old spill, and the evidence of the giant creeper, the Derris scandens, to be seen in t~is district. It climbs up thickly, to the summit of big trees, and displays huge masses_ of white flowers uplifted to the sun, and an abundance of beans which scatter seed on the earth. There are, however, yet other claims to the guardianship of these waters. Thousands of years ago, before all the gods were born, the goddess Pattini, when about to bathe, put away upon her robe a flower of the Sapu tree. Emerging from the water, she saw a b~y, whose skin was golden, dancing on the Sapu flower. She named him Ilandari-deviyo, and on request gave him her menik-halamba, or gem-anklet. The favoured lad grew up to be a powerful demon, master of white cattle which he destroys with leopards; lord of wild buff~oe~, which he binds, carrying a noose in his right hand, and a club m his left; conqueror of elephants, using a stone mace to toss the":1 about. He is said to keep watch over several places, notably the twm tanks
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THE VALLEY OF THE KALA OYA
Kalawewaand Balaluwewa. He keeps a register and, using a golden stylus, writes vengeance against those who will deny him overlordship. Apparently, the natural tank in the forest which Kadavara discovered and the king artificially enlarged, was on the right bank of the Kala Oya, while Balaluwewa lay off the left bank of the river. There was a corridor of perhaps half a mile between the two tanks, along which the river flowed. In order to make his country more self-sufficient in food supply, another King, Dhatusena, conceived the idea in the 5th century of forming a large lake by throwing the two tanks into one. He trammelled the river by a stupendous spill of hammered granite, excellently dressed and morticed at the crest, which afforded egress for spates; and bunded the intervening low land between Kalawewa and Balaluwewa. He moreover led the water from this large lake along a yoda-ela, or giant canal, 40 feet wide, over a distance of 54 miles, to Anuradhapura. it verily baffles understanding how a canal of this magnitude could have been planned and constructed over such difficult terrain, nearly 1500 years ago. In the first se\'.enteen miles it meanders over country which permitted a gradient of no more than six inches per-mile. Thereafter, it is led in deep cuttings across saddles between watersheds. Having fallen into decay, it was restored 700 years later by Parakramabahu the Great, who named it Jaya Ganga. But apart from these ingenious memorials of ancient engineering which King Dhatusena caused to be constructed in the valley of the Kala Oya, he added yet another link to them, which contributed to placing 180 square miles of irrigable land, and over 100 subsidiary village tanks, within the pale of a perfect irrigation scheme. In those times, as it is even so today, the Kala-Balaluwewa, and the numerous small tanks filled by the Jaya Ganga, were exposed to the ills of drought cycles, and the vagaries of the monsoon. The risk, in not having sufficient water to guard against emergencies, must have been then-as it is now-imminent and incessant. And yet, strangely, on the further side of the Matale hills, two monsoons served 75
SEEING CEYLON
to ensure to those regions a plentifu·l supply of rain. A tradition, old in story, told how the ancient engineers had tapped this additional source of supply, but the truth of it had never been satisfactorily solv~d. Recent surveys to investigate the feasibility of impounding the waters of the Nalanda-oya proved beyond doubt that traditions, however flimsy, are more often than not the corner-stones of history. Traces of an old bund, and an "Earth-Cut" afforded irrefutable evidence that the water of the eastern catchment was actually dropped, at some remote period, into the western watershed, thus augmenting the supply which drained naturally into the Kala-Balaluwewa. Dhatusena had just cause to be proud of these works. But his reign ended on a sad and deplorable note of great tragedy. His son Kasyapa, who had usurped the throne and entrenched himself in Sigiriya, endeavoured to glean from his father where he had hidden all his treasures. Dhatusena asked to be taken to Kala-Balaluwewa, and pointing a finger to his handiwork declared: "There are my only treasures." Enraged by this reply, Kasyapa ordered that his father be stripped naked, bound in chains, and fettered to a niche. The niche was later closed up with clay. There are some who say Dhatusena was entombed in the embankment of the lake he loved so well. The earliest inspection of this feature when it lay languorous and mantled by forest was in 1898, by Major Forbes and George Turnur of Mahavamsa fame. They climbed through jungle up the embankment which their guides put down as being five miles long. They looked with bewilderment on the mass of solid stones which was the spillway of old. Adjoining the spill they came upon a gaping chasm l OOO feet wide, which told too plainly how the impounded waters had broken bounds, and destroyed the reservoir. The engineers who followed Forbes and Tumour disclosed that the bund showed indication of having breached at this very point twice, if not three times, earlier. Much might be said, and more guessed, whether this was caused by heavy flood and insufficiency of spill-way, or by the malevolence of hostile invaders, or in the course of internal strife. Experts hold to the first supposition as the
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THE VALLEY OF THE KALA OYA
part of the bund which has carried away, rested on a foundation of natural rock and was insecurely fixed to it. The smallness of the cost, as compared with the greatness of the benefits to be derived by restoring this ancient work which would bring irrigation to so vast a tract of country, was pressed on the British colonial government for half a century after it was discovered. Major Skinner, who was Civil Engineer and SurveyorGeneral in the early eighteen thirties, writes that he "would fain have had Governor Wilmot Horton attempt the restoration, but there was neither money nor local population to encourage the effort." On a spit of high land, the only remnant left to mark the line of division between Kalawewa and Balaluwewa, there Stands an obelisk which tells how this magnificent work, this monument of real kings, deserted and in ruin for many centuries, was restored to some measure of its former utility in 1898, when Sir Arthur Gordoo was Governor of the Island. Behind it lies a story of appalling difficulties running to a period of three years: intense droughts followed by heavy floods, insufficient labour supply and sickness, breakdowns in transport of material and provisions. You will indeed be richly rewarded if, having the necessary leave from the Irrigation Department, you spend a night in the delightfully situated circuit bungalow sited on the dividing spit and overlooking the two lakes. When the sun has set, and the twilight has given way to darkness tremulous with starlight and when the gentle breezes splash the water against the edge of the embankment, or the wind playing on the rushes murmurs in soft liquid notes, the rustic traditionalist will tell you, in whispers, this story of Namal Kumara and his bride. When Namal Kumara was born, he was as beautiful as an image of gold; who could have told that he was pre-destined to grow up to be a dreaded demon! Accompanied by three other demons, Avatara Devata, Sapumal Devata, and Minimaruyakka, he came from India to Ceylon and was protected by the other gods, but was a destructive scourge. It is he who brings famine to a land, and in the face of devastation and disease which oppress a wasted popula!ion, rides triumphantly, on a white buffalo, beholding the 77
SEEING CEYLON
result of his handiwork. When angered, he takes his revenge on entire villages, twisting the necks of people and drinking their bl~od. One day, while passing the Kalawewa tank, he saw a beautiful maiden bathing in its waters and fell in love with her. Since he could not marry a human, he bewitched her, so that she pined in love and died. He then married her in the spirit-world. Occasionally, they revisit the scene of their first meeting. They bathe in the lake, splashing water, and laughing softly in the happiness of their mutual love. To be up early enough to see the purple grey of night fade, and the water-spread of Kala and Balaluwewa take shape in the first pale glow of day, is to capture the ecstasy of watching a world change from moment to moment in fantasies of form and colour. As the light insensibly increases after the first hint of the sun's glow, one by one the low wooded hills materialize, first disclaimin~ as it w"ere contact with the sombre stretch of plain, but.later mergmg to form an unforgettable picture. . As the time-smoothed rocks crowning the summit of Ritigala on the north-east skyline and the scattered outcrops of other distant folds of land become visible, the nocturnal sounds are gradually drowned in clear melodious notes. The early birds with majestic cadence begin to sound their joyful reveille. Very soon all is babel. Gurgling sounds and discordant shrieks pierce the crisp, clean-smelling morning air. The feathered inhabitants of this sylvan abode have awakened to greet the day. The sun bursts from behind the shelter of purple cloud, and you look upo~ the glory of space and light. The babel of bird~calls_ little .b~ little subsides in volume. Soon the freshness you noticed m the air seems as it were disintegrating in the heat from the risen sun, which puts the dust cooled by nigl)t dews into motion. The world is awake, and one turns to the turmQil of another day. If you are disposed to ·probe more into the past, ~ou will so~n find that Kalavapi-rattha-as the country surrounding these twm man-made lakes was called in the ancient chronicles -is drenched with history. From very early times it was the locale of struggles for powl'I between rival princes who strove to secure ascendanc~ over tha lt.11111Jum. 111 At> 624, a field nearby was the scene of a pitched
,.
THE VALLEY OF THE KALA OYA
battle between two aspirants to the throne-Jetthatissa and Agrabodhi III; and in the twelfth century ( 1160), one of the famous generals of Parakrama the Great fought hard at Kalavapi-gama, where Gajabahu's commander was stationed, to force a passage across the Kala Oya. In the hands of a good guide, you may yet explore the site, ai:id reconstruct, in the mind's eye, a stone bridge which was erected on this occasion, so long ago, to span the riverwhich in the times I write of, fed by springs in primeval mountain forests, must indeed have been a great hazard to get across. There are however more impressive links with history here, much older in story, left by powerful creative geniuses of that age. It is by way of a short motor-drive of a mile and a half from the bund of Kalawewa, that you arrive at Avukana Vihara where there is a show-piece of man-wrought beauty carved from a Jiving rockwhich to my mind is one of Ceylon's most appealing art treasures. There, on the eastern _face of a large boulder, cut in almost full round there stands an aweinspiring and impressive Buddha in the attitude of blessing (asiva mudra). I first set eyes on this soaring apparition when exploring the vicinity for a suitable hill-top in order to establisn a survey trigonometrical station. That was several years before the forests which had mantled the old extensive rice-fields below Kalawewa had surrendered the territory they had conquered to the inodern pioneer-dry zone colonists. The railway train to Trincoinalee-which today rumbles as it puffs its way through a colonnade of forest which still rings this sylvan shrine, was not thought of at that time. We were cutting our way through devious aisles, when lo! we came upon this rocky site and this towering lithic representation of the human form, In the wondrous hush which a jungle alone can help to create, I stood bereft of my powers of articulation and swept to rapture by what I beheld. Nor is that all-I felt an insignificant pygmy in its presence, and humbled. Yet, grasping hold of the tail-end of my reason there gradually seeped into my mind enough clarity to perceive the still, unmoving features and expression on the face of the statue, the idea of majestic compassion it conveyed, the ·emotional poise and the mellow beauty with which the sculptor had draped it. 79
THE VALLEY OF THE KALA OYA
8 The Avukana Budda Stati1e
"•
Very truly, only a great master mind could have conceived such a superlative setting for this symbol of piety. Only a master sculptor could have transmuted ugly stone into the lovely shape and detail which had outlasted the monsoon rains that lashed it for perhaps twenty centuries, the thunder that had rolled over the dense forests which enveloped it for six hundred years, the lightning which has pierced the darkness around it with sudden gleam, and above all, had abased the ruthless invader who came regularly in tidal waves over cycles of intervening years, to hold back his hand. Which king of old, moved by piety, inspired this statue as a status symbol-none may tell. The ancient name of the site is nowhere recorded, but tradition calls the temple and its appurtenances Magampeka Estana. There are a few caves near by with inscriptions, and a very worn lithic record ~n flat rock by an old "Kema" (rock cistern) since restored, which supplies water needed by the temple folk and pilgrims. According to Dr. C. W. Nicholas, the slab inscription attests that the institution existed in the first century. Maybe this image of the great Teacher has therefore stood there, looking towards the East for nearly 1400 years before the forest threw its mantle around it. When the intervening jungle was cultivated in paddy it must have been plainly visible from the bund of Dhatusena's lake which found its place on the landscape about four or five centuries later. It was not until I read the descriptions by Bell and Burrows; that _I gleaned some idea of the dimensions of this image: from the tip of the siraspotha (nimbus) over the head, to the bottom of the pedestal on which it stands, is 46 feet 4 inches. The pedestal is 3 feet 10 inches high and the siraspotha 3 feet 8 inches. This flamelike symbol emanating from the head of the Buddha is also referred to as Ushnisha, and as Ketumale. It is regarded as a development peculiar to Ceylon cuit1,1re, and is very rare in the early images extant. The stiltue is slightly joined to the rock behind it by a narrow strip at the back. Every detail of the robe and limbs is fresh and accurate although chiselled so many centuries ago. The presence of grooves and mortises indicates that at one time there must have been some structure in which the image was enshrined. There is however no trace of such today but for a moulded basement and 81
SEEING CEYLON
panelled wall-all in stone. Bell refers ~o a well-c_arved ~aga-ga~a (fivehooded cobra) and a circular offenng slab with a sri-patula m the centre, as noteworthy features found on this spot. It was my good fortune a couple of years later to drop on an epilogue which rounds off this memorable visit to Avukana a~d the impressions it left on my mind. It so happened,_that I one~ a~am found myself a habitul in the jungles overlapping the D1stncts of Anll,fadhapur.a and Kurunegala. I was still scram~lin_g up hilltops to secure the necessary observations for estabhshmg a trigonometrical net. That was how I first found myself at Sasserukanda-a long, isolated foot-hill range, running north and south, and ending in a cluster of boulders called Kudakanda. The main hill, called Mahakanda rises out of a plane 400 feet in elevation, to l, 146 feet at its highes~ point. We pitched camp at the foot of thi~ hill, and for some days while cloud, shimmer and haz~ played ~t h~de-and-seek with the flag-poles erected on distant hill-tops w1thm my net of observation, I took the opportunity of exploring its jungle-clad slopes. It did not take me long to discover that here indeed was ~ past which still lived languorously in writings on bleached and hchen covered stone dating to the first century; in mouldy caves where saintly monk or hermit had lived and kings took refuge: in temples which nestled under huge boulders enveloped in an atmosphere_ of decay and dust; in the court-yards to those temple~ which occup!e~ the lower slopes of the hill littered at the time of my ~1s1t with antique stone steps, "vase-pattern" guardstones, and umque moonstones carved with bands of different animal~lephants, dogs, horses, lions, rams and bulls. · All this and more tend to show that Sasseruwa must have been a large pre~Christian 'cave-monastery-even larger than Mihintale and Ritigala ever were. Practically every cluste~ of boulders on the slopes of the hills-west, south and east-contams groups of caves which must anciently have furnished liberal shelter to a numerous fraternity of wanawasa hermits, Before it came t~ be an ant-~eap of concentrated piety and learning, the sweat, toll and combmed labour of generations must have been expended in carrying through 1he stone-work in evidence alone.
THE VALLEY OF THE KALA OYA
And here indeed today, is an archaeologists' and epigraphists' paradise. In the caves, and on the rocks, are numerous inscriptions. Bell, who spent a fortnight exploring the site seventy years agd, brought to notice over twenty-five of them, including a long rockrecord. One of the inscriptions seems to be connected with a princess-possibly the daughter of King Vattagamani Abhaya (8977 B.C.)- ho was married to a chieftain (parumaka). Possibly when this King was in exile and hiding in this mountain cave, some aid he received from the chieftain's family was commemorated by the old writing. The caves on the eastern side are exceptionally spaciou~, and overlook the valley of the Kala Oya. Ten degrees north of due ·east, and about 7 miles distant as th~ crow flies, the eye picks up in the curly haze of distance the boulder-strewn Avukana \rihara. Standing at the entrance of one of these caves one can feel the throb of a different existence, breathing in a wonderful peacefulness. The vista unfolded to the gaze is intensely picturesque. Here the thousands of peasants-creamy -complexioned, lithe-bodied men, clad in loin-cloths-tilled the fields, and their women tended their homes, looked after the children and the cattle. In days of yore when the jungle was not, one possibly might: have heard a mingling of many sounds carrying from the valley, and the Indo-Aryan villages which were built on high ground below the life-giving waters conserved behind earth-bunds. The buildings the common man lived in were of baked mud, with roofs of straw obtained after threshing the paddy (rice), their staple food. From here came the thronging crowds which built this historic institution, and filled the temple courtyards on festival days, who brought sustenance in food and kind to the priesthood, and did service for a small and aristocratic ruling class. All this however, is imagination; this might have been, or was, 2000 years ago. The basic component in the panorama as seen today is jungle-a sea of foliage wreathed here and there in shadow cast by the clouds floating under a bright sun. There are scattered oases of sharper green under the few irrigation "tanks" which had either survived the cataclysm which followed when the population left the plains and moved to the hills in the 12th century, or had more
· 83
THE VA.I.LEY OJ:' THE KALA OYA
SEEING CEYLON
rec~ntly been restored. These water-spreads sparkle like sheets of glass in the shimmering heat. Howbeit, the factor of greatest interest to me at this sacred site was a gigantic image of the Buddha-veritably a twin of the Avukana image-which the hands of sculpturs had shaped at the base of the towering southern cliff of Mahakanda. Unlike its twin, this image had been wrought in sunk relief and united to the scrap wall of rock at the back of it; but like its twin, the Buddha is posed in the act of blessing-the right hand with open palm raised, the left bent and clutching the sivura or robe. This image, measured from head to foot, is 39 feet 3 inches and differs by being 5 inches higher than the one at Avukana. Comparative dimensions: Head 7' 4" Avukana - 6' 6" Sasseruwa -
Right forearm 12' 2" ll' 8"
hand 4'8" 5'
Head to foot Sasseruwa 39' 3" Head to-foot Avukana 38' 10"
foot Pedestal 7' 4" 16 feet by 2 feet 6' 10" 3' l O" height, & 15' 2" diam:
Siraspotha: 3' 8"
One can hardly expect so remarkable a coincidence to pass unnoticed in Ceylon, where wondrous legends and traditions have been woven on fabric of gossamer fineness. I gleaned the following story from a gamarala (aged seer) in a neighbouring village. It had doubtless come down to him on the stream of Time-having passed by word of mouth from generation to generation, and was perhaps told during the long hours of darkness to while away a weary vigil, when two or maybe three villagers sat in scantily protected watchhuts guarding their crops from the inroads of elephants, buffalo or boar. Thus do traditions live: "Eka mat eka ..." (once upon a time), when the warrior King Dutugemunu was marching his army against the fortress of Elara (in the 2nd century B.C.) who had made Vijitapura his stronghold, news was brought to him when he reached Sasseruwa that heavy rains had caused the fords on the Kala Oya to be impassable. To while away the irksomeness caused by the delay, and rather than
K4
9. The Sasseruwa Buddha Statue
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SEEING CEYLON
see his great army spending time indolently, the King commanded them to work on devious projects. To the stone-masons, builders and sculptors in his retime, he committed the task of producing a larger than ever statue of the Buddha on the southern escarpment of the mountain. Before their work could be trimmed, polished and finished, news came through that the floods in the river were subsiding. The King, though greatly disappointed that the sacred image, was left in an unfinished state, but anxious to get to grips with the enemy, hur:riedly continued his march. · When the King reached the river-bank, he found the river, much to his annoyance, once again in spate and unfordable. Annoyed by these interruptions and with his earlier disappointment over the Sasseruwa image still in mind, he turned to one of his Chieftains and ordered that an identical image should be chiselled from one of the boulder-rocks on a hump of hill off the left bank of the river. There you have the legend to account for the magnificent statue at Avukana, which stands boldly forward-assertive and awe-inspiring, its features, members and robe beautifully worked out of the crude rock, given an expression not wanting in placid dignity; and connoting why the twin at Sasseruwa standing on its unfinished pedestal is rendered in rougher details of carving unfavourable in comparison. Perhaps the unfortunate position of the latter, and the fact that it has been cut in sunk relief, causes it to appear dwarfed and diminished in height by the towering dull-grey cliff in the background. But it has also lost much by being weathered badly in places, \\'.,hich has brought about the unconsciously distrait look it wears. I would fain rob the age-old legend of its charm. Surely no warlike enviromp.ent could have produced these two images. None other than an atmosphere of peace could have nerved the sensitive hands which compassed these statues, more especially the Avukana achievement of consummate art, and invested these forms with the benediction they bestow.
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IX
GIANT'S TANK AND AKATTIMURAIPPU The trunk road trailing northwards from Anuradhapura keeps to a low, gently un~ulating central ridge, a spine to the vast flat plain which tamely falls both eastwards and westwards to meet the sea. Except for the short periods when violent cyclonic rainstorms sweep over, in the north-east monsoon from the Bay of Bengal, this jungleclad countryside lies languorous and still under breathless heat and brazen sky. The earth baked into cast iron by continuous droughts, gives off odour of burnt brick, and retains all the impressions made in its softer state by wild animals or droves of cattle or the human foot. And yet, this 2000 square mile tract of country, under the beneficent rule of the Sinhalese kings of the· Greater Dynasty consisted of thriving settlements complete with gardens and extensive lush paddy fields, yielding abundant harvests of food. The ruins of thousands of small tanks which litter the countryside in various stages of preservation and decay, strike the imagination today in silent witness to the achievement of a people 'Yho were able to successfully undertake the construction of these economic works, and attain high degree of opulence. Constant inroads by warring invaders into this area in particular weakened the power of the people to resist alien pressure. They were thus forced to abandon their peaceful occupations, and gradually withdrew, leaving the country to a hostile neighbour. Nature soon joined hands to render the land-untenable, and spread desolation when the communal organizations which kept the lakes in working order were disrupted. This prosperous region of north-central Ceylon thus became an abandoned waste, at the mercy of roving lawless bands whose contempt for established law earned for the di~trict the name:
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SEEING CEYLON
GIANT'S TANK AND AKATTIMURAIPPU
Ad-anka-pattu, meaning "the land of the rebels". It eventually came to be peopled by a clan from India known as the Vanniyas, to which circumstances we owe its present name Vanni . Of the many reservoirs built by man in the Vanni, there are two interesting· works lying off the western seaboard, in the Mannar plains, which are worthy of rank among the scenic lakes of Ceylon. You will find them named Giant's tank and Akattimuraippu on the maps. They are sited, as you notice, on the right and left bank respectively of the Malwatu Oya, which in the Mannar District has taken on a new name: Arivu Aru. Both the lakes mentioned impress any visitor with the idea that they are wonderful monuments to the struggle which has gone on from time immemorial, between Nature and man, in these sultry plains. But perhaps; their stronger appeal is the great contrast they present to a person whose mind is jaded by hours of travel, in attempting to reach them through a country where physical features are particularly barren, and peninsular. But suppose we look back a bit. The long story of the human occupation of the Island shows us that centuries before Vijaya and his vanguard of Aryan colonists reached Ceylon's shores, the coastal region off Mannar was a great commercial emporium. It drew the ships of the intrepid Phoenicians from the Red Sea, long before their experienced seamen piloted the fleets of Solomon in search of the luxuries of the East. The lure was the precious pearl which the adjacent shallow seas produced, ebony, ivory, peacocks and apes. This advent which the mind may picture in an almost unparalleled · kaleidoscopic procession of mariners and merchants, adventurers and thieves, implies the existence of a settled population, and an organization by which the naked land, parched to the extreme, was. converted to produce food. This is how it came to be said that Mantota, the ancient port of Ceylon where these rendezvoused in times of antiquity, was a town surrounded "by many tanks of cool waters" and that it was a great garden. Tradition, carrying on the tale, hands down a belief that Giant's tank is the most ancient reservoir extant in Ceylon, so ancient, that it is not mentioned in the Chronicles as having been
built by any one of the kings who reigned over the Island. Unfortunately for tradition, the designs of Giant's tank and Akattimuraippu show them to be a class of shallow reservoir, fed by channels from a river anicut miles away, which were never constructed before· the 10th century A.O. But search as you will, you will find no mention made in the Mahavamsa of the construction of these useful and comprehensive projects which deviated from the accepted practice of throwing embankments across the flow of rivers or streams. · When they captured Jaffna and Mannar, the Dutch gained territorial sway over this part of Ceylon. They found traces of bund and channel hidden by scrub and jungle, and were told by the local people that the work on the right bank of the river was known as Sodayan Kattu Kerai meaning "the giant-built embankment." Tradition made the story even more graphic by adding that it was the work of men 40 feet in height! Humouring these garbled traditions, the Dutch named the ancient work Reusen-tanke. The British perpetuated the legend by translating the Dutch into English -hence the name: Giant's tank. But the Dutch did more than merely lend assistance in naming this derelict feature. They spotlighted Giant's tank in history by making comprehensive surveys, and by disclosing the strangest part about this project, namely that it had only been partly constructed. That doubtless is the reason why it carried no ancient name-but how came it to be abandoned unfinished? History tells us that an Indian prince, Magha by name, invaded the northern limits of the Island, in the 12th century. The Mahavamsa recounts that "these Tamil giants, like unto the giants of Mara the wicked destructor of the peace of mankind, stalked about the land hither and thither, ravaging and spreading desolation throughout the kingdom even as a wild. fire doth a forest." What can be more likely than that the men working on the giant embankment, and the feeder channel leading to it, were suddenly withdrawn, and never returned to complete the work they had started. Subsequently came the movement from the plains to the central hills, which permitted this region to be submerged in a merciless,
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GIANT'S TANK AND AKATTIMURAIPPU SEEING CEYLON
immobile sea of stubby forest, stunted acacia, and buffalo-thorn. For some reason-which is anybody's guess-it was mooted in early British times that this old Sinhalese scheme was an abortive enterprise, and an utter waste of labour. Investigation showed tiiat the bed of the channel designed to convey water from the river to the reservoir was higher by 40 feet in the middle section than it was at the two ends. Much was therefore said at the rime of "how the ancient engineers had tried to make water flow up hill" and of how "the Sinhalese historians, disheartened by the failure of the attempts, appeared to have-made no record of the persons or the period when the works were undertaken." Nevertheless it was a British Governor himself who pricked that bubble. On a visit of inspection, Sir Henry Ward detected "with the naked eye" rat the work had been started at the two ends of the channel, and had been abandoned before the central section was c~t ~own. The hasty condemnation of the ancient engineer was dismissed, after further investigation, as merely ,"an exposure of our own gross ignorance." The partly constructed anicut, which is called a tekkam in these parts of the Island, would appear to have made a great impression on Governor Ward when he visited this unique project and saw it under a mantle of jungle-just under I 00 years ago. In his minute he ~~scribe? it as a marvellous work "worthy of the popular traditlo~ which ascribed to the hands of giants the hewing out, and conveymg to the spot, of the enormous masses of stone that compose the lower portion of the anicut." A special feature in the construction was the free use of rubble hearting set in concrete of excellent quality which was alone evidence that the work had not been undertaken earlier than the 12th century. A torrent was unmistakably demonstrating itself at the time of the Governor's visit, with proof of its resistless power-hurling in wil~est_confusion enormous stones and trunks together of large trees which it had carried down from the upper reaches, and scattered aro~nd the anic_tit. It must indeed have presented an imposing sight, for it called up m Sir Henry's mind strange thoughts associating the work with "Empires and civilizations, Science and Commerce ... long 90
extinct; of a population equal to that of London or Paris once swarming about this desolate spot without a tradition or a monument--except this incomplete work, to mark its existence, or to record its decay." But there is a lighter side to Governor Ward's visit which merits notice, for it pictures to us the wildness of the country at that time, and tells how it was possible for even a Governor attended by picked guides and his heads of Staff, to lose his way. Rather than tell you the- story in my words, suppose you imagine for the moment that you are listening to the adventure related to you first-hand: "At Madawatchy, we turned due west and exchanged the forest for a low scrubby jungle. The track was cleared of elephants and other game owing to a succession of cooly halting places and fires for-cooking, and the stream of humanity trekking their way to the estates. Nevertheless, a leopard still remains, who is said to attack men occasionally. He certainly shows little fear of them for he wounded and carried away one of our sheep ...and was beaten off with difficulty. Of course, nobody had a gun loaded ! "After thoroughly examining the tekkam at Arlon Kulam, we attempted to reach a smaller dam, the guide procured by Mr. Twynam having lost his way, and after scrambling for near an hour, partly in the bed of the river up to our waists in water, and partly upon it, banks which are a perfect net-work of roots, darkness overtook us The Chu/us, like ourselves, had gone astray and we had every prospect at one time, of passing the night where we were, for it was impossible without lights to retrace our steps. The Government Agent of the Province, Mr. Twynam, made matters worse, by leaving us to seek a path through the jungle. Mr. Flanderka, his assistant, and the two peons, knew no more of the country than I did! And although the Chulu bearers at last came up, we lost our way so efficiently, and described so many circles in attempting to reach the camp, that it was a great relief to all concerned when we heard the shouts of a party sent in search of us. The river abounds in alligators. The jungles looked a likely haunt of bears, and as genei'ally happens in such cases-nobody had taken the precaution to bring a gun. It all ended however, by the usual meeting at the dinner table: and we then found out our mistake in trying to reach the second dam from
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SEEING CEYLON
the first without returning into the Mannar road." No artificial lake in Ceylon has been more exhaustively examined and reported on than the Giant's tank. The layout on ground by the old time Sinhalese engineers was eventually modified and construction was completed in 1872. The tekka~ at Periya-arnalkulam, off the 27th mile on the road from Mannar to Madawachchi ' built for the purpose of turning the waters of the Arivu Aru from their natural course into the channel which feeds the Giant's tank ' . is an imposing sight which richly deserves your notice. It is conveniently visited from a wayside jungle Rest House where you can untangle·the story how Governor Ward came to lose his way in the jungle. The embankment of Giant's tank, 5 1/2 miles long; lies off the road nearer Mannar. It curves inwards at its two ends to form a basin for the water it impounds in a shallow valley. It is 17 feet lower than the ancient layout intended it to be. The sections already built in ancient times to that height were discarded. The water which murmurs as it fJ.ows calmly down the channels from Giant's tank feed 122 small tanks, which have doubtless existed from pre-recorded times. The waving green fields below them soothe the mind, inasmuch as the liquid contents of the tanks in this dry and arid region make an extraordinary appeal to the eye. But the picture of these lakes and the countryside is seen at its best from the bund of the Giant's tank, off the 11th mile on the road. You must see it just before sunset, .in order to catch the effects of light and shadow playing on otherwise not particularly beautiful objects. The sun is directly opposite-just high enough to allow· a flood of yellow light to trickle over th'e top of the low jungle, on to the bund, intensifying the vivid green of the wai trees and cacti, and bathing their gnarled trunks and branches in liquid gold. Should you moreover catch this picture with a dense purple rain-cloud in the east, arched by a double rainbow, as some persons have seen it, you will indeed carry away an impression of the beauty of Giant's tank which the best artist would only spoil.
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X
KANTALAI LAKE Brief reference was made earlier to that great ancient water~ay, the Elahera Canal. It drew water at the intake from the A~ban Ganga, in the Matale foot-hills, and replenished Minneriya Lake. Thereafter, continuing many miles northwards and eastwards, it spread Nature's bounty over scorched and thirsty plains, besides supplying water to two other large storage reservoirs: Kaudullawewa and Kantalai. Kantalai Lake, that other interesting monument in the Elahera Canal link, independent of its cheerful and refreshing appearance in a wooded country and warm climate, has an entirely different wealth of claim to interest and admiration. The trunk road from both Colombo and Kandy-a few miles short of Trincomalee-lies along its embankment. As you swing round a bend, and run the motor-car up a short incline, the lake makes a sudden appearance, combining life, light and enchantment in kaleidoscopic flashes, which flicker past like the pages of a book, as the car keeps running and overtakes the trees standing out at intervals on the water-slope of the bund. Hence, situated as Kantalai is on.an arterial road, it may well be that this singular agreeable sheet o_f water, which so unexpectedly reveals itself, has afforded a shock of delight to more tourists and local travellers alike than any other Ceylon dry-zone lake. Many legends have been told of Kantalai Lake. One woven long before the story of Vijaya's landing in Lanka was inspired, tells that in the 512th year of the Kali era (corresponding to 2500 B.C.), a king of the Dekkan, in order to avert an impending disaster, committed his infant daughter to the perils of the open sea in.an ark of sandalwood. Driven by wind, and carried by tide, the ark was eventually cast ashore south of Trincomalee. The spot is still known 93
SEEING CEYLON
KANTALAI LAKE
as Pannoa (Pan-noa) meaning "smiling infant". The princess was picked up, and adopted by a local ruler, and succeeded to his dominion. In time, a Hindu prince, inspired by a vision, repaired to Ceylon and started to erect a temple on the promontory off Trincomalee, which we call Swamy Rock. The princess, hearing of this, sent a Captain with her guard, to expel him-but later, falling back on a feminine prerogative, changed her mind, and accepted the prince as her consort. She endowed the Temple of a Thousand Coluinns, which her husband completed, and vandals in time destroyed, with vast fields extending to Tambalagam. She ordered that Kantalai Lake be built to hold up Nature's bounty which normally would have.nm to the sea, in order to irrigate those fields. And, as we ponder, while trying to visualize the conditions which placed such a gigantic embankment within the sphere of the possible in that dim distant past, another entrancing legend interposes itself. The Monatschain or Prefect--or more familiarly speaking, the Overseer responsible for piling earth to build the embankment-failed time and again in his effort to close the breach. No sooner was the earth-work raised, than the hill-streams in spate would rush down one particular gully and carry away the patient labour of thousands of workmen. The soothsayer who was consulted declared that the recurring misfortune was caused by a demon who had not been sufficiently propitiated before the construction of the embankment was taken in hand. There seemed to be but one way open to appease his anger. A human sacrifice must be made, a virgin had to give her life to satisfy the lust of this demon. And so, it happened that one evening when a sinking sun shed a coppery glow, from a gold-and-red-streaked sky, and spread a subtle-coloured back-cloth of deep purple shadows for the low hills on the northern slope of the valley, the overseer who had no children of his own, enticed his niece to the ill-omened breach in the embankment. Bidding her stand there, he ordered the workmen to q11iddy lhrnw in the earth. "Maman-kan!" (uncle! my eyes!) she 11hu111rcl, p111t1t1){ up her arm to shield her eyes from the sand and 1h111I, 1111d whr11 thr rurth had reached up to her shoulders "Maman-
talai!" (uncle! my head!) she screamed. But her uncle stood resolute and silent, urging on the workmen, who frantically doubled their efforts. Very soon, they hid the maiden from view, for ever. This, they say, is how the lake came to be Kan-talai, and why a portion of its mighty embankment goes by the name: "Woman's Bund". Nevertheless greater imagination lies enmeshed in the sequel to this legend which tradition jealously maintains is true. The demon, unsatisfied by the sacrifice which was offered to him, has, it is told, ever since claimed a human life every year! A mysterious arm sudden{ y appears, and drags its victim under the surface of the water-in vengeance, tradition says, against mankind who sought to stem a flowing river. So while you wonder in the gloomy shade produced by the branches of overhanging trees, along the edge of this lovely meeting-place of water, sky and land, it is well, in moments of introspection, to remember what tragedy lies veiled by the Woman's Bund, and the peculiar beauty of the waters of Kantalai Lake. Other traditions, still very old in story, venture to force a claim that Kantalai was one of sixteen tanks built and gifted to temples by that great tank-builder King Mahasena, in atonement for renouncing the religion of the Buddha, for persecuting its priests, and overthrowing its temples, in his youth. The Mahavamsa gives the ancient names of these tanks, in the building of which the King "gathered to himself much merit." But, by no stretch of licence can any one name so mentioned be associated with Kantalai Lake. Who would not but feel glad that no substantial evidence has turned up to tarnish the character of romance, and the mysterious antiquity, endowed by the early legends which frame the lake's origin. Time was, when by the treaty of 1766 between the Dutch and a Sinhalese king, Kantalai Lake came within the purview of an alien government. An engineer-Johan Fombauer, by name- caused the lake and entire tract of surrounJing country to be mapped. He submitted the plan, together with a report, to the Dutch Governor van der Graffe. Both map and report are the earliest documents extant of this fascinating ancient irrigation project. They pay 95
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eloquent tribute to the science and high topographical sense shown by those engineers of old in planning for conservation of water, and for putting it to the best economic use. "The strong construction of the ancient conduits, the granite facing of the bund they lie under, the tradition that the embankment and the conduits are the work of human hands, the extensive view across the lake, and the religious feelings of the people toward the lake .... " were in themselves sufficient to foster the i,npression of the vast area it was capable of irrigating. But this plan and report did more. They brought to light yet another clever twist in the layout of the scheme. Spo't-levels on the ground disclosed that when Kantalai Lake filled to a given height, the water over-topped a lip of rising ground, and found its way to another bunded hollow on the north-eastern side of the Kantalai Lake. This supplementary storage reservoir is named on maps Vendarasan Kulam. The bund of Vendarasan Kulam is in good repair, and still an. other surprise awaits the visitor who takes the turn off the main road to this lakelet, which has, in addition, been lovingly fashioned by Nature. The placid surface of the water is bespectacled with large round floating leaves of the lotus plants. In the flowering season the entire scene is transformed, and fashioned rich in colour, the pinks and off-whites predominating. The opinion has been expressed that this tank is older than Kantalai. Maybe, even if we were given the power to cast our mind's eye back a couple of thousand years, we should be no nearer finality on that opinion. What we do quite definitely know is that it was only a little over 180 years ago that documentary evidence was first made available by the Dutch engineers to a modem inquiring world, of this interrelated system of water-storage by which, literally, none but the smallest quantity of rain-water falling on the land was permitted to reach the sea before benefiting man. Here indeed was evidence, mastery over terrain, of a mingling of waters from several adjacent catchments, augmented by the drainage caught up by the Elahera Canal which traversed 63 miles of undulating plain to link up with these reservoirs. The Dutch had little time left to them, before their possessions in Ceylon passed over to Great Britain, to do more than investigate the
KANTALAJ LAKE
possibilities of the Kantalai-Vendarasan scheme. For several ~ecades t~ereafter, forests continued to mantle the once productive nce-growmg lands in the valley of the Per Aru, which flowed fro~ Kantalai Lake to the sea. Tambalagam--once an expanse of moist-green paddy, which bent in ripples to the touch of gentle breezes, grew to be a large shallow bay, from which people collect windowpane oysters. I~ more recent_tim~s, surveyors have once again been actively bearing through this wtldemess. Machine-cut distributary channels have brought many hundreds of acres back to their former :-Vholesome state of productiveness. Landless peasants have moved m, _forced to the conviction that their salvation lies in organized agr~cultural effort, and the production of crops which would afford a d1rect means of sustenance. And engineers, with an eye on the · needs of a future, f~c~ng the phenomenon of a population increasing by a quarter of a mtlhon persons every year, have restored a section of the ancient feeder channel from Elahera, to raise the head of water, and enlarge the capacity of Kantalai Lake . From the Rest House, which stands near the Trincomalee end of . t~e bund, ~n land shored up and on the very edge of the lake, the view over its expanse of water is unbroken. The marginal ground ascends everywhere from its edge with a nearly equal degree of boldn~ss, and extends to dreamy ranges of low hills in the distance. Recalling the earlier mystery-tales of vengeful demons, it cannot be accounted strange that this old Rest House too has its haunted room and its historic ghost who comes to make your acquaintance on ~ Tuesday night. . But there are more idyllic dreams which the seclusion and p1ctur~sque advantages of this site can induce, even on that person who gives credence to the ghostly story, and is conscious of an 1~mense relief when dawn comes round. All visions of the night d1sappea~ as_one_ stands on the verandah, in the early hours, when the mommg 1s still lapped by darkness, and a pearly glow lying low on the lake blurs the line of land and water. Even before the sun has had ti~e to mount the horizon and set the grey waters. gleaming, melo~10us notes from the surrounding jungles, and harsher nois.es, give hfe to the strikingly beautiful scene.
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XI ANTIQUARIAN NOTES ON PADAVIYA Framed by the roads which today link Mullaitivu, -yavuni~a, Horowupotana and Trincomalee, there lies a dry-zone reg~on which was once flourishing, yet very recently was one of_ the wildest and least known parts of the Island. Here, on the borderlme of the Northern, the North-Central and the Eastern Provinces, w?er~ droughts bum the country and conditions are austere, prospenty i~ the past was pivoted mainly on two large man-made lake-reser:,r~irs. Toes~ are referred to on modem maps by the not too familiar names. "Padaviya" and "Wahalkada." . . . . These two memorials to the skill of the ancient irrigation engineer rank among the major "tanks"-as the man-made lakes of Ceylon are popularly called. Nevertheless, the_ date and circumstances under which they were constru~ted ar~ still a gu~ss, and it is but vaguely presumed that they fell mto rum some t1m~ about the second half of the thirteenth century. . . . This ignorance of the history of these lake-reser:oirs 1s barely excusable considering that there s.e~i:ns to be considerable epigraphical evidence in the ruins _of old cities below these tanks, which still await examination. Admittedly the monuments were very difficult to get at in the past as the country ·was roadless and covered by a mantle of jungle. That excuse may not be put forwa~d today since Padaviya is Jinked to the main net. of the I~la~d s roadways, and Wahalkada can be easily reached usmg a 6 mile Jeep track which "takes off from it. · . . The bund of Padaviya tank, as originally set out and ~ml~, w~s m two segments divided by a spur ?f high ground culmmatmg ma hilltop traditionally called Deiyanne Kanda, 340 f~et above meai~ Sl'U level. The eastern segment of the bund was built about~ milt long, and the western about a mile and a quarter. They, with tht'
intervening high ground, served to hold up the water which drained from the valleys of the Makunu Oya and the Mora Oya. The more interesting features in this ancient scheme for irrigating the region is, however, to be found in an impressive diversion structure of stone-work which served as both anicut and bridge, sited about a mile below the confluence of the two rivers, the Kiul Oya and the Ma Oya (called Periya Aru in Tamil), which is today the boundary between the Northern and North-Central Province. This diversion structure is referred to locally as the "Vannathi-palam" Tradition holds that the tract of land originally irrigated in this region lay off the right and left banks of the Ma Oya below the "Vannathi-palam" diversion and reached to the shores of Kokkilai Lagoon. The conclusion one is justified in arriving at is that the "Vannathipalam" was the earlier of the two irrigation works in the region and that the reservoir was built later, as the science of tank-building advanced, and perhaps to cope with the needs of an increased population. . In these circumstances, the diversion dam could only have served to irrigate one crop-the Maha, from Decemb~r to April each year. It is a well-known fact that in these months of the year the northeast monsoon brings rain over the regions. Thus seasonal rains augmented by the waters brought down by the rivers and diverted by the "Vannathi-palam" into two channels which took off from the dam and trailed over the right and left banks of the river below the dam, must have sufficed to irrigate a large extent of field. However when the Yala sowing season (June to October) came round, through the cumulative effect of rainless months and scorching heat the rivers and water courses had gone bone-dry. This was why Padaviya reservoir came to be designed and built. The reservoir was sealed off, serving as a medium for collecting the waters which came down the rivers trammelled by the bund in the north-east rain months, and unleashed in the dry months of the year to help grow the staple food of the people. There seems little doubt that Padaviya had fallen into disrepair prior to 1140 A.O., and that Parakramabahu 1 restored it about 50 99
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years after he became ruler of Dakkinadesa. That the King did carry out repairs is told by an inscription on a dressed stone pillar which is still extant and was found set up on the bund of the reservoir. · A little after the middle of the 13th century, possibly about 200 years after the pillar commemorating the restoration had been set up, ceaseless incursions and forays from abroad, coupled with fatal dissensions within the country, apparently reduced authority to nought. The uneasy seat of Government moved from one spot to another in the plains, and eventually came to rest in Lanka's central mountain zone. With a depleted population unable to cope with the situation, the jungle tide encroached upon the many works of man, and hid from view all that bears testimony to the truth of history and legend. Thus, for about six hundred years Padaviya, in ruin, remained a ready prey to the mantle of forest which enshrouded it. The earliest recorded visit to the ruined and abandoned Padaviya in the colonial era is that made by Emerson Tennent in 1848. Tennent approached Padaviya from the eastern coast and "arranged to halt, and sleep at a village about l Omiles to the southwest to it". Since their plan involved a long, journey the following day, Tennent writes: "We ~tarted for the tank by torchlight some hours before the sun." He kindles in the mind some idea of the wildness of the country and the route traversed: "It was tedious work, the branches, thorns and climbing plants closed over-head so low... that we were obliged to get down and lead our horses. The. footpath ..... ran along the embankments of neglected tanks, and over rocks of gneiss ..... before daybreak we entered on the bed of the tank and proceeded towards the main embankment. ... when this enormous embankment was in effectual repair, and the reservoir was filled by the rains, the water must have been thrown back along the basin of the valley for at least 15 miles.'' This estimate, which undoubtedly rests on no more than an eyesurvey from the large rock occupying a position about the centre of the bund, is not correct, as the maps since made available show. · The prodigious area brought into view from Deiyanne Kanda,· 100
ANTIQUARIAN NOTES ON PADAVlYA
broken into by numerous open spaces of grassland, marsh and pond, diversified by groves of lame forest growth, no doubt intensified the distortion. Nonetheless, to Emerson Tennent goes the credit of being the first visitor to qffer a detailed description of the breached embankment and of the "Parakramabahu inscribed pillar," and also a picture of Padaviya at the height of its desolation. Governor Sir Henry Ward-to whose policy all irrigational activity today must trace its origin, saw for himself the ruin and the potentiality of Padaviya in 1856. He was impress~d b_y the magnitude of the undertaking and. left a minute that, i~ his reckoning, the construction of the bunds "must have occupied a million people for I Oto 15 years." L. F. Liesching and J. F. (later Sir John) Dickson were two other Civil Servants who served in the "tank district" and fell to the lure of Padaviya. The former according to a diary entry visited the ruined tank on the 5th of September 1896. Unaware of a note ( 1853) left by another early visitor, Northmore, he went to great pains to elucidate the inscription on the "Parakramabahu pillar," and followed up his diary entry with a reference to the visit in his administration report for the year. Dickson was at Padaviya in 1873 and has left a record of his visit in diary entries of the 17th and 18th of August. There is much of a muchness in recorded entries of other visits subsequently made-{;hiefly by Revenue Officers stati~ned at Anuradhapura, except for two: the earlier by Henry Parker m 1886 and the later by H. C. P. Bell in 1891. The Report by Parker on Padaviya-wewa and the ruins of the habitation near it, wh~ch he saw nearly 80 years ago under a six-century old mantle of Jungle and forest, is both comprehensive and very detailed. By patient research he has interspersed technical descriptions of the structures with a wealth of historical and archaeological notices. Although these notices are open to modification in parts, and can be supplemented in the light of the more collective knowledge available today, there cannot be better proof of our apathy tow~rds this interesting and important work than the simple fact that eight decades have gone by and little of anything more tangible has been 101
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brought to notice. Bell, who made his first visit to Padaviya in October 1891 (five years after Parker), prefaced his report with the remark that "no account of Padaviya-wewa can afford to dispense with most of the full and careful det~ils set out by Parker". To several paragraphs of Parker's Report which are reprinted in Bell's Report, the latter has ad~ed extra footnotes and had tacked on at the end of it a brief notice of the ruins of the cjty which stood off the bund of the tank which he had put together from field notes made by his assistan; D. M. de Z. Wickremasinghe.
~adaviya wa_s. in my circuit when in ! 92 I, I happened to be ~tat1oned at Kebitigollewa. The country environing this station was m those days a trackless waste. It was a long arduous walk to the ~arth-embankm~nt of the abandoned reservoir. When I first saw it, it was breached m four places, and serrated by gullies through long e~posure to the action of rain-water, and the rampage of herds of wild. elep~ants, buffaloes and pigs. It lay here and there, e~twmed m the octopus-like roots of large trees and was matted with undergrowth. 102
At the end of the western section of the embankment there. was a 300 yard-wide chasm of solid rock outcrop. This the ancients had used as the 'spill'. About 700 yards away, and off the same section of the embankment, there stood the disintegrating ruins of the stone tower, or bisokotuwa, with twin-conduits under the embankment. The intake wall of the bisokotuwa had several bond-stones, the projections scupltured in the form of elephant heads. At the end of the conduits was a pas-pena-naya or five-headed cobra sculptured in hard sandstone. The bed of the tank was covered with tall ramba grass and proved a luscious feeding ground for large herds of elephants. Through it, the Mora Oya had cut for itself a sinuous course and flowed through the largest breach in a sharp curve, having collected the waters of the Makunu Oya at the confluence a mile or so higher up. A deep pool of water always collected at this breach in the line of the embankment. West of this breach, hidden by undergrowth and scrub, there stood Parakramabahu 's inscribed pillar. On a second visit to Padaviya in 1947, a party of surveyors was bl~zing trail and preparing engineering plans for the reclamation of this unpeopled void. On a third visit in 1956 dieseldriven bulldozers, graders and dredgers-with inexorable clatter and screech-were wrestling with earth to fill the breaches in the bunds, and Ceylonese engineers and workers were engaged in building a modem spillway, sluice and valve pit. Amid the litter near the point where the main breach was being filled, I found the "Parakramabahu pillar"-bulldozed from its position on the bund and left apparently discarded and thrown up with the rubble some distance away. Undoubtedly no one on the spot appreciated its historical worth until it was brought to their notice. In May 1963, with the idea of gleaning new impressions and contrasting them-for better, for worse-with earlier memories obtained the hard way, I again visited Padaviya by car along a newly constructed Irrigation Department road, to miles in. length fron Kebitigollewa. The luxury of one of the most uniquely sited circuit bungalows which I was by kind courtesy permitted to occupy on this occasion certainly highlighted the contrast. So too the vast shimmering sheet of water on which the eye today rests. · It was all a staggering revelation, awakening on a mind crowded with pictures of a melancholy waste the resuscitation of an area 103
ANTIQllARIAN NOTES ON PADAVIYA
which had been of great utility to mankind in cycles of time down the ages. · · I was happy to notice on this visit that the historic "Parakrama pillar" had been given a prominent position on the restored bundmore or less where I first, saw it originally set up. Two squat slabs on the right and left of it displayed translated versions of the two inscriptions on the panels of the pillar. Getting back to the modern restoration of the reservoir-what intrigued me most was that whereas we generally accept that the ancient engineer and agriculturalist were seldom wrong, we have ventured in this instance to suggest that we know better. The supplementary resources which the Vannathi-palam provided in the past, have not been harnessed to the new scheme and as a result the Ma Oya continues to waste its waters in the sea. On the other hand the Padaviya tank, which was built as an auxiliary to store water for irrigating fields in the dry Yala season, has been drawn upon to do duty in the Maha season as well. Naturally, by this curtailment of water resources the maximum potential of the early scheme has been considerably reduced and facilities for irrigation have been confined solely to land off the right bank of the Ma Oya.· It is moreover evident that even in the selection of the land which has been recently asweddumized we have, rightly or wrongly, deviated from the practice of the past and included a vast extent of what was high-land dwelling area which the ancients considered less suitable for growing paddy. Proof of this is the testimony of several peasant settlers in the area that while preparing fields for cultivation they constantly turn up much debris-potsherds, brick-bats and fragments of tile. The focal point of ancient habitation under Padaviya would appear to be the site ~till buried in forest on the down-stream slope of the eastern section of the bund and west of the modern sluice. This more recently has been declared an Archaeological Reserve. The ruins were first surveyed by District Surveyor J. R. Mortimer in l 891, and mapped by a party under A. J. Wickwar (later the Surveyor-General),' who carried out the topographical survey of this region in 1897-98. They were again surveyed· in the
course of the preliminary engineering survey prior to restoration in 1947. These old-time surveys and reports bring to light that early archaeological speculation was coloured by an impression that Padaviya-wewa was "The Sea of Parakrama". This perhaps /s why surveyor Mortimer named the tank as such on his plan. Bell's remark on.this point is significant. He wrote: "It seems premature in our present ignorance of the many large tanks still buried under forest and practically unknown to discuss the question without any hope of arriving at the truth." Very naturally this was written prior to the disclosures made by Douglas Blair and his party of surveyors in 1898, when they discovered and reported on the g mile bund at Polonnaruwa anc thus helped to establish the site of Parakrama's Sea. But it apparently was not Mortimer who gave the name Moragoda to ihe ruins of the ancient town below the tank bund, for levers has an entry in his diary made four years before Mortimer's survey designating the site of the ruins by that name. The name has no historical significance, it may with good reason be accepted as nomenclature originating from, and used by, inhabitants from isolated villages in the vicinity who roamed the jungles collecting fruit from the Mora trees (Nephelium longamum), * which grew profusely in the area. This practice of making a holiday of it collecting mora-fruit in the season was popular even so recently as 40 years ago when I was stationed in the district. I shall now proceeti to describe briefly a few of the antiquarian features of this and two other ancient sites in the area. The evidence of a dagoba mound with steps leading to it flanked by very plain balustrades rounded at the end (3' I O" by 2'), the trunk of what was once an erect figure of the Buddha (possibly 7' 6" high on its pedestal), and a mutilated sedent Buddha in usual meditative attitude, definitely prove the site to be Buddhistic. Yet at this ancient Buddhist establishment there is much to indicate Hindu influence. This. is particularly noticeable near the ruins .of two buildings, originally shrines, where one notices among *M.acMillan Dimorphanda "mora"
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the litter of stones at least two lingams, one of them erect in its yoni or receptacle, in perfect order. Bell, who made a provisional excavation of the sanctum of one of these brick-walled shrines, proves the whole to be a Saivaite temple. Many Tamil inscriptions were noticed and some pillars still extant bore ornamental carving. The visitor is especially struck by th~ richness of ornament on a solitary carved pillar on the site, which doubtless was one of many used in building the structure. There is also a unique stone window lying by the side of the structure with a lotus motif. On the site of another shrine, a little way from the one Bell cursorily excavated, there is a large inscribed pillar, now prone ( 14" square, 6 feet high with a ball-top, all four sides inscribed). Bell refers to it as the "Siri Sans Bo Kasub" pillar. Wickremasinghe, who has given us the text and translation of the inscription, states that it palaeographically belongs to the 10th century and identifies King Kasub Sirisangabo who is mentioned in the text of the inscription as no other than Kassapa IV (circa A.O. 896-913 ). The contents tell that the pillar-edict proclaims the grant of certain immunities to lands irrigated by the waters of the "Pandonnaru" tank. The ruins of a building on the site of which the "Siri Sang Bo Kasub" lies would also appear to be a Buddhist shrine converted to a Siva Devala. A kneeling bull (2' 4" by 1' 9") in the round upon a narrow pedestal-the Nandi or Vahana of Siva-infallibly points to later Mahayana influence. The head of the bull is severed. The mutilated motif of a colossal stone lion, which must have measured approximately 7 feet from head to tail, by 5' 6" in breadth is also to be seen nearby. All the sites and the special lithic features mentioned have fared ill at the hands of the vandal and the treasure-seeker. Most of the latter have been split and flaked as it were by fire. Finally we come to what appears to have been a walled enclosure, about 8 acres in extent, seemingly laid out in streets and, from the evidence of broken brick and tile, heavily built over with less permanent material. There are traces of three buildings, at least two 60' x 50', and one a little smaller ~hich appears to be more
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ANTIQUARIAN NOTES ON PADAVIYI
ornate and permanent, with sculptured pillars and frieze, Bell describes the site as "monastery". It originally had the tank on one side and the river (Mora Oya) on the other. In these circumstances a most intriguing feature of this site is the presence of ten artificially constructed wells-they are 4 to 5 feet in diameter and average 30 feet in depth. All of them are brick-lined. The presence of these wells rouses considerable interest in the light of the fact that they have been sited where an abundant domestic water supply from channel and reservoir was easily at hand. Obviously, but two theories can be advanced to account for them. The first: that they served as an all-the-year-round source of domestic water supply to a monastic establishment on this site before the Padaviya reservoir was built, and while the Vannathipalama was the diverting point of irrigation in the district. Bell observes: "the bricks used in the monastery area are decidedly older in type than those employed in the sluice of the tank." The second: that the wel.ls were sunk after the reservoir breached, in order to serve the needs of the inhabitants who remained on the site until such time as the city and the monastic establishments were finally abandoned to the jungle. There is y~t another group of ruins in the jungle to the east of the modem sluice which earlier explorers, including Bell, do not appear to have been aware of. On this site there are the ruins of a dagoba and buildings in an advanced state of ruin. Sculptured remains of a statue prone on the ground waits identification. Local lore has it that the statue (5 1/2 feet in height, 2 feet across) is that of Mahasenawho is traditionally believed to have built the reservoir. . Unlike the ruins at Moragoda this site has apparently not fallen to the hand of the vandal. From visible evidence it seems to be older too. Dr. Godakumbura refers to the discovery of this site in his Administrative Report for 1962. There is one other archaeological site of very ancient origin near Padaviya, which merits mention in this connection. It is on an outcrop of rock 4 I /2 miles north of the embankment of the tank as 107
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the crow flies, and is described on the topographical map as Buddhannehela. Bell says it had not been previously visited by an antiquarian when he 'inspected the ruins in the company of Wickremasinghe in October 1891. It is today easily approached by a motorable track. Interesting antiquities on this site are five rock-caves, one indicative of having been aPillaiyar Kovil with lingam and yoni and a broken Pillaiyar, another with a sedent Buddha protected by a 7-hooded naga, essentially Buddhistic. A pillar 9 inches square by 6 feet 4 inches high found on the site in one of the caves bore inscriptions on all four sides, with the figures of a crow and a dog cut underneath to indicate that whoever transgresses the rules enjoined in the inscription shall be born in the future as a crow or a dog. Wickremasinghe, who translated the inscription from an ink-estampage, is of opinion that the contents give no historical information of any consequence. Possibly a careful inspection of this site might disclose other inscriptions which might throw some light on Padaviya.
108
XII THE LAKES OF THE EASTERN SEABOARD Ceylon possesses no natural lakes. The lake-like lagoons which lie scattered over so great a portion of the coast line, parallel to the sea, therefore hold a special measure of interest. These peculiar estuarine formations were named by the Arabian geographers of old "the Gobbs of Serendib". They hold the waters of many rivers prevented from entering the sea by strips of deltaic land, and sandbars of their own making. The most arresting of the many lagoons scattered on the western side of the Island, are that congeries of alluring waterspreads and wooded islets off Kosgoda and Balapitiya. The east coast nevertheless offers a more striking development, as one may see at . Batticaloa. The rivers along that stretch of seaboard have helped in forming an indented network of waterways, fully 50 miles in length, which stretch from Valaichenai to Samanturai. How very few persons realize what delightful water-excursions these still river-stretches on the east coast offer. The shores are embowered with richest vegetation, or fringe~ by dense thickets of ever-green mangroves. Only filtered light penetrates intothis maze of curiously arched and spreading roots hanging over a dark morass of smelly mud. Where the surface is covered in bulrushes and lotus, Coot abound, and the light-coloured Jacanas with pheasantlike tail are seen walking pn the big floating lotus-leaves, as round and as green as jade plates, picking unwary insects out of the water. In marshy margins, or in the ooze, white-necked Black Storks sedately search for luckless frogs. In quieter recesses where they can fish unmolested-Cranes of infinite variety, Pelicans and other aquatic birds, find covert. The sound-effect afforded by the roar of the unseen surf as the boat glides silently along these lagoons, presents a repetitive note on the many pleasant impressions one carries away. 109
SEEING CEYLON .
.?ff
the .~a~dward ma_rgin-of t~is labyrinth of fresh-water lagoons or Gobbs , m the Batt1caloa district there lies a level plain. Here the eye may rest on the vastest expanse of rice-fields to be seen in any P~ of Ceylon. The principal subscribers to this evidence of ~r~sp~nty are not the fresh-water lagoons, but rather an ancient 1rngat_1on system and a chain of man-made lakes. They have been all bml_t on the comm?n principle of holding up the wet-weatfler floods m huge reservoirs, and of opening the outlet of the reservoir to ~eed the dry rivers i~ the p~riod of drought. Thus has a country which was once mosaiced with malarial swamps and arid wastes be~n transformed into an expansive vista of fertile land. Apart fro~ bemg _romantic links with the past, these eastern lakes are also among the thmgs of reposeful beauty left by a past civilization. ~ravelling d?wn the east coast road from Trincomalee to · Batt.1calo~, th~ first of the larger ancient lakes to press itself on one~ notice 1~ Seru Vila. It is more popularly known as the Allai-tank. This reservoir irrigates a fertile tract of country tucked away between the sea and the river--east of the several mouths of the ~ahaweli-ganga, and south of Kodiyar Bay. Tradition harks to a pe':1od when the principal features-in this region was a vast swamp, or v!la'. wh~re ~e flood-waters of the Mahaweli-ganga collected. One m1~ht 1magme, in the circumstances, that this water harboured large flights of Teal. This perhaps is how the place came to be called Seru Vila. Nevertheless, _what brought Seru Vila prominently to notice when app~rently· It was steeped in sweet, silent loneliness, was a far-reaching event reckoned to have taken place on the third visit of ~he Buddha to Ceylon, which was in the eighth year of His enlightenment. The great Teacher is believed to have tarried a while at a sp?t on the borders of Seru Vila, and thus bequeathed to ?eneratlons unborn one of the sixteen holy places of Buddhism mCeylon. To this tr~dition the region owes its pristine importance for, as ~as prophe_s1ed would h~ppen, centuries later, still in pre-Christian times, a prmce of the Smhalese, named Kavantissa, consecrated the sa~r~d spot by erecting a national monument in the form of a magnificent dagoba. In this shrine he placed the forehead
IIO
THE LAKES OF THE EASTERN SEABOARD
bone-relic of the Buddha. Tradition holds that Kavantissa also caused the marsh to be drained, and converted into a lake. By this means the lands he dedicated around the shrine, to a distance of three gows (about I 1 miles), were cultivated for the maintenance of the sacred institution and the 500 monks who were in residence there. In a period much later, when the Vanni was broken up into small principalities under semi-independent chieftains, Seru Vila is said to have come within the pereditary domain of a female chieftain styled Allai Vanichee. It took its present name from her: Al-lai. Little more is known of the ancient or medieval history of this lake and nothing of the time it fell out of use and lay in disrepair and abandonment. The first attempt to restore Allai-tank was made just under too years ago, but the repairs appear to have been of a fragmentary nature. J:oday, much has been done to further its scope by restoring the feeder channel which motorists cross by the ferry at Kilivedi. The head-works of this channel, known as the Kallar Anicut, are on the Verugal. As most readers are doubtless aware, the Verugal is one of the diverging branches by which the Mahaweli-ganga empties its waters into the sea. Kallar Anicut is deserving of a visit. The seven-mile drive to the spot lies through delightfully shaded patches of forest. The bed of the Verugal is so deep and narrow. that when carrying flood or freshet, the current rushe~ in with extreme velocity. Vakaneri-tank, in the vicinity of Valaichenai, is another of these large lakes which have proved their value as a means of promoting the general prosperity of the eastern seaboard. The scheme by which this lake has once again been brought into use from a state of abandonment reveals again the intention of the ancient designer. A dam called the Punani Anicut, across the Mandura-aru, turns the water into the tank. An Irrigation Department circuit bungalow, picturesquely set on a rock off the embankment, commands a full view of the waterspread of Vakaneri, and an illimitabl~ expanse of low-jungle around it. Over this strikingly barren mantle of treetops, there looms impressively in the distance that towering mass of granite call_ed Dimbula-gala by the unsophisticated Vedda. It has been renamed in anglicized character Gunners' Quoin, after its likeness
111
THE U.KES OF THE EASTERN SEABOARD
.~ .,II •
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10. Section of the old Spill at Kalawewa (wa~hcd away by floods in 1957)
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11 1/akancri Lake
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to a wedge or quoin, used by gunners to elevate the old-type cannon. Perhaps there is justification for digression to ask whether what is merely imagination merits the continuance of this name for a topographical feature which manifests such a vast collection of structural ruins upon and around it. There is equally vast evidence of its place in history, as the principal quarry which supplied the stone images and figures, pillars and steps, for Lanka's medieval capital at Polonnaruva. Rukam-tank, offering a pleasant greeting to the motorist approaching the east coast from Badulla, is yet another feature which helped in ancient times the regular cultivation of a vast region below it. So comparatively recently as nine decades ago, the lake was referred to as the Rukam-plain, and the vase extent of land cultivated under it as "barren and unproductive". In this boulder-strewn area one finds deep roomy grottoes and caves fanned by masses of rock supported by other rocks, and which were lived in by the roving aboriginal tribes. But there is spectacular evidence which proves that the district was later peopled by a more. intelligent race. Numerous ruins of reservoirs and habitations litter the country far and wide, and on the summit of that rocky hill bulking sheer from the sea of jungle lapping its sides, which we call Nuwaragala, there are the ruins of a city which undoubtedly formed the hub of that ancient habitation testified to by the evidence scattered over the lower terrain. A visitor to these parts who is up to hard jungle travel, and learns nothing of the buried city on the summit of Nuwaragala, will indeed be meting out very scurvy treatment to his intellectual appetite. It may take a day, or a little longer according to the temperament and aesthetic taste of the visitor, but this buried city, once seen, will be always remembered, for its wealth of might, and'silent majesty. Taking the .old road-which is the one and only approach to the summit-one is appalled by the impregnability of its perpendicular rocky sides. With such facilities for defence this hill may W!!ll have been one of those Sinhalesefort, which the nation built as strongholds "in the midst of forest, upon steep hills, and in fastness surrounded by water". In fact, this is amply testified by the ruins
112
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THE I.AKES OF THE EASTERN SEABOARD
of what appear to be gates and guard-houses, all the way up. On the summit, besides the bones of the city which died long ago, there is a magnificent artificial kema, to use the local term for those beautiful waterholes in rock. West of Nuwaragala there looms a new landfall: a rampart of mountain with battlemented scarps. Down this, the Mahaweli-ganga, the queen of Lanka's rivers, makes a rapid descent before it turns northwards to spread.its waters into placid levels, over deep beds of yellow sand. This, perhaps is how it acquired its name-Mahaweli-ganga, or the "great sandy river". The region we call Bintenna includes all that dry zone plain which spreads itself from the base of the mountains. In point of antiquity Bintenna transcends the renown bestowed on any other territory of ancient Ceylon: for, long before the Vijayan infiltration, Alutnuwara, by the side cf which the Mahaweli flows, was one of the chief cities of the aborigines. It was then called Mahiyangana. In later years, a dagoba, so runs the legend, was built there while the Buddha was yet alive, and .four miles away a great lake came to be constructed. . . A peculiar fascination, to my mind, hangs over this spot. The very Veddas apostrophize tMs in folk-song by referring thus to the running waters of the river, and the still waters, of the lake: Yonder, yonder spreads the Sorabora lake! O!. Mahaweli-ganga, whose waters cry as they run, O! Mahaweli-ganga, thy waters neverfail! O! Lake in whose waters sports the queen of red flowers.
complete.d together, and as the lake filled, Bullatha's work on it could no longer be kept a secret. Eventually, when the King saw the gleaming expanse of water, he immediately realized that its possibilities for providing the people with a means for growing food, were indeed a much more meritorious act than he had performed by merely adding to the height of the dagoba. · Bullatha refused to entertain the King's request that he should take the merit for raising the fabric of the dagoba, and that he should give his monarch in exchange the merit which would accrue from the construction of the lake. the refusal so enraged the King, that he decreed the giant should be killed, and his body cast into the · waters of the lake. No sooner was this done, they say, than there sprang to life on the spot where the carcase sank a beautiful red water-lily the Nyinphaea rubra, and a large red and white lotus blossom which reposed on broad green leaves. The water-lily is believed to have grown out of the giant's head (Oluwa, in Sinhalese) and to this day, this aquatic plant is loc}llly called olu. The large red and white lotus blossoms sprang from his eyes. The spongy cellular stalks which support the floating leaves took shape, they declare, from his limbs. This, the traditionalist explains, is how the surface of these remote lakes in the dry zone came to be ornamented with the great coral flowers whose petals have long been the emblem of Ceylon.
Although tradition and history fail to throw any light on the story of Horabora-wewa, many legends fill the gap. One of them tells of a fodhaya named Bullatha, who was of assistance to King Dutthagamani when the King, seeking to gain merit, added a superstructure to the sacred dagoba at Alutnuwara. The giant contrived clandestinely, while doing work for the King, to leave the city every evening.and throw up some earth on a bund which was to impound the waters of Horabora-wewa. Both the mantle to the dagoba and the embankment were
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THE LAKES IN THE VAILEY OF THE GALOYA
XIII THE LAKES IN THE VALLEY OF THE GAL OYA We now come to another river-basin with its geographical sources in Bintenna: the 350-square miles of country drained by the Gal Oya. It is indeed a region almost classic in its relation to peoples' lives. To learn something of its earliest history and human story, we must look on this river valley as~ region of long, long ago. Dim traditions supported by other lingering evidence, associate the Gal Oya Valley with rnan of the Old Stone Age, and the aboriginal Vedda, who once upon .a time roamed this primeval wilderness with bow and arrow. Yet, although proof that they were the earliest inhabitants of this hinterland is interesting, the knowledge does not offer any important result. If we must picture these people, it cannot but be as roving clans who kept within tribal boundaries of their own making. They must have inhabited narrow bel~s, limited in area fronting streams and springs where wood, water, and food secured by hunting, fishing and collecting were readily obtained. This naturally refers to wild untamed Ceylon, long before its history began to be told in lithic record and monument. It is contemporary with a long~past era, when an Indo-European people, named Aryan, armed with mightier weapons of the steel age, namely the spade ,and the hoe, had settled in the valleys of northern India in obedience to the decree which sent man forth "a tiller of the ground". Having overflowed into other parts of the sub-continent, these Aryan-speaking people were casting eyes on new lands they could settle in without protracted navigation. Ceylon happened, by geographical accident, to be the furthest limit. Infiltrating through the narrow water:-stretch we call Palk Strait, they were driven by monsoonal winds prevailing at the time respectively on to the eastward or the westward side of this Island. The rivers, big and small,
116
ultimately pulled these emigrant bands of pastoral folk to their banks. The river valleys of the dry zone, which offered climatic hazards they had grown used to in India, became their first settlements. And, if you will wander enquiringly over the Gal Oya Valley or over almost any of the 30 other river valleys in the Island, you can link this deduction with stone inscriptions which epigraphists consider date from the 3rd century B.C., and locate those sites which the early emigrant settlers were attracted to. Such possibly are the circumstances under which the earliest knowledge of agriculture, the art of conserving water in man-made lakes, and the practice of irrigation for the cultivation of rice; were initially discovered for Ceylon. First in the picture cf attempts to store the 75 to 100 inches of rain in the catchment of the Gal Oya, are the small artificially bunded reservoirs, which are scattered about in their hundreds, both in the upper reaches and over the plain. Most of them are in a state of abanoonment. Next come the larger devices for storage as told in the ruins of the ancient lake called Mahakandiya, the famous Diga-Vapi, or "long-tank" of the Mahavamsa. A great bund which the spates of centuries have conquered lying across a right bank tributary of the Gal Oya, called the Pallang Oya, is another large ancient work. It is now in course of restoration. Further down the valley there are the beautiful artificial lakes which have been named Kondavattavan, Amparai and lrrakkamam. These hold t_he waters brought to them from the river by feeder channels. Off Kondavattavan lake, on an ancient high-land site, there was recently discovered an inscribed pillar which was set up in the 10th year of the reign of a king named Dappula IV (A.D., 924-935), and is of great historical and geographical interest. It specifically names the district Digavapi Mandala, and throws light on the economic,· social and administrative aspects of land, a thousand years ago. From such evidence, and much more, we are able to reconstruct what must have been the early fight in the Gal Oya Valley to claim the bounty of the good earth from the untenanted tracts of sand and forest and scrub, and of an incessant struggfe against the risk of drought and flood and famine,·in the ageless feud for food. But the greatest contribution this valley was destined to make towards self-sufficiency in food and the evils of landlessness, is a 117
SEEING CEYLON
very modern undertaking. Just two decades ago, after the north-east monsoon rains had ceased to drench the country, a small party composed of ten surveyors moved into the region. Their one approach was a gravelled agricultural road, which drove inland from the coast and ended at Amparai. This, as the visitor who travels today along a motorable artery knows, is many miles short of the bund-site of Senanayake Samudra. The baggage carts were able to proceed only a few miles further along a natural cart-track. Beyond, there lay a tangled network of game-tracks haunted by elephants and bear, leopard and wild l;mffaio. A climb to the summit of Inginiyagala, a hill-top 1085 feet above sea-level, revealed for the most part nothing but jungle, with the river valley and tributary ravines shown up by the more pronounced foliage and the larger trees thriving in moisture. Occasionally the eye picked out a splintered or rounded rock which seemed to burst from the undulating swell ·of the landscape. Such was the inhospitable region which claimed the labour of this party of surveyors. Dispersing at Inginiyagala, each and all blazed their trail into this uncharted void, making a line for their respective stations. Sometimes they had to hack their way through matted walls of thorny scrub, a:t others to proceed with the utmost caution along uncertain tracks which led deep into forests, cutting marks on the trees in case they should lose their way. Initially, the expiring remnant of a jungle-folk who occupied six hamlets within the reaches of the area under survey, and cherished yague claims to the lands on age-old traditions, viewed the advent of the surveyor and his labour staff with suspicion. But this feeling very soon wore off. Howbeit, such are the vagaries of civilization that, equipped as the surveyors were, they were largely dependent '' on the veterans of these isolated groups of people, whose experience of forest-ways was unique, to guide them over this back-block. There were precipitous rocks over whith guide and surveyor crept on knees with difficulty, and the labourers panting and perspiring followed, carrying theodolite or level and dragging 118
THE LAKES IN THE VALLEY OF THE GAL OYA
steel-tape. Up and down trackless hill-flanks, lanes were cleared on a rectangular grid, and heights taken at close intervals. Gradually, the ground-surface hidden by the jungle seemed to take form on the plans, and the contour of the waters which would converge on the bund when it came to be built, was marked. It was not until eight months had elapsed that the survey was finished. That was the initial step, since elbowed out of reckoning, which gave to Ceylon its largest man-made lake. It submerged forty square miles of country, and when full contains thirty times as much water as is held within the breakwaters of the Colombo harbour. The marvellous geographical transformation was achieved after the dam was completed in November 1951, and as it were magically, by the rains of one monsoon. The pent-up floods brought down by the river spread iii picturesque abandonment The water formed many islands. It lapped on promontories and capes of its own making, and running far up into over-hanging forest recesses, formed narrow and sinister creeks. All that is left of the drowned forests today is a tangle of bleached leafless heads and branches of trees which are lifted out of the water in the shallow stretches. Among these silverwhite bones, there are many of our noblest timbers: our finest satin-woods-including the variety known locally as malburutha, or flowered satin-and ebony in varieties which are streaked or flowered, or are in raven black. Only one tree of the famous veined and marbled calamander was discovered in these forests. 1n the bed of this lake, under 40 to 80 feet of water, there also repose the six Vedda settlements which the pioneer surveyors located in forest setting. They were claimed as ancestral holdings by Attanayake Mudiyanselage Ukku Barida, acclaimed chief of 36 families and three hundred souls. Gesticulating vehemently, the old gamarala asked: "How can the waters rise over our homes when we are five fathoms higher than the river?" No argument could convince him. "But if you take us away," he added, "you must also take our gods!" So, both man and god had to be moved. But just as much as there was travail for man while this lake was taking form, there was a great period of travail for game too. Driven hither and thither by the rising waters, herds of deer, and troops of monkeys, and many other small or large animals found 119
SEEING CEYLON
themselves marooned on the islands. On one such, a leopard was trapped by the waters, but apparently, after feeding for some time on the game, had taken a swim to the mainland. The greatest menace for a while were the snakes: they appeared in teeming numbers on the islands,. and had ventured to escape drowning· by sheltering everywhere above the water-line, on rocky outcrops and even trees. But fortunately for wild life today, this great lake named after that patriot, the Rt. Hon. D.S. Senanayake, whose unbounded faith , saw in it the symbol of a new Lanka, has together with its forest fringe been proclaimed a Sanctuary. The future it holds is that of a National Park, or strict reserve for game, and of the conservation of bird resources on the water-spread. The Bird Sanctuary, as I last saw it in the young daylight of a steamy misty morning, cannot fail to provide abiding satisfaction and interest to the naturalist. Gliding prosaically in a modem launch over the waters of the lake, I watched picquets ·of Pelicans and Painted-Stocks using the whitened skeletons of the huge trees as nesting places while Cormorants, Teal and Heron winged their way with steady purpose in battalions. A lingering bedlam chorus of shrilling hoots, flutings and cat-calls, which floated over the still air, emphasized the complete freedom from disturbance which this feathered world enjoyed. Then there is that mysterious jungle which curls itself from the furthest edge of the lake and reaches way back to the Passara hills. This jungle verily beckons, and should you bridge the rippling . surface of water which divides, you may step into an old redoubt and pick out the spoor of elk, deer, wild-boar leopard and elephant, where once upon a time soldiers on the march from the coast to the mountain capital of Ceylon rested. . If you are disposed to make longer jungle peregrinations, strange spectres of aimless butchery of the mid-nineteenth century may still be traced in these forest breaks. The 16-chain maps will discover for you in this blanket of jungle two sites, the one bearing a legend, "Kengalla Bungalow Major Rogers" and the other, "Site of Sir Samuel Baker's camp". The Major is credited with having slain upwards of 1400 elephants, while the Victorian Baronet related how 120
THE I.AKES IN THE VALLEY OF THE GAL OYA
12. A unique Stone window
13. Parakrama Pillar
THE LAKES IN THE VALLEY OF THE GAL OYA
SEEING CEYLON
he and his friends would pursue a herd of elephants till they had destroyed every member of it: bulls, cows, and calves. Such is the ruthless toll which has indeed beggared an area where the nobler animals and breeds of game at one time abounded. From the digressions, germane to the reason why Ceylon is not · overfull of elephant, and wild deni~ns nowadays, we tum our attention to a small but fine old lake in an adjoining rivervalley, north of Uhana. It appears on maps described as Divulanai Tank. Remoteness explains why so beautiful a feature-dependent for its attractions on the wooded foot-hills which gracefully fill its shore-has remained so little known and visited. But what is more intrinsically important about this tank, is that in the process of restoration in the eighteen seventies, a one-piece slab of rock bearing a valuable l 0th century sculpture, secured from an unknown site in the vicinity, has been appropriately set up and built to form a parapet by the sluice. In the main, it depicts a seven-headed naga king in an attitude of adoration, surrounded by other unique features. More recently, Divulanai lake has been absorbed into a large work, and called the Nava-kire Ara Reservoir. It is too much to hope_that with due reverence for the past, this iconographically unique sculpture on the sluice of the abandoned bund will be removed to the new bund, and preserved to posterity. They say that when Raja Sinha, lord of Tri-Sinhala, reigned in the 16th century over the Sinhalese country, he once chanced to journey from Alutnuwara to Samanturai, which was at the time called Matta-kalapuwa. A short way beyond Nilgala, the Gal Oya scoops itself out a bed in a series of deep rocky pools. While resting here the King's attention was drawn to a crocodile basking on a rock nearby, which was said to have killed many men. The King, stealthily drawing near to it, struck at the reptile with his sword, but failing to reach his quarry, followed up with a thrust using his kotaviya, or javelin. The crocodile however.jumped away and disappeared beneath the water, carrying the javelin in its side. Noticing this, a valiant bearer of arms in the King's escort, which · in this instance had been supplied by the Four Korales of the Kegalle District, stood forth and, having obtained the permission of his Royal 122
Master, plunged into the river-pool where the crocodile was lurking. Diving into its depths, he located the monster and, getting tc grips with it, thrust his hands between the reptile'sjaws and wrenched them asunder. He bore the carcase and th~ javelin ashore, and laid them at the King's feet. Raja Sinha was so astonished at this display of courage· and strength, that he thereupon handed the javelin to the brave bearer as a mark of honour. He further decreed that this man, and his descendants, were to bear it as insignia b~fore the flag of the Disava of the Four Ko~ales, in perahera procession, and war. This series of pools where crocodiles lu~ked 400 years ago has grown to be a great lake, the largest in Ceylon.
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MAHA RUHUNA
XIV
MAHA RUHUNA The mountain ranges which circumvallate Upper Uva make a sudden sheer drop of thousands of feet along the lower rim. On the outer face of this natural rampart the land falls away beyond the foot-hills, to metge into a vast littoral plain'. Hence looking from any vantage point on the girdling heights there lies outspread a commingled scene of earth and air and water, which combines sublimity and beauty in a most_extraordinary degree. Few who have travelled along the arterial road from Haputale to Hal~urnmulla could have failed to find a strange fascination in this panorama. Over this dissolving vista, one sees Nature in many capricious moods. At times the scene is brilliantly lighted. The vivid moist green tint of the stepped rice-fields sited in the valleys between the hills, shows up in much greater contrast to the subdued hues of other patches of cultured vegetation and the purple of the grasscovered undulations. Jungle stretches-which lie unbroken, far and far-give the illusory effect of a heaving ocean. On the other hand, when the tropical lowlands do not fall under the full light of the sun, there is more uniform effect. Every outline of the aspect which the eye can scan, is brought into sharp focus. Over strands of vaporous clouds which lie hammocked in the valleys, or hang suspended low over the plains, the white saltencrusted lagoons can often be seen at a distance of 40 miles, at the season of harvesting, separating the misty outline of the coast-line from the broad blue rim of the ocean. Nearer in, flashes of silver help in locating Tissa-wewa and Ridigama waters, and position other manmade lakes of Maha Ruhuna. Such wide outlook perhaps has advantage, but I would fain declare that to me the lower vantage points bid more affection: for instance, the look-outs on the cliffs of Haldummulla where the view 124
over the foot-hills and the dreary forest-flats beyond is brought into sharp focus by the glistening waters of Hambegamuwa tank, and its leaning hill. It is a long and hard journey to Hambegamuwa. You have the option today of motoring half the distance, and "jeeping" the rest of the way, from Tanamalwila, on the Wellawaya Tissa Road. If, however, you could make your pace funereal, and would rather have the diversified fragrance of forest and jungle come rippling in your face, instead of the fumes belched by an engine, you would take the foot-path which drops down fmm Haldurnmulla, or the flat one which lies on the route from Telulla, south ofWellawaya. It so happened that I did the jungle trek of 20 miles to Hambegamuwa, from Telulla, and climbed up to Haldummulla in I 923. There was then but one jungle village on the route- an isolated settlement all but completely cut off from the outer world by forest scrub and thicket. Here a handful of forest-folk sheltered, fighting against unseasonable rains or prolonged drought, poverty or sickness, to live. Balaharuwa came to lie in the territory of wild things, it spot-lighted history· as the district headquarters of the Gonbadde Dissava, whose special· duty it was to keep the cattle pens belonging to the Sinhalese kings stocked with the best animals produced in the countryside. That however was long ago-I found the country overrun by savage herds of wild buffalo grazing in the pelessas or open grasslands which once were paddy-fields. Elephants roamed the foot-hills; bear and leopard may have been lurking in any cave or thicket we passed. So plentiful were sambhur and spotted deer, that it was no rare experience when on a hilltop, to see them grazing or browsing in the many open glades spread below. They called this park-land pocketed by glades yaka-bendi-divulana. It means the maze formed by a devil, signifying that none but a demon could lay such an intricate network of pockets, one so much like the other, to trap the unwary. To find your way about them is impossible without a guide, and it may easily be that you will get completely lost and keep walking in circles. The only feature which set Hambegamuwa apart from the surrounding jungle, once upon a time, was a breached tank-bund 125·
MAHA RUHUNA
SEEING CEYLON
through which the waters of a river, the Mau Ara, flowed untrammelled. It was in the year 1888 .that the breach was first examined. This was when Fisher was Government Agent. Rambukpotha Ratemahatmaya, of the old generation, was also associated with the work of restoration. One story be used to tell relates to an adventure when he, with the Agent and the Engineer, was trekking back to the road after one of many inspections of the work
It is however at or near Tihawa, now called Tissamaharama, about 8 miles inland, that the grandest memorials of old times are to be seen: A visit to this country five decades ago disclosed a wilderness more or less desolate. But it was evident that if the ground were but scratched anywhere, there were ashes, while innumerable large ancient bricks and tiles lay scattered and thickly strewed the ground. When that touring Governor of Ceylon, Sir Henry Ward, visited the insignificant hamlet Magama-once the Great City known to geographers of the West, even in the days of Ptolemy-he was. sufficiently impressed by Tissa-wewa to write, "even in its present state it is singularly beautiful, for although what was once the bed of the tank is covered with forest trees the growth of many centuries, the outline of the great natural hollow which formed the lake is distinctly visible, and the bund is perfect." But what was then jungle has made way for a sparkling sheet of · water whose flashing beams catch the eye of the observer standing on the Haputale gap. There is at the present time no place in Ceylon where a greater change has been effected by irrigation . At the restoration of Tissa-wewa in 1871, and while other old works were being restored in Magama, several specimens of trowels, chisels and stone cutters' tools, dating to so far back as 50 B.C., were discovered on the sites. They may be seen in the Colombo Museum. Commenting on these specimens , Sir Robert Hadfield, a noted authority on the metallurgy of iron, said: "they present a fascinating collection, without doubt the most unique and complete in the world."* Nothing is perhaps more misleading than to follow the popular habit of calling these beautiful expanses of water, whose shores are marked by reed-beds and in whose shallows water-lilies bloom, the "tanks" of Ceylon. The Sinhalese called them in olden times vap; and in the present time wewa. The Tamilians called them kulam. The Portuguese referred to them as lakelets, and used the . corresponding word in their language which is tanque. The British, • In a paper "Sinhalese Iron and Steel of Ancient Origin", May 9th 1962. History of the Public Works Department, (Bingham) Vol. 11, pp. 87-91. '
126
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12T
SEEING CEYLON
borrowing directly from the Portuguese, perpetuated the stupid term "tank" to describe these landlocked waters. And with this observation, I conclude my retrospection on the dryzone lakes of Ceylon. More and more of these dreams of kings which materialized from the brains of nameless and forgotten engineers are being reclaimed from the jungle to serve man. So the story must go on. Searching tests have not found these ancient works out of date. By reclaiming them the Present pays homage to the Past. There can be few worthier tributes to the greatness of old Lanka.
xv BUILDING TECHNIQUES AND SKILL Men from many lands who are acquainted with earth-moving and construction methods, or with the science of the forces of water and of modern instruments for setting height, angle and distance, have gazed in admiration on the bunds of Ceylon's lakereservoirs, on the stone conduits in the beds of the reservoirs, on the stone dams which trammelled even the largest river, and on the canals which trailed over the plains on astonishingly easy gradients. These experts have speculated on the incredible toil, infinitely increased by the imperfections of working tools and other equipment, which must have been expended in raising these works. They have examined the builders' tools as represented by several types of trowels, jumpers, chisels, wedges and other stone cutters' implements which have been collected in ancient Ceylon quarries and on the sites of irrigation works during later excavations for restoration, and are now in the Colombo Museum. They have told us that some of these tools date to an age anterior to 50 B.C. These tools then are the answer to the question how the blocks, each weighing several tons, were quarried and dressed. So we turn to the next question: How were the blocks h,,mled from the stone quarries ~here giant half-hewn rocks still betoken the long distances they had to be moved, or in other words, how were they set up in the places where they were wanted ? By way of answer to this enigma one is irresistibly reminded of the answer to Horace Smith's spirited "Address to the Egyptian Mummy"- - "Men of yore Were versed in all the sciences you can mention! Who hath not·heard of Egypt's peerless lore, Her patient skill, acuteness of invention? Al~hough her mighty toils unearthly seem, . Those blocks were brought by railroads and by stream!"
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It would indeed be going too far to claim as much as this for the ancient system of haulage in Ceylon. Nevertheless, where facts fail, legends which are amusingly simple slip in t'o fill the gap. One of them maintains, that the blocks of stone were moved and set in position by giants-of the measure of whose strength we are permitted to form some idea on being told that one of them, with the palms of his hands, compressed the head of the king's chief elephant, and thus shaped the huge hollows now to be seen at the temples of all animals of that species! It seems indisputable, since there was no knowledge at the time of mechanical appliances, that the haulage must have been done by pulling the blocks along the ground using skids and rollers, with crews of men tugging at" ropes made from vines. Archaeologists, by fusing old and new ideas, have recently come to the conclusion that it was precisely in this manner that England's towering, worldfamed monument at Stonehenge, above Salisbury Plains, consisting of 50 ton pillars of stone bridged by 5 ton lintels, was set up. No doubt, in Ceylon, elephants must have been largely used, and perhaps rough vehicular contrivances too. Given plenty of time and plenty of men, there is no block which could nor have been brought to its right place by this means, inasmuch as there was no tank-bund too big to build. Next there arises the question: how were the earth embankments consolidated? Tradition holds that in the past consolidation was done by driving flocks ,of sheep and herds of goats or neat cattle over the laid-on earth. The modem adaptation of this old-time method is what is called a "sheep's-foot roller" -in other words a roller studded with imitations of a sheep's foot which is run in tandem by a tractor up and down the embankment. The cylinder of the roller is filled with sand to produce the light pressure natural to -the ancient method. CaJculations disclose that the ancient bund of the Parakrama Samudra at Polonnaruva contained 4 1/2 million cubic yards of earthwork. A thousand men, working a 24-hour day with mamoty and basket without breaking off, would have taken 12 years to complete that structure alone. Bearing this in mind it cannot be said that in the period when the larger and more spectacular irrigation works were being constructed
the Inda-Aryan people of the dry zone plains could have lacked either time or man-power. Dramatic confirmation of this is found in the fact that they had sufficient man-power to use simultaneously in constructing spectacular non-productive objects, for instance the impressive achievements at Sigiriya, the numerous dagobas, the rocktemples of which traces can be found in almost every.rocky outcrop which rises out of the plains, the stupendous mounds of brick overpowering to the senses-which were raised by pious kings in the royal city as monuments of their faith, or the aesthetic taste displayed in the erection and decoration of many a place; pleasuregarden and monastery. Pondering over this, it seems clear there must have been population pressure which had gradually built up, and that it was concentrated in and around the capital city Anuradhapura. To what extent that labour was capable of exaction and whether it was paid for, voluntarily given, or rajakariya, is not clarified in any of the historical chronicles. However, one fact which stands out from this saga of labour which created a unique civilization for Ceylon· back in the mists of time, is that of all the works to which it was turned, those raise for the purpose of irrigation· call to mind the finest concepts of engineering skill, and not just merely the magnitude of the undertaking, or of patient craftsmanship, as the other monuments do. It was earlier stated that most of the ancient irrigation works lie in terrain which, when estimated by the eye, appears to all purposes flat. Yet we know, from such evidence as remains, that ch,annels were traced mile upon mile on gradients which would seem to have called into use precise instruments of the modem age to-establish, and that the art of aligning such channels was well developed. We know that baffling ingenuity, unsurpassed by any means available in the present day, traced c;mt bund and contour of the larger tanks and sited the sluices. Many an engineer engaged on aligning channels or furing sites for spillways in accordance with modem ideas testifies that the old work and the new are often found to be never more than a few feet from one another. Excavation to build foundations for new sluices has in many a case disclosed the remains of an old sluice. Many
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BUUDING TECHNIQUES AND SKIU.
other instances there are which go to show that the modem engineer has frequently found himself anticipated by an unnamed ancient predecessor. Consequently, although no working plan or design dating back to the sixteen centuries we have cursorily skimmed over has come down to us, and although there is no indication in any old writings as to the survey instruments the ancient engineers employed, the vastness of conception ofCeylon's ancient irrigation system removes all doubt that the old engineer must have depended to a critical degree on a system oflevelling and horizontal measurement to render the construction practicable. Whether the works were never designed, but based directly on observations and then set out, we cannot tell. But possibly there were plans, since one example of Sinhalese cartography of the early 17th century, attempting to show the irrigation system near Elahera, was discovered recently.* Plans were doubtless drawn on perishable material as the one referred to was found to b.e. Consequently there is "left no clue to suggest that plans played a part in the early land-measurer's craft. It is only possible to theorize how surveying and levelling were done. On the walls of a tomb I visited, at Thebes, in Egypt, there is a drawing dating to 1300 B.C. depicting a surveyor at work. He is using a measuring cord and ranging poles. Very likely some such simple means known from the beginning of civilization was used for measuring distances in Ceylon too. There could have been no angular measurements such as we now use, but there was an ancient instrument called the groma OT rectangular sighter, which, with the plumb-line, has been thought to have been used by man for over 25 centuries past, and very probably in Ceylon too. It sufficed fairly effectively to set out right angles and perpendiculars to a main line. In careful hands, the results obtained would not have differed appreciably from those obtained with instruments of higher precision. To complete their equipment there must have been the level. To rely on tradition, the precursor of the modem spirit level used in
Ceylon was a device consisting of two pots contai.ning water, fixed to the ends of a sighting rod and adjusted to a "true" horizontal plane. This could have been used either to prove levels or lay gradients. Another curious device is mentioned by Parker, who says he found a monk in a secluded temple using for proving levels a shallow triangular wooden trough with its upper edges planed true. It served; he says, as an efficient level when filled with water. Although we have no definite knowledge of the formulae the Inda-Aryan engineers used, of the gaugings they took, and how they set about their work, of one fact we can be very certain. They were men possessed of high technical ability, with wide vision and a highly developed "water" and topographical sense . We now turn to the component structures of the ancient works. There is a small island in the Mahaveli-ganga, about 4 miles from Dastota, round which the waters of the river swirl with extreme impetuosity. Making the most of this obstruction which is surrounded by rapids and falls, the old-time engineers built in the 3rd century A.O. the first anicut or dam which trammelled a major river. The massive, square-hewn blocks of stone, some weighing two or three tons perhaps, are there to this day. These stones appear to have been held together by mortise and tenon joints at the crest, so that each course was retained in position, not by its weight alone, but also by pressure of the water from behind. In the anicut (tekkam) built about the 7th century across the Malwatu Oya to divert water to the Giant's tank and in other similar contemporary structures, a cement seems to have been used,. It has been proved by analytical results published in the Chemical Trade journal that this concrete prepared and used in Ceylon 13 centuries ago, if not earlier, showed very superior properties to the Roman mortar-which had long been accepted as the best ancient product.* The spillways, some of them man-made and called vaan in Sinhalese, other natural rock called gal-vaan, over which the waters of the tank pass when surcharged by rains in flood-time, range from simple contrivances in the small tanks, to complex examples which must surely have involved study of the movements
* Land, Maps and Surveys (Brohier) Vol.11 (App. A)
132
* "Analysis of Concrete Six Centuries old froin Anicut of Giant's Tank, Ceylon" History of the Public Works Dept., Ceylon, (Bingham)! Vol. II, p. 86.
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of water over many years, and considerable labour to build. Two 01 even more spillways were sometimes provided in the larger tanks. One of the most spectacular examples extant of the latter is the ancient spill-wall of chiselled granite at Kala-wewa, which has been left untouched in later schemes of restoration. It is a stupendous construction, approximately 216 feet wide and 170 feet long, . completed about the 5th century under the signal disadvantages of those times. The work impressively testifies to the craft of the stonemason. Each block of granite is meticulously fashioned to fit its neighbour and the whole is a wonderful monument of patient workmanship. Another feature which was accessory to the bunds of the larger tanks is the raelapana, from the Sinhalese raela (wave) and pana (stone): in reality a revetment or pitching on the inner face of an embankment or bund. It acts as a "wave breaker" and resists the action of wave-pt ay which a bund holding up a vast open sheet of water is exposed to. In some smaller tanks it is intended as a "ripple-band", and takes the form of a facing in dressed stone. Finally we come to that constructed device known as a sluice in English, and horowwa in Sinhalese, -whereby the water from the tank was led to the system of major and minor channels to be carried to fields near or far. In the smaller tanks, where pressure was by no means great, this was effected by means of cylindrical burntclay pipes laid under the bund. What permitted the old-time engineer to proceed so boldly with the construction of better and bigger reservoirs was a structure found in tanks built earlier, but perfected by the 3rd century A.D., known as the bisokotuwa, meaning: "the enclosure where the water level lowers." This outlet work built into the upstream face of the bund regulated or totally stopped the flow of the water into the discharge culverts, and also served as a silt trap. We can only surmise that the gates of this structure were of timber and that elephants furnished the motive power to lift them. What is specially interesting is that even some of the earliest sluices are with these triumphs of ingenuity which proves that the early engineers had mastered the problem so successfully that all others were content to copy their example. Thus, the builders of those bisokotuwas have established a claim, which is 2,000 years old, to be considered the inventors of our modem valve-pits and valve-towers. 134
BIBLIOGRAPHY Key to Abridgements Bulletin of the Ceylon Geographical Society Ceylon Antiquary and Literary Register Epigraphia Zeylanica Journal of the Dutch Burgher Union, Ceylon Journal Royal Asiatic Society. Ceylon Branch Journal of the Royal Geographical Society Monthly Literary Register, earlier Ceylon Literary Register Government Sessional Papers Spo/ia Zey/anica-Bulletin of · Nat. Museums, Ceylon Transactions Engineering Association of Ceylon University of Ceylon Review
B. C. G. S. CALR
Ep: Zey :'
J. D. B. U. JRASCB J. R.G. S.
M.L.R. S. P. Sp. Z. Trs: E. A.C. U.C.R.
IRRIGJ\TION WORKS OF CEYLON ABRAHAM, M.C. & MENDIS, A. H.
ARUMUGAM, S. BALFOUR, J. A.
BLAIR,
DOUGLAS
BROHIER, R. L.
BROWN, W.
Gal Oya Darn. Trs: E. A. C., 1949. Detention Reservoirs in Gal Oya Valley. Trs: E. A. C., 1956. Batticaloa Lagoon. Trs: E. A. C. 1954. Village Irrigation Works. Trs: E. C. A., 1957 Irrigation in Ceylon (Presidential Address). Trs: E. A. C., 1914. . Notes on Nachchaduwa. Adm. Report, Govt. Agent. N. C. P., 1900. Adm. Reports Survey Department, 1898 - 1900. Ancient Irrigation Works in Ceylon, Vols. I. II, Ill. 1934-35. The Tamankaduwa District and the Elahera Canal, 1941. Interrelation of Ancient Reservoirs and Channels in Ceylon, J RAS CB .. Vol. XXIV, No.90, 1937. Legacies of the Colonial Dutch Engineer (Irrigation) Trs: E. A. C., 1949. Structural Features of Ancient Irrigation Works (Presidential Address). Trs: E. A. C., 1956. The Gal Oya Valley Project in Ceylon. Dept. of Information, I 9S I. Land, Maps and Surveys. Vol. 11 for Dutch maps and plans, L9SI. Irrigation in Ceylon. Ceylon Today,March•l954. . Irrigation in Ceylon. Tra: E. A. C., 1931.
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COPLESTON, RT.REV. R.S. The Epic of Parakrarna. J R A S C B. Vol. XIII. NO. 44. 1893 DE SOYSA, (MUDALIYAR) Works of Irrigation by King Parakramabahu. Louts J R A S C B, Vol. III, No. 9, 1856. DoxAT, L. C. J. Notes on Nachchaduwa. Adm. Report of N. C. P., 1900. Rice Cultivation under Irrigation. J R A S C B, ELLIOTT E. Vol. IX, No. 31, 1885. GtANT'STANK Dutch Maps and Plans of, Land, Maps and Surveys, Vol. II (Brohier, R. L.) 195 I. GUNASEKARA, A. E. c. DE s. Progress of Irrigation in Ceylon. Trs:E.A.C., I956. LEVERS, R. W. Manual of the North-Central Province, 1899. IRRIGATION Report of Morgan Committee appointed by Legislative Council. S.P. IV, 1867. KEEN, SIR JOHN Report on Irrigation in Ceylon, 1905. LITERARY REGISTER, Vol. I, 1886-87. LEE,GEORGE ManuaJ of the Nuwara Eliya District, 1893. LE MESURIER,CJ.R. LEWIS, J.P. Manual of the Vanni District, 1895. LUDOVICI, L. Rice Cultivation under Irrigation, 1867. Report on Irrigation. S. P. IV, 1867. MORGAN, R. F. Manual of the Puttal(lm District, 1908. MODDER, FRANK MENDIS, A. H. & AIIR,\HAM,M.C. GaJ Oya Dam, Trs: E. A. C. 1949. NEVILL, HUG H Taprobanian, Vol. I, II. JIJ. 1887. NICHOLAS, C. W. A Short Account of History of Irrigation Works. J RAS CB, Vol. VII, 1959. . HistoricaJ Topography of Ancient and Medieval Ceylon, J RAS CB, Vol. VI, 1959. PARANAVITHANA, S. Ancient Names and builders of Padaviya and Nachchaduwa. U.C.R., July-Oct., 1958. Irrigation in Northern Province, S. P. XI, XXlJI, XXIV, PARKER, HENRY XLVI, XLV!I, XLVJII, 1886. Ancient Ceylon, Part II, London, 1909. Memorandum for Irrigation Works, 1887. General Report, Irrigation in Mannar District. S. P. III, 1889 An Hi.vtoricat Account of Ceylon. Vols.l & Il, many .t>IUDHAM, CHARLES references to "tanks". 1848. CentraJ Irrigation Board, and Provincial Irrigation Boards REPORTS issued as Sessional Papers from 1885-1900 SCHARENGUIVEL, H.0.T. Gal Oya Dam. Trs: E. A. C., 1952. Irrigation Notes 1807. Printed Ceylon SCHNEIDER, CAPT. G. SURVEYOR GENERAL Literary Register, Vol. I, 1887.
BIBILIOGRAPHY
VANNI WARD, StR HENRY WILSON,
MISCELLANEOUS DIMBULA-GALA
FAGAN, LT. M. H. GUNNER'S QUOIN MADIRIGIRIYA POLONNARUVA:
RITIGALA
0
SEA OF PARAKRAMA
Ceylon Almanac, p. 28, 1857.
SOMASUNDERAM, S.
Minneriya Irrigation Scheme. Trs: E.C. A. 1961.
TENNENT, SIR J.E.
Ceylon-an account of the Island. Vol. I, pp 338,
TURNOUR, GEORGE
Epitome of the History of Ceylon 1832.
430-432, 468.
136
J. H.
Published as Appendix in Eleven Years in Ceylon, by Forbes, Vol. II, I 841. Historical Sketch of.literary Register. Vol.l. I 893. Speeches. Minutes, Reports, 1856-60. Nachchaduwa, Trs: E. A. C., 1929.
VEDDAS
Bell, H. C. P. C A L R Vol. lll, 1917. Polonnaruwa as seen 1820, Orientalist, Vol. II. l 885-86. Sec Dimbula-gaJa. . Paranavitana; S. Arch. Reports, 1941-45. ·Fagan, (Lt). Orientalist, Vol. ll, 1885-86. Guide to ... Paranavitana, S. 1950. Guide to .. .John Still. 1907, pp. 177-191. Ruins of... lllustrated London News, Vol. 224, April. 24th, 1954. , S. P. of 1886, Burrows. Green, A.P.A. Visit to ... J RAS C B,No.39, 1889. Ridout, J. B.M. J RAS CB, No. 43. 1892. Trimen, H. Notes on Botany of.. .J R A S C B, No. 39, 1889. Wickremasinghe,D.M.de Z.Notes on, J R A S C B, No. 39, 1889. de Silva, A. History of..... Monthly Literary Register, Vol. I, 1893. Dimbula-gala Caves,C AL R,Vol.lII, No. 2, 1917. Parker, H~ Ancient Ceylon, Part ll. London, 1901. Spittel, R. L. Vanished Trails, 1944.
i860
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Part II
THE SOUTH COAST ROAD
INI'RODUcnON
Introduction Thousands of people come to Ceylon, as sightseers, on business, or as student. Each of them has been seeking guidance, .as others will if they are wise, on the scenic attractions and the strange customs to be encountered. Nothing is more suited to the cause of international understanding and goodwill. But almost to an individual, visitors from abroad cannot help commenting on the lack of enterprise and the scant interest devoted to Ceylon's attractions, apart from its sunshine and colourful scenic resources. There seems therefore little hope of holding the interest of tourists and visitors from abroad in large numbers, until health and pleasure-seekers nearer home help by popularizing these assets, and putting them on the map. There can be no question, therefore, that a movement to "See . Ceylon first" among ourselves might have practical results of no little value. There are hundreds of Ceylonese who were wont, before exchange control curbed their enthusiasm, to embark on holiday tours abroad having shown very little curiosity for what is fascinating and beautiful in their own country. 'Where to go!' or, 'What is there to see?' are question~ frequently asked. Naturally, much depends on one's inclinations and interests. However diversified or different these may be, it does seem possible to satisfy every one of them in this little Island. If it be cool air or rugged landscape that one is after, there are scores of resorts set in the south-central highlands, where hill piled upon hill, and mountain range upon mountain range, seemingly come · to rest at the elevation of Nuwara Eliya. Historical and archaeological associations can be satisfied by unlimited excursions to many a less frequented spot, even if the tourist centres Dambulla, Sigiriya, Polonnaruva and Anuradhapura fail to offer allurement. And while the artist can still seek and find in the ruins of these old capitals inspiration in craftsmanship which may be even two thousand years 140
old preserved in stone or paintings, those whose inclinations ?end tow~rds a study of_old traditions may yet explore veritably isolated villages, where time has not yet destroyed the devotion to old memories deeply rooted in the souls of the people, and the respect for traditions, legends and customs inherited from a distant past. The marvellous heritage of Ceylon's ancient civilization, the magnificent network of man-made lakes and irrigation channels which have combined life with culture, in the sun-scorched level pla~n~, have a strong claim to admiration, and cannot fail to satisfy. Or tf tt be the tang of the sea and possibilities which attract, there are a galaxy of coves and bays on the girdling coast-line which hold out an irresistible appeal to the work-weary. Nevertheless, more often than not it is the Ceylon jungle that a~pears to exert the greatest fascination. Nothing can be jollier, with work and worry left behind and an open road ahead, than the prospect of a holiday in regions which have been little explored and seldom visited, where one may take back picture!; of wild denizens sporting or grazing in open unpeopled wastes, o.r bending over their reflections in the limpid surface of quiet jungle pools. To reach such jungle solitudes is necessarily fraught with a little more than_ the usual organization. In reality a short jungle trek is not quite . so difficult nowadays as one might imagine. For those who can afford it, the best way of seeing Cey Ion is to. travel by motor-c_ar. The railway and the motor-bus contribute in some measure to bring many remote places of interest within the reach of the les~ fortunate, but much will depend on how one arranges the itinfrary. It is not the intention of the writer, however, of itineraries for those who know little of their to provide a Syfj,es . ,,I own country, but rather to convey a few bird's-eye views of the cultural and natural attractions at their very door, for which accessibility appears to have bred a form of contempt.
141
GALLE FACE AND MOUNT LAVINIA
I GALLE FACE AND MOUNT LAVINIA .They say that the picturesque in these modem days cannot hold its own against the practical: effect must yield to usefulness_. All that remains of the grass-grown ramparts and the bastions of the old Fort of Colombo are a few mouldy sections of the walls which, with a moat, the Beira Lake and a rockbound coast line, rendered the city for centuries "the best fortified position in the whole of India". The old main gate-:--which until recent years was the Fort police station-affords the best idea today of the ancient fortifications. The grim old moat, the draw-bridge and the tally port have vanished, to make Colombo more spacious. But behind Queen's House there are, remnants of what once formed the sturdy fortress, called by the Dutch Punt den Brei!, overlooking the rocky shore to which the Sinhalese fisherman had given the name Gal Bokka, which the Britisher corrupted to Galle Buck. Enkhuyzen and Leyden Bastion, lying in unfrequented recesses, are other portions of the rare old walls which savour of old mystery, and conjure up visions of the single vain attempt, made by a beleaguring army, to break down the sturdy battlements . How strange it does seem to be told that, even until quite recent times, the Fort gates were preserved and that sentries were posted at them! They were closed at nine o'clock when a time-gun boomed. No person was permitted to carry out or take in a parc;el out of hours, unless he possessed a pass! · . Undoubtedly, Colombo has undergone a very great change m the last century-but, in monument, by record and through tradition, we may even today pick up the threads of old-time as~ociations ~nd piece together legends which have come down to delight postenty. 142
It was about the year 1872 that the old Dutch fortifications were demolished, but very singularly a portion of the old casemated powder magazine near the eastern end of Chatham Street, was spared for some time to recall a weird traditional tale of dark tragedy. When the Dutch forces had for weary months made efforts to reduce the Fort of Colombo, Gaspar de Figuera, a deserter from the Portuguese camp, offered to lead them to a part of the works which had been carelessly defended, on the condition of being adequately rewarded in the event of the surprise proving successful. After the capitulation of the fortress when something like order had been restored, it came about that Nemesis, who sooner or later overtakes all traitors, was preparing Figuera's doom. The Dutch Commander harangued him on the enormity of his offence in having betrayed his countrymen, and, as a warning to all traitors, sentenced him to be bricked up on the top of the powder magazine. He was accordingly taken there, was placed in a vault with a loaf of ~read and a botde of wine beside him, and was immured alive. With the demolition of the ramparts of Colombo to make the Fort more spacious, breezy and healthful, the umbrageous tulip and breadfruit trees which once lined the main streets had1also to give way for wider thoroughfares. The Dutch nomenclature of these streets had from much earlier days been buried under English names, the only one which lends itself to identification being King's Street (present Queen's Street) which was called Heerne (King's) Straat. The old Dutch gableended houses which faced this principal thoroughfare are no more. The South Gate of the Fort at the end of Heeme Straat, called the Gale Gate, took the form of the letter "S", and opened on to a short roadway flanked by Suriya trees, which had struggled for a crooked existence against the wind for years. This led through a small gate and a drawbridge to the present popular marine parade of Colombo: Galle Face. How very few realize what a wealth of information which can lend charm to memory, lies associated with this lung of Colombo -where· crowds foregather today to sport on holiday, to daily perform exercises in the serious business of 143
SEEING CEYLON
GALLE FACE AND MOUNT LAVINIA
keeping fit, or just as they say to 'drink' the delicious sea breezes! Who would for instance associate Galle Face as a component part of the citadel and rampart, which girdled the earlier Colombo? Nonetheless, this was its original function to expose any hostile approach on the southern fortifications, and render artillery and musket fire fro in the batteries and breastworks more effective. It was in this sense-namely, as a continuation of the glacis facing Galle, that it perhaps received its present name. The land is to this day acclaimed the property of the Military. Tim_e was when the whole plain frorri the South Gate, extending as far as Mount Lavinia, came to be called Galle Face. Howbeit, Tennent, writing over a hundred years ago, tells us that Galle Face derives from Galle Faas (Dutch), meaning "the face or front of the fortifications facing the direction of Galle."* In the early days of British occupation, Galle Face served as the principal exercising ground of the garrison. Rather curiously, military executions too were enacted there, just outside the Fort and overshadowed by the "South Gate" walls. Records tell of four military executions--of Private John Gould in 1810 for mutiny at Galle; of Private John Stevenson in 1814 for mutiny; and Privates John Jenny and John Masterson in 18 I 7 and I 833 respectively, in both instances for mu!inous conduct and striking officers. It is indeed a strange coincidence that these four unfortunate men were all called John. It was actually only in 1828 that Galle Face came into prominence as an esplanade, and a rendezvous for the general public of Colombo. That happened due to the fact that Sir Edward Barnes, the Governor of the time, was interested in horse-raci.ng, and found the open space on the southern approach to the Fort a very suitable venue for a race course. The ground on the Galle Face was accordingly levelled to some extent, the mounds built by termites were razed to the ground and the holes made by the land-crabs filled up. The latter operations had
14. Horabora Wewa
* The oldest Dutch map of Colombo (circa 1680) shows a fausse bray"a ditch. and low parapet behind which infantry took shelter", thrown up on Galle Face from lake to sea. It is possible that inasmuch as the Dutc)l called the South Gate "Galle Gate" they called this structure "Gale Fausse", which in anglicized form came to be "Galle Face".
144
IS. Colombo-100 years ago
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SEEING CEYLON
to be performed before every race meeting or oftener. By this means a good course of a· mile and a quarter, which carr.e to be called the "Colpetty Race Course", waf: obtained starting opposite Galle Face House (which has now made way for the Galle Face Hotel), rounding the high ground where the Galle Face battery later came to be positioned, skirting the Lake, and tracking back to the starting point across what until recent times was the Colombo Sports Club ground. On the highest point and nearly in the middle of the oval track a circular grand stand was built by subscription. This structure, which is highlighted by the late J. L. K. Van Dort in sketches made by him in 1854, stood on the site until recently occupied by the Colombo Club, to which owing to its circular shape arid high-pitched conical roof it bears s~me resemblance. In fact one is inclined to hazard the suggestion that even today, the central structure of this building, with its semicircular ends and steep and high-pointed roof, looks like a glorified grandstand of oriental pattern. The original building was of brick, plastered with chunam, and had a cadjan roof, which as in the present building "projected over the verandahs on the second and upper floors". The grand stand was in those early days known as the Assembly Room, and was vested in a Board of Directors of what was known as the Assembly Company, composed of those who subscribed towards its erection. It was also called "Race Bungalow"a name which, among horse-keepers and rickshaw-coolies, the Colombo Club building which succeeded the originaJ structure long persisted in retaining as they would have none other. The Assembly Room was let for public functions, and here too the annual race-ball was held-the upper room being "c"ool and airy for dancing, with card-tables placed on the verandahs, whilst the lower room forms a good supper room". From such beginnings the races on Galle Face came to be an annual September event lasting five days and beginning at 3 p.m. each day. If you will pause to picture the life and movement the annual event gave rise to, you will see in the mind's eye the bandies, the palanquin carriages, the hackeries, the equestrians and the pedestrians of all sorts, who were there on the "road to the races." 146
GALLE FACE AND MOUNT LAVINIA
There were no motor-cars, or rickshaws, or bicycles, of course, fo. when the races were held on the "Colpetty Race Course" there were none in the Island. Galle Face retained its character as the race course of Colombo, and its chief recreation ground, until the eighteen eighties. Meanwhile, there are other aspects and legends of it which merit notice. For instance, there cannot be anyone living today-not even a hardy member of Gun Lascars-who remembers how cleverly the Artillery practising from the southern ramparts of the Fort, sent a 30 pound ball into Galle Face House, at that time a beautiful pri- , vate residence. It was a nine days wonder artd everybody, including the Governor Sir Colin Campbell ( 1841-47), came to see the mischief done. The story goes that the ball struck the masonry bridge on the seaside road, glanced off to the left, and penetrating the roof of the private dwelling house, passed through the ceiling and finally rolled down into the drawing room, leaving a heavy dent in the brick and chunam floor. Happily the inmates had not left their bedrooms and there were no servants about, so that nobody was hurt. Galle Face, and as we travel along the South-Coast Road Mount Lavinia, have come to be place names to the people of Ceylon. To the tourist and the foreigner, they stand for the two well-known hotels, to which these euphoniou~ names are themselves an advertisement.· To the majority of people the most familiar bit of Ceylon' s charming coast is Mount Lavinia. It is a gay sight on days when passenger ships are in port, or at week-ends, when the bathing pavilion and beaches are alive with paddlers and bathers, and others :azing and lying in the sun. In blunt sailor language this jut of land which overhangs the sea six miles south of Colombo, was named the Pregnant Wench, betokening what it looked like from the deck of a _ship. It was described as such in charts of the early 18th century. The building on the ·palm-shaded promontory--once used as a Rest House, today The Mount Lavinia Hotel--originated as the country residence of a British Governor. Governor Sir Edward Barnes planned to make it Government House, with a marine drive extending to the Fort. A noble building 147
SEEING CEYLON
was 'raised, blotting out its rustic predecessor, and that Will; mt: end of a town-planner's dream, inspired by forethought for a Colombo with elegant homes facing an esplarade and sea-front six miles long. The house on the Mount was, under peremptory orders from the Home Government, sold by public auction, and the property west of what is today the main road from the Mount to the Fort of Colombo, most ofwhich is said to have been privately owned by Sir Edward, fell under the hammer to various Ceylonese owners at 5 s. per acre. One portion alone was retained: Galle Face, the present lung of Colombo. But whence came the name Moµnt Lavinia?, you ask. Romance links this nomenclature (Lavinia) with a beautiful, large-eyed maiden of that day, who was destined by the traditions of caste to wear no more than a handkerchief to cover her breasts. Legend tells that her father, Aponsuwa, was able to induce an old-time Governor of the Island to permit her, and the other women of that caste, to cover their upper body with a jacket. Mount Lavinia is also claimed to be a corruption of LihiniKanda-meaning "Sea-Gull Mound", and Galkissa is the fishing village nestling nearby. Much more correctly, perhaps, the name derives from 1-flvinia, a common Ceylon plant found in Colombo : The sea-blown headland of Mount Lavinia, which in peaceful times provides fresh air and rec;reation for the residents of what has b~come today a popular suburb was in the two world-wars put to use as a camping ground for troops, or as a battery. It nevertheless lays bare the story of a c~mp put to other uses during the Boer war, earlier. On the 17th of December 1900, it was opened as a sanatorium to accommodate twenty-five convalescent Boer prisoners of war, who were encouraged to regain their health and strength by bathing in the inviting, warm, clear sea and by picnicking on broad sandy beaches. A mile of the sea shore was at their disposal, and within these bounds. the prisoners .of war were permitted to roam at will between 6 and 9 in the morning, and 4 and 6.30 in the evening. It was not long, however, before the value of the station as a rest and holiday camp pressed for more notice. This led to additional
148
GALLE FACE AND MOUNI LAVINIA
buildings being erected to hold as many as 150 inmates. The mound thus came to be gradually filled by a very quiet and harmless set of Boer sojourners including, besides the convales·cents, the old, the feeble, and the debilitated. The permanent military barracks by the side of the railway line near the sea-now a part of the hotel--,were converted into a hospital. Proceeding further south from Mount Lavinia, along the coast road, one can find many another delectal;>le resort drenched in salt-laden air. Taking them in tum, there is Panadura; hedged in between the sea and an inland back-water forming the Bolgoda Lake, all dotted with charming islands; Kalutara., old world town, once enthusiastically known as our "Richmond-on-the-river"; Bentota, famed for its excellent oyster tiffins; Ambalangoda, where the safest bathing is to be had; Galle, fallen from high estate-once a great emporium intimately associated with the earlier mercantile enterprise in the East; Weligama, queen of Ceylon beaches; Matara, steeped in Dutch traditions and birth-town of famous men; Tangalla, with splendid seascapes that burst upon the gaze .at frequent intervals; Hambantota, jumping off place for big-game hunters and trippers to the· Ruhuna National Park; and last on the line-Kirinde, ever battered by the artillery of angry seas. Suppose we take time to contact these places which are linked to Colombo by the South Coast Road.
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COACHING DAYS
II COACHING DAYS Most people will consider a journey from Colomuu along the South Coast Road very commonplace. In reality, if you will cultivate a seeing eye for bits and pieces of scenery, or pause to analyse, in the scroll of life unfolded as you pass along, how others approach everyday problems, idle moments will be filled with a wealth 9f interest. What is more, few routes will vie with this southern highway in wealth of literary association. The wise traveller reads before he travels. By this means, one is able to draw entrancing panoramas of the past, from many different perspectives, showing the changing conditions which influenced men and matters before we entered this speed crazy phase. Such as it is, contrast a journey on this arteri!ll road today with that made 150 years ago by the Honourable Federic North, Governor of the British Settlement in Ceylon, and his entourage over the same ground. It brings to mind a picture of 160 palanquinbearers and 400 baggage-carriers trudging wearily along the hot, sandy track. What dust and din they must have raised, to say nothing of that contributed by the escort of 60 men of the Ceylon Malay Regiment and 20 men of the Pioneer Corps! And yet, this was not all, for there were two elephants loaded with heavy baggage, six horses and 50 lascars in charge of four large tents, which completed the procession. The journey, we are told, was done in stages of ten miles a day! Even years later, the only public conveyance available for the journey was Christoffalstz's coach. It left Colombo daily, breakdowns permitting, when the time-gun on the ramparts of the Fort boomed at 5 a.m. One usually reached Galle bleary-eyed and exhausted, at sundown. That was very fast travel, and what travelling it must have been! 150
The Ceylon horse-coach of those days was of unifonn pattern. The main body consisted of a very broad "coach-inside" to accommodate three on each seat. In front there was a low driving seat which offered room also for one passenger, sometimes two. Behind, facing the rear, there was another seat hanging over, very uncomfortable, and occupied by those who paid the lowest fare. The limited accommodation called for bookings well ahead of a journey, and this was done at the Mail Coach posting-house, in Baillie Street, where a schedule of rates, affixed to a board and prominently displayed, bore the legend: Fares from Colombo to Galle: European Gentlemen Moodleors, Native Noblemen, their descendants Proctors and Natives
... £ 2. 10s ... £ 1. 10s. ... £.1
And what with the cost of meals at the posting Rest Houses, and tips to the ,driver, guard and the host of hangers-on all the way, the coach-ride was beyond the means of all but a small minority. Such travel no doubt had its romantic side in those years of endurance, though we marvel that anyone could have undertaken it lightly. The picture we have is of the passengers seated in cramped surroundings through many hours of creaking, lumbering and jolting; of all the fresh air kept out by curtains of American cloth hanging from a roof supported by iron stanchions, in order to exclude the sun, rain and dust; of the horses, one of which was usually a quiet animal, the other a brute. After being harnessed with much difficulty, the latter often neglected the business of pulling the coach, and proceeded either to kick the dashboard to pieces, or to bite its docile companion. The stages were generally short, about seven miles. The rivers at the time were unbridged, and while the coach was being ferried across with tl:te passengers on a raft, the fresh pair of high-fettled steeds usually pranced on the opposite bank at every crossing. The first section of the coast-line railway was opened as far as_ Kalutara in 1879. The lion horse brought much change in what
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SEEING CEYLON
COACHING DAYS.
perhaps seemed to our ancestors a few years. It gave to them something of the precision and power of the machine in its infancy. Kalutara, at the present day, basks in the romance of the rubb_er tree. If perchance you had toured the district 50 years ago by river or by road-as I did in the course of my work-you would recall having seen acre upon acre of undulating country adjoining ricefield and village garden being cleared, the Na, or iron-wood tree with its red young leaf and sweet white flowers, the massive Teak, the bright Nadun, the fruitful Jak-all goodly timber trees felled and burnt, the smoke rising heavenwards, the slopes bare. On these were planted the tender rubber saplings which year by year grew into great trees, bedecked in the season of wintering _with a variety of colours: red, brown, and yellow, in all their tints and shades.
a~enues of tea_k which cast shadows over green maidan and gardens in bloom. All this,· and more, the Sandesa poems have translated into song.
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British planters ran the large estates which covered nearly every hill-side. Agency houses helped proprietor or shareholder to big profits and dividends. And as town and district sensed rosy visions of boom-which often, like the splendour of a glorious sunset, heralded stormy change to follow-the cry went up for land, more land, to plant with rubber trees and make a fortune. Happening to have been in the thick of it surveying applications for large tracts of Crown forest which were sold by public auction, I well recall the rush. Land was selling at the upset price of Rs. 50 an acre. There · were few roads then, and one reached the hinterland on the Sabaragamuwa frontier by canoeing up rivers. There is much to interest one in this hinterland, but it is rather on fragments of the earlier history of Kalutara I would dwell, when the interior was ruled by a Sinhalese king, and when, if you looked from the northern bank across the waters of the Kalu Ganga, near its mouth, you saw, on the outlying spur of an insignificant hill, an ivory-white dagoba poised on its crest. Gangatilaka Viharn, they called it; and De Queyroz, the historian, says of the river flowing by, that it was named "Santosa Ganga". There were large trees and
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Foreign ambition and strategy shattered this aloofness which Kalutara had enjoyed from the beginning of time. Early in the seventeenth century, a Portuguese engineer cast his eye on the hillock which from a military standpoint so effectively commanded the river-crossing and the approach from Colombo, Thereafter, Gangatilaka Vihara knew its place no longer. Palisade and taipai, or earth walls, came to be Taised on the green hill instead and its summit was mounted with artillery. Thus did Kalutara enter a new phase. The district was the scene of many a hard-fought encounter between the forces of Mayadunne and Vidiya Bandara, and it was here too that the youthful son of Mayadunne, later Raja Sinha the First, of· glorious memory, marshalled his forces, and with the Portuguese as allies at the time, marched to make history for the district; at Pelanda. The years rolled on until there came a challenge· to Portuguese power by a new and formidable invader.
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KALUTARA
III
KALUTARA. One of the earliest notices of Kalutara in the period of the Dutch occupation is by Christopher Schewitzer, an adventurer, who ~ook service under the Dutch East India Company, and kept a diary. Under date 22nd April, 1677, he wrote: "I was sent with 30 soldiers to the Fort of Kalutara ... to have some new ramparts added to it..." This apparently was the first attempt made by the Dutch to remodel the crazy Portuguese Fortaleza. Van Goens, the Dutch Governor and Commissioner of War, also ensured in this instance that a good road connected Kalutara with Colombo, "along which eight men could march abreast, taking with them field guns."
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And so, coming down the stream of time to the eighteenth century, we see the historic hill of Kalutara converted into a compact residential Fort complete with moat and drawbridge. The fortifications on the summit terminated in four rondels, or angles, conspicuously surmounted by bartizans or quaintly picturesque stone sentry boxes shaped like pepper-pots. The glacis, or open space surrounding the Fort, extended westwards and southwards, corresponding to the esplanade of today. It is told that the stone for the Fort was brought as ballast in ships which returned to their home-ports filled to overflowing with commodities of the east--cinnamon, oil and spices. To supplement the indigenous cinnamon, the Dutch introduced coffee of a very superior kind, and pepper. The latter, besides being profitable and easily grown in the shade, proved useful to fill interstices in the storage of cinnamon for exportation to Europe. They also grew sugar-cane to advantage, and would no doubt h~v~.
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planted rubber if it had been marketable in those days. There was certainly an advantage in growing sugar: from it, at least, "some Dutchmen distilled rum", forestalling Gal Oya by many years. But the one enduring legacy of the Dutch occupation is the canal system, which has played no small part in enriching the district. On these waterways built by their hydraulic engineers, arrack from the distilleries, coir fibre and all agricultural produce from the district, which found purchase in markets abroad, were carried in padda boats to the warehouses in Colombo for shipment. An attempt was made, too, to link up with the roadstead at Barberyn (Beruwala), but work was stopped at the cabook hills of Maggona when threefifths of the canal had been cut. *
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In February 1796 the Fort of Kalutara was ceded to the British troops under General Stuart. It did not remain long garrisoned after the Kandyan capitulation in 1815. Time was when one of the buildings within the Fort was used as a country retreat by a Chief Secretary, the Hon. John Rodney. On great occasions, they say, he had salutes fired from a "bamboo battery". Here too, in 1824 he buried an infant son, and built a pyramid of brick over the grave, which carries a pathetic epitaph appealing to posterity "to respect and spare the remains of our child". The town was at this time, 130 years ago, pithily described as "a favourite resort for invalids, with its umbrageous walks and cool· and salubrious climate." A quarter of a mile from the Fort stood the bazaar, "Chiefly in one street, built of stone with thatched roofs inhabited by Sinhalese and black descendants of the Portuguese." The Dutch building which housed the Commandant of the station, has gone its way to make room for Kalutara's new Courts. It was long used as a Rest House, and later as a Police Court.
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Writing of the old Kalutara Rest Houst, which was much more open than the modem one is to the sea breezes blowing across a
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SEEING CEYLON
KALUTARA
verdant lawn, other picturesque "roadside hotels" which dotted this countryside when journeys were made by pony-trap, hackery or bicycle, are called to mind. Moragala is the only one which has survived the introduction of transport that increased the mobility of travellers. Perched on the summit of a hill, and overlooking the wooded undulations of the Pasdun Korale, it is still worthy of exploitation for jaded nerves. A hill stream, which monotonously murmurs as it cascades by the side of this Rest House, lulls the senses to restfulness, just as much as the crystal-clear pool it has formed in the luxury of verdure affords pleasant bathing. The traveller will do well to provide against too severe rationing by notifying the Rest House-keeper beforehand of his intention to · stay there.
surf on the coast, the migrant Arabs were accustomed to draw up their frail craft into this lagoon. Here these intrepid sailors "spent two months or more in the shade of the forests and gardens and in the enjoyment of a temperate coolness". They described these lagoons round the coasts of Ceylon by a generic term: "Gob of Serendib".
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Just about half a century ago, when the Fort at Kalutara, which had brushed away Gangatilaka Vihara, was neither a residence nor a ruin, utilitarian ambitions once again stepped in and, without any reverence for the past, crowned the "green eminence" with a modem official residence for the Assistant Government Agent. Nevertheless, Time, which is ever ringing in changes, is once again attuned to wrest the pageants and ceremonies, the devotion arid sanctity, which the ancient shrine laid claim to. The site has recently been vested in the Kalutara Bodhi Trust, and new landmarks will crown the hill-top from where the river, which washes its base and spreads into an estuary, disposes an arrestinrlicture of riparian scenery.
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In the scenes unfolded by the generations of people who contributed to the patch-work of population which today so profoundly affects the social, economic and political life of Kalutara, there are many traces of foreign influence. Even so far back as the 5th century of our era, when the south-west monsoon was rolling 156
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As the centuries went by, even the ebb and flood of invasions from the neighbourig continent pressed population into this region. In one such cataclysm which took place in the 11 th century, we have the first undoubted historical allusion to Kalutara. On this occasion the country was overrun by an usurper called Wikramapandi and his mercenaries. He set up his seat of Government on the bank of the Kalu Ganga near where it enters the sea, and he was lord of a kingdom which virtually stretched from the sea-coa~t to the central mountains, and extended along .the coast southwards and .eastwards to Trincomalee. They called the city Velapura. No relic remains to tell of this dignity to which Kalutara attained. Neither this capital, nor the geographical territory it commanded, was destined to survive the exploits in the 12th century of Parakrama, surnamed "the Great". Forcing his way to a throne, he expeiled all usurpers and knit the story of a reunited Cey Ion in the zenith of its splendour.
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There remains to make mention of but one other quaint landmark of Kalutara's romanticism-a rampart of vegetation, the fine old banyan tree which has thrown an arch across the road which leads to Galle. Under th~ graceful and dainty tracery of its filaments and aerial roots, the traffic along this arterial road daily flows. It kindles interest as a typical oldtime link of a modem Kalutara. For how much longer?-One wonders.
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BERUWALA
in the natural effort to let their green crests catch the sunlight. Between the rows of slender trunks of the seemingly interminable coconut groves, one glimpses the ever-changing drama of ebbing and flowing ocean, of narrowing beaches, and of fishing life. Monsoon vagaries supply the change in scene.
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BERUWALA
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It is surely improbable that the eye can ever weary of the constantly changing scenes which are revealed to a traveller on the road south of Paiyagala. A kaleidoscope of coves, bays and headlands, overshadowed by vegetation to the water's edge, dominates the sea-scape. On land, the eccentricities in plan and decoration of the plastered and tiled houses of the well-to-do, and the crazily fashioned hutments where dwell the poor, flicker past like the pages of a book. Most of the smaller dwellings hug the highway, the thatched roofs of the hutments slung low towards the sea in order to resist the fierce winds of the south-west monsoon. Just at the road-side may stand the blackened,weather-wom walls of a house, slowly turning to powder. Many of these crumbling relics have never been lived in. Either the naekat or lucky position of the constellations, was not ascertained. correctly before the first pillar of the house was erected, and misfortune intervened; or the disquieting effects of the evil eye, the evil mouth, or the o~e_ns, proved too strong to be disregarded with impunity, and bmldmg operations were suspended!
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As each townlet rushes towards the moving car, the colourful, throbbing life of market-centres brings into focus passing glimpses of a conglomeration of fashions and manners and customs-the results of influences which have been at work for hundreds of years. There is much fun in picking out the Western influences on Eastern life, the definition of which is so often evaded by that convenient term, the "inscrutable East". But we return again to the road, which continually races ahead through a colonnade of coconut trees which bend perilously inwards
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For six months of the year, lashed to fury by south-west squalls, turbulent seas and mountainous waves thunder on the share and on headlands of dark rock. The angry ocean struggles as it were to tear the land away. The roadway is drenched i~ driving clouds of stinging salty spray. And yet, at other times, more particularly from November to April, under blue sky and with fleeting cloud-shadows playing on calm waters, the surf lazily breaks on the yellow sands which bar its advance. 1'his is when shoals of fishes close inshore, and shouting crowds of :men and boys swarm the beaches dragging in the ma-dael, or giant nets, within their respective fishing beats marked by coloured flags on poles. It is the season when brown sailed outrigger fishing canoes ride the ocean in large numbers, and pin prick the dark nights with the yellow light from flares against a skyline powered with white stars; and when the shore-fisher may be seen casting his line from the tip of every tongue of land which juts into the sea.
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Of the hundreds of uses proverbially claimed by Sinhalese tradition for their beloved palm, few coconut trees in this locality are permitted to fruit. They are tortured and put to greatest use to yield the S&I) from their beautiful flower. Connoisseurs know this to be a sweet and pleasant beverage when first drawn from the tree. When fermented~ it becomes a highly intoxicating teddy; and when distilled, the potent spirit, arrack. A cocktail, made by the simple process of mixing the sweet toddy with arrack, produces a "heady drink", on which a man can get exceedingly drunk on very · small money.
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If ·it should strike you that the people in the localities where the toddy-tapper operates appear more languorous in movement, you may be sure that this is well within the tradition of the age-old saying "Opportunity makes the thief'. Many get exceedingly drunk with no outlay of money at all_:_a characteristic which is shared by the pub-crawling crow and the squirrel by day, and by the flying fox by night. The~e jolly tipplers take their fill of the fermented sap from the small clay chattie, or the gourd which is hung under the bleeding flower, in the crown of the tree.
* 16. Dutch Fort ar Kalurarn
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17 Galic Harbour. 1863
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Beruwala tells of its past in a domed mosque with white minarets, embowered by trees; a coastal port where small craft may anchor; and a ten-acre islet, from which there shines in all weathers when darkness falls over the coast-line, the Barberyn light. The Kechimalai Mosque is built at the tip of the tongue of land which shelters the anchorage against all but the lash of the south west monsoon. It is traditionally claimed that the advance emigrant band of Yavanas, styled by misnomer Moor, from Kayalpattinam to the north-east of Cape Comorin, landed at this spot in 1024 A.D. and made it their most important and historic settlement in the Island. Their descendants are the Ceylon Moors of today. The event is commemorated in the very name of this urban township: for Beruwala, is a corruption of Bae-ruwala, which freely translat6d from the Sinhalese means "the spot where the sail ·was lowered". Although the Portuguese found them the most formidable adversaries no Moslem armed force ever arrived off the shores of Lanka. They established themselves here by the pedlar's pack, not by the kris. As a local proverb has it: "There is no place where the Moor trader and the crow cannot be found." Five times during the day the muezzin calls from the minarets of this mosque. The devout followers of the Prophet respond and pay homage in.incessant pilgrimage. Once a year they come in procession from all parts of the Island, to give thanks and hold high
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BERUWALA
SEEING CEYLON
The Customs premises and warehouses are enclosed by lichen covered walls of crumbling coral-stone and lime plaster. The roadstead sleeps under the sun, dreaming of days when Dutch fighting ships anchored to land the troops under General flulft, who marched to storm and capture Kalutara from the Portuguese. A hundred years later, Thunberg, a Dutch scientist and traveller of note, whose name is recalled in that popular tropical flowering-creeper Thunbergia, wrote of Beruwala as a thriving port, "whither the cinnamon is delivered in from all the circumjacent tracts, and loaded from the warehouses into ships". There is little hazard in guessing that the warehouses Thunberg wrote of are still there today, but to see a vessel moored in the blue waters of the roadstead is now a rare sight. Even the few schooners which used to call regularly and discharge rice and salt, no longer supply the trade with these commodities, for they are now brought f;om the large towns in diesel lorries. *
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make the crossing. Vari-coloured shells cast up by the wash of the waves, strew the shaded pathway from the landing-place to the turfed terrace below the lighthouse. From here, there is an unobstructed view of the Indian Ocean, but if perchance, through the kind offices of the lighthouse-keeper, you are conducted to the top of the structure, your field of vision will extend from the headland of Balapitiya to the jut of land at Panadura. Complicated revolving hexagonal frames of prisms and lenses . blink in the gloom of evening and continue through the night to throw a 20-mile beam of light to warn ships away from a treacherous coast, until they pick up the signal flashed "from either Galle or Colombo. Looking landwards from the top of the tower one sees an extensive panorama of the western maritime belt and the hinterland beyond it. Foot-hill piled on foot-hill, in serrated formation parallel to the coast, lie unfolded on a background of mountain ranges blued by distance. Brought into common focus in the background, on a cle,ar day, the eye picks out Adam's Peak, celebrated alike for its singularly prominent and striking appearance as for the interesting religious associations connected with it.
By calling to mind that fighting ships, or cargo-carrying vessels, once anchored in this roadstead, one is able to grasp the impact of the social revolution which has since taken place. And yet strange to say, despite the march of progress, not so very long ago when the threat of
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BENTOTA
If you had the power to look back 300 years, you would see no tourist Rest House at Bentota, but the threatening cannon of a Portuguese fort. This is called to mind by the name Parangi Kotuwa, used today to describe the adjoining gardens.
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BENTOTA
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Dominating the undulations and foot-hills nearer in, the humped, wooded height named Haycock easily lends itself to identification. The Dutch called it Hooyberg and marked it on their charts as an aid to navigation. With their sources cradled in the forests which clothe the slopes of Haycock, there run the streams and rills which wind down to form the Bentota Ganga. The two lattice-girder bridges which span the estuary of this river at Alutgama, were erected in 1870, prior to which all traffic used the ferry. But why, you ask, is it called the Bentota Ganga? There is a suggestion that the name is a corruption of Bhimatittha, a pali word meaning "fearful ferry". Some say that the "fear" was caused by a demon which has long haunted the water-crossing, and inspires much awe. Others associate it with the dangerous currents and eddies reputed to have made the crossing most difficult and terror-inspiring in the old days of travel.
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The Bentota Ganga served for many years as a frontier-when the Hollander was at Galle and the expiring power of Portugal was concentrated in Colombo. But apparently the former failed to see any strategic advantage in maintaining this Portuguese frontier post when Kalutara fell into their hands. When or how the present Rest House came to be erec.ted is anyb,ody's guess. The main part.of it seems to be a pre-British building. Nevertheless, the antiquarian in search of visible reminders of the past at Bentota, will find something to interest him in the Government school nearby, a quaint building erected by the Dutch to serve as a rural church. Over the entrance there is a stone slab bearing the inscription. Fecit C:A:S: A. D. 1755.
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The Bentota Rest House is sited on an acclivity off the left bank of the river, and a short walk from it offers idy Ilic vistas of riverine waters meeting the sea. It never lacks its full quota of week-end visitors, more especially when the breakers have ceased to lower their heads and charge the palm-hinged beach like bulls, and seabathing is safe. The freshwater oysters which made Bentota Rest House famous are procured from the estuary. Sinhalese divers de· tach them from the rocks at the bottom of the river with mallets. Much depends on the time and season the oyster is taken out. When .the river is low, or the tide is out, they are not edible unlesS' washed in salt water for at least two days. They are at their best if taken out at mid-tide. 164·
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Despite the great pains the builder has taken to hide his identity,· · search has disclosed that he was a French or Swiss officer named Claude Antoine Scoffier, who was Commandeur of a little Dutch outpost at Pitigala on the Kandyan frontier. An epitaph in Dutch, lettered on a slab of stone on the floor of the old church, is a more pathetic reminder of the outpost at Pitigala, about 24 miles up the Bentota Ganga. It marks the burial place of Andrias Amabert, who was a Lieutenant of the Military, and perhaps Scoffier's successor as Commandeur of the Pitigala fort. He belonged to the French Regiment Du Flos, then under service with the Dutch, and died of fever contracted in the interior. 165
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The epitaph disc_loses that he was buried there in. 1764, "and awaits the blessed resurrection". Meanwhile, countless unshod feet have rubbed contact with the stone, in an unintentio.nal endeavour to blot another link with history out of memory. Truly exquisite and delightful is a trip up the perennial waterway we call the Bentota Ganga. The banks of the estuary are lined wi,th a dark green forest of mangrove. When the tide gurgles out, it uncovers a maze of slimy umbrella-shaped roots and smelly mud intersected here and there by surprisingly clear shallow pools. These quiet recesses hold the secrets of the comings and goings of teal and gargeny duck, and of the loathsome bulk of the estuarine crocodile with hideous head, cold green eyes, horny plates and ridges. Here big fish chase for food among the myriads of little fish that seldom leave the maze, and in many an innocent-looking patch of mud a man could sink to his waist, like sinking into a bath of glue.
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Some years ago, I went up this river in a lashed double-canoe. When we set out the water was as peaceful as a moveless pool and smelt of the early morning. To the lift of the paddle and downward thrust, the two boatmen strained back and forward in unison. But by noon a fair breeze from the sea sprang up, ana the canoes bounced to disturbed waters. Making for a village on the bank, the boatmen secured and lashed, in upright position, three green coconut fronds. There was no gainsaying that this make-shift sail was effectiv~. The canoes hissed up the river and tied up few miles short of Pitigala before nightfall. That night, coiled up in a portable long-chair by a campfire, I heard for the first, time the strange tales told of Ceylon's dreaded primeval rainforests-the Sinha Raja Adaviya; to see which, we make a detour. The forest stands there today, reduced no. doubt in area, but revealing still the splendour and luxuriance it has worn for untold aeons, ~d hiding the legends and beliefs which generations of men have woven around it.
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VI A DETOUR-THE SINHA RAJA ADAVIYA Those qualified to say so declare that this spreadi~g canopy of tree-tops .is the only remnant of virgin territory to re~mnd us of that time in the beginning when Ceylon was covered with a mantle of eternal green. All the other forests in the Island are of seco~dary, or subsequent, growth. It lies away in the back-blocks, stretchmg fro~ the boundary of the Kalutara District to the Kukul Korale m Sabaragamuwa. This situation necessarily claims remoteness, and explains why so very few have perhaps ~eard of this pri~eval territory, and why fewer still have explored it. The very occasional visit of a surveyor, or a forester, would indeed _be the _most remarkable incursion it receives from the world that hes ou~side. From these circumstances, the Sinha Raja tract has acqmred the peculiar strangeness of new country. It rains there nearly every day of the year with an annual average of 150 to 200 i~ches. Tuer~ is no dry season, and the trees, with straight unbranchmg boles, ~se as high as 150 feet, spreading an ever-green c~opy through whi~~ the little sunlight which filters creates below a dim_and murky twihg~t. The forest-floor, carpeted with leaves which come_ down _m never-ending fall the year round, opens into dark roomy aisles, with a scattered undergrowth of shrubs and saplings, the forest of tomorrow. Wooden lianas in fantastic loops climb upwards to compete with the trees for light and space, and spread their smaller vines on the ground to catch unwary feet. Unquestionably, there are many other striking phenomena peculiar to Sinha Raja which are unique in a sensed, and never seen in other wet or dry zone forests of Ceylon. It is only here that every plant and tree has the tip of its leaf drawn ~ut to a point: in effect, to drain off the rainwater rapidly. There is the constant sound of running water: the murmur of trickling rills, or the roar of larger
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streams dashing over rock barriers. Only at dawn and at dusk, when the diurnal and nocturnal creatures of this land of shades go in search of food, is there any sound of living things. At other times, all life is silent but for the incessant tune of the cicadas, or other insectsmillionfold. With such a setting of weirdness, is there any cause to wonder that this forest has inspired a rule of fear? No villager who is native to t~e few remote hamlets scattered over its fringe will enter it by ch01ce. In the gloom and darkness he senses that multitudinous eyes are watching from the shrubs below and the tropical island of leaves which forms the forest canopy above·. He fills every nook and com~r of this amphitheatre with the terrors of evil:.the spirits of demi-gods, demons, vampire bats, and mythic animals. Under the implacable Jaws of the wild, the killing of animals and the eating of flesh within the bounds of Sinha Raja is taboo. Evil will surely befall anyorie entering the domain if recently associated with anything unclean. To ensure protection against harmful influences, the forest-dweller wears a kanya-nool, which he ties round his arm, waist or neck. It is a thread spun by a virgin, and soaked in turmeric, and charmed over charcoal embers and resin smoke. He utters mantara to keep away wild animals, and equally to appease the mystery of the forest as impersonated in Baedde Maehaelli, a manifestation of the goddess Pattini. . Many a warning did I receive against setting up camp within the forest, when opportunity offered itself to live on the fringe. And often did this warning find echo in the.subconscious mind during the eerie hush of night, in the lurid glow and the fantastic shadows thrown · up by the camp-fires kindled to keep off wild beasts, when the leaves stirred to the breeze which blew over leagues of tree-tops overhead, or two grating branches peeled off to a choking·, sobbing moan. But in this measure, all forests are evil. In the complex and , majesty of their unique community of plant and animal life one is made to feel simple; and it is perhaps that simplicity which makes one afraid of the gloom of the forest and its silence ; of the sudden. rustle of _feet; of the unseen eye of reptile or beast which is slinking and peenng and the occasional shrill call or wild shriek of a bird or animal which has been let loose in carnival or carnage. 168
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In the Sinha Raja forests, the poisonous cobra, the tic-polonga, and the pit-viper or nicli-polonga, are too common for an easy mind. A peculiar grotesque bat, with sharp teeth, huge ears, and a flap which falls over its nose-may well be a degenerate species of the vampire which is believed to have once inhabited the dark recesses and caves of this old forest; the bat now found, they say, hunts at night and sucks the blood from small vertebrates. At the time of which I write, there were sambhur in plenty. Tradition holds that they retained their antlers for many years, with no limit to season for shedding them. There were wild-pig and elephant in large herds which kept moving about. The leopards of Sinha Raja were said to be big, powerful and fearless. Of bird-lif~, one can see but little, except in the scrub and thicket which lie off the edge of the forest where the chena cultivator has taken toll of the large trees. Sometimes, from the forest canopy aloft, there comes the cry of the Hom-bill, or the Barbet; and from the distance, at ground level, the clucking cry of the Haban-kukula (Spur-fowl) in ventriloquistic persistence.
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But of all the plagues which beset the traveller in this country which is kept perpetually damp by rain, none are more to be detested than the land leech. Nowhere in Ceylon are they found in greater abundance, nor do they decry their prey with greater avidity. They drop from sapling and shrub on the body, and spring sideways from the tall grass. Squelching boots, and scarlet patches on one's breeches, tell plainly of their ability to insinuate themselves through the smallest meshes and interstices to suck blood froi:n the tenderest parts of one's body. Even the most potent charms against leech victimization, which many of the bearers carried, were of little avail. Bloated leeches hung on their bare legs like tassels, and where they had taken hold near the ankles, appeared like bunches of grapes. The only partially successful means of warding them off seemed to be frequent application of juice from a tobacco leaf mixed with water. 169
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If you are anxious to be enlightened, or at least to reconcile yourself to the legends, or the supernatural mysteries, and the Baedde Mahaelli of Sinha Raja Adaviya, you must first learn to attune yourself to the mind of the simple, sullen dweller in those outposts of civilization which guard this virgin sanctuary. He will never explain these mysteries, for they are too intangible for clear reasoning; but if you will show an understanding sympathy, you may glean from some of his thoughts a rich legacy of the past. In a simple belief, cradled in the misty ages, which he is heir to, all things, even if inanimate, are invested with life. And it is the influences of these shadowy, shifty powers, that he fears and endeavours to conciliate-powers which reside in every hill and rock and rushing stream, in every spreading tree, and in the branches and leaves of that tree. He believes that these powers generate fevers and disease; that they are the force which gives power and spring to the leopard; which maddens the elephant, and gives venom to the snake.
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These, and many other animistic taints, originated with his ancestors; they have been kept alive by intimate contact with the forests. If you respect these beliefs, even though you may not be prepared to give credence to them, you will appreciate why he peoples the forests with billions of spirits and unknown forces-:--and even more perhaps in Sinha Raja Adaviya than the stars m the heavens. The beautiful country around Uragaha is too often neglected by the traveller who hurries down the coastal road. Its grass-covered downs, with woods and paddy fields hammocked in the declivities, are a favourite meeting place of sportsmen who would shoot Greenpigeon and Snipe in the season. · For a decade and two years from· 1900 this open, rolling country, four miles from Kosgoda railway station, was the venue of the annual camp of instruction of the Ceylon Volunteers. It was then known as Uragasmanhandya-a name which inspired the first line of a marching-song, Ta-ra, ra-ra Bumbiah.... Uragasmanhandiya!
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and figured largely in old soldiers' tales of a week of hard work and merriment. It must indeed have been hard work to carry out manreuvres in a uniform of "red serge coat and woollen trousers, and shako or foraging cap with white drill cover which fell over behind to cover the neck". But this spot is even more prominently associated with the story of the Boer prisoners of war in Ceylon, some of whom were accommodated in the mud and wattle, thatch-roofed huts used by the Volunteers. The Boers abbreviated the name to Uragaha. They also cultivated a "succulent pumpkin", and showed their farming proclivities to advantage in a number of vegetable gardens laid out around the camp. Just over half a century has gone by since this camp, which was filled by men from afar, was abandoned, and .... "the place that once knew them knows them no more". Scrub and lantana have blotted out the croquet lawns where many votaries of the game used to assemble, while the large green which once saw exciting cricket and football matches played against local teams, or was used as the venue of many Boer athletic sports meets, is today in the occupation of local colonists, They strive with much less energy, and therefore raise a meagre crop of vegetables from a soil which was once shown to respond freely. White ants, and the fret of time and. weather, have removed all traces of the buildings. *
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There are still some aged and venerable villagers left in the locality who can point out the sites of the hospital and other prominent buildings. They tell when cross-questioned which of the rounded tops was called Ceylon Mounted Infantry Hill, and recall that it was the advent of the Boer prisoner of war that brought them the facilities of a post office, prosperity in trade and barter, and good times. The only building which stood then, and passing years have not entirely destroyed, is the Rest House at Uragaha. Until recently, its chief attraction, other than the serenity of its country setting, was a tasty "spread" of curry and rice. In other respects it is not Iikel_y to detain the traveller long. 171
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VII AMBALANGODA Measured from the angle of the picturesque, the town of Ambalangoda itself has not the attractiveness of any of its rivals further down the South Coast Road. It is typical of the roadside village grown to be a town from what was once a narrow street which served as the business centre. In the dead hotness of this Main Street everything seems so shabby. There are no proper shops, but rather a medley of stores, boutiques and dingy dens, where humanity does business and lives massed together. Jostling crowds, pestiferous hawkers, slow-moving bullock carts and hackeries invade and clog it. Happily, in more recent times, a wide modern by-pass has been provided for.the traffic passing through. Travelling down this artery, . a white-domed dagoba which catches the sunlight fills the eye. It gives form and climax to the otherwise sprawl of buildings. But Ambalangoda's true glory is in her rocks, her seascape. and her sunsets. These beguiling attractions strike the only notes the town can offer, which tune in with what Richard Hakluyt wrote nearly four hundred years ago, when he observed that "this Ceylon is a brave Island with towns very fruitful and fair to see" ·
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Tucked away behind the busy Main Street there is a Rest House with sheltered lawns, and open verandahs, where the visitor may sit and take the air from the sea encompassing them. The bathing is as good here as anywhere in Ceylon; in fact, nowhere safer. These attractions draw motorists to the Rest House, and it is largely used as a weekend holiday resort. But of that host of visitors who have garaged their cars in the building provided for the purpose, how 172
many have realized that it was originally erected, and sanctified, to serve as a place of worship. This church, so characteristic of the village churches the Dutch built, is rectangular in shape. The two ends terminate in simple gables. The architectural artistry which provided the gable, was, they say an inspiration of the Renaissance. It spread to Holland, and was reproduced in her colonies abroad with every possible variation. Massive masonry pillars support the roof on the two longer sides. Sections of half-wall span these pillars, and wooden rails fill the opening above the wall. The general construction is typical of builders who preferred solidity to aesthetic qualities. *·
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In this church at Ambalangoda, so one learns, services were regularly held in Sinhalese by school master proponents, and in Dutch, during church and school visitations by the clergymen from Galle. But what perhaps gives the greater touch of pathos to this retrospect is the fact that the floor of this church is said to have been at one time paved with several tombstones, com1~morating distinguished men of Ceylon's Dutch community at that time who were buried in the church. None of these tombstones, placed flush with .the ground, are now to be seen. An explanation may be found in the suggestion that the floor was subsequently raised, and pa~ed. Among those buried within this once hallowed but now desecrated place, was the Count Jean Guillaume Du Bois De Lassosay, who, having retired from the Regiment of Luxembourg, of which he was Colonel Commandant, served as "Sitting Magistrate" of. Ambalangoda during the early years of the British occupation of Ceylon.
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There is, however, one visible link left in this vestige of the past to kindle a visitor's interest. On the outer side of the eastern end of the gabled wall is an inscription roughly chiselled on a stone, and let into the building about twelve feet from the ground. 01}ly a visit can
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afford some idea of this inscription, of its pristine setting, and of how the plain, yet substantial, moulding has been touched by the ravages of Time's slow but steady hand. Translated to English, the lettering reads as follows: Built by Adriaan Oostdyk Onderkoopman. Superintendent of the Galle Korale. Onderkoopman means under-merchant, and this designation in the Dutch Service was dictated by the fact that their administrative organization was run on a strictly commercial basis. After the building was erected Oostdyk was promoted Koopman, one step higher, an o.ffice which was next only to that of Adrrzinistrateur of the Galle Commandement. It is not uninteresting to note, in passing, that the Commandement was used to denote the jurisdiction of an officer holding the rank of Con1;mandeur, which in this particular instance extended from the Bentota Ganga to the Walawe Ganga, and was bounded on the East by the frontier of the Kandyan kingdom. Apparently, Oostdyk's duties as Superintendent of the cinnamon trade frequently took him to Ambalangoda, "Cosgoda", and Bentota. Very likeiy for long periods he made Ambalangoda his headquarters. Hence it is something rriore than mere speculation which suggests that the Rest House at Ambalangoda, bereft of its modem additions, served as a hostelry even before the church was built. In that rare publication La.pidarium Zeylanicum, by Ludovici, there is a reference to a Rust-Huys at Ambalangoda in the year 1735; but even so, the most imaginative mind will not venture to associate the institution with the rare luxury of bathing in the open sea in perfect security behind a natural barrier of rocks which protects the bather from being carried out by dangerous currents.
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The Dutch Vrouw and Mynheer might have turned an eye to the joys of surfing if they lived in the age of the two-piece bathing 174
suit-the bikini.:._provided also that the modem cult of slimming was in vogue. On the other hand they lived in an age when travelling was done in palanquin sl)Jng on a bamboo pole carried by several bearers. Although this convenience permitted a traveller riding in it to "both sit and lie down, and had at the ends and side~ curtains to · keep off the heat of the sun", the six or twelve bearers, which was the usual limited power provided for progression, necessitated frequent halts. It was primarily in these circumstances that on the main routes several houses were built at the Company's expense for the purpose of "bathing and lodging". Sometimes these Rusthuyzen were "large and handsome". Nowhere does sea erosion, which has been with us from. time immemorial, attract greater attention than along the section of the seafront south of Ambalangoda. The softer coasts between the main frame-(1/ork of rock and Jess resistant cabook, proclaim by outliers of cliff, inshore reefs, and Archaean gneiss far out at sea, to what extent the mainland has been laved by currents deflected by the south-west monsoon drifts. *
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These fragments of hard formation, which show where the land once Jay, have for thousands of years been the breeding ground of Gull and Tern. In the north-east monsoon-when the sun shines hard but not too hot, and the air is as clear as a diamond-nothing dn be more beautiful than the sight of these birds flying out to sea at dawn, in vast flocks or "strings", to fish all day and return at dusk. Hikkaduwa, in its rural setting, is another popular week-end resort which offers quiet sea bathing, except in the stormiest periods of the south-west monsoon. The bird watcher will find the group of rocks lying off the lawn of the Hikkaduwa Rest House ideal for studying the habits of the winged life which gathers here to · gurgle, c~eak and groan in the late afternoons. Other features worthy of exploration off Hikkaduwa are the ruined temple, rendered famous by association with the one-time 175
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Poet Laureate of Ceylon, Totagamuwe Sri Rahula, and the congeries of alluring inland lakes and wooded islets. One cannot fail too to notice the tract of sunken plain traversed by the road which once was sea. From this quagmire the people qig up coral, and make good money turning it in_to lime, by burning.
VIII AN OLD-WORLD, WALLED TOWN GALLE Galle has been an emporium of foreign trade from the dawn of commerce. The old-world fortifications which girdle the town testify to its importance as a mart in modern times-first of Portugal, afterwards of Holland, and later of Great Britain. Originally an entrenched settlement in the lowland territory of the Kandyan Kings, it was wrested from the Sinhalese in 1587 by the Portuguese. The Dutch took possession of it after prolonged and severe lighting, in 1640. It was ceded to the British forces in 1796. But whereas history holds that the Portuguese discovered what came to be called Point-de-Galle, the credit must go to the Dutch for having made it. They decidedly gave 'this town a character which the fret and wea_r of 160 years have barely touched, and the good sense of the people who followed them has let alone.
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The most picturesque section of the fortifications is that which faces the Victoria Park and the Esplanade. In the Portuguese period it consisted of a single wall fronted by a deep ·which extended from the sea to the harbour. The Dutch converted this into a formidable line of defence within 24 years of occupying the town. They called the central bastion, together with its cavalier which is on a lower level, the Moon Bastion. It was raised over an earlier Portuguese fortaleza called Conceicao. The two half-bastions flanked at the end of the rampart to the harbour and the sea also occupy the sites of two earlier Portuguese fortalezas which bore the names St. Jago and St. Antonio. The Dutch named these Sun Bastion and Star Bastion respectively. St. Jago was the scene of the most severe fighting and carnage when the Dutch carried the town by force of 176
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arms. Other features of this line of defence agaiRst approach by land comprise the glacis or open space fronting the line of fortification; a half-finished ditch in front of the structure known as faussebray, which renders escalade difficult; also numerous curtains and covered-ways for the use of the infantry, who took their stand behind the faussebray.
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18. Ccylon·s ·pnmcval rain fore\!
a sccuon exposed by felling
19. Early squat meeting house (Dutch Church)
20. Ornamental linlel over main doorway of a Du1ch house
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.Starting from the Sun Bastion and following the line of rampart flanking the harbour, the next point of interest is Zwart Bastion,. originally a Portuguese fortaleza called Sancta Cruz. The portcullis at this spot, known as the "water-gate", served to let people into, or out of, the Fort when the town gate was bolted and barred. Alcersloot Bastion the next in sequence, was originally called "Sailors' Point". It was later named after the birthplace of William. Jacobzoon Coster, the Dutch commander who stormed Galle with his troops and captured it from the Portuguese. The name of the bastion has been chiselled on .a stone at the spot. The inscription also bears a date which, however, has no bearing on the date of erection of the bastion.· Aurora and Point Utrecht Bastions commanded the entrance to the anchorage. They were considered important strategic Points since their cannonade would prevent the entry of enemy ships. Both these forts were overhauled and strengthened in 1728, during the administration of Governor Petrus Vuyst. His first act on landing at Galle, says a biographer, was to clap a plaster over one his eyes to show the people that he did not require two eyes to rule a land of such small dimensions. So great was the terror he subsequently inspired that the Council at Batavia recalled him. A magazine at Point Utrecht Bastion, in perfect preservation, bears the inscription: "A.J. Galle den 1st Zeber (September), 1787." Aeolus Bastion is the only point on the western sea-face which was strongly fortified by the Dutch. Clippenberg, Neptune and Triton Bastions, with their bases washed by a heavy surf, were erected about the year 1729, mainly to guard agairist escalade. *
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How very near we came to losing this spectacular heritage, which inspires the collective memory of the Dutch period of occupation of maritime Ceylon, is told by Cordiner. Describing a tour he made in the company of Governor North in 1800, he writes: ".:.One hill, at only the distance of a musket-shot, completely dominates a part of the Fort. This might have been fortified, but it is also commanded by another. For these reasons a design was formed · to destroy all the fortifications of this place except those bastions which immediately guard the.entrance into the harbour." Happily this "design" was not carried out beyond an effort at "clearing a distance of.700 yards on the land side of the ramparts on the orders of H. E. the Hen. Frederic North". What is more, we have also to some extent got past the heat and argument promoted by conflicting ideas regarding the utility of these monuments. Although demolition was discussed _several times subsequently, the preservation of the Galle ramparts recently became a Governmental concern, and the Fort was proclaimed an Archaeological Reserve. It is thus safe, to remain an op~n corridor into the life and thought of the past. Colourful history has been written on Galle and its environs, on its wooded heights, and on the waters of its bay. Here, in centuries beyond connt, spice vessels were loaded, and fighting flotillas rested awhile to replenish their stocks of water, food and fuel. There are people-just a few counted among the old~who will tell you that less than a hundred years ago the harbour at Galle, in keeping with old traditions, was crowded with shipping at anchor. Those were days of "wooden walls", of the "clipper" and "paddlewheels". Besides the weekly gathering of P. & 0. and French packets outward and homeward bound, there were always several merchantmen riding awhile on these waters. Some were on the China tea trade, others were racing through from Australia to catch the London wool sales.
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When, however, that upstart city of Colombo built a southwest breakwater, the harbour of Colombo came to be more favoured as a port of call for loading and transhipping cargo. All the lines of steamers running· to Eastern ports and Australia gradually began to call there. Hence it came about that the moving finger wrote the word /chabod over Galle harbour, and today one sees there only an occasional freighter, or a perfectly empty sea. It cannot be counted uninteresting to catch what glimpses we can of thosetimes when Galle was at the zenith of her glory, and Colombo was a lesser port of call off the arterial shipping route.
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Using an old map as guide and i!1_spiration, the eye can place on this past no less than a dq.zen hotels. There are two off Church Street, naired the "Old Mansion!' and "Sea View". Tradition recalls that the former w~ owned and run by Henry Bogaars, and the latter by Angelo Ephraums, a brother of the founder of the New Oriental of our day. C. B. Bogaars ran the "Eglington" in Pedlar .· Street and the "New Mansion" in Middle Street. Other first-class hotels were: "Loret's", named after its proprietor Eugine Loret, and "The Parilion" in Rampart Street, owned by a lady, Mrs. Braybrodc.e. Besides these institutions of style and pretension, there were se~ral others of a class to meet the pockets of travellers of lesser rr.eans. • . Arnitage Hill Bungalow, with cadjan-thatched roof, a few m1les out of Galle and on the road to Wakwella, was what Mount Lavinia is to tle transit passenger who disembarks for a few hours ~n the Colottbo of today. It was much sought after for the sake of a pleaiant drive in a horse-drawn gig through the village garden~, and for the "tea" served by the proprietor on the lawns which overlooked the coconut groves and moist green patches of paddy in lower levels, round which the waters of the Gin Ganga laid a silver trail as they moved to meet the wide ocean. *
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To reckon that as many as 700 passengers landed on some "steamer days" seems incredible. But that is just what eyewitnesses have testified and supplemented by fascinating glimpses of streets and bazaars thronged with sightseers who had perhaps come from different parts of Europe and from Australia, India, the Far East, and the Cape of Good Hope. Mixing and mingling with the indigenous crowds, they patronized the shops and the stalls. of Sinhalese and Muslim vendors whose delicate embroideries and the famous "Galle lace", so enchanting to the Western eye, were on display together with the most captivating ornaments of the silversmith's art in filigree, precious stone and tortoise-shell. No doubt then, as even now, the popular mementocarried away from Ceylon was the ebony or coconut wood elep1ant and the miniature catamaran. Yet, unlike at present, in tho;e times the passenger paid in gold. The amount of sovereigns whic~ flowed into the coffers of the jewellers' shops and the hotels was if tradition speaks true, reckoned in tokens sufficient to jolt u~ the shares of any hotels company, or dazzle the trader who reguiles the passenger in the busy Colombo of our day. Howbeit, this does not exhaust the picture of Galle in austere · outer completeness restrained by its blackened coral stone and crumbling stucco ramparts, sleeping under the sun and dreaming of days which had seen Mooris)l traders give place to P~rtuguese adventurers, Dutch merchants and British colonists. Str~e to tell, · there is still more romantic poetry which can be squeezed l)Ut from the melancholy city nestling in the shadow of these walls. The distinctive character which the Dutch engineer b6itowed on Galle has not changed much, and one may yet sense an otl-time naturalness and absence of vulgarity in houses, churches and ~eets, which both inspire and help the mind to remodel the individu" and co-operative legacies of the past. The roads are straight and narrow. From above, they lie 'jke dusty rulers forming a grid on a flat landscape reclaimed from tie sea. Some of them carry quaint old-world names, such as Ley•Baan Street meaning "rope walk"; Great and Small Moderabaa) Streets (Moderabaai meaning mud-bay); and Lighthouse Street which had an older name-Zeeburg Street. Looking down the last, 182
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one sees two parallel rows of slender wooden or rounded brick pillars which converge in the distance up or down-street. These pillars once fronted deep steops or verandahs and su~ported the low-pitched eaves of the houses on the ground floor which flanked the road. . They say that once upon a time the one diversifying feature in the streets of Galle was the variety of bright colours for which the Colonial Dutch citizen showed special fondness. Today there is less · colour, but one sees in thes~ old houses of Galle a variety of fan-lights and ornamental lintels over window or doorway which indicate how the Dutch craftsman dispelled the sameness of the domestic architecture of the period. The dominating architectural form which the Dutch used in nearly all the large buildings they erected in Ceylon was the gable. Evolved from an inspiration of the Renaissance, it spread to Holland and was reproduced in their settlements abroad in every possi?le variation. Of this legacy of curve and scroll-work and mouldmg the best examples extant are to be seen in the stately churches presenting solid and substantial medieval lines, particularly the one in Galle built by the Dutch 200 years ago. Its peculiar scroll offers an idea of grandeur and simplicity of line that is almost unique in Ceylon . .If you would have the year& which hav~ gone _by broug~t closer to you, enter this church of many memones which has w1thstoo_d the storms and vicissitudes of two centuries. History tells that this was the second church erected in the Dutch period in this station; and popular opinion maintains that it stands erected on the site of an earlier Portuguese Capuchin convent. The first Protestant church, generally alluded to as the Groote Kerk, built in 1640 knows its place no longer. If tradition speaks true the new chruch was a thank-offering by the wife of Commandeur Gasparus de Jong for the gift of a child. It contains a large number of massive tombstones and mural tablets raised to Dutch and British rulers and me~chants who were conscious until the moment of their death that they were in positions of power and authority over this sea-girt coast. It also contains a wealth of other historical and antiquarian interest.
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SEEING CEYLON
GALLE
Another of the antiquities of Galle which Time is crumbling is the old gate, once the principal entrance to the Fort. It is flanked by old Dutch store-houses called packhuis which are slowly·tuming to powder. The story of the conquerors who had held the gate against invasion is told in two stones let into the wall over the entrance and exit of the gate-way. In the Dutch period there was but one on which had been carved with a delicate chisel a shield charged with the monogram V. 0. C. (Vereenigde Oost-lndische Compagnie) with two lions as supporters surmounted by a crest showing a· chanticleer Standing on a rock, and below the shield the date ]669. The popular explanation of the crest is that the Dutch armorist, struck by the similarity in the expression Galle and the Sinhalese word gala, used a rock as one feature, and proceeded to duplicate his idea by adopting a cock (Latin: gal/us) as a further charge on the crest. This crest came to be accepted as the Arms of Galle in the Dutch era and belongs to a class known as "canting heraldry". Not far from the old gate is the old Government House; called Queen's House in the British era. Subsequently the building served as an office for Messrs. Clark Spence & Co.,. and is now the busi?ess place of Messrs. Walker, Sons & Co. Over the doorway leadmg on to Queen's Street there is a large stone slab on which the date 1683 and the figure of a cock have been inscribed. The significance of the latter has been explained earlier. The inclusion, over two centuries ago, of such a modern · accessory as a water-borne sewage system in town-planning must be considered extraordinary. Yet this is what the Dutch colonial of engineer did when he planned the Fort of Galle. The greater the walled town being below the level of the sea, he utilized the simple expedient of harnessing the tide at its ebb to carry its refuse away.
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Little was known of this vast network ofbri~k-lined drains which lay from six to twelve feet below normal ground level until an epidemic of bubonic plague, in 1922, compelled attempts to segregate and exterminate the enormous rat population in these sewers. These. sewers, despite decay, together with the auxiliary honeycomb of house connections, function to this day to carry off 184
water used for domestic purposes. The sea has receded from some exits, but the tide continues to run in and out of others. A similar system, but much more limited in its scope, is extant in the Mannar Fort. Passing out by the old city gate, which is today framed in moss and fem, it takes some time for one to realize quite what an .enchanting picture the land and water around Galle make. A flintblue sea breaks lazily on a crescent line of shore, round which sprays of small islands drift to form bays and promontories. These end with the wooded headland called Rhumassala Kanda, which rises abruptly from the water's edge. From ,a jut on Rhumassala, which is also called Buona Vista, there is a magnificent sweeping view across the harbour; it is a wonderful place whereat to sit at nightfall, watching the lights coming on, one by one, in the town and suburbs across the waters of the land-locked harbour. By moonlight the panorama is uncanny. There is a peace in the proportion of everything; the scene has tl-quality of being breathless and phantom-filled. Gibbet is the name given to one of the small islands across the bay. It is completely deserted, but its privacy is said to be disturbed _by the ghosts which its name gives rise to. The Portuguese and the Dutch are believed to have used it as a place of execution. Not far from Gibbet Island there is a sequestered inlet called Closenburg, a favourite ·resort for bathing and surf-riding. It lends its name to the once-famous century-old residence built by Captain Bayley, the agent of the P. & 0. line, in the days when Galle was supreme.
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The end of the headland south-east of the entrance to Galle's harbour is named on medieval maps Santa Baaiya. It is a popular and ideal spot for picnickers. From a reservoir here, ships in days of old obtained a'supply of fresh water when they touched Galle. Hence its modem name Watering Point. Looking across the open ocean from this rocky headland, sheer and devoid of sandy foreshore, one sees the two rocky reefs very appropriately called by sailors "the Whale" and "the Bellows". Many a vessel which risked entering 185
SEEING CEYLON
'the harbour in the south-west monsoon "bumped its bottom" on these reefs, and is said to have ended as a wreck. There cannot be many readers who have heard of Edward's Pill_ar (resembling in the distance the Victory Column in Colombo) which c_rowns the summit of Rhumassala Kanda. Its presence, black with age, has given rise to much speculation by the few who ha~e seen it. Actually it is a masonry column, over sixty feet high, which was erected by a Mr. Edwards of the Survey Department many years ago, to be subsequently used as a trigonometrical station. The writer climbed it, using a series.of ladders, in 1921, to make some observations, and vouches for an exquisite view, from the su_mmit, of the harbour? Galle town, and the surrounding country reaching way back to Adam's Peak (Sri Pada). The impressions which Rhumassala offers in the realm of legend_ ea~ well be summed up in the one word, devastating! The oldest impinges on abysmal depths of time, and draws on the Rama and Sits legends of Ceylon. Apparently, when Lakshman was wounded, and a medicinal herb was required for his cure, Hanuman was sent to the Himalayas to fetch it. On his way there, the name and natu~ of the plant escaped his memory; whereupon he snapped up_ a po~io~ of _land from the Himalayan massif, and carrying it twisted m his tail dropped it off Galle. He then went to Rama and asked him to seek for the herb himself. To this day, believing that Rhumassala is a fragment of the holy mountain, sanyasis continue to search for the plant Sansevi, or the tree of life and immortality, brought in this strange manner to save Lakshman's life. The Ceylon traditionalist gives credence to this myth when he tells you that many valuable medicinal herbs are to be found only there! The reader will recall that this is identical with the legend told concerning the summit of Ritigala-kanda.
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IX
GALLE TO MATARA The road which skirts the crescent shore of the Galle harbour rises slightly as it reaches Rhumassala and traverses a valley formed by another contiguous range of hills called Talpekanda. The terrain is unusual, and sufficiently so to inspire another version of the picturesque legend related earlier which ventured to explain the supernatural manner in which the wooded heights round Galle came into being. This second story holds that in a remote age a Sinhalese King commanded a yodhaya, or giant, to bring some medicinal herbs which had been prescribed for the Queen. After long search, he is supposed to have found two hills in the southeastern region of the Island which contained all the herbs required. Using his extraQrdinary strength, the yodhaya hurriedly slung the hills into the two baskets of his pingo, and beg!ln the journey back to the Palace. Being _so overjoyed by his find, he failed to take the precaution to strap the loads securely. As aresult, when he reached the village we call Unawatuna, the hills slipped out of the baskets and remain there to this day. *
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And so the traditionalist believes that the valley through which che road passes represents the path which the yodhaya walked on while carrying the baskets hung on the two ends of a pole balanced on his shoulder. Rhumassala and Talpekanda are the fragments of hill he was carrying. What is more, the rustic story-teller will explain to you that when the loads dropped out from his pingo, the giant shouted out: Onna Vatuna! which, rendered in English, means: "There! It has dropped." Hence, apart from accounting for the 187
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presence of the two hills and the valley, the legend goes further to explain how Unawatuna got its name. If you possess the temperamental gift of seeing things which others are denied, you will, they say, when you pass this gap at the hour of midnight, catch a glimpse of a gigantic shadowy figure, with legs astride the Galle-Matara road, striving desperately to lift the two hills on a pingo! The story has passed down from father to son-which is how tradition lives.
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Unawatuna, like many another suburb of Galle, is rich in relics of Dutch times, and seems to have largely been lived in by people who disliked crowds but had no wish to leave the town far behind. Barthfield House, and a few others which hold evidence of having been built massively, with spacious gates and pillared verandahs, are pointers to those times. One of these houses near Waggalmodera, reputed to have been the country seat of the Commandeur of Galle, has even the ruins of a swimming pool, certainly larger than any existing swimming pool in Ceylon today. It shows-traces of having been built with bric~ and mortar, and has masonry steps leading down to water level. Tradition holds that a golden couch, or sofa of Dutch pattern, floats on rare occasions in this pool. Few have actually seen it, and none have attempted to seize it, for the story runs that it vanishes, should such an attempt be made !
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This story of the vanishing sofa calls to mind what fine Dutch furniture and china must have filled the spacious houses of old in this unsuburbanized part of Galle, where fact and legend set fittingly intermingle. There must necessarily have been many of those round and long chairs of ample proportion, in which the Burgomaster and his expansive spouse took their ease without abdominal compression after a full meal of curry and yellow rice. But not much of genuine Dutch furniture remains today in the open m~ket. Soine fine, even if rather solid, pieces are treasured by 188
private collectors, and a few more are in the Colombo Museum. Most of the bits sold by enterprising purveyors, especially the so-called Dutch chests, are turned out of old wood and plentifully covered with modern brass made into patterns which are old. Should you be the adventurous type of traveller with zest for exploration, you will find something out of the usual to reward you if you walk to Unawatuna Point, at the Matara end of Rhumassala Kanda. The strange tales which will be told you of the ancient Devala nestling in this superb panorama of sun and sand and rocks should alone recompense you for the occasional discomforts of the walk. Nonetheless, when there remember to ask to be shown the "Cave of the Imprisoned Sea-Serpent". Not far from the Devala you will find a cliff overhung by a large slab of rock. From immeasurable times the restless ocean waves have been scooping a cavern under this cliff. It is large and deep, and into it, during the south-west monsoon, mountainous waves ride in with tremendous velocity. At times, when wind and wave are favourable, you hear shrill and hissing sounds, weird and sometimes siren-like, caused by the air in the cave being forced through holes and crevices in the imprisoning slab-rock. The gurgling beat of water on the cliff, and the suppressed hollow and vibrant sounds which rise from the cave below, combine to produce an eerie clangour. With fantasy to help you, you will find sufficient material here to understand how legends are inspired. Nearly all the way from Galle, until one reaches Hambantota, the road coquets with the sea. The prodigious work of erosion has cut the coast into innumerable bays and estuaries flanked by thrusting peninsulas, or by long fingers of cape. For six months in the year the waters in these bays lie sleek and innocent. At other times of storm, the water boils itself into frightening spectacles of foam and spray.
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Near the level-crossing, just before one gets to Weligama, there is by the roadside the so-called Kushta Raja-a great stone figure cut in a niche which is conspicuous to persons proceeding tQ Galle 189
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SEEING CEYLON
but may well be passed unnoticed by those making for Matara. The image is popularly explained as that of a Sinhalese king or sovereign prince. He was, they say, miraculously cured here of a painful skin . disease by obeying a divine command, received while in a trance, fo subsist entirely on "the transparent liquid and innocent pulp of the coconut until thrice the great moon shall have given and refused her light!" And so to Weligama, the "queen of beaches· in Ceylon," where the bathing may be sometimes dangerous owing to currents but where there is no fear of sharks close to the shore. Chaotic outspills of rose-red iron-stone or cabook cliffs, described on old maps as "The Ant Heap", have contributed to the one-time name given to the sheltered waters off Weligama, namely "Red Bay". By the sea stands a typical Dutch Rest House which is reputed to put up a jolly chicken-fish-egg-and-vegetable curry, with sambols-the very remembrance of which should bring tears flavoured with chillie to your eyes. Incidentally, later history has been written on what was once a deserted island that fronts the broad sea-shore off the Rest House at Weligama. From amongst the greenery that crowns it, peep the tall doorway and windows of what to many must be a castle of romance. It will long remain associated with the name of Count De Mauny. The broad Nilwala Ganga, which flows calmly and placidly through Matara, lends sublimity to the landscape of this green and pleasantly situated town. Matara has many claims to public recognition, but none greater than the fact that it has produced a number of distinguished men, among them "the greatest Ceylonese of all times"-C. A. Lorenz. That Matara enjoyed this reputation for the intellectual superiority of her sons even in the days of Sinhalese Sovereignty is well ~nown. It was Digby who wrote: "although some doubt may rest on the tradition which makes it the birthplace of Kalidasa, there can hardly be any doubt that the men of Matara always carried away the palm for literary merit. Even at the present time people entertain a pious reverence for the learning of Matara."
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Valentyn, the Dutch historian, tells that King Dharrnapala set up a fortification at Matara with the aid of the Portuguese, just over 400 years ago. Nonetheless, the interesting relics of redoubt, bastion and rampart to be seen there today are memorials of the Dutch. This cumulative evidence suffices to show the importance of the centre as a seat of the spice trade in Dutch times. Nowhere in Ceylon will be found a town inore appropriateiy fitted to the purpose of intensifying the contrast between the past and the present. On the right bank of the Nilwala Ganga, a short way from the bridge, there stands a small stone fort of five bastions, known as the Redoubt Van Eck. It is named after Baron Van Eck, known to fame as the Dutch Governor who sacked Kandy in 1765. Today this interesting relic is more popularly referred to as the Star Fort, and desecrated as an official residence and a P. W. D. store. ,. Behind the grim old ramparts stretching from river to sea on the left bank there lies the old town, with its narrow streets and old time houses. Conditions here appear as primitive as at the date when the Dutch Burgher mynheeren smoked their long pipes, sipped their Schedam, and went for their noonday siesta. But whereas this old fort area of Matara appears to have stood still while everything around it has been marching on, it is not devoid of a peculiar fossilized atmosphere which cannot fail to appeal to the stranger who enters its environs.
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The building of greatest antiquarian interest in Matara Fort is the .old Dutch Church. It bears a date showing that it was repaired in 1769, but there is evidence of its remoter antiquity in the tombstones which pave its floors. Standing on the ramparts over the archway whi<;h is the old entrance to the Fort, one sees a wonderful panora~ of land and sea. Near the sea-shore is a small island round which the breakers roll threatening to drown it in ocean waves. It has for long been Poulier's Island, but was originally called Pigeon Island. Turning the eye southwards, a wide expanse of blue sea stretches away to a distant skyline with Dondra Head nearer in, thrusting 191
SEEING CEYLON
itself into the waters. To your left you see the red cliffs Brown's Hill called after John Dennis Brown, who was A.G.A. at Matara in the eighteen forties. On Ptolemy's map you will find these cliffs described as the Orneon Headlands. Further inland, Nayiman Kanda rises like a solitary sentinel from an interminable stretch of paddy fields, and beyond that tier upon tier of hill ranges, until the view in that direction is shut out by the towering heights of Gongala. In the shadow of this mountain range nestles that most delectable of all hill-station Rest Houses, namely Deniyaya.
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X
DONDRA-CITY OF THE GODS The four-mile drive from Matara to Dondra is diversified by a delightful picture of luminous blue waters framed between a boundless horizon and a foreshore washed by the everlasting tide and swell of the Indian Ocean. If you spare the time to explore the thriving though small and dusty townlet you eventually pass through, you will go back to describe that too in three dimensions: firstly, in terms of its 160 feet high octagonal-towered lighthouse which :illays the cares of mariners sailing off Dondra Head; secondly, of the fact of your having stood on the-"Land's End" of South Ceylon with nothing but sea between yourself and the South Pole; and lastly, of the discovery that you have visited a place which has long been sacred to numerous gods. Dondra, in literary form, is Devinuwara. This means "the City of the Gods". To see it dressed in full panoply of religion and_ festival, you should time your visit for the auspicious week in the month of the Esala moon (July-August); and you will then picture the sacred city thronged by large crowds, both religious-minded and in carnival mood. They have come en masse from miles beyond the confines of the Matara District to fulfil vows and to tender offerings at the many shrines dedicated to deities. In no other part of the Island perhaps is the early place of Hinduism so plainly traceable through later Buddhist tradition. At festival time, i_n daylight and darkness, for ten whole days, the rhythmic drumming, to the accompaniment of the haunting, melancholy tunes of the temple pipes and conches, composed hardly stops. Once each day perahera processions of acrobats, dancers, superbly capa.risoned elephants and bearers carrying silver fans and umbrellas, announce their advent from the temples by the firing of gingals, the cracking of whips and the loud noise of tom-toms. As the procession wends its way round the square bearing the symbols 193
SEEING CEYLON
DONDRA
and insignia of ~he gods, the people show adoration in clamorous shouts: the Buddhist devotee in the vociferous "Sadhu" and the Hindu using the refrain "Aro-hara!". When the perahera has passed by and re-entered the res'pective temples, the massed throng, children and grown-ups of every age and size, tum their attention to the fair and carnival and wander down the long line of stalls which are gay with cloth, toys, brass and hardware. There are frequent stalls for sweetmeats, aerated drinks and tea. Ring-swings creak as they hurl their cradles laden with humanity round and round; while a steam merry-go-round, encircled by a sea of moving heads waiting to board it, whacks out a familiar barrel-organ tune as the ring of grotesque animals pass round bobbing their heads, and their riders, up and down. There is little shoving and jostling, even though all are out to secure the maximum shock effect of the spirit of carnival.
It is in a gorgeous eastern setting such as this, pervaded by a witchery and weirdness which no pen may ever hope to describe~ that the Ceylon devil-dancer steps in to complete the illusion of a veritable carousal of unhallowed revels. Suddenly there is a terrible howl from·outside the ring of spectators, and a puff of flame floats up. Then, with a wild yell, a figure of horror leaps into the light scattering the crowds to right and left. It is clothed in black, and wears a terror-inspiring mask, also black with fan-like twisted ears, large protruding eye-balls standing out like the eyes of a lobster, hanging lip, grinning frontal teeth and enormous canines curling out of lhe mouth like a pair of sickles, between which lolls out an enormous red tongue. In its hands this demoniacal figure carries flaming torches, and every now and then with a strident yell and an infernal relish it crams the torches into its mouth, wolfs the flames~ and, rolling its white eyes, leaps high in frenzied ecstasy. This is the votaries' impression of the principal of the eighteen devils belonging to a lower class who are usually propitiated in Cey Ion. Higher and higher this demon springs, and in doing so draws nearer and nearer to the rj.ng of spectators-continuing to eat tht:; flames. He suddenly cease~, crouches like an evil, shapeless shadow, and finally falls in a shud~ring heap to the ground. Thereafter the dance goes on. Other demons follow him into the lighted arena, most of them represented by masks of the same diabolical variety. Their dances are on a methodized system of sameness, carefully preserved in writings and by tradition. It is nearly ~oming when the ceremonies end and the spectators giddily struggle homewards.
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But it is nearing midnight, so we leave this merry throng in order to watch another survival of antiquity. In the open space of a coconut-tope off the precincts of the temple, a surging animated crowd presses round a dim circle of light. Only the fitful glare of torches, helped by the flicker of lighted wicks floating in a number of shallow vessels containing coconut oil, help to make the darkness visible. The tom-toms throb, responding to the exertions of a massed body of men naked to the waist, with shining beads of perspiration running down their bro.wn skins, their ruffled black hair falling over their faces . Shrill notes ·of the pipes rise and fall in desultory attempts to blend with the rhythmic beat of the drums, which, always in unison, break occasionally from slow to quick time. The jingle of bells, the oppressive notes of the conch-shell, and the vibrant ring of cymbals combine to create a deafening clangour.· The atmosphere, infused with the nose-pinching odour of smouldering wicks, is rendered doubly obnoxious by combating fumes of bulJling incen~e. cooked food, and heavily scented flowers.
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So much, tben, for the flavour of this strange townlet when in festival mood. But, perhaps, you are seeing Dondra when the pageant has passed by and when it lies empty and neglected. It is the better time to inspect what remains of its ancient temples, and to learn its interesting story. The guide who takes you to the bare and windswept headland will point to a submerged reef and say: "You see there the resting
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place of the War God's stone barque. It sank beneath the waves when no longer required!" That is the earliest tradition of how the "City of the Gods" came into being. This god was Skanda ( or Kartikeya}, who, having descended from heaven to the "Sea of Milk", landed at Dondra Head, tired out with a long voyage in a miraculous raft of granite, and thence made his progress to Kataragama, where his shrine now stands. The sunken raft is, however, not the only token enshrined in tradition to hold this story. Nearby are the remains of a very ancient temple, of which some carved-stone columns remain. It is known as the Sinhasana, or throne, where Skanda is stated to have sat to receive the homage ~d adoration of the people before he proceeded on his journey to Kataragama. *
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According to yet other traditions the City ow_es its name to a magnificent kovil which stood off the present market-place. It was built, they··say, in a remote past, and was dedicated to Vishnu (the god of the colour of the blue lotus) whose identity was for many years merged in the god worshipped as Upulvan. Obviously the lesser deities of the Hindu pantheon gradually came in for their share of v·eneration and contributed towards making it the "City of the Gods." But for a.few stone pillars and moonstone steps, there are no other ruins of this celebrated kovil dedicated to Vishnu. All that one sees is an insignificant, ill-kept devala, and, standing on grounds adjoining it, a Buddhist temple known as the Kiri Vihara. The dagoba is believed to have been erected by a Sinhalese King, Dappula II, over 1,500 years ago. By the very contiguity of their positions the shrines are symbolic of the manner in which one religion overlapped the other. So actually it is only when the few references made to this City in the Mahavamsa are strung together with travellers' tales, that the grandeur that was Dondra makes sense. Ibn Batuta, the famous Moorish traveller, visited the spot in the 14th century, calling
it Dinewar. He mentions an idol of pure gold of the size of a man, with rubies which shone like stars for its eyes. He observed that there were 500 nautch-girls attached to the Temple to dance before the gods.
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From other sources imagination pictures decorated colonnades and gopurams, a huge central pagoda raised on elaborate. arc~es, and a gilded roof showing against a blue sky far out from. sea, twinkling as it caught the sunlight as though the sky was upsidedown. But how, you ask, has such a magnificent spectacle, with its long centuries of glory, vanished to all purposes without a trace? The answer lies in the pages of comparatively recent history. In 1587, when the Portuguese sought to create a diversion during the siege of Colombo by Raja Sinha II, the destruction of this triumphant symbol and renowned place of pilgrimage in Ceylon evidently appealed to them as .a deed which would produce both temporal and spiritual benefits. The disaster which subsequently overtook the far-famed temple was swift, unforeseen and complete. Landing from ships which set out from Colombo, the task forces entered the gates without resistance. The Pagoda with the glittering roof, its gopurams and colonnades, was overthrown. The images in wood, in clay and in metal were demolished. Its gold and. silver, and gems of fabulous worth, were plundered; and all its buildings were levelled to the ground. This explains why the magic of Dondra lies today in words, just words with wonderful associations, and nothing much else to show for the hold it has retained on national sentiment. That is why, on~e a year by the holding of a festival, the City of the Gods squeezes out romantic poetry from the melancholy which has overtaken ancient glory.
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A MYSTERY CAVE
XI THE HO ...... ~MANIYA! A MYSTERY CAVE The Hambantota District, into which we cross near the 114th mile from Colombo, is, I suppose, the most popular low-country holiday ground for those who seek escape from the boredom of the office or the estate. It is conveniently reached, caters for many interests, and is comparatively inexpensive. Everywhere in this south-eastern administrative d"ivision of Ceylon which has a hundred miles of seaboard and stretches a considerable distance inland, there are to be found traces in plenty of the ancient occupation of the country. As a separate principality, under the name of Maha Ruhuna it attained great splendour and prosperity-so much so, as to have its chief city, now the insignificant hamlet Magama, known to geographers of the West. A wilderness of jungle has since crept over the face of the country and brought tranquillity to these plains. In jungle breaks there are scattered ruins of palace and pleasure-garden -Where, if legend may be trusted, kings and queens and nobles held court twenty centuries ago; while thickets clothed with weed and undergrowth occupy the sites of temples and monasteries. Many of these grim glens are still sealed to the sight of the visitor. Here, and in the caves in hills ·where saintly arahats meditated, leopard and bear prowl, deer and wild-boar have their runways, and the lordly Ceylon elephant roams.
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Hence today the Hambantota District is par excellence the sporting country of Ceylon, where you may lie in wait at a waterhole for "Spots" or "Bruin" or Wing-duck and Peafowl or Snipe. Here too, if you would rather, you may leisurely watch or photograph the wild life of Ceylon in a National Park; or if you are 198
so disposed, study the archaeology of the country and glean knowledge of the arts and customs of its early peoples. But if none of these interests appeal to you, you can browse in Rest House verandahs at Hambantota and Tangalla, watching the serried ranks of waves topple one another in the surf and, after their sally, go foaming back again into the sea. Swimming, paddling in the water, building sand-castles;collecting shells or fishing, are other pleasures which await young an9 old who spend a sunny day on its beaches-and above all, that of getting·full satisfaction by lazing 'and lying in the sun.
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Begin your tour by seeing the Ho ... o-Maniya! I ask you. Had I said blow-hole, you might not have given much thought to it-but Ho ... o-Maniya!-It spells mystery! · At Nakulugamuwa, off the 117th mile on the South Coast Road, a minor track branches off making for the coast. I do not vouch that it is motorable, but having covered a mile, or a little more, you arrive on the seashore which reveals a sheltered bay with its entrance dominated by picturesque cliffs. They call the spot Vaelle-kaele, meaning- "the jungle on the seashore". Nonetheless, this stretch of beach is a.veritable hive of industry. Fishing-nets and boats, and various other types of fishing gear lie scattered about, telling too plainly that the prosperity of the inhabitants of the nearby village depends entirely on what the bay and the fishing-banks further out have to offer. Here, no doubt, one may glean many thrilling tales of the sea-of life and death struggles with the elements pitted against frail outrigger canoe and sail...but we follow a guide who waits to take us to one of the flanking headlands .
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An enormous crowd, collected apparently from nowhere, has gone on before you, and form a live wall on the further edge of the cliff. Hoo ! They shout, and again Hoo ... o! Ho . .. o! The sea will not brook ridicule, they declare. But what is this you now hear? Could it be a cry from a hundred lusty throats? No! This sound
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seems different. The hoarse gurgling roar gathers in volume-then, suddenly, a pillar of water churned to a dazzling whiteness gushes · out somewhere up the cliff and for the moment you stand aghast. Up ..... up, it rushes, attaining maybe even as much as 60 feet in height, then, standing vertically poised for a split second, ....... it falls back in a glistening veil of spray. It is the only discovered blow-hole in Ceylon. To watch this spectacle the better, you go nearer, and then perhaps, impelled by that elusive something which always seems to draw one as near the edge of a cliff, as caution wfll permit, you venture a little further. Below, you see a deep fissure which runs down the precipitous side to meet the incoming waves. The subterranean cave below the cliff, and the vertical tunnel it connects up to, are but incidents. Leaving it at this, we retrace our steps, and pass down the road to Tangalla, the nearer of the two principal townships of the Hambantota District.
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Some folk associate the name Tangalla with a legend, and declare that when a holy sanyasi sat to his frugal midday meal on a rock, the rock was miraculously turned to gold. Ran-gala means the "golden rock". The Buddhist shrine which at one time occupied the central position of the mound overlooking Tangalla Bay was, they say, built on th~ spot singled out in this strange manner by the gods. Others again say that the anchorage .at Tangalla was in days long past sheltered by a rocky arm which jutted into the sea and that Tangalla means ."the projecting rock". Be the derivation of the name what it may, this townlet, because of its location and the fact that it rises from the sea into "high cliffs, is plethoric with views. It exhibits one of the finest bays in Ceylon, four miles from the Tangalla point to the extreme point of land, called Rekawa, opposite. The foam-crested breakers whi_ch stretch over a line joining these terminals of the are of foreshore, tell of extensive and dangerous reefs hidden below the water. Nevertheless, we are led to believe 201
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from the charts of old that a narrow channel nine fathoms in depth gave access to an anchorage which is described as "safe when the south-west monsoon blows".
leading to the verandah. It bears the following inscription in bold, familiar characters :
The Dutch discovered Tangalla Cove. The British too used it, and their fighting-ships and merchantmen often took shelter behind the reef. There is nothing to suggest that in the early days of Dutch maritime rule there was any more than a small godown and a handful of the Company's servants in this station. The latter was not intended to hold the territory against an enemy, but rather to collect the taxes payable on paddy and to organize supervision over the capture of elephants for which the district was famous. But in the dark days of 1760-61, which were overshadowed by what has come down to be known as the Matara Re~llion, the Dutch learnt their lesson. When their organizations once again spread over this maritime belt they concentrated on better schemes for holding their outposts. What remains of this in Tangalla is the · ubiquitous Dutch fort. In type and plan the Tangalla fort differs from many of the other forts associated with Dutch times. There are no massive ramparts. Instead, four main wa!Js enclose a space likened to a rhombus, rising sheer upwards to.a height of nearly 30 feet. From two opposite angles of this structure pair of bastions, considerably lower in height and terminating in a point, add to the defensive aspect of the fortification. There is little in interior feature to convey any idea of what it looked like in the past as the structure has undergone considerable alteration in modem times to meet the requirements of a country gaol.
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As you enter the Tangalla Rest House, an object which will obviously catch the eye is a stone slab let into the topmost step 202
DOORMYN opgebouwt A.J. 1774 Some residents hold that this inscribed stone was removed from the fort when it underwent renovation and was later set up in its present position. If so, this is a clue to the exact date of the building of the fort. On the other hand, the Rest House too is a structure dating to Dutch ~imes, later used by the British as a residence for the Commandant of the station. Leaving the tantalizing question whether the·inscription refers to the building now used as a Rest House or to the fort unanswered, we wander away to seek out other buildings of a contemporaneous age in the town. :rwo of these, the Court-house and the residence of the District Judge, witness to architecture typically Dutch. The gables and the verandahs are characteristic, and strangely, the structure used as a Court-house bears striking resemblance to the usual type of Dutch church. There is nothing to show whether or not it served such a purpose in bygone days. Today, as in the yesterdays and possibly for many tomorrows, the scarcity of water will link the inhabitants of Tangalla-in a corn"' mon bond with their forbears. In the centre of a little pond at the foot of the mound on which the Fort stands, the Dutch built a well. On each side of the embankment leading to it across the pond they planted rows of suriya trees to diffuse shade. Today that the well has outlived its utility would be unfair, for even today during the evening hours it is the rendezvous of the women of the town each ·armed with a pitcher for water, and of many a young spark who drives a water-cart thither. In type of construction this well is certainly unique. When the pond is filled by the rains the water percolates from below the
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foundation and maintains its level within. When the drought sets in, and the pond presents an aspect of mud cracked into fantastic pattern and baked to cast-iron hardness, the well exposes a charcoal bed. It explains the process of filtration resorted to by the builders. If the design courted flattery, it is offered in sincerest form by a replica of modern construction in the twin-pond adjoining. Neverthe~ess, unlike the proverbial Chinese tailor who, on being given an old pair of trousers for pattern, faithfully reproduces the patch on the new one he works, the designer of the modern well forgot to reproduce the most important feature in the imitation-the charcoal filter bed.
XII MULGIRIGALA There are many scenic pleasures which await the visitor who can spare the time to tour the hinterland of Tangalla: but, before proceeding to sort these out, let me suggest to those who have made up their minds to late on the beaches, some means by which they may retri~ve the lost art of small enjoyment. When the tide goes out, get your feet into a pair of rubber or rope-sole shoes, and explore the sandstone and coral reefs off the Tangalla Rest House. On first impression the reefs when exposed at low tide will seem to be large expanses of brown-coloured mud. But looked at close~,. this dr-abness caused by lichen and sea-weed disappears, and you wiH very soon find yourself exploring bluegreen rock pools of various sizes and depths where many oddities in the form of corals, fish and shells, will help build you an all-colour scenic picture of memories both vivid and bizarre. The corals necessarily take first place. There are innumerable varieties, some so brightly coloured and arranged in tiers that they appear as if they were exotic blooms in a garden. Those shaped like mushrooms are soft and jellylike to the touch; others such as the branching and stag-horn fern varieties are spongy, but hard. Should you closely watch, you will actually see them relaxing and contracting as tht vast armies of coral polypi feed on minute floating organisms. *
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Like the corals, the small fish which live in the pools seem to rival one another in displaying brilliant prismatic tinting. They dart about in an incredible range of hues, sometimes blue, sometimes red, and often striped, or mottled. Among the many odd creatures 205
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you come up with in, these reefs are starfish, by no means rare, evil-looking reef-eels, and the needled-slug which keeps its hold on rO(;ks and can inflict much damage if its pointed quills break and find a way into one's body. There is also the loathsome-looking sea-slug or beche-der-mer, which was once largely exported by Ceylon to China, under the name trepang. But what possibly will excite most interest and be most popular with children is the profusion and variety of shelis in the pools and recesses. These include cowries in many sizes, turban- and ear-shells and the rather colourful shells of clams. There are certain seasons when the strand on the entire coastline from Tangalla eastwards and northwards is literally covered with beautiful shells. · Compared with this vast and untried field which invites collectors, resident naturalists who have given their attention to the marine testacea of this Island are few, and rare. The Buddhistic glory of the Tangalla district is its several ancient temples. Mulgirigala, 13 miles from Tangalla, is· one of the most flourishing and picturesque of these. Tradition preserves the belief that King Kavantissa founded this temple in the year 120 B.C. Whether the Sinhalese chronicles allude to this or not depends on the identification of Samuddha Vihara which the King is recorded to have built with Muhundgiri or Mulkirigalla. But need we go into such intriguing speculation? It is certain that the institution has an antiquity which few monastic establishments in the West can lay claim to. The singular eminence on which it is sited rises 300 feet above the level ~f the sea, and is crowned by a milky white dagoba which scintillates in the mellow glow of a rising and setting sun.
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To get to Mulgirigala one has the option of taking two routes: either the Tangaila-Wiraketiya or the Beliatta road. Both are motorable and traverse delightful country where the monotony of paddy-field and coconut gardens gives way to open stretches of rustling citronella grass which is largely cultivated in the district. On reaching the foot of the hill one notices that several terraces break 206
up its apparently precipitous slope, and that in, the hollows beneath overhanging boulders quaint and beautifully situated cave-temples find shelter.. On one of many frequent visits to this institution three decades ago, I was confronted by an apparently new rock-vihara in which very old images and frescoes were receiving the touch of modem art at the hands of mason and painter. Recasting impressions of an earlier visit, I felt sure that this cave was not there ~efore. Enquiry led to the story that for centuries it lay walled in and hidden so effectually that the secret of its existence was not detected. Its existence had been recently d'isclosed, they said, to the late incumbent in a dream. Rejecting the supernatural aspect of the story, which, in deference to the feelings of the monk, I did not pursue, the circQmstances in which the entrance to the cave came to be walled inspired a fascinating trend of conjecture. Might it not be possible that reports of the signal measures taken by the Portuguese to defile these ancient sacred places had been carried to Mulgirigala long before their expeditions ventured so far south? Maybe then, in good time before they arrived, the relies and treasures of Mulgirigala lay cunningly hidden in its vaulted chambers whose entrances had been camouflaged. And maybe-following up this sequence of presumptionthe Portuguese saw nothing in this mass of gneiss to distinguish it from the many similar though less striking outcrops peculiar to the vicinity.
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With the advent of the Dutch, the "mountain monastery" apparently once again sprang to life, and what remained unnoticed and unidentified by the Portuguese came under, the Hollander's special attention a few years after they took over the maritime government. They unwittingly paved the way for far-reaching complications by calling the hill Adam's Berg, thus confusing it with 207
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Adam's Peak. Through ary extraorcLinary delusion the temple came to be associated with a story that it was the grave of Adam and Eve! Albrecht Herport, one of the early Dutch writers, who served as a soldier in Ceylon in 1663, wrote of it: "One sees also still at this day the image of Adam formed of earth, of remarkable size, lying on the hill .... " And so, for a century and more, the idea held sway that in the images and inscriptions at Mulgirigala was to be found remarkable testimony to the truth of th~ early part of the book of Genesis! The monks, for obvious reasons, appear to have fostered the delusion. Matters were however brought to a point by a visit, in 1766, from the Dutch Governor Imam Williem Falck, who questioned the monks. It was he who shot ,the bolt on the strange story.
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But let's make the journey up this sacred hill, beginning at the base of the great rock. Here we find the temple buildings entwined and enclosed with rocks and rocky caves. Steps, more or less uneven, now carry us to the flank of the rock, passing here or there a small but artistic dagoba built over the ashes of former Priors of the institution. From -~the first terrace the path steeply rises to the mighty . cliff itself and leads to a flight of steps cut out of the original rock. Climbing up these, we reach the second terrace, virtually the courtyard of a cave-temple hidden in the folds of an overhanging shelf of rock. This cave is both an image-room and the potgula, or library. The importance of this library came to be made known by Mr. George Tumour, a one-time member of the Civil Service. In the Introduction to his Epitome of Cingalese· History, Tumour says: " .... by the kindness of the Chief Priest of Saffragam, I was enabled in 1872 to obtain a transcript of a commentary from a copy kept in the Mulgirigalla Vihara ...... the work had not been before seen by the Chief for any one of the priests of either of the two establishments which regulate the national religion of this Island .... " The \
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commentary proved to be the Tika, or literary text of the Mahavamsa, a metrical chronicle written in Pali verse which set out in chronological order the history of Ceylon-from 543 B.C. to A.D. 1758. Nearly one century and four decades before Tumour made his discovery of infinite interest which centres itself round this great mass of rock, Johann Wolffgang Heydt, a traveller and historian of repute, made himself thoroughly acquainted with the place. Assisted by Arent Jansen, an artist, many drawings and sketches of the rock arid its many features were obtained, whioh Heydt used to illustrate his notes. Heydt's descriptions of the cave-temple at the foot of the rock, or the Pahala Maluwa as it is called, and of.the path along which one climbs up the stone steps with their protective iron railings leading to the upper terraces, are impresions which await the visitor even to the present day. They are all the more welcome since it is not always easy, without hurting religious susceptibilities, to obtain a minute idea of the interior of these cave-temples. On the. topmost terrace the visitor looks down a fissure, nearly two'."thirds the height of the rock. Even this has not escaped Heydt's attention, for he recounts the leg~nd, told to this day, "that a snake once sprang from a tree up the Berg and in a moment had made the great fissure tin this tremendous rock". The view in the early morning, or the. late evening, from the summit of Mulgirigala where the dagoba stands, is very beautiful. When I last saw it, the sun was throwing long shadows. From a chena fire at the base of the rock a column of blue smoke ascended.· Flocks of paroquets were wheeling over the _smoke, and in the distance the sea was a transparent line of silvery haze. In such settings, who would gainsay that Mulgirigala truly deserves its gloryboth of romantic beauty, as well as of antiquity?
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Intruding on my thoughts, from behind me came the pad of bare feet. Turning, I saw the incumbent monk beckoning. He led me to
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one of the recently discovered caves of the Aluth_ Vihara in _the Uda Maluwa, or upper terrace, which-was undergomg restoration. Its shelving ceiling of rock and its images displayed an unbearably brilliant compound of colours-,-scarlet, sea-bl~e, old g~!d, yellow and white. Glancing around, I noticed somethmg famihar wo~en into the design of a makarotorana, in the nature of oma~nt. Looki~g again, I found it was the monogram of a popular cncket club m Colombo! . ) "Where did you get that idea?" I enquired of the sittara (pamter as I pointed to the device with a curious mixture of laughter and reproach. It transpired from his answer that he had recently re-decorated a cricket pavilion, and was so t~ken up by the gold-embossed characters, that he thought he would copy them. Whether the design is still there or whether my remo~seless condemnation of the manner in which the sittara had ex~rc1sed ~n individual discretion had effect, I do not know. Ichabod. What _is there which is not today being done in the name of ART 10 restorations!
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XIII KATUWANA FORTLET
If you motor out twenty ·miles from Tangalla, on the road which passes Walasmulla and Kira.ma, you will be on your way to discover a little-known Dutch fortlet which recounts many a stirring tale. It stands on a low round hill, and overlooks a river which bends round its base. To the east of this hill there lies flat country covered with low.jungle and thicket. This matted curtain hides from view the few small villages which have saved the tract from being described as absolute wilderness. On the south and west, similar type of country stretches into the distances; but to the north, there lies a forest-clad I mountain range on whose side, in the bright mornings of the north-east monsoon, each tree stands clearly defined. In the hot weather this range shimmers in the heat and looks more mirage than land; and in the wet months of May-July, it looms vague as a bank of cloud. In all these vagaries of mood this great irregula~ rampart separated the plain where the Dutch held sway from the realms of the Kandyans. It was the one object visible from the fortlet that mattered, for from its heights there dropped the only track which for miles on either side of it gave access to the plains. From this pass might issue at any time a force of nimble Kandyans who would swarm over the plains, plunder whom they dared, and generally regain their hills successfully. 1 But so long as Katuwana Fort stood (Cottane, as it is called on Schneider's I 50-year old map of Ceylon) the invading forces could not venture far from the pass fo~ fear of their retreat being cut off. 211
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The ·plain might be plundered, the peace of the Sinhalese in Dutch territory wrecked, but the country could not be conquered. *
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And so a small band of thirty fair-haired, sun-tanned Dutchmen lived in this little fort set amidst a sea of jungle. Theirs was a life of exile indeed, a life little better than a prisoner's-but it was all part of a big scheme, and somebody had to do it. Their only amusement was shooting the deer and peafowl which abounded in the neighbourhood. Maybe they sometimes sauntered out into the neighbouring village, and enjoyed the shade of the coconut gardens, and the cool open spaces of the paddy fields; and sometimes perhaps they tried fishing in the river, but the catch was doubtless small, and the fish bony. Came a day in March, just before the hottest time of the year, when the sentry gave the alarm. The g~son were at supper but all jumped to their stations and lined the battlements. Way up the mountain they saw a great line of torchlights winding like a serpent down the steep side. It grew longer and longer, as more and more came over the crest and poured into the gully down which the path descended; the throbbing of war-drums roared a challenge to the watchers on the walls:
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Arnaud Van Weerde, the Commandant of the fortlet, did not feel much anxiety for that night. He was confident that if the Kandyans meant to attack they would almost certainly spend some time in reconnoitring first. So after an hour or more the garrison retired to rest, leaving six men on guard. . The Commandant, however, stayed up late leaning on the breastwork of a bastion, watching the glowing bonfires of the Kandyan camp. "I wonder if they mean business," he thought. That the fortlet could hold out, he had no doubt. But the importance of his trust weighed upon him, for on his tenacity depended the safety of the
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districts further down in the seaboard. Katuwana was the outermo_st outp?st of the Company thrown far behind their sphere of a::t~ve tradmg. To hold it might prove hard, but to regain the districts which would fall with it, iflost, would prove a hundred times harder. Early in the morning, when the jungles vibrated to the calls of the Ceylon jungle cocks heralding the dawn, the fortlet awoke; and when · the sun rose splashing its beams on the Company's flag hoisted to the flagstaff, it also showe_d the, garrison fully armed, and spread 1 out over the battlements so as to make a brave appearance. In the Kandyan camp, a stir could be observed, and the smoke of a score of fires floated up lazily into the still air.
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· , No forward movement, however, occurred until about eight o_ clock, :"hen a tremendous outburst of the drums·and the firing of gmgals signalled that the force had got moving. By nine o'clock the village across the river was occupied, and the Dissawa, mounted on an elephant, rriade a leisurely survey of the fortlet. Keeping out o~ shot he made a circuit around, .and then returned to the, camp as . leisurely as he had come. All through the blazing heat of the day the' Kandyans waited, but when the sun cast long shadows, and the Green-pigeon began to whistle in the trees, there came from the Kandyan camp a small body of men who advanced to the river's bank and requested: "Peace, to cross and speak ?" Perm~ssion being granted, they moved on, up the cleared slope of the hill, and stood opposite to the south-west bastion. They demanded surrender. The Commandant, returning no answer at all, looked long at the messengers, and shook his hea.d. That night the siege began. *
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F~r a week h,?stilities were confined to an interchange of shots at fairly long Mnge, but the nights were devoid of repose: The Kandyans~· in relays, spent the night tormenting the watchers in the 213
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fortlet by feigning attack. After straining their ears for an hour or more for any sound but the song of the frogs and crickets, the weary watchers would seek rest, but only to be aroused by another false attack which would send them flying to their posts. They had faced a week of this incessant jar which wrecked their nerves before they were made to face the real attack. The push was made in the early dawn and the invaders rushed in with great bravery. Planting light bamboo ladders, they swarmed up the 15 feet high walls while another party kept up a hot fire into the fortlet-caring little whether- they hit friend or foe. But apparently the small garrison in armour were more than a match for the force of Kandyans who were bare-bodied from the waist up. The next four days saw five attacks, one of which was delivered at midday when the heat of the sun was almost unbearable to the men in armour. Dripping, blinded by sweat, the garrison fought furiously along the breast-work, firing, striking, thrusting with pikes, and even grappling the hot bodies in their arms at the top of the wall. At the end of each attack they all lay down on the ramparts, some on their faces, some with their arms thrown back above their heads .... and gasped and sobbed for breath, until the hoarse voice of Van Weerde roused them again to take their places.
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Casualties, fatigue, and the sun began, to tell day by day. Eleven of the defenders were dead. Four were sorely wounded but yet kept their tum of watch and continued to fire their guns. Of the other fifteen men, few were sound, and on most days malaria, the scourge of this countryside, laid hold on some of them. Powder was running short, and the water in the well within the fort was low and muddy. It had become a question not of "How long can we hold out?" but rather of "Can we last the day?" And Vgn Weerde posed 214
himself the question: What hope was there if the Kandyans attacked? There seemed none .... there was none. And in a flash that brain which ached and burnt, kindled an inspiration. If the Kandyans attack we are lost, he soliloquised; therefore, if we are to be saved, the Kandyans must not attack. With white face and staring eyes he gave his order: the gates were to be opened wide, and all were to leave the walls, save one sentry. The Kandyans corning out in force to attack were halted by this strange occurrence. After long discussion, they retreated. Later the Dissawa came out himself, and ventured nearer the fortlet than he had ever done before. He too went back to his camp convinced that there was some trap and that it would be better to wafr until the Hollander callad off the bluff. Then came the evening. "Light a bonfire so that they may see the open gate," ordered Van Weerde. So 'all night a great glow lighted the gap in the wall. No attack came that night either. But when the sun rose again, the weary watchers saw the Kandyan forces in retreat up the face of the mountain and over the pass. An hour later, they heard the trumpet of the relieving force sounding across the plain. "How did you hold out after our powder was gone?" asked the leader of the relieving force. Van Weerde replied: "By Faith alone." Such is the tale told of the stratagem which time and again saved Katuwana, and obstructed efforts to root out this thorn bush which so effectually prevented designs upon the rich paddy lands behind it. But the odds seemed ever to be against the Hollander holding this fortlet. On another occasion, early in the year 1761, in the dark days overshadowed by what historians call the Matara Rebellion the Kandyans marched against Katuwana in very great force. They erected a battery and mounted four guns, which they fired continuously for two days at the fortlet, and were fired on in tum with grapeshot and bullet from within the walls. On the third day, a white flag fluttered from the ramparts. The Kandyans sent an envoy to the gate of the fortlet, and he returned with a report that the Hollanders would surrender on, condition that no harm befell them. Accepting these terms, the Dissawa and a 215
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body of followers entered through the open gate. The gallant defenders were ranged out before them. One by one, they were led away to the jungles and were never seen again. Six Javanese, and a piper and drummer, were spared this fate, but were carried away captives. *
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One 9ay, a few years ago, I found myself in Katuwana having crossed the Urubokka Ganga, which flows by it. After a scramble through a barrier of prickly undergrowth, I came upon a crumbling rampart. Proceeding along its base I arrived at a gaping breach: it was the gate:..way of old. On al_l sides rose the picture of crumbling rui~ and desolati_on. Climbing on to the ramparts I found giant trees had sent their roots into the crevices of built-up rocks, and held them in iron grip but in fantastic disorder. Through the trees I was able to catch a glimpse of the surrounding country. The massive mountain frowned down-it had doubtless changed little. A setting sun showed in outline of light and shade the deep ravines and stony defiles, and the narrow path which wound its way up and up, and lost itself in the country beyondwhere in bygone days, trouble always was a-brewing, and mysterious plots fermented.
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XIV
THE URUBOKKA DAM AND THE GIRUWAS On the road to Hambantota, with Tangalla left two miles or more behind, the vegetation of the country seems to change. But, course, it is common knowledge that we are crossing the barrier, into.what is called the "Dry Zone" regions of the Island. From the beginning of time, while the wet storms hissed down the country beyond a b.arrier range of mountain known as Rammaeli Kanda, seen in the distance, the Hambantota plain on the leeward side has been left dry. From May to September, it is swept by a land-wind pasted of its moisture, which steadily grows stronger and hotter. It happens to be the "aquatic predecessor" of the British, and not the old Sinhalese engineer with his wise practice and experience in the construction of ingenious works for irrigating the country, who is responsible for the chef-d' oeuvre in matters irrigational in the stretch ofcountry between Tangalla and Ranna. For the reasons stated earlier, in striking contrast to conditions in the Hambantota D~stricti th~ Matara District, which lies over the Rammaeli Kanda barrier, is a luscious wet-zone country, and perpetually green. Drawing their waters from perennial springs on the mountain-side, the rivers flow to the seaboard near Matara irrigating vast tracts of fields as they flow, and even at that, run to waste. It seemed very apparent that could but some of this water be turned into the Hambantota side of the mountain range, it would maJ
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very largely by the Dutch about this period. What he actually did was to dam a tributary of the Nilwala Ganga, near Urubokka, to lead the water along an artificial channel, two miles in length in deep cutting, and to drop it, as it were against the laws of Nature, over the mountain-top into the Hambantota District.
But let's get back to Urubokka Dam and the channel. These, and many another costly work in the District, were, with the departure of the Dutch, allowed to faH into decay. A heavy flood in the year 1837 over-topped and breached the dam. In later British times the entire scheme was restored, and to this day is. an important auxiliary to the agricultural possibilities of the Giruwa Pattu. Kalametiya Kalapuwa lies in the stride of the traveller who is, following the South Coast Road. It comes into view at the 138th mile and few indeed can fail to notice the vast shallow lagoon, surrounded by swamps with succulent subaqueous plants, which lies between the road and the sea. By far, it used to be, and perhaps still makes, a wonderful bird-watchers' paradise. Even in the dry months of July and August there is no lack of many and varied forms of bird-life. Going beyond the chequer of black Cormorant and white Egret, one may ·pick blue and purple Coot, Herons and Divers, the blue Rock-pigeon, and flocks of reddish-brown Whistling Teal which float motionless on its rush-covered margins watching for the human intruder. If you give ear you will find your attention arrested by the repeated mewing calls of the light-coloured Jacanas with their . pheasant-like tails. Take a look at their toes: you will notice they are • enormously lengthy, built so that they could distribute their weight over a wide area. Thus has Providence enabled them to walk on the round floating leaves of the lotus plants in order to spear at and pick· their food.
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To appreciate the full significance of the undertaking and the difficulties involved one must have access to a large-scale map of the district. From the point where the water breaks over the saddle in the range, it rushes down the mountainside, and is trained into a river, once called the Giruwa Oya, which meandering between foothills and skirting the base of the Katuwana Fortlet, sought to reach the sea near Ranna. Presumably for the reason that it now owes its perennial flow of water to the Urubokka Ganga, which flows through the Matara District, the Giruwa Oya has lost its ancient name. On modern maps, this river too stands described as Urubokka Ganga. References to this unique irrigation scheme are many. Governor van de Graaf says in the "Instructions" left to his successor: "In the Matara Dissavony a great deal of water was turned some years ago from the Matara river into the Giruwa. This occasions a double benefit. In the first place it supplies a dry trace of country with water, and in the second place as there is not so much water as formerly in the river of Matara, the land situated below the outlet is in proportion less exposed to inundations."
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Lee's Translations from Dutch Records afford us the information that the work cost FI. 20,482/s. 11/d. 8 (RS. 50,000). The figures strike a strange note of precision-but we pass over to review briefly the results of the scheme. Over 8,000 acres, so it is said, were laid open to irrigation. The owners of the lands paid 2,995 amunams of paddy to the Government in addition to "the usual tenth," by way of recovery of the money which formed the initial outlay. 218
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tsut it is when the North-East Monsoon blows, and the immemorial migrant flights of birds from Siberia, Northern India and Asia set in, that Kalametiya becomes ·one of Nature's showplaces. At such times one sees Pelican and Flamingo, Painted Stork and Wild Duck of many varieties (Garganey, Pintail, Shoveller) and hundreds of other migratory visitants who add their contribution to a wonderful pageantry of birdlife. The blue and purple Coot are the bane if the villager who cultivates the neighbouring paddy-fields. 219
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They claim a heavy toll when the crops are ready for harvesting, and have accordingly been called Goyan kapana Kittha, which means "paddy reaping coot".
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Before we get to the estuarine waters of the Walawe Ganga we um up the road branching off near the 140th mile-post, which leads [O Embilipitiya, Ratnapura and Colombo, in order to see the Liyangahatota Anicut. This barrag~ trammels the Walawe about · 15 miles up-river, and is a must if you would complete your se~h for something to see in the Hambantota District. The large and important controlling feature, which checks the magnificent volume of water coming down the river and turns it into two channels on the right and the left bank for irrigation, is at all times an imposing picture. Yet naturally, it becomes an entrancing spectacle which will linger Jong in memory if seen when the river is in_ flood. Long before reaching the site, you hear in the jungle stillness a ceaseless muffled roar of rushing and tumbling waters, and on approaching it, see it in solid mass spread like an elastic carpet woven into fantastic patterns, spilling over the dam. From the bed of the river below, there rises a blanket of spray, rainbow-tinted by stray beams of sunlight. Two sluices above the dam control the flow of the water down the channels.
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Long-forgotten reports show that much ink was splashed in the process of settling conflicting opinions on the advisability of building this anicut at Liyangahatota. Apparently there never was an anicut at this spot in ancient times, whereas at Rambevihara, a few miles down the river, there is a ridge of rocks extending across the bed which bore traces of having been used to tum water into an old Yoda-ela found on the right bank. The scheme to irrigate the trackless jungle on the left bank of the river which came much later proved the importance of the site which ~as eve~tually selected o~ that occasion. I.call this to-mind merely to show that this page of 220
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history and the battle over sites seems to be repeating itself over the case of the Walawe Reservoir, which will be sited a few miles up the river, near Embilipitiya. The World Bank Report of 1952 condemned the new project, _and expressed grave doubts about its intrinsic economic merits. But there seems little doubt that visitors in a few years to come will be in a position to sift both ancient and modem history on the battles of the sites against the background of a deep water reservoir which will spread its waters over a surface area of I 0,000 acres. It is now under construction. One evening, in the dry weather of 1927, I was driving along the old Embilipitiya road which ran hand in hand with the channel from Liyangahatota. The light was just about to give way to the greyness of dusk. As I rounded a bend, my bearer, seated in the front seat of the car next to me, flung up his arms and shouted ... A/iya! With a clatter of small stones which were flung under the mudguards and thrown fan-wise in splinters as braked, the old Ford came to a dead halt. We were held up there over forty minutes, but were enthrilled by one of the most spectacular unrehearsed displays of elephant acrobatics that have perhaps been given any man to see. The herds of elephants who in the heat of the day had browsed in the cool of . the high forests found off the left bank of the Walawe Ganga, were making for their night's feeding in the chenas off the right bank of the river. The channel, in this particular section in deep cutting, might normally have seemed an obstacle barring their way. But it certainly was proved to be otherwise. It was an unforgettable sight to see them, males, females and babies, slide down the one side of the channel balancing on their bottoms, and slithering up the other side-the less agile being helped by the more sturdy. They crossed the road more or less in file, keeping apparently strictly to their herds. I counted that day over 80 elephants. Today, in this, as in other parts of the country, Nature has steadily been giving way to the needs of an exploding population. The forests have dwindled into little scattered pockets and few, if any, elephants haunt this reputed Elephant Road, which connected the East and the West Giruwa Pattus.
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. In the ti11_1e of which I write there were wonderful possibilities ~oo of watchmg herds of elephants on any moonlight night, sporting m the Kattakaduwa Wewa, three miles from Ranna. Bahun, a well~nown tracker and a notability of his day, used to arrange machans . m the trees, far parties who came miles to feast their eyes on Natu~e untrammelled-something a newer generation is not penmtted to see.
xv MAHAPAELAESSA-WH;ERE ELEPHANTS GO TO DIE Even in these days of easy and quick transport, when drawn by wanderlust ~any satisfy that urge by venturing off the beat~n track, the region which lies off the left bank of the Walawe Ganga near Liyangahatota-where the waters of the river cascade over an anicut and break the jungle quiet with an incessant roar-is less visited and less known than many another Ceylon back-block. The motorable road which hugs the right bank ·of the Walawe and leads to Embilipitiya and beyond, bifurcates to cry a halt at Liyangahatota. But there is much which allures, beyond the motorist's grasp. So come, wander with me on foot, and I shall tell you of my impressions of this region when I trekked over it nearly three decades ago. A game-track on the right bank, leading up-river, took us over an erratic course. To right and left, a maze of other tracks, worn c!ean of undergrowth by generations of wild beasts, wound devious way·s to a~I points of the compass. Nevertheless, through this intricacy of passages our guide piloted us along until at length, after having covered two miles, perhaps a little more, we once again stood on the bank of the river. Just discernible amidst the giant trees growing on the farther bank we spied a little settlement standing in a clearing. They called the settlement Baedigantota, which translated into English means: "the jungle-village by-the river". Two unpretentious huts, and a population of seven-counting man, woman and child-represented its meagre claim to recognition. A reverberating Hoo . .. .oo attracted one, and then another, of the handful of inhabitants. Two men setting out in a crude dugout double canoe helped in stages to take us and our belongings across
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the river. While the crossings were being made, our tent erected, and camp equipment unpacked, we took a closer view of this · far-flung link, cast up by a receding wave of civilization. The cobs of Indian corn and the ears of kurakkan spread out in the compounds of the huts to dry told too plainly that these people depended entirely on the produce of the chenas for their chief source of sustenance. In like manner, a banana plantation nearby suggested their only meagre source of money, procured from adventurous Coast Moor traders.to whom distance and isolation is no deterrent when a bargain can be clinched. But apart from this evidence, which recalled in abstract form the age-old feud to grow food localized in these jungle regions, the fever-laden swamps had also exerted their evil spell. Two doleful-eyed children, clad in their native nothingness and exhibiting distended bellies, mutely proclaimed that the dread malaria had them in its grip. Adding to this picture of woe, Kira, the spokesman of the small community, focussed attention on another aspect of their hard, bitter fight by pointing to a thatched shelter built high up on the forked branches of a tree. Perhaps one has to hear his tale to believe that during certain seas.ons (in the times of which I write) the entire population of the settlement had to take shelter and pass the hours of darkness in this primitive tree-top abode. Although we only occupied our camp for one night, we readily appreciated the wisdom and necessity for such precaution.
The first warning of the presence, of elephants came to us just before dusk: shrill squeaks which seemed to carry from far away. But as twilight descended ~d as the night wore on, the air vibrated with the magnificent trumpeting of many herds. If we but knew the habits and the noises of these tenants of the wild wastes as the jungle villager does, it would have been possible for us to interpret for certain the four distinct cries which he assigns to the elephantthe low throat growl of anger, the victorious bellow as he proclaims his sovereignty, the distinct note of alarm, or the low moan when he is in pain. However, to our untrained ears all was babel and confusion. They were very near, so f!!UCh so that we heard the breaking of the jungle, and the splash of water a~ herd after herd invad~d the river. As we sat in silence listening, the tumult gradually died down, the vibrant trumpeting seemed to recede and was soon hushed by distance. Some lonely chena, or may be a ripening paddy-field many miles away, no doubt held the sequel to this silence.
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In country which is more or less dry for a great part of the yea:i it is not surprising to find all wild creatures hugging a river-stretch where they can slake their thirst. That, however, does not appear to be the only explanation why the vicinity of Baedigantota was once described as the d_ensest elephant-populated tract in the Island. An old-time surveyor gives us another reason. On observations drawn in the course of his work he marked off on a map, a hundred years ago, a large area on the right bank of the river and called it "Salt Lick". To this he added a legend: "Where wild animals gather in large numbers."
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The shifting scene carries our minds to a primitive watchhut, where perhaps two, perhaps more, villagers sit guarding crops, soon to be garnered, from the inroads of elephant, porcupin~. and wild boar. Scorning the thick thorny hedge which girdles the fields, there enter the marauding herds. Cries and the noise from the beat of gongs and blank reports of guns are of no avail. The moments are pregnant with menace. There seems very little which caI1 be done to turn the onslaught. As is often the case, it is desperation, and the impulse to hurt where all else is ineffectual, that finds resort to the gun loaded with ball or slugs. There is a loud report and a thud, and away scuttles the lumbering mass. May be occasionally one animal drops in the thicket near by, its career ended. More often, the ariimal carries away the missile in its body, and a gaping wound which, aggravated by the persistent attention of swarms of flies, takes weary weeks to heal. So
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sometimes, among the trumpeting herds returning to their forest fastnesses in the small hours of the morning, there may be one or ~~re animals in mortal agony, seeking- out some remote spot in which to die. This opens again on to the often discussed, but still intriguing, question: Where do elephants go to die? Village legends tell that in the depths of the rain-sodden forests of s·abaragamuwa, there stands a mysterious spot where these majestic denizens retire to end their days in lonely grandeur. This hoary theory seems an ideal peg on which to hang a story ... but no man has yet discovered this elephant.cemetery: So leaving much to fiction, suppose we pick out a fact, namely that when sick or wounded, the wild elephant craves for water, and makes for some junglebound grove near secluded river or spring. It was Kira who told us in the cours(i of conversation that the wounded animals in these regions foregathered near the springs of Mahapaeleassa. We persuaded him the following day to actas guide and to take us to the springs and elephant death-places he referred to. There was no road, hardly even a path, from Baedigantota to our objectives. Consequently, scratched by thorns, bitten by colonies of red-ants, and collecting an unseen army of ticks which remained to wreak vengeance later, we fought a way through tangled land dividing a labyrinth of open glades which are in these parts called paelaessa. . Suddenly the air seemed to take on a heavier and heavier smell of putrefying flesh. We called loudly on Kira to stop a while: turning oh us, he raised fingers to lips, and in whisper gave expression to the words "Maha Eka." Anybody not new to Ceylon jungles knows that he meant the elephant, literally "the big one", for the jungle dwellers talk in a language different from that heard in town or rural village.
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In the belief that the wild woodlands are tenanted by unseen gods and godlings without number, he considers that ordinary words and expressions are inauspicious, and might bring misfortune in their 226
train, and so, just as much as the elephant is Maha Eka, the bear is Camara/a: the gra~dfather; the leopard is Vedda, the wild thing; and the w1!d boar 1s Kalu-gedia, the black lump. If he refers to water he wlll use the tertn Gangula; if to fire, the tenn Ratta. How~ver, to get back to the elephant death-place-the animal had possibly been dead two weeks. A pack of jackals scurried from o~e comer of the glade whither they had dragged the putrefying hide; the bones, gnawed clean of all semblance of covering, littered anothe~ corner beneath a shady tree. But we were left curious as to what 1ra was sear~hing for_ and occasionally bending over to pick up. Discreetly keeping our distance we waited his return. The handful _of leaden bullets and slugs, chippings of rusty iron and bolts, which he held out for us to see, told their sorry tale of sufferings-· before the random shot brought further torture, and a lingering death.
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Continuing our exploration we came upon many another spot in these glades w~ere the bleached bones of elephants strewed the grassy c~et. D1d some urge, other than its sylvan seclusion, draw ~hese animals to Mahapaelaessa? We thought we found the answer m ~ne of the man~ pockets of this vast stretch of glade, in a spring wh1c~ gushed out m plenty. What is more, the moment we dipped a hand mto these waters, we quickly pulled it out. The water was too hot to keep the hand in! . Alth_ough long abandoned by man-for, if legend speaks true, this ~~nng was used by the saints known as arahats who lived in the nmety and more caves _found in a rocky outcrop which we today call Karambagala-there 1s every reason to think that elephant and b~ffalo, leop~~d, bear and other wild animals, appreciate some hidden be?ef1_qal properties peculiar to these thermal waters. To support this view, Kira cold us a story. . . We noticed that the marshy margin of the spring was littered with ~o~s. and b~anches, although, strangely, no large trees stood ·in the vic1mty. Kira pointed out that the reason for this was simple enough. The logs, he said, were brought by the elephants from some
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distance and strewn on the margins of the spring so that they might find safe footing when they approached it. To prove which, he said that not long before our visit, a less cautious member of a herd of elephants evidently did not realize the sense in this precaution, it sank into the muddy slush and, unable to hoist itself out, it died a lingering death. The facts of this story were later verified from the proprietor of a taxidermy establishment near Tangalla, who was said to have removed some bones of the unfortunate elephant. *
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So we ask ourselves: was this old or sick or wounded animal lured by some therapeutic properties in the water? and were those other wounded or old animals which died in the vicinity, making for these springs or hugging the sheltered groves to occasionally drag themselves to the spring and drink of its waters ? We may not answer-but most decidedly, for some reason, time was-when Mahapaelaessa and its environs used to supply material in plenty for the visionary who would seek evidence of the deathplaces of the noble monarch of Ceylon's forests. Whether it still does is for you to find out.
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One other experience associated with the environs of Mahapaelaessa stirs the memory. We were camped near that prehistoric upheava! of stone called Karambagala, referred to earlier, which seems to have haphazardly burst out of this.bleak tangle of grassy glade and scrubby plain. The country lay burnt and blistering in the throes of a prolonged drought. Evening had made way for a hot, sultry night, and the air seemed like a scorching breath. The least sound vibrated in the stillness. The rustle of unseen feet told that even near the camp the scrub-jungle was alive. The incessant nocturnal hum of the cicadas was occasionally broken into by a more distinct note-the rolling chuckle of the Night-jar which came down mournful and soft, and the call back by its mate.
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Occasionally from a distance there floated in the plaintive wail of the spotted deer. . My c~mp-bearer and I had turned in to get some sleep and I was Just about pulling the curtain of a camp-cot around me, when a scream which froze the blood rose out of apatch of forest behind the camp. Up .. _-up it rose, in a series of dreadful shrieks as if coming from a soul m great agony of torment... reaching out to a crescendo, it d~opped ~o clucking, strangling sobs, which shortened in length and died off man eerie Hoo . . .oe. _I jumped out of bed petrified, and gazed fearfully into the black voul beyond the embers of the camp--:fire expecting at any mome_nt to ~~e some strange apparition materialize. An calm, mtens1f1ed beyond measure, dropped pall-like on the scene. Hearing a movement behind me, I turned ... and there, with his mouth agape, and terror strong upon him, stood my camp-bearer. He appa~ently was trying to scream, but no sound left his lips. As the tens10n broke, I sensed rather than heard him mention one word ... Ulama! Gradually, into my dazed brain there soaked in the many tales I had heard of the blood-curdling cry of the "Devil-bird." It was Kira who, the next day, told me this story: "In a lonely forest hamlet there lived in a thatched hut a hunter and his wife. They had a littl~ s_on, the apple of his mother's eye. It so happened that one day, at a time when game had been scarce, and food short, the hunter returned home· empty-handed, hungry, and in a vile and irascible mood. His little son was alone in the hut when he entered and seeing him, a diabolical thought seeped into the mind of the h~nter ... When his woman returned later to the hut, he threw a chunk of flesh at her and said: "Here! get this cooked." Canying out her husband's behest, the woman, while stirring the pottage she was preparing on the fire, suddenly came upon a little· finger, and a horrible thought struck her. : . "Where is my son ?" she shrieked. Realizing the tragedy which had been enacted, in a fit of gri~f and sorro~ the woman stuck the handle of the wooden spoon which she held m her hand at the time into her head, and rushed into the forest rendering a series of unearthy cries ... "Ape-puthaKoo-00-00 !
uncanny
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The gods, taking pity on her, turned her into a bird, which to this day hides in the thickness of the jungle away from habitation, and emits its heart-rending wail. On its head it b~ars a spoon-shaped crest. There are slight variations in this legend, as told in different parts of the Island. The bird associated with the legend is called the U Lama in some areas where the Sinhalese predominate and Ulalena in others. The Tamils of the Akkarayan country between Mankulam and Elephant Pass, and in the Akkaraipatru of the Easten Province, call the bird Pay Kooroovi- "Devil-bird." There are two birds, apparently, whose cry fits the legend -the Crested Ceylon Hawk-Eagle, (Ceylon, and Legge) indigenous to the low-country jungles, and the Forest Eagle-Owl of the upcountry and mid-country, The former has the more pronounced crest and is noted for its Hoo-oo! which ends in a piercing wail. Dr. R. L. Spittel, in his book Far-Off Things, has as near as it is possible to do so, put the conundrum on a scientific plane. Nevertheless, the phantom of the Ceylon jungles is constantly being pin·-pointed, and will no d•mbt continue to excite controversy time and again in the future, as it has done in the past.
XVI RIDIYAGAMA AND HAMBANTOTA A great deal of old-world history and romance is interwoven · with the Ridiyagama Tank, which draws its waters from the Walawe Ganga, and lies a mile off the river on the left bank. The tank is easily reached by taking the motorable road which turns inland from the main road at Ambalantota. · In the pages of the Rajavaliya, a book which chronicles happenings in the stirring past, we read that when King Gajabahu invaded South India, he was championed by his fosterbrother Nila, to whom he largely owed his victory. Nila, as the story goes, was the son of the palace laundress, and when yet a child is said to have surprised one and all by moving a heavy iron club lying under the royal bed, which could only be lifted by ten men. Nila Maha Yodhaya! .everybody exclaimed, and, true to this sobriquet, it was this lad, grown into a giant, who terrified the South Indian King into submission by squeezing water from an iron bar, and oil out of sand!
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In recognition of his services, Nila Maha Yodhaya was on his return granted a large tract of land in the Wala we basin-then known as Ruhuna which he peopled with a host of the captives he had over. One of the villages named Ridiyagama, which was established in this manner, was until recently occupied by a clan of washermen who bore the ge-name: Ramhotisabhapatigamage, meaning: "Landlords sprung from the chief of the War Council." The village lies today buried beneath the waters of the tank to which it has passed down its name. The descendants of the champion who possessed the lands which their great ancestor had received for his services nearly twenty centuries ag~said to have 230
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been a stalwart and unruly race-have sold most of their heritage cheap to land speculators who were alert enough to foresee the pcpularity which would accrue to the region with the building of the tarik. Their grants they alleged, were washed away by one of the periodical inundations of the river, but their ge-name, coupled with the traditional tale I have unfolded, was sufficient to confirm the truth of their claim. The bund of the Ridiyagama Tank, which is over a mile' and a half in length, testifies to the labour of the Irrigation Depart111ent spread over a period of six years. Its waters offered the prospect of irrigating 7,000 acres of hostile land covered by a stunted jungle which had tried vainly to bind itself to a dry sandy earth against the thrust and drag of the wind. From the few huts which stood there not two decades ago to fix the position of Ridiyagama Village, there has grown to be a thriving colony which has converted this land into a granary and garden of south Ceylon.
Ha!llbantota, the one remairiing·town in the district, is heralded by stretches of horse-shoe dunes, and, from April to August, by broad reaches of baked clay marked here and there by the bleached bones of dead buffalo and neat cattle. The Saints forbid that the legend should come true which declares that these "walking dunes" of Hambantota, built by sand waves, will roll on inland until they merge with the sacred hills of Kataragama ! At the south-west end of the town, the sand has indeed very steadily moved forward and in the course of a few years covered lip several streets and houses. Many attempts were made to arrest its progress, but with feeble success-until an Assistant Agent of the Government, named King, introduced a thorny shrub which did some service. Subsequently, C. A. Murray, another resident Agent of Government, conceived the idea of stopping the menace by planting palmyra palms. They came up very well in the dry sand with little tending and this grove has decidedly stopped the advance of the dunes which threatened to bury the town.
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Before we pass from this interesting region, we stop a few more moments to examine a living tradition of how another clan living in this region acquired a ge-name of curious origin. It connotes an unbroken descent compared with whose antiquity the most renowned peerages of Europe are but the creations of yesterday. The story goes that during one of his royal progresses, Sri Parakrama Bahu VI had his rest disturbed by the croaking of a frog, night after night, as he lay in one of his encampments in the woods of the Hambanto.ta District. None in the royal train could destroy the frog, which lay concealed in a pool. A countryman, however, undertook to shoot the animal and, guiding his arrow only by sound, transfixed the frog. The Sinhalese Locksley was rewarded with the significant title: Sabda-vidda Ambagaha-pokuna Rajapaksa Mudali-ge, which mea~s. "Chief Rajapakse, who shot by sound in the mango-pool". The name was borne.by his descendants, who enjoyed large grants of land which went with the name.
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At the time, about 40 years ago, the dunes were the one source of wholesome drink water available to the town; and it was very usual then to see a string of maidens, chaperoned by mothers and aunts, go in procession every morning and evening to get a supply of water for domestic needs. The proceeding included digging holes about 3 to 4 feet deep and, as the clear ~tream of water trickled into the hole, collecting the precious supply into a brass or earthen pot Who could gainsay that while engaged on this pursuit the news of the town was discussed threadbare? Doubtless, the gossips told their tales, and the penned-up Muslim maidens took every opportunity to look about them to catch a glimpse of some dandy. admirer who kept following at a discreet distanc~. The palmyra palms, they soon found, absorbed all the fresh water which the dunes had from time immemorial conserved for the people living in this arid town. Three or four wells were sunk to remedy this, but the water was brackish, and no longer was one
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reminded of biblical scenes of other days and other dimes, as for instance that of the beautiful Rebekah giving drink to Eleazar of Damascus! But happily today, for the peace of mind of the tourist, it is good to know that the town draws on the bounty of the Walawe Ganga for its domestic water. · Today, as it was even so in the long past, the importance of Hambantota reposes in its natural salt-pans, or lewayas. Around the town and in the district there are a number of these natural, shallow depressions where an abundance of salt of the finest quality is naturally fonried and procured without any outlay other than the cost of the organization for gameriµg the annual harvest. Sea-water finds its way along narrow creeks into these shallow basins. The fierce sun blazes down. The water rapidly evaporates, and a beautiful white sheet of salt is seen where once was water. When the salt has reached a certain stage of maturity it is collected and stacked in godowns, and eventually transported to various parts of the Island. Since, as it so happens, excellent salt is readily to be had everywhere in Ceylon, people scarcely realize how important the nearness of the salt-lagoons must have been considered in ancient and medieval days. The Dutch used their possession of the salt-lewayas of Hambantota as a diplomatic weapon against the Kandyans. When relations got strained, they cut off the supply: as for instance in 179 l. In the earlier part of the last century, when the last Kandyan King was at war with England, and, traffic being at an end, only such salt as could be smuggled across the frontier found its way to his dominions, the sufferings undergone for want of it were extreme.
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Thomas Steele, another Assistant Government Agent of the District who took a praiseworthy interest in local antiquities and Sinhalese literature, and whose reports make wonderfully interesting reading, illustrated ho"'.' high a value is set upon salt by 234
the village population by what occurred in the Southern Province within his recollection in the eighteen-fifties. It would appear that an absurd and utterly groundless rumour was spread that a f
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The diary reads: "Hambantota was reached at 11 a.m. on Monday, the 17th (November; 1806 ). The entire journey from Batticaloa, 158 miles, had taken six days. Went to look at Mr. Smythe's house the Collector built at his own expense ... went over the tower built by Captain Goper of the Engineers. Saw a brig about two miles off at 4 p. m. with no colours." Two interesting facts are disclosed: first that the early Collectors, or Government Agents, appointed in British times were obliged to put up houses in their respective stations at their own expense; and secondly, definite proof that the Martello tower dates to early British times. That many battles were waged on these desert plains of Hambantota remains undisputed. The last of many a stirring encounter carries back to the month of August in the year 1803. The Kandyan forces had made a descent on the station. On some rising ground near the town they erected a battery, with five smaller
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ones along the beach. The small garrison defending the station was placed in an entire state of blockade. A spirited sortie, by Ensign Pendergrast who was in charge, is but an incident crowded out of.the pages of history. The Kandyans were compelled to evacuate and retreat to the interior. The scenery around Hambantota is not without interest, but is certainly not attractive. The Government Agent's house, the Courts, the Kachcheri, and the Rest House with its unique view of endless land and sea, stand on the hot bare cliff near the Martello towerlooking on the one hand to the ridge of palmyra-covered, drifting red sand-dunes, and on the other to the heavy breakers thundering on the white crescent of shore. But, in reality, one never sees Hambantota--0ne feels it. Maybe, you yourself have sensed this when lolling one late evening on the · verandah of the Rest House under a sky of blazing stars; or when a moon, dark yellow, was rising in the east. Some have traced this mystery to its harsh night-smells of cooling earth mingling with the tang of the sea. Yet others to its day-time odours of sweat, dried-fish, and dust.
XVII TISSAMAHARAMA AND KIRINDA
If you would carry away a correct perspectiv~ of the v~st unpopulated spaces in the southern dry zone or wish to fortify yourself with pleasurable anticipation of cooler places all you have to do is to stand in the verandah of the Hambantota Rest House and . look northwards. In the early morning, or the late evening, you will see in the remote distance, rising high above the apparently interminable stretch of jungle plain bounded on the one~ide ~y the o~ean,_ a mighty range of mountains. Its lower slopes are 1~van~bly veiled m cloud and vapours. Its peaks of crystalline rock glitter m the mellow sunlight and stand out in serrated contours, suspended between earth and heaven, on the horizon fifty miles away. Through this stretch of plain, an arterial road leads past the foot-hills and the offsets of the girdling range of Upper Uva, to · terminate at the Pass of Haputale. But before we trundle across these plains towards the distant peaks which rise to a height of six thousand feet or more above sea-level, we have much more in this unlimited flat sandy plain to explore.
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The trace of the old road to Uva, long since abandoned, can yet be easily picked out from the Rest House verandah, cresting a s~all range of hills which lie just outside the town. T~e n~w road skirts the lewayas and runs through scrub-land which 1s reheved only by large Palu and Tamarind trees. The Palu has a le~t~e~ leaf and yields a small luscious fruit which turns yellow when 1t 1s npe. These fruits are much relished by bear, who climb the trees to get at them. They also fatten the wild boar-very plentiful in this district-who get a share when the fruits ripen and fall to the ground. ' 237
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Cacti, in many various forms, naturally flourish in the windblown, hot plains-largely through their adaptations to resist the heat and prevent abnormal evaporation of their moisture secreted in· the leathery coverings which protect what might be termed the leaves. In fact, most of Hambantota's vegetation possesses thick gum, or latex adaptations for protection . There, is a tradition, narrated by the folk of Hambantota who secure tht';, 1 • ving by gathering jungle fruit and firewood, that there is a certa1. ,rig le creeper in these parts which produces symptoms of daze if trodden upon. To put it in the very words of the story as it was told me by a pundit of Hambantota: "The person who treads on this creeper gets bewildered, and losing ,his ·way in the jungles wanders about somewhat in the fashion of the love-sick Athenian swain and nymphs commemorated in A Midsummer Night's Dream. There is no reason why we should not credit this report", adds my informant, "for isn't it told that the Romans of old spread certain herbs under their festive boards in order to produce hilarity among the guests whose bare feet were allowed to rest on, or touch them." Apropos this subject of losing one's way in the jungles and wandering bewildered, there was a fellow-officer of mine to whom this really happened. H. 0. Clark, one time Survey Officer and jungle wallah par excellence, and a friend decided to spend a Christmas vacation in these self-same south-eastern jungles. Leaving Tanamalvila Rest House, they crossed the Kirinda Oya with some difficulty as the river was swollen by rains, and thereafter parted. The friend went off with the tracker, while Clark detoured to explore some of the glades in the vicinity, which are very appropriately and commonly known in these parts as Yakabaendi-divulana, meaning "glades created by the devil himself." The rain, which had stayed off during the afternoon, very soon began to fall in buckets. Protecting his precious box of matches and "baccy" to best advantage, Clark says he took shelter under a tree. There was no response to the shots he fired to draw attention. Came darkness, and giving up hope of being found, he scrambled up a tree to spend the night in its fork.
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There Clark sat until daylight, listening to the monotonous drop of rain in endless rhythm, and such other night-sounds of the jungles, which seemingly had taken on a new note. Overhead the breeze played over leagues of tree-tops. Occasionally it set up an eerie moan caused by two branches grating as they swayed in the wind. Breaking through the incessant hum of insects and the consonance of sounds set up by the cicadas, there occasionally rose, the call of the spotted deer, and more rarely the deep bell of the sambhur. When his radium-'dialled watch told him it was nearing sunrise, he heard the trumpeting and squealing of a herd of elephants. With the first streak of dawn, there came the blaring cry of the peacock. For the next two days-so Clark told me-he wandered, climbing trees and rock outcrops in order to orientate himself by fixing · some permanent object ahead in order to avoid going roun4 in circles. He could get no direction from the sun as the sky was overcast, and it continued day after day to rain intermittently. The cloudy nights were equally unhelpful as they blotted out the stars. He plucked off and ate jungle berries to keep off hunger-and when ravenously so, shot and devoured the flesh of some birds, uncooked! The third night, Clark's matches gave out, and he was denied his only comfort-his pipe. That night, he felt so weary and tired that he strapped himself to the branch of the tree with his cartridge belt, lest he doze and fell off his perch. In the noon of the next day, much to h~s relief, he found himself on a P. W. D. road, and later learnt that he was two miles south of Wellawaya. All through his peregrinations he was under the impression he was making for Tissamaharama, and the coast!
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Yes, the Ceylon jungles are the very Devil's glades at times. They can even be cruel and inhospitable. They rule by fear, and he who tells you that he does not fear the Ceylon jungles masks his true feelings. Why then this fascination to visit and roam over them? It is difficult to define its lure, but there are many to testify that if
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you fall to it, you will ever be a slave to its elusive charm. Possibly this explains why you find yourself at Kirinda, one of those far-flung settlements set back on the fringe of civilization, where the P.W.D. road from Tissamaharama comes to an end. Off the sea-shore, there stands a cliff, with a group of boulders piled one atop of the other in grotesque confusion. It beckons to the visitor to view the country from the summit. On reaching the base of the cliff you will find a flight of crude steps cut into the rock which offer an easy approach to the summit, To adequately describe the panorama unfolded would be impossible. Suffice it to say the scene is wonderful-forlorn, as it is majestic. The attention of any spectator if first captured by the glistening white dome of the Maharama, a stupa built, or more probably completed, by King Kavantissa, which is one of the oldest and most sacred places of Buddhist pilgrimage. There are besides this Great l)agoba three others in this ancient city we call Tissamaharama: these are the Sandhagiri, the Yataala and the Gem Dagoba. All the dagobas were no doubt originally faced with bricks, and plastered and otherwise embellished, having probably finials at the top, of gold or other precious metal. All but the restored Great Dagoba are still in ruin. On a gentle slope between the Gem Dagoba and the Yataala is the grandest group of all the monoliths, for this is the site of the ancient palaces. Near it is an octagonal granite block ten feet in girth and eight high, which is, according to tradition, the post to which the royal tusker elephant was tied. Marks on one of the faces are pointed out as having been worn by his chains. But we return to Kirinda, to the lovely seascape, the massive stretch of sand-dunes, to the silvery stretch of barren, shore. It cannot be counted strange that such a setting has been selected for that romantic myth which appears in the legends of many nationsof a princess or dame of high degree who arrives from a far-away shore to meet a king who is waiting to welcome and wed her. More than 2,000 years ago, there reigned over the western part of Ceylon, a King called Devanampiyatissa. As Kelaniya was his capital, he was also called Kelani Tissa. It so happened that this King thought he had good reason to suspect a monk of the temple of 240
TISSAMAHARAMA AND KIRJNDA
helping an intrigue between the Queen and his brother; accordingly, .losing control over himself, he gave order that the go-between should be put to a painful death by immersion in a cauldron of boiling oil. The Ministers of State were horrified: the subjects of the realm· were terror-stricken. What is more, it would appear that even the gods were annoyed. By way of punishment they caused the ocean to flood the land, and tradition holds that roughly fifteen miles width of coast-line (a yodun) of the King's realm were washed away. Moved to penitence, Kelani Tissa thought out some means by which he could atone for his sacrilegious act. He planned as a sacrifice something which he considered would not only bring forcibly to the minds of his subjects the sincerity of his repentence, but would also propitiate the gods. He built a boat of gold. He provided it with food and water to last a month, and therein he placed his eldest daughter, the peerless prin~ess of the realm: Bearing an inscription which made known to all that it contained a king's daughter, the boat was cast adrift. Many days later, a fisherman roaming the sea-coast spied a strange craft cast ashore at a spot called Dovera, near Kirinda. Coming nearer, he beheld the princess and forthwith carried the news to the King of this southern kingdom. This King, Kavantissa, married the maiden who had been brought to him so romantically by fate, and named tier Vihara-Mahadevi. On the summit of the diff there stands a dagoba built on the ruins of one which was erected as a thank-offering for the safe voyage of the princess. The royal court-of-arms (the sun and the moon) cut on a boulder nearby, commemorates this story and marks the landing place. At Gotimbaragodaella, two miles inland from Kirinda,.there stand the crumbling ruins of a maligawa, or palace, where Kavantissa is said to have officially welcomed and wed the princess; and finally, a medley of ancient monuments at Magul Maha Vihara-near Palatupana in the Ruhuna National Park-which.mark the spot where the happy pair sojourned after their marriage. Vihara-Mahadevi bore the King, in time, two sons, Gemunu and Tissa; each was destined to be the Lord of Lanka, one after the other. 241 0
XVIII IN THE RUHUNA NATIONAL _PARK
With so much archaeological evidence to show that Tihawa to use the old name for Tissamaharama-was the residence of royalty, of a considerable monastic fraternity, and once had a large population of lower degree, there can be no doubt that tradition speaks - truly when it claims that the entire tract of land from Tihawa to Kirinda was once intensively cultivated, and that it was the locale of operations and events of a cultural past. Even today, in the areas not reclaimeH and which lie covered with jungle, there is much evidence of pristine fertility afforded by traces of long-abandoned paddy fields, and the noble tamarind and other trees which mark the sites of extinct village gardens . The source of all the fertility thus extensively evidenced was then, as it is even today, the Kirindi-oya, which flowed past the old capital. I have ventured in an earlier Chapter to show that in this dryzone tract there could be no water sufficient for the needs of large concentrated population and for cultivation, except it be on a tank system which husbanded the flood waters of the river and streams during the short intensive rainy season. It was perhaps the two very remarkable natural anicuts of rack called Mahagal-amuna and Kudagal-amuna, spanning the bed of the Kirindi-oya, that inspired the ancients and led to the construction of the other artificial anicuts to turn the water from the river into the channels which linked the river to the tanks.
2-1 Por,;st E:iglc Owl
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Mahagal-amuna, or the "great-stone dam," has been utilized as the foundation for the iron bridge spanning the Kirindi-oya, constructed by the P.W.D. in 1928-29. The surface rock has all been blasted and all trace removed of this remarkable natural anicut. 242
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SEEING CEYLON
TheKudagal-amuna, or the "small-stone dam," was about aquarter of a mile upstream from the larger ridge of rocks across the river bed. Here too, the surface rock has been quarried and transported for metalling the new road. Both these features have therefore now ceased to exist. The modem topographical ·maps of the area depict four large storage tanks in the environs ofTissamaharama. The oldest of these is Tissa Wewa. It lies in a shallow valley opposite the Rest House and must have been built before the first century A.D., for history tells that a King named Ila Naga improved the appearance of the work in the 38th year of the first century. The other three larger reservoirs in the city are today called Yodakandiya Wewa, Sitharawila Wewa and Yoda Wewa. The familiar Wiravila tank-a protected sanctuary for birds which travellers on the Wellawaya Road keep a look-out for-is a part of Yodakandiya Wewa. All these ancient irrigation works appear to have remained in good orderuntil the end of the 12th century. Thereafter the histories make no reference to Tihawa. Following on the disruption of the village communities, and due to continual neglect by a population too small and apathetic to keep the works in repair, all these tanks were-possibly breached. Speedily and inevitably, the waters which were once controlled stagnated. In time they spread miasma and pestilence where they had previously brought plenty, and over all undoubtedly, the malarial fever fiend reigned supreme. At length the city, which had dwindled into an unimportant settlement, was perhaps totally abandoned. The beds of the reservoirs, the embankments, and the former fields as well as the site of the magnificent capital-city, then became gradufilly overspread by a thick mantle of forest and scrub-land-the habitat of buffaloes, elephants and bears. It seems clear that this abandonment must have been the gradual process of several centuries.
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When in 1859 Sir Henry Ward, the then Governor of this island, visited Tissamaharama, he was sufficiently impressed by the ruins of Tissa tank to record that: "even in its present state it is singularly 244
beautiful, for although what was once the bed of the tank was covered by forest-trees, the outline of the great natural.hollow which formed the Lake is distinctly visible, and the bund is perfect... .. " It was the sanguine expectation of this Governor, notwithstanding a great deal of adverse criticism, that the reconstruction of these works to irrigate the country would restore the vast tracts adjoining the Kirindi-oya to the position they held ·in ancient times. Surely the efforts of the early British pioneer, directed in the face of opposition, to convert the chosen haunt of denizens of the wild waste into an expanse of rice-fields eight to ten miles in length and of considerable breadth-might be classified today as an achievement fully as worthy of record as the greatest deeds which the Mahavamsa and the other chronicles have saved from oblivion.
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Leaving Tissamaharama and Kirinda, let us now cross over to another region equally old in story which has added to legend and history, the spectacular result of Wild Life protection carried out in Ceylon. We call it the Ruhuna National Park-over one hundred and fifty square miles of territory, where animals in the wild state behave in an unconcerned manner and have ceased to take alarm · and flee at the sight or scent of man. In this tract of country, forgotten for a thousand yearn, during which time the jungles came and hid the relics of a past civilization from the sight of man, there today roam the elephant and the sambhur, the leopard, the bear and the wild-boar, while in sensuous and everchanging form herds of the beautiful spotted deer ( Cervus axi_us ), and innumerable smaller game congregate to sport and graze after browsing away the hot hours of the day in the shade of some overarching jungle arbour. Owing to its accessibility, its educational and recreational aspects the Ruhuna Park is by far the most popular 245
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venue for holiday seekers and Wild Life enthusiasts. As many as 15,000 people now visit it annually and the two bungalows available for the occupation of visitors at Buttuwa and Yala are in constant and considerable demand.
.wallowing..:._wamed of your approach by the persistent harsh cry of the Plover: "Did you do it! Did you ... do it! Did... you ... do .. .i~!" There is a saying that the eggs of the Plover, when eaten, induce watchfulness and that the female bird sleeps with her legs in the air to prevent the sky from falling down and crushing her young!
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* * Seated concealed behind a tree, and facing any one of these villus, a visitor may with luck watch a strange world enjoying its freedom. In mast of these water-spreads there are crocodiles in plenty Moving as though too lazy to make the attempt, their scaly bodies emerge from the water and c,ome to rest on the bank · with jaws agape, still as the proverbial Jog. Yet on the slightest disturbance they lift their heads, Listen for a moment and scuttle back to the water with a wonderful display of agility. It was Wattuwa who told me that whenever a crocodile's mouth opens, its eyes close. A dark patch in the distance shows up plainly against the grassy slope. As it moves, one recognizes a sounder of pig busy ploughing the ground in search of succulent yams. The resonant bell of a sambhur draws one to look in another direction. In its wake there . comes a wonderful vision-a noble animal moving down to the water in stately fashion. Many herds of deer, timidly yet gracefully, break away from the screening jungle and, gradually increasing their pace, make for the welcome water. The spreading antlers of a buck will occasionally show up as he raises his weighted head, pricks up his ears and utters his shrill bark of warning to the herd.
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But there is another persistent cry which rings out both morning and evening, and vibrates over these jungles and plains. Like the cry of a quarrelling cat, set in a variety of keys and cadences, Aaow! Aaow! screech the peafowl from their perches on lofty tree-tops. Possibly, a single specimen with magnificent outspread tail, from which a hundred eyes appear to scintillate in the rays of the sun, proudly struts over the green sward bordering the jungle, for your special delectation. Why do we speak of the long feathers which 247
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come out of a peacock's back, as its tail? Examine the bird and you. will see clearly that his real tail is composed of short strong feathers, which support them. Village lore has it that peacocks dance in the, morning and evening to pay obeisance to the Sun God. Peahens conceive at the noise of thunder, hence their love for rain.
hither and thither by far-off invisible winds, you will be gripped by the silence, the loneliness, the emptiness which twilight drops like a pall on these far-flung jungle regions. Yet, time was, when during the particular months of the year mentioned, a concourse of fisherfolk lay ambushed on the fringe of jungle off this cove in the evening hoping that it would be a clear night, diffused with the silver glow from an unclouded moon .. If conditions proved ideal, there soon broke into the stillness the sound most agreeable to the strained ears of the "turtle-gangs", caused by hundreds of "Hawk's bill" flapping their way on to the beach and preparing holes in the sand for the reception of their numerous ova. . After sufficient grace had been allowed the turtles to their eggs undisturbed, at a given signal the "turtle-gangs" strung along the shore made a simultaneous onset on the marine reptiles in an endeavour to tum as many as possible on their back: the turtle defends itself with great fury, and bites severely, as many a turtlecatcher knows to his cost. Yet eventually, many lay on the beach unable to regain their freedom, with their fins securely tied together by twisted bark of jungle trees used as ligatures. From the accounts of witnesses, there apparently followed as satuinalian a scene as barbarism can conjure. · Seemingly, as it were by the waving of a magic wand, isolated beacons of orange flame burst out hither and thither over the foreshore, and smoky lights rose in a dense cloud into the moonlit night. Lifted on stout poles passed longitudinally between the tethered fins and breast-plate of each turtle, the reptile was carried to, and suspended over, the blazing fire until the dorsal plates or scales on their disk became heated, and curled up; these were immediately stripped off, and passed on to purveyors who supplied the raw shell to the flourishing tortoise shell industry for which Galle was long famous in the past. After subjection to this treatment the despoiled turtle was liberated and allowed free egress to the sea. So cruel a practice is happily something which the past has buried, and the inclusion of Amaduwa or Turtle Island into the Ruhuna National Park prevents recurrence. The annual turtle fishery was
* * * * On a stump standing out of the water, you see a Darter sitting motionless, with outspread wings. Perhaps another is swimming nearby, with its snake-like head and neck just visible above the surface. A few Egrets, maybe, are spearing at frogs and small fish which splutter In the ooze on the margin of the water, while a pair of Black Storks, with long white necks, sedately wander about on a similar pursuit. Hardly noticed among the reeds, a Pond Heron, with shoulders hunched and head pulled in and dorsal feathers drawn down to cover neck and wings, endf?avours to avoid observation. Still, one has to remember that it is the South-West Monsoon, which blows in August, and that if you would carry away a vivid picture of endless varieties of feathered inhabitants which people the villus and lewayas, you must choose a time after the first rains of the North-East. I will not venture to describe the scene of riot and colour that will await you as you gaze on clouds of grey Wagtails, of many 'species of Crane, of Pelicans floating on reedcovered expenses, of Duck and of vast numbers of other waterfowl-all splashing, diving and screeching!
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When at Palatupana, you will miss much by not seeing little known cameo of beauty-a semicircular cove of golden sand nestling behind a laterite headland ending up in a little island which has been designated on our maps Amaduwa or Turtle Island. On the broad fore-shore of this cove the ocean's waters lap idly and with great effort from the middle of November to the end of February. Here, when the persistent evening cry of the Pea-fowl and of bird-life has died down, and a setting sun has gilded the solitary chain of dunes and tinted the sky with pink whirls of cloud driven 248
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regularly farmed by the Dutch Government, and was a source of ·revenue to the British in the early half of the last century. Yet paradoxically, tht>re is a sequel to this story of the past which is as strange as fiction. *
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Although one would naturally infer that instinct would prevent the same turtle from revisiting the place of its former despoliation, the fact is stated to be otherwise: "this was fully ascertained," writes Bennett, "by a Dutch gentleman who had ·charge of the district in 1794, arid to satisfy his doubts upon the point, caused brass rings suitably marked, to he attached to a fin of a certain number, and in 1826, the fish renter of the district brought me one of these rings .... the renter positively affirmed that the same tortoise had to his knowledge revisited the cove for thirty-two successive years." When you are sickened by talk about Ceylon's fauna being exterminated and wish to revitalize your desire to preserve it; when you feel you would like to court those elusive pleasures which Nature alone, in its magnificent wild state can kindle; and if you would rejoice while doing so in the sensations of a slight element of danger, which-after you have braved them -reveals rich memories ... then go to the Ruhuna National Park. You will be wonderfully contented with your visit if you remember to avoid a festival season and a holiday. The number of cars and buses, and the crowds of people in the Park on such occasions, greatly reduce the power of blending your thoughts with Nature around you, and feeling that empathy your surroundings call for.
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XIX SERMONS IN STONE If you would picture the parcel of country in South-East Ceylon which is today the Ruhuna National Park, as it showed up in 1560, you haye a clue in the map of Cypriano Sanschez, the Spanish cartographer. He has made a note on it: "Kingdom of Yala deserted and uninhabited for 300 years because it is unhealthy." In an earlier Chapter reference was made to Alexander Johnston, who when acting Chief Justice, travelled on circuit from Trincomalee to Hambantota in 1806. His entrancing travelogue in manuscript reveals that in his day, as even now, the section of road from the Kumbukkan Oya to Yala lay "through thick thorny jungle with every now and then fine breaks in it like amphitheatres, and every now and then large rocks covered with jungle". It would seem surprising t~at very little mention is made by Sir Alexander to wild animals-except for such pithy statements as "saw a flock of wild buffaloes", or "the servants ported they had seen four elephants". Yet there seems no cause for surprise at this, when one contemplates the picture he reveals of how they travelled. While he used the time-honoured palanquin-hoisted on two horizontal poles, carried by four bearers in front and four behind. he apparently had with him, besides the large company of bearers, a party of musicians, "who kept up an incessant din with pipes and tomtoms" all the way. The party, we are given ·to understand, also consisted of a large escort both civil and military, as the following extract shows: "At Kumbukkan Oya the Kutcherry Mudalier of Batticaloa who attended us all the way, left us and we were met by a Mohandiram of Pallota Panie with his retinue. Before we arrived
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at Yala, nine sepoys and a naique from Hambantota relieved the sergeant of the Malay (troops) .... who left for Batticaloa with their tomtoms and flags."
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It seems interesting to remind ourselves that according to Sir Alexander Johnston's notes, the journey from Batticaloa to Yala had taken four days and often involved travelling at night with "choolo lights". On a rough reckoning 2 1/2 miles appear to have been covered in one hour of actual travelling. Here is Johnston's description of Yala as a village: "Two or three huts, ten or twelve Veddah families in the woods who serve the Government in many different ways." He mentions the fine trees on the bank of the Yala River (Menik Ganga) "called in Cingalese Coombuk Gas", and the birds and monkeys. In juxtaposition, the observation, that "four coolies had a fever last night when they came in". Describing the country between Yala and "Pallota Panie" . (Palatupana), Sir Alexander mentions the large paelaessa near Yala, called Anduoruwa-wela, which he calls "Andunumoa", and the tank called: "Villepola-wewa with a village of five or six houses which were deserted." Concerning Palatupana, he says: "There were three houses inhabited by who cultivate fields in which are yearly planted twenty ammonoms of seed." The old Dutch Road which Sir Alexander followed in this section of the route lay between the present road and the sea-shore. This old route has been delineated on the one.,mile-to-the-inch topographical maps.
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In describing the next stage of his journey from Palatupana to Hambantota, the traveller through whose eyes we are picturing this country as it was 158 years ago, has much to say of the chain of Lewaycis or "salt pans"-and of squads of sepoys detailed in those times "to prevent the Candians from stealing the salt". Such apparently was the importance of this precaution that it even 252
justified the Dutch in their time erecting a battery at Palatupana and the British erecting "a small but well built fort". Johnston found this fort occupied by "eighteen Malay as, a Havildar naique and Subidar''. He mentions that there was no trace of the Dutch battery. The British fort, in the words of Johnston, stood "on the high ground off the coast and is said to have been capable of mounting several heavy guns and to have been erected for sea defence." Howbeit it is interesting while speculating on these defences at Palatupana to note that until recently there were the remains of another fort on the site of the earlier British post-its rampart and bastions much overgrown in jungle, the foundations of which were laid by Governor Brownrigg about the time of the "Uva Rebellion" (1817-18). The slow but steadily expanding belt of sand dunes along this coast has buried all those relies of war. *
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We have so far but taken a glimpse over the rim of history as associated with this coastal belt of country we today call the Ruhuna National Park. The most wonderful of its monuments are very very. old. They are the many quaint outcrops of rock, Homeric in their outline, which burst out in monochrome relief from the jungle-clad plains. It is only when you know the story man has woven around them-their legends and traditions-that they really make sense. The first of these outcrops to give form and climax to roving eye is today commonly called 'Elephant Rock'. It rises in a majestic pinnacle to a height of 526 feet-is visible from a great distance and is strikingly picturesque. A luminous sky gives it definition, and from many a vantage point in the middle-distance you have the illusion of pin-point sharpness. The village guide who was with me when I first saw it, said: "That is Akasa chaitya vihara", which means "the temple with the sky-borne dagoba". I looked at nothing but a bare worn-down granite rock which stood in an eerie stillness, its summit precipitous and inaccessible. In my mind's eye, I saw its pinnacle crowned by a milky-white dagoba. Leopold Ludovici--one time surveyor, and later editor of Lorenz's paper The Examiner-<:limbed this-rock using staging and ladders 253
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for purposes connected with the trigonometrical survey of lh~ Island, in the latter half of the last century. The ruins on the summit proved that there must have been a timber stairway which provided access to the top in pre-Christian times. * * * * Kakavanna Tissa, who ruled over Ruhuna in the 2nd century B.C., is credited with the foundation of the extensive ruins spread over that rocky outcrop we call Situlpavuva, three miles north of Akasa chaitya. Inscriptions on the spot bear out that its ancient name was Cittalapabbata one of the most celebrated viharas of ancient times. The hundreds of rock-caves-many of them bearing inscriptions and evidence of having been lived in; the numerous "kemas" or artificial rock waterholes; the disintegrated ruins of as many as ten thupas (dagobas built over relies) and the reference by inscription to meditation halls, all go to prove that Situlpavuva was a renowned cave monastery establishment, in long past times. Pilgrim bands to this day brave the jungle trek to the site, to pay tribute to its sanctity and its reputation of having given to this country in ancient times many monks of saintliness and learning. In dense jungles across the Menik Gang or the "Kataragama Ganga" as it is also called, some miles north-east of Situlpavuva and in the heart of the strict Natural Reserve, stand two rock outcrops called Mandagala and Dematagala. Very few have visited these hill-tops pocked with caves and pre-Christian inscriptions. Of Mandagala, an ancient monastery with many inscriptions which range in date from the second century B.C. to the fourth A.O., I have written much in my Ancient Irrigation Works-Part Ill. Here one sees and feels the impressive beauty of prandeur and ruggedn~ss rarely found anywhere else in low-country Ceylon-low, barren pmnacles of mother rock, weather-beaten for centuries, but appearing today as if flung in a pre-historic age by a giant hand. Dematagala, represented by twin peaks, pictures to the imagination a dusky woman of Amazonian girth reclining with 254
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bared breasts: from these peaks flows a streamlet appositely named, and to this day called Tambara Aro-meaning "stream from the breasts". These twin peaks were possibly last climbed by the. surveyor who did the topographical mapping of the surrounding country in 1921 . The summit of the higher of the two peaks is 1OOO feet, the other 50 feet less. They were described as affording a magnificent vantage point, extending on the north to the blued outline of the Haputale hills in the.background, and the dull purple blob of Monaragala against it; on the south, to an embayed coastline marked by a white line of foamy surf and the Little Basse·s lighthouse poised between shore and horizon. The Little and the Great Basses carry history very much father back than the land-forms we have been discussing. These oceanic outcrops, comprising two lengths of submerged reef off the south. eastern coast of the island, own their importance today primarily to the fact that they are the bases for two lighthouses erected in the second half of the last century. Tradition however links their importance to a story as old as Time-pointing to these rocks as being rertmants of an ancient city called Sri-lanka-pura, the stronghold of a prehistonc King called Ravana. Hence to this day, the .traditionalist refers to these fragments of land as Ravana-kotte "The fortress o~ Ravana", and explains that the tints in the sky at sunri.e and sunset me but the reflections of the seven brazen battlements of the city over which the ocean, waves now roll, scintillating to the rays of the sun. How sombre and majestic a strorighold it was; how . long a siege it withstood; and how valiantly it was defended against the, attacks of Rama, who sought his beautiful wife Sita held captive by the King, are facets which belong to another story. What concerns us is that they say the mighty waters of the ocean rushed over the capital by the act of the gods to punish the impious Ravana. They buried "twenty-five palaces, and five hundred thousand streets!"
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SERMONS IN STONE
The story is every night repeated, in calm weather or foul, by the flash of light, warning ships on the high seas off the submerged coast of Ancient Ceylon. The fisherman bears out the legend from his experience that while on the one side of the submerged reef which skirts the south-eastern and the western coast, he can find bottom, on the other side his longest line is of no avail. 'Ravanabaemma' he calls it, meaning "Ravana's Ridge"
regions-there are several ruinstrewn boulder groups of great age. The adventurous visitor to these parts has the opportunity here of exploring many caves which had been lived-in in the past, provided he has by now accustomed himself to the haunting odour they exhale through occupation by bats. You will find one such cavegloomy and desolate, but intensely exciting to explore with its entrance in the northern face of the highest boulder in the Magulmaha-vihara site, two miles north of Palatupana. A narrow door set in an enclosing wall of ancient origin permits no more than a glow to penetrate the vaulted recess. The eerie stillness is rendered weird · by occasional confused noises proceeding from innumerable bats flitting round like ghostly shadows. Bears and leopards have been known in recent years to have shared this lonely shrine room where in the past saintly monks meditated and to this day a disintegrated image of the Buddha reposes. At Silavakanda, Pimburamalgala, and Gonagala-all nearbyyou h;we caves with katara or "drip-ledge" chiselled to keep the rain out; lithic inscriptions in Nagara script; dagobas in ruin; and similar vestiges which tell of a vanished kingdom. There is more if you will follow up your exploration of these sites by dipping into the pages of Historical Topography of Ancient and Medieval Ceylon by the late Dr. C. W. Nicholas, or speculate on the translations of many of these lithic inscriptions still to be found on these sites, whicli have been annotated by the patient author.
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Getting back to Elephant Rock, and taking a south-westerly course from that point, you will soon find yourself at the beach and overlooking a heaving sea. Here you will come upon another jumble of rocks called Patanangala. The anchorage you gaze over was probably used from earliest times, for in the pre-Christian era King Kavantissa built the Patungala Vihara-identified by its ruins and inscriptions, but conjuring a brighter picture than is reflected by the sum of its stones. ~ I recently.saw this anchorage in the blaze of noon-day, with a metallic empty sky above, from which there poured down the direct rays of a molten sun. The vagaries of monsoon and the calling of the sea, had perforce changed it for a while into a· fisheries harbour. Innumerable out-rigger canoes were drawn up on the beach away from the water's reach at highfide, while quite a number of mechanized boats bobbed to the play of waves in the roadstead which open~ into the steel-blue stillness of an endless open sea. The smell of fish permeated the settlement inshore, with a heaviness which caught the breath. We leave the fisher-folk to their heart;. breaking calling and get back to our "sermons in stone"
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Clustered around Palatupana-the modem form of the ancient name Palutthagiri, rendered famous in the ancient chronicles as a fort~ess and battle ground where the Sinhalese were always on the defensive' and. met the Chola forces which had penetrated into these
257
ENGELBRECHT OF YALA
camping in. His staccato cries to the team of oxen harnessed to the wagon, and the sharp clap of his long whip which he whirled over the black-tipped horns of the span, still echo in my ears. XX
ENGELBRECHT OF YALA Early in 1899, about 150 square miles of country in the eastern area of the Southern Province between the Kumbukk.an Oya and the Menik Ganga were constituted a Game Sanctuary. Appai:_ently, as soon as restriction was placed on shooting within the Sanctuary, · the area adjoining it, west of the Menik Ganga, was shot over by a succession of visiting sportsmen, mostly foreigners. Game was harassed to such an extent as to render it almost invisible. This led to the marginal fringe between Yala and Palatupana being declared a Reserve with permission granted only to re~idents in Ceylon to shoot over it. For nearly three decades thereafter, the map of Ceylon designated what is today the Strict Natural Reserve, the "Yalagama Sanctuary", and the area west of it, the "Resident Sportsman's Reserve". So well was the inviolate character of the Sanctuary and Reserve maintained that in 1909 an observer wrote: "A decided increase of all kinds (game and animals) is disti.nctl~ apparent, one of the most satisfactory features being the almosl entire disappearance of the former wariness and timidity. The sigh1 of a human being no longer sends the herds headlong pnder cover.... and at all times of the day they may be found resting or feeding in the open." It is in this setting I recall Engelbrecht-a most unforgettable character of our times. Maybe there are yet a few others left who can call up a picture of this hard, sun-burnt Boer, who drifted about these jungles at Yala, in the latter half of the second decade of the present century. Once every month he forsook his jungle domain 1111d wns 10 be seen driving into Hambantota for "pay and 11111v1•iun111j" in the tented wagon he used for travelling and
* * * * Well, if you did not know H. E. Engelbrecht, here is his story: He was a_Free Stater, and a scout-rider under General de Wet, and was brought to Ceylon in sad and dour mood, as a Boer prisoner of war in the latter half of 1900..... There came the 31st ofMay 1902the great day the 5poo simple and unsophisticated Boer warriors held captive in Cey Ion were looking forward to; terms of peace had been signed in Pretoria and their deliverance was near. Difficulty however lay with a small band of "irreconcilables" at Diyatalawa, who sturdily declined to purchase freedom by a declaration which recognized King Edward as their sovereign. This number eventually dwindled down to five, and· in September 1903 the Secretariat at Colombo issued a communique notifying these five Boers that if they would not take the oath of allegiance or make declarat~on, they would be free to go anywhere they wished to, within the Island. Notwithstanding, there was a snag in this ostensible gesture of freedom. Two of them were told they would only be paid their monthly allowance at the Kachcheri in Jaffna, and were compelled to go north. One of them in similar circumstances was forced to go east, as Batticaloa was made his paying centre. The remaining two, which included Engelbrecht, found themselves assigned to Hambantota in south Ceylon.
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The anguish and tribulation of exile proved too much for four of these five Boer captives. Engelbrecht thus.came to be the last captive Boer prisoner of war in Ceylon, and the ,only one who refused to make declaration or take an oath. He continued to eke out a miserable existence in Ham~antota, living in a shanty which the then Assistant Government Agent of the district had given him, 259
SEEING CEYLON
and on an allowance of Rs. 1/25 a day, paid monthly by the Kachcheri Shroff. In 1905, as a result .of a change of Revenue Officer in the district, Engelbrecht was denied even the concession of a roof over his head. He was sued by the owner of the shanty for arrears of rent, and ejectment. The case evoked considerable interest-both from a point of Jaw, and from the disclosures made in the evidence Jed. It was argued in Engelbrecht's defence whether this action against an alien enemy was maintainable. ·The Commissioner of Requests (Mr. Schrader), observing in his judgment that h·e saw no law which prevented the defendant suing or being sued, proceeded to declare that it was the Assistant Government Agent and not the Boer who engaged the 'tenement'. He held that it was only the notice to quit· that was justified -remarking further, that an allowance of Rs. 1/25 a day was barely sufficient to enable Engelbrecht to pay for food, clothing, shelter and washing. He suggested the only remedy-representation to the Government. Public opinion once again stirred itself in the interests of this unrelenting Boer prisoner of war..... Questions were asked in the House of Commons as to why a captive prisoner of war was sued for house rent when it was the duty of the Ceylon Government to house him. About this time, Governor Blake was travelling to Colombo on a circuit from Badulla via Hambantota. He stopped his car near Engelbrecht's shanty and sent for him. Said the Governor: "I hear you are the Boer prisoner of war in Ceylon; why do you refuse to take the oath?" Came the answer: "I hear you are the Governor of Ceylon; I wish to keep your friendship ..... not lose it ifl tell you why." The Governor continued his journey with an unsolved problem on his mind. By way of appeasing Whitehall, and maybe in recognition of his straight-forward and independent spirit, Engelbrecht received a congenial Government appointment as 'Game Sanctuary Keeper' at Yala. He still remained obdurate on the question of taking the oath, and found escape by roaming these sun-scorched
260
ENGELBRECHT OF YALA
plains imagining that he here heard the dead voice of his dear African Veldt, so symbolic to the Boer of space and freed~m. * * * * In proof of his keen powers of observation a well-known resident sportsman in his day recounted how on one occasion the old Boer was entranced by a leopard he had shot in the 'Sportsman's Reserve'. He walked round the carcase, studied its many peculiarities, then gesticulating descriptively remarked: "Ah! Mr....., this the son, you should have shot the father! He was a thief-two months ago I had the one hundred goat. .... today I have not one." In another instance, spotting an elephant, he exclaimed: "Aaaah!That Old Pistol... .. see, see his stump of tail!" Looking, one saw a short stump of a tail, poised horizontally, and bearing a resemblance to the weapon which helped the lumbering mass of animal to its name. I was entranced on a recent visit to hear a tracker refer to the same animal, possibly, as Walgekota-Short tail. None may cavil over Engelbrecht's agility with gun or rifle. He was indeed a great marksman and was known to have once shot and killed a leopard in the air, when the brute sprang at him from a tree. His collection of freak antlers, which he showed off with great pride, was considered unique. As may very well be expected Engelbrecht was visited by Many 'sportsmen' at Yala with permits to thin out game in the Sanctuary. They generally came in parties, and were wont to leave cases of empty champagne bottles behind! These bottles, some of which were used by the 'Keeper' to store his kerosene oil, had-as we shall see-a fateful turn for him in his life.
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* * * Came the first world war-just fifty years ago, when German cruiser Emden in a mysteriously elusive manner was sending ship after ship flying the flag of the allies to the bottom of
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SEEING CEYLON
ENGELBRECHT OF YALA
the Indian Ocean. What baffled everybody at the time was where this Raider--cut away as it was from all bases--obtained fuel, food and water, Behind this hangs a deeply moving story which is based on facts narrated to me by Lucien Poulier, veteran lawyer and sportsman of Tangalla; who befriended Engelbrecht when he was left adrift in Hambantota, and was both patron and adviser to him. A minor official of the Government in Tangalla sparked a rumour that Engelbrecht, the Boer who had not taken the oath of allegiance, was surreptitiously supplying cattle to Captain von Muller, the Commander of the German Raider. The rumour-~onger gilded his story by suggesting that some of the crew had landed at Kirinda in th·e night and had indulged in carousal-witness the empty champagne bottles in the· heart of the jungle. The story spread like wild-fire, as such rumours do, and it got to the ears of Military ,· Intelligence in Colombo. A Colonel, two N.C.O's and an armed guard hurried south to il)vestigate. They interrogated the Rest House Keeper at Hambantota. "What Sid" said he, "This all false-I know. Engelbrecht not a man that type.''. Nevertheless, the Colonel proceeded with his squad to Engelbrecht's jungle camp, and lo, there he found the empty champagne bottles! The explanation offered for their presence was discounted. Engelbrecht was atrested and whisked off to the military 9etention barracks at Kandy without any opportunity to make any arrangements for the safety of his belongings or to consult his lawyer.· ')
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The story of his imprisonment is pathetic in the extreme. He demanded a trial, and refused to wear prison clothes. The Warder hit back by declining to give him his own clothes on the plea that the rules did not allow this. So Engelbrecht remttined naked in a dark 262
room for three months. He never once heard the note of a bird such as he loved to hear in the jungle, and was unable to distinguish night from day. Engelbrecht's release after three months without any trial, and his reinstatement, were virtually an admission that the auth?rities had been too hasty. Somebody had bungled, and bungled badly. He · lost· most of his belongings as they were stolen in his absence, and he carried round a tale of suffering, hoping he would be able to get relief in a law suit for damages-.his lawyer had to shatter this hope as DORA (Defence of the Realm.Act) was then in force. A few years later,--on the 25th of March 1922, he died while being carried from his camp to the hospital at Hambantota-desperately ill.
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All Lucien Poulier could do to retrieve the fair name of which' Engelbrecht was very jealous, ended in failure. The authorities proved very difficult and would release no information-maybe they did not want to lose prestige. His opportunity however came thirteen years after Engelbrechf·s death, when the new Emden visited Colombo in 1931 , and Captain Withoeft, who had been second in command to Captain von Muller in the famous Raider, was in command of it. In the course of an address during his visit to the Rotary Club in Colombo, Captain Withoeft described the daring exploits and . gallant behaviour of his erstwhile Commandant, von Muller, towards his captives and casually remarked: "We left your b~autiful Island alone. There was no point in attacking a small Island." And here is the epilogue: Taking his chance, Lucien Poulier forthwith wrote to Captain Withoeft and placed Engelbrecht's case before him. His posthumous vindication of the fair name of a 263
SEEING CEYLON
straight, sincere and brave man was complete on his receiving the following reply:
BIBLIOGRAPHY AMBALANGODA
DE KOMMANDANT DESKREUZERS EMDEN; Trinkomali, 5th February, 1931.
DARBERYN 8ENTOTA
Dear Sir, With many thanks for your kind letter I may be allowed to inforril you that the old Emden never received a supply of cattle and there never was the least cOhnection with your beautiful Island or anywhere else. COLOMBO
I am, Sir, Yours very sincerely, (Signed) S. WITHOEFT Engelbrecht's mortal remains lie buried in the cemetery at Hambantota, off the main road and bordering the. sea. A simple inscribed stone marks the spot. Here the rhythmic heat of the sea waves on the shore, and the soughing winds of the open spaces keep sounding a continuous dirge to the last man in 5000 Boer prisoners of war, who would not compromise, and had found eternal release.
DEVIL BIRD
264
Brohier, R. L .• JDBU, Vol. XXI. No. 4. 1932. Lewis, Tombstones and Monuments, p. 204. Raven-Hart, R., History in Stone, 1964. pp. 169-171. Inscription at: JDBU, Vol. I, p. 177; CALR. Vol. II, p. 245; MLR, Vol. 11, p. 75; Vol. VI, p. 285; JRASCB, Vol. XV, pp. 271-272. IDBU, Vol. XXil. No. I, 1932.
Heydt'ti Ceywn, 1744, Trans: Raven-Hart, 1952,p.30· Brohier, R. L., JDBU. Vol. XXI, No. 4; 1932. Raven-Hart; R .• History in Stone, 1964, pp. 171-173. Inscriptions at...MLR, Vol. I, p. 72: Vol. VJ, pp. 285-186. JDBU, Vol. IX, p. 78; CALR, Vol. I, p. 243; Vol. II, p. 59; Ceylon Examiner, 27th Oct. 1891. 1..ewis, Tombstones and Monuments, p. 148; JRASCB, Vol. XV, p. 276; Vol. XVIII, p. 31. Percival, R., Ceylon, pp. 97-123, 1803. Cordiner, (Rev.) J .• Vol. I, Ch. II. 1807. Pridham, C., Ceylon. Vols. I & II, 1848. Street Nomenclature, Orientalist, Vol. II, 1885-86. Ferguson, D.W., "In Dutch Times". Lit. Register to Tropical Agriculturist, Vol. XXIV, I 904-05. Skeen, George J. A., Guide to ... 1906. Denham, E. B., "Town of...", pp. 125-156, Census Report 1911. Jn Early British Times, Lewis, J.P.,, 1920. Gratiaen, L. J., "In the 17th Century", CALR, Vol. VIII, pp. 285-94; Vol. IX, p. 115, 1923. Perera, (Fr.) S.G., "The City of. .. ", 1505-1656 Ceylon Hist. Association paper No. 8. 1926. Reimers, E., "200 years ago", Plate's Annual, 1933. Hernu, P.A.J., "The Port of...n, Ceylon Trade Jnl.. May, 1950. Raven-Hart, R., History in Stone, 1964, pp.187-190, 217-221. 226-228. fennent (Sir) J. E .• Ceylon, Vol. I, p. 167, 1860; Natural History of Ceylon, pp. 246-247, 1861. Taprobanian, Vol. I, pp. 36-38. 1885. · Taprobanian, Vol. I. pp. 72-73. 1886. M.L.R., No. 12, pp. 272-77. 1893. Spittel, R. L., Sp: Z. Vol. XIII. pp. 315-321. 1926.
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BIBUOGRAPHY
SEEING CEYLON DONDRA
ENGELBRECHT
Batuta, lbn, JRASCB, 1882, Extra No.,· pp. 1-60 Rhys Davids, T. W., JRASCB, No. 16 (1870); No. 17 ( 1871 ). Sp. Z., Vol. Vlll. Pt.30, 1912. Paranavitana. (Dr.) S., "Shrine at Devinuwara", JRASCB.1948. Amerasekara, CALR, Ps. 30, 1912. Raven-Hart, R., History in Stone, 1964, pp. 126-129.
KALUTARA
Pridham, C., Ceylon. pp. 587-88, 1849. Steele, Thos. Notes attacbed to translation Kusa Jataka, pp. 232-240, London 1871. Nevill, Hugh, Taprobanian, 1886. Buultjens, J. W., (Pamphlet) 1925. Brohier, R. L., Alexander Johnston's Diary of a Tour, JRASCB, Vol. XXXVI, No. 98, 1945. Raven-Hart, R., History in Stone, 1964, pp. 64, 65. Percival, R., Ceylon, pp. 125-130, 1803. Brohier, R. L, JDBU, Vol. XXII, No. I, 1932; Vol. XI, No. 4, 1951; Urban Council Silver Jubilee Souvenir. pp. 12-17, 1948. Reimers, E., Past and Present. Urban Council Silver Jubilee Souvenir, 1948. Heydt's Ceylon, 1744, Trans. by Raven-Hart, 1952, pp. 23-26. 30. Raven-Hart. R., History in Stone, 1964, pp. 164, 166, 175.
KATUWANA
Brohier, R..L .. JDBU. Vol. XVIII, No. 4, 1929. Heydt's Ceylon, 1744, Trans. by Raven-Hart, 1952, ' pp. 56, 57.
KUSHTARAJA
"Statue of. .. " Cumming. C. F. Gordon, Two Happy Years in Ceylon, Vol. 11, pp. 194-195. C!!ve, H. W.. Golden Tips, 458-461.
266
See Tissamaharama.
MANDAGALA
Nevill, H., MLR. Vol. V. 1891.
MATARA
Welsh's Military Reminiscences, 1830, MLR. Vol. II, p. 372, 1888. MLR, Vol. Ill. p.300, 1889. Reimers, E., "Old Matara and Rebellion", 1760-61, JDBU, Vol. XV, Nos. I, 2, & 3. 1925. Heydt's Ceylon, 1744, Trans. by Raven-Hart, 1952. Raven-Hart, R .• History in Stone,, 1964, pp. 163-167
MOUNTLAVINIA
Petet, T., CALR, Vol. Ill. pp. 142-143, 1917·
Brohier, R. L., The Boer Prisoner of War in Ceylon, JDBU, Vols. XXXVI, No. I to 4; XXXVII, No I, 1946-47. Pridham, C., Ceylon, pp. 599-602, 1848. de Vos, F. H., JDBU, Vol. I. Nos. 3 & 4; Vol. II, p. 151, 1914. Weaver, "Fort of... " Aloysian, 1913. Pieris, (Sir) P.E., Dutch Power in Ceylon, Col., 1929. Anthonisz, R. G., The Dutch in Ceylon, pp. 54, 64, 173, 184, 1929: Brohier, R. L., New Lanka. Vol. I, No. 2, 1950; Historical Map of Galle, 1946. Heydt'.f Ceylon, 1744. Trans. By Raven-Hart, 1952, pp. 32-47 etc. Raven-Hart, R., History in Stone, pp. 151-157, 1964.
IIAMBANTOTA
MAGAMA
Dulling, MD. H. H.,The History of... , Col. 1922 Bingham, P. M., History of Public Works, Vol.11, pp. 54, 55, 1922. Raven-Hart, R., History in Stone, 1964, pp.175, 176 MULGIRIGALA
-Pridham, c .. Ceylon, pp. 596-97, 1849. Ferguson; Donald, JRASCB, Vol. XXII, No. 64, 1911. Brohier, R. L., JDBU, Vol. XX. No. I, 1930. Heydt's Ceylon, 1744. Trans. Raven-Hart, 1952. Raven-Hart, R., Histary in Stone, 1964, pp. 102-129.
RUHUNA
Raffel,Douglas. In Ruhunu jungles, Colombo, 1959.
SINHA RAJA ADAVIYA
Baker, J.R., JRGS, Vol. LXXXIX, No. 6, .1937. De Rosayro, BCGS, Vol. 8, Nos. I & 2; 1954.
TANGALLA
Pridham, c., Ceylon, pp. 592-594 1849. JDBU, Vol. XIX, No. I. 1928. Raven-Hart, R., History if! Stone, 1964, pp. 63, 129.
TISSAMAHARAMA
Steele, Thos., Notes annexed to trans. of Kusa jataka, pp. 232-240, London, 1871. Parker, Henry, "Reports of Arch: Discoveries at. ..", JRASCB, Vol. VIII, No. 27, 1884. Raven-Hart, R.,History in Stone,' 1964, pp. 63, 69.
TISSA WEWA
Raven-Hart, R., History-in Stone, 1964, pp. 15, 18, 26.
Y ALA
Brohier, R. L., Alexander Johnston's Diary of a Tour, JRASCB, Vol. XXXVI, No. 98, 1945. Nicholas, (Qr.) C. W., Adm: Report of Warden Wild Life for 1951 to 1954. Raffel, Douglas., In Ruhunu jungles, Colombo, 1959. Raven-Hart,R., History in Stone, 1964, pp. 69, 280.
267
SEEING CEYLON
MISCELLANEOUS 8ENNET1',
J. W.
Ceylon; and its Capabilities, 1843.
BROHIER.
R. L.
..Legacies of the Colonial Dutch Engineer" 1949
CAVE. HENRY W.
The Book of Ceylon, Vols. I, 11, Ill, 1908, and Ceylon Govt. Railway, 1910.
CORDINER, (REV.) JAMES
Ceylon, Vols. I & 11, 1807- ..Tour by Governor North", Vol. I pp. 167-347.
CUMMING, C.F.GoRDON
Two Happy Years in Ceylon, Vols. I & II, 1892.
FORBES, (MAJOR)
Eleven Years in Ceylon, Vols. I & II, 1840.
HAECKEL, ERNEST
A Visit to Ceylon (especially chs. YIU-XV), 1883.
KNIGHTON, LEWIS,
W.
Forest Ufe in Ceylon, Vols. I & II, 1854.
J.P.
In Vol. 11, History of the Public Works Department, Old Port.r and Military Post.r, pp. 1-36, 1922.
SELKIRK, (REv.) JAMES
Recollections of Ceylon, 1844.
SINGH, ST. NIHAL
Ceylon New and Old, 1928.
STOREY,
H.
Hunting & Shooting in Ceylon, 1907.
SUCKLING, (CAPT.) H.
SKINNER, (CAPT.) TENNENT, (SIR)
WILLIS,
268
J. C
Part III
J. E.
Ceylon-by an Officer of Ceylon Rifles, Vols. I & 11, 1876. Fifty Years in Ceylon, 1890. Ceylon, Vols. I & 11, 1860. Ceylon, 1907.
ADAM'S PEAK
Introduction
I The origin_ ~f the sacred character of this mountain-peak, its legends and trad1t1ons, and above all the deep impression it has made on a I:irge number of visitors to our shores, have severally been the occasion of many papers read ·before learned Societies the world over, and ha~e fr~m time ~o time been given in an overwhelming number of articles m magazmes, pamphlets and news-sheets in many lands and in many tongues. Many faiths have draped the pilgrim trails with traditions which are as old as Time, and have invested the primeval forests which surr?und the peak, its dizzy precipices, its rushing, brawling waters and its rugged grandeur, with legends so hoary that history knows nothing of them. · I venture in the following pages to tell you of the many routes to the P~ak-over all of which I have rambled: some of them fully, some m parts.
THE
LORE OF THE PEAK
On the slopes of the range of mountains crowned by tht pinnacle we call Adam's Peak there lies a tract of country which for the best of reasons is described on the Island's maps as the Peak Wilderness. It affords impressions of primeval forests, dizzy precipices, rushing, brawling waters and rugged grandeur. If you would court acquaintance :with such thrills, you must wander afoot. When the "Big Monsoon" bursts, and the great rushing wetwind wails and shrieks overhead, the Wilderness of the Peak groans and moans in agonized complaint. All the mists and fogs and rain driven up from the plains are checked by this mountain rampart. The cloudy vaporous curtain is apparently quite impervious -it is dank, cold, desolate-and for months no adventurous spirit would roam this domain by choice.
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But when, with other characteristics of the north-east monsoon, the long shore-winds blow down. the western coast of the Island, when the days begin to get hot, and the nights are cloudless; and the mbonlight is singularly agreeable, from the sheltering plains in and around Colombo one's eyes longingly rest on Adam's Peak and the Peak Wilderness. It is during such seasons that the mountain range is frequently seen in the distance-gold and blue-deepening to an infinite depth of indigo. And so, while in the early months of the year all Colombo, lured by cooler climes, flies to the hills, the pilgrim throng wen9 their way to the "Holy Mountain"
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SEEING CEYLON
THE LURE OF THE PEAK
They say that, dating to eras which cradle the early childhood of the human race. mankind commenced to meditate on the sublimities of nature. Such thoughts in turn, awakening the instinct of worship i~pelled them to do homage to the mountains and the sun. What more natural than that religious interests should from earliest times have concentrated on the majestic cone, which, withstanding the vagaries of monsoons, was at one season wrapped in storm and thunder-clouds, and at another stood silhouetted, wonderful and gigantic, on a distant skyline-veritably an emblem of hope to cheer the desponding soul. Small wonder then, that from a period far down the corridors of time, individuals began to identify a hollow in the lofty rock which crowns the summit with their national faith. Brahaman and Buddhist, Chinese and Gnostic, Mohammedan and Roman Catholic Christian, thus invested this relic with religious beliefs, and gathered in the past just as much as they gather now annually around this object of common adoration, to unite in peaceful worship. But from this story of the past, briefly told, we turn to a question often asked at the present season-how best can one get to the Peak?
it is inferred that he means 'the way of Adam' and 'the way of Eve'. The same writer goes on to say-"the ancients have cut some thing like steps, upon which one may ascend, and have fixed in iron pins, to which chains are appended, and upon these, those who ascend take hold". Of these chains there are ten in number, the last of which is termed "the chain of witness" because when one has arrived at this and looks down, the frightful notion seizes him that he will fall and will recite the words: "I bear witness that there is no God but Allah ·and t_hat Mohamed is his Prophet.."lt is not improbable that he followed the ancient route from the Kandyan capital, descending by yet another ancient pathway on the Ramapura . slopes of the mountain.
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There are many jungle paths meandering round the labyrinth of hills clustered at the base of the sacred mountain. Many and varied are the accounts which traveller and pilgrim have left describing the routes which permit ascent to the Peak. If many of these old-time accounts which have been published are not to be accepted as highly coloured, climbing up in the past must have been far more difficult than anything we of the present day are called upon to do. Yet, set against this is the indisputable fact that what in the light of modern times would be considered a journey presenting little difficulty was apparently in days gone by a formidable undertaking. A traveller in the person of Ibn Batuta affords us a fourteenth century impression of a journey up the Peak. 'There are two roads," he says, "on the mountain, leading to the Footprint; the one is known as the way of 'Baba', the other as the way of 'Mama','' by which
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A tradition suggests mat the pilgrim path from Kandy, through Gampola and Ginigathena, called in olden times the "Kadiligama High-Way" was cleared' by Patri Raja, the Prime Minister of Wijayabahu The long stream of people who used this road have long passed away, and like many ancther vestige of ancient times the very trace of this. renowned route, long abandoned, lies hidden in entanglements of tnicket and scrub or merged into the, many paths which trail across the flourishing tea plantations of lower Ambagamuwa. · Yet, its story is in.dehbly chiselled on two weather-worn rocks at a spot called A/r.uru-ketu-pana, literally "the letter-carven rock" off the 28th milestone on· the Nawalapitiya Ambagamuwa Road. The inscription dates back to circa A.D. 1100 and runs into several hu'ndred letters. If you choose to venture more deeply into the story it tells of the past, you will learn that it owes its origin to the monarch who reigned at the time the road was built, and that the writings on storre enjoin the inhabitants of certain villages in the vicinity, as also the generations who will follow, to look after the comforts of the tired pilgrims who may pass along the route. Nevertheless, a few more centuries perhaps, and rto trace will
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SEEING CEYLON
THE LURE OF THE PEAK
be left of this valuable heritage, unless something drastic is done to conserve_ the site. Today, only a very few pilgrims, if any at all, follow the route which was at one time the "Kadiligama High-Way". Apart from the old road through Ginigathena and the branch which joins it from Kitulgala, four other recognized pathways lead to the summit of the mountain. There is one ascent up the Central Province slopes and three on the Sabaragamuwa side. The former, which is linked with Maskeliya, is attended with few difficulties and owing to the fact that it is also the shortest approach, is generally favoured by the visitor. The pilgrim, who is prone to associate merit with the difficulties· he has to undergo, prefers the other routes. A few practical details will doubtless be welcomed by those who may be lured to make closer acquaintance with these paths but yet remain undecided as to which route to mke. Travelling along the ascent known as the Maskeliya-para, one leaves the car near the Dalhousie tea factory. The climb really begins a mile farther, where a suspension bridge spans a mountain ravine defined by steep banks. Not far from this point is a large cave formed by a mass of overhanging rock. The Maskeliya-para is believed to merge into the old Kandyan route at this point. ·
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In that wonderful chronicle of Ceylon's early history-the
Mahavamsa-we are told, concerning King Kirti Sri Nissanka, that "being moved thereto by faith this ruler of the land went up Samantakuta with four di visions of his army and worshipped at the · · shrine". · Tradition tells that to mark this pilgrimage, the King buried a great treasure, including his regalia, in a great cave on the mountainside. Accordingly some call this Nissangala Lena (Nissanka's cave), others say that the true Nissangala Lena is nearer the summit. Past this rock cave, the path enters a forest and with little warning emerges on to the bank of a stream. The Sita Gangula is a
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holy river which takes its name from the icy coldness of its waters. Here the pilgrim will stop and bathe and put on clean white apparel before continuing the journey to the Peak. Across the Sita Gangula begins the actual climb, up ... up ... over a rough surface which has but recently been converted into a series of steps. These steps are so very irregular in height that if anything, they make the climb more fatiguing. For some distance there is n< special feature. The ascent lies through gloomy forests, the ve~ atmosphere of which is impregnated with a mysterious feeling o awe and sanctity. We emerge from the gloom, at length, on to a rocky ledge, on one side of which a number of ambalams (wayfarers' resting places) have been built. This rock, which marks out the base of the cone of the Peak, is called by the Buddhist pilgrims lndi-katu-pana and by the Tamils Usimalai. An early legend asserts that the Buddha when on earth sat on this rock mending his robe. Mara, the wicked tempter, noticing this, ' caused a flood to rush down the mountain-side. To his wonderment, when the waters reached the spot, they parted and ran on either side of the rock. To mark this incident the pilgrims as they pass on their way to the Peak make an offering of needles and thread. The needles are stuck into the soft bark of the few trees in the vicinity or are hurled down the giddy depths; the thread, in knotted masses, cobwebs the branches of the shrubs and h;mgs in loose strands over the precipice. *
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The climb from Usimalai to the summit is undoubtedly the most thrilling lap in the ascent by way of the Maskeliya-para. The rocky dome overhangs the weary climber, who clings to sets of chains and series of iron railings and ladders which are there to help him over the precipitous surface. Having completed this final scramble, the maluwa or walled-in courtyard on the summit is ready to afford one
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a sense of security and many spectacular thrills. Of these, more anon. It i~ i_ndeed difficul( to assess the journey from Dalhousie to the summit 1~ measures of time. Much naturally ckpends on the agility of t~e chmber, and perhaps also on the y~ntral bagginess which passmg _years have hung on him. Three hours might be reckoned as good gomg. . . · ·
II ·fHE PEAK WILDERNESS Many accounts of ascents up Adam's Peak from the Western side of the Island, in days before the roads in the interior were constructed, suggest that the route taken was generally from Colombo to Ratnapura by land, thence by jungle paths to the Peak, while on the return visitors usually went in boats down the Kalu Ganga to Kalutara. But today, Time has begun to beat faster; distance has contracted in measures of time; magic boxes of ironmongery have taken the place of the ancient palanquin and the padda-?oat. The primitive foot-paths have become macadamized highways. The locomotive whistle has taken the place of the mail-coach bugle . While there are yet opportunities for the visionary who would invest the trip with the ~omance which the Kalu Ganga offers, there is a motor road which affords opportunities to others who are constrained merely to set the main attainment above the pleasing adventures which undoubtedly beset the visitor of a halfcentury ago.
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The Ratnapura approach, or the Gilimalai-para as it is called, is still kept open by the pedestrian pilgrim. The motor car has. almost halved the difficulties of this route and carries both pilgrim and visitor along a more recently constructed estate road which terminates at Carney. A very terse, yet vivid and practical, account of a journey along the Gilimalai-para has been recorded in the diary of Mr. Herbert
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Wace, ~ho _made the trip when he was Assistant Government Agent ~f the _D1stnct of Sabaragamuwa. The conditions have changed very httle, 1f at all. He writes: · "March 17, 1886. Left Ratnapura for Gilimale en route to the Peak. Eight miles, level road six miles to Illukwatte where the Kalu Ganga is crossed. . "March 18, Left Gilimale 5.45 a.m. and reached Pallebadole at 7.30 a.m. ~his is a stage about three miles. It includes a crossing of the Aturahya Ganga and Maskeliya Ganga-after crossing latter, path goes through a clearing (tea) made by Mr. Sandison, and ascent begins towards Pallebadole which is about 1,800 feet. Here there is at times a busy bazaar; a pansa}& and dagoba. Left, Pallebadole at 7.30 a.m. and reached N'ili-hela at 9.30. Leaving Pallebadole, path crosses Kalu Ganga at once (here a rocky narrow stream) and skirts another small clearing made by Mr. S. Real difficulty of ascents begins, path being up a very rocky narrow ravine through forest all the way. "At Nili-hela, corruption to Liyani-hela, the swallow hill, is a small bazaar ~nd ambala~ on a small flat place, full of pilgrims coming a~~ g01_ng. Left N1h-hela 10.30 a.m. reached Sita Ganga 1 p.m. K1~met1pana 1.15 p.~. An equally difficult ascent in parts, but ground a httle more broken into flats. Sita Ganga, known lower down as Kuru Ganga. "Hirimetipana is three miles from the peak which is now visible for the first time since leaving Pallebadole. It rises with greater abruptness from its range, there is a large ambalam (like a big cattle gala) and a bazaar on the small flat here (acing the false Peak or 'Bane amanala'. Stayed at ambalam for a rest of afternoon and · even!ng. Pilgrim~ from Eratne join here and the concourse was very considerable. Noise made by pilgrims, singing etc. does not permit of any sleep here. "Left Hirimetipana at 11 p.m. and reached Andiyamalatenna at 11.55. This piece of road is simply fearful and is for the most part difficult. "Left Andiyamalatenna l 2.10 a.m. and reached Ihalamaluwa at 12.45. Ascent of same nature-but easier than last stage. This is 278
the very foot of the cone. Reached top of Peak at l a.m. Splendid full moon and hills below perfectly clear. Sunrise was exceptionally clear and brilliant and the shadow defined very clearly to which however the pilgrims paid no attention. The summit was crowded and there was scarcely any standing room. The number of old women who seemed scarcely capable of any long walk even in the lowcountry was remarkable. "Descended from the Peak on the Maskeliya side which is very much easier, steps have been cut for the most part. I noticed only one at all nasty place." These jottings from a page in a forgotten diary hardly call for any amplification. But something must be said of the legends of this route.
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It is only too true that every rock, every stream and cliff along these pilgrim paths throb with some story of the past. Yawning caves beneath large boulders have some secret to reveal. If one were to probe deeply, it would perhaps tell of the acts of some pious devotee who sought the sanctuary of these forests and searched for merit by eschewing the lusts of the outer world. In equal measure the origin of many a place-name presents a fascinating appeal. With such age-old tales untold, the journey must ever remain a disappointment. It would be as well to begin the chain of stories at the village called Gilimalai. Literally translated, it means "mountain swallowed up" It is not unreasonable to assume that the place takes its name from the fact that the Peak of the holy footprint is· at this point hidden from view. The next halting-place, Palabaddala, a little hamlet which is the highest inhabited spot on this route to the Peak, must as a matter of course enshroud itself with a mystery story. Long, long ago, a pilgrim who was very, very poor, took a parcel of cooked leaves (minced and flavoured) to satisfy his hunger on his way up to Sri-pada. Having arrived at this place he prepared to partake of his frugal meal when he found on opening his parcel that 279
THE PEAK WILDERNESS
SEEING CEYLON
the leaves had by a miracle been turned into rice. Hence the name Pala-bat-do/a, meaning "the mountain stream where the herbs turned into rice".
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Nili-hela, the next ambalam on the route, is perched on a natrow ledge of rock which curves round a deep gorge. It is the locale of a legend much more stimulating than the mere prosaic derivation given to its name by Mr. Wace in his journal . They say that upon a time Nili, young mother, lived on this spot. Her small hut was a never-failing refuge for travel-worn pilgrirris. One day, happening to have placed some clothes to dry on a hedge which grew on the brink of the precipice, she sent her little son to fetch them. In his effort to do so the child climbed the bushy trees. His mother watched him from the door of the hut. Slowly, the hedge leaned over with the added weight. It bowed towards the edge of the cliff. The mother suddenly realized the danger; rushing forward, she clasped the child to her heart; but it was too late, the hedge went over with a crash. Locked in each other's arms they were hurled through space, down ... down .. .into the giddy depths below, where the waving tops of great big forest trees hid them for ever from view. As the pilgrim train passes over the heights ofNili-hela, this story is told and retold. Leaning over the cliff, one and another will shout "Nili-akka!" From the apparently bottomless depths there comes back a reply. The lofty crags take up the cry, it is thrown hither and thither- "Nilli... akka ... 'liakka ... akka!" merging eventually in a hum of distant fleeting sound. She will ever answer, says the traditionalist. Undoubtedly, the place has a wonderfully eerie echo.
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literally the 'sky league'. The site occupied by a small Rest House at Diyabetma gives rise to a modern story which tells that a building was erected there for the wife of a Governor-Sir Robert Brownrigg-when she climbed the peak. On leaving Diyabetma the path drops down the steep face of a ravine and we come to an enormous mass of rounded rocks washed by perpetual streams. The pilgrim who ascends from the Ratnapura approach, not to be outdone, claims this as the true Indi-katupana. The ascent recommences by passages so steep as to be accessible only by means of steps hewn in the smooth stone. These are said to have been cut by a king who himself made-a pilgrimage to worship at the shrine. It thus came to be called Dharmarajagala. A legend suggests that these steps may never be counted correctly. It must be left to somebody" sufficiently composed at this stage of the ascent to disprove the legend. The steps number over a hundred. Heramiti-pana takes its name from the fact that the climber usually secures a hernmitiya or staff to help him up the rest of the
><,
--t-,+
--+--.. . . ,._
Diyabetma stands on a ledge, which as its name implies is a watershed. The intervening space of nearly three miles between it and the summit is so steep that the pilgrims have conferred on this section the appropriate name of akasagawwa, which means
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THE PEAK WILDERNESS
ascent. Andiyamalatenna, as the name would imply, is a shrine and the grave of a Muslim dignitary. Having reached this spot one stands on the shoulder of the cone. Nearby is Menik-lena or the "cave of gems" Progress beyond it,up the pillar-like crag which rounds away on every side, is nor without peril. There are several series of chains and iron railings securely riveted on the rock to help the climber up. One looks down from this giddy footing into a chasm of unseen depth and is incited to hail with delight the terrace which forms the apex of the Peak. Between Gilimalai and the summit, the ascent upwards of 7,000 feet is made in less than nine miles. The Eratne or the Kuruwita approach is perhaps the most popular pilgrii:n trail. It entails nearly turenty-two miles of weary walking. Beginning at Kuruwita the path almost follows the sinuated course of the Kuru Ganga to its very source. It winds under overarching trees, across brawling rivers, within sound of the Bopathela Falls, until we reach Adavikanda. Nine miles, but only one thousand feet up. Four miles farther and past the abandoned tea estate known as Eratne, there is a spot called Tunmodara with a nest of ambalanis, three thousand five hundred feet in elevation. From Tunmodara, the road ascends to heights which afford views of surpassing grandeur over the hills and plains below. The next halt is generally made at Maedahinna, and two miles further after an arduous ascent of 1500 Jeet the route joins the Gilimalai Para at Heramiti-pana. The route from Dehiowita through Deraniyagala to the Peak links itself on to the Eratne approach at Adavikanda. It is possible to motor over the first stage of the route as far as Lessagama, and, having crossed the Maga! Ganga, over an interveRing lap of seven miles of motorable road to Maliboda Estate. It is about five miles from Maliboda to Adavikanda. The Alu po la approach, linked with Ratnapura by the motor road past Weveliketiya, is a very recent find. Perhaps in ages past it was a popular thoroughfare used by the pilgrim throng which passed over the Balangoda hills from the historic cities of Kaltota and Magama. But to turn from speculation to fact. :. incredible as it may seem, this path is claimed to be still kept open by the herds of
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elephants which roa~ these regions during certain seasons of the year. . The trace is said to follow the contour of the Peak range and ts of very gradual ascent. But with this ~uch told, _I must !~ave the adventurous climber in the hands of a guide who might be ptck~d u~ at the village of Alupola to blaze this trail. For his peace of mmd tt might be added that the herds of elephants have, they sa~, wandered into regions where they are more at .ease as there 1s plenty of grazing and water during the early months of the year. The belief holds good that when the chena yayas around Yal_a are scorched and burnt by a pitiless sun, when the low-country ventably pants, that they wander back to these beats ~nd to the luscious bata jungles which burst out in tender shoots with the early south-west rains. There is just one other small matter left untold. In the damp grass in the moist green gloom of the Peak Wilderness, t_here lurks the plague which besets the traveller who ventures mto these regions along any one of the routes mentioned. In coun~ry s_u~h as this where the land-leech swarms in tormenting profusion it 1s as well to be prepared for their insidious attacks
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LEGENDS OF THE PEAK
III LEGENDS OF THE PEAK The height of Adam's Peak is seven thousand three hundred and sixty feet above the level of the sea. The summit is of elliptic form and is surrounded by a parapet above five feet high. Within this enclosure little change is effected even by passing centuries except that the electric light has displaced the picturesque chulu or torch. In a plan drawn by a Mr. Ferguson of the Surveyor-General's Department, in 1841, every feature occupies the identical position it does today. He makes the area of the terrace 64 feet by 45. Immediately within the enclosure which is called the maluwa, a level space of irregular breadth runs all the way round. The centre is ?ccup~ed by a mass of gneiss about nine feet high at the highest pomt. Slightly to the west of the centre of this crown of rock there is a hollow, plastered in more recent times, exhibiting the outline of a footprint. It is about five feet long and of proportionate breadth.
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. ~~man is believed by Buddhist and Hindu alike to be the tutelary d1vm1ty of the Peak Wilderness. Both the Peak and the mountain bear his name-Samantakuta and Samanala. The sacred Rhododendrons which grow on the higher slopes are dedicated to hi~. In his honour the butterfly takes the name of samanalaya. This accounts for the story which is told when large flights of them are seen going in one direction that they are all making for the Peak, where they go to dash themselves against the precipitous sides and die. The early legends have it that it was on Saman's special entreaty that the first qf the four Buddhas of the present aeon 284
visited the Peak and left his footprint. This happened, they say, about 3,000 years B.C. and that the pinnacle was even then called Devakuta (Peak of the God). Each of the others followed in tum and left an impression over the earlier relics, as evidence of their supernormal power. In traditional belief the Peak had obtained the name Samantakuta before the second Buddha appeared about 2099 B.C., which with little variety it has since preserved. The last Buddha is said to have arrived at Kelaniya about 577 B.C. and to have passed on to the Peak. The Mahavamsa records the event as follows: "When the Teacher, compassionate to the world, had preached the doctrine there (at Kelaniya) He rose, and left the traces of His footstep plain to sight on Samantakuta and, after He had spent the day as it pleased Him, on the side of the mountain with the brotherhood, He set forth to Digahavapi." This tradition has become an article of faith.
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A curious story is told as to how the sacred mark on the summit of the Peak was discovered. King Walagambahu, who ascended the throne a century before the Christian era, was driven into exile by the Malabar invaders. For many years he wandered about, a fugitive, in the mountain fastnesses, living on herbs and fruit. One day, while in a cave on the slopes of the Samanala mountains, he saw a deer in the distance. Perhaps, for want of something to do, he ventured to approach the animal. But strangely, the deer kept slackening or increasing its pace, or stopped altogether just exactly as the King did in his effort to approach it. Eventually they reached the top of the mountain. On the very summit of the Peak the animal as if by a miracle vanished. · Walagambahu hurried to the spot and there discovered the mark on the rock. It was then revealed to the King that in this strange manner the guardian divinity had made known to him the presence of the sacred relic.
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LEGENDS OF THE PEAK
It is a popular belief that the true impression was left on a large precious stone (menik-gala) produced for the purpose by Saman and that this relic lies buried beneath the large rock on the summit. The exposed hollow is believed to be an artificial print cut on the order of Kirti Sri Nissanka, a Sinhalease monarch who undertook a pilgrimage to the sacred mountain. The Hindu tradition is based on a belief that Siva in one of his manifestations retired to this mountain for the purpose of certain devotional austerities and that, to mark the event, he proved authenticity by leaving the impress of his foot. This memento of the presence of Siva on the spot came to be called by the Hindu Sivaites-Sivan-oli-padam (the sacred footprint of Siva). The mountain accordingly was endowed with the name Swargarhan (the Ascent to Heaven). The Vishnuite directed his devotion to Saman-worshipped in India under the name · Lakshmana. And so it happens, inasmuch as we are all traditionalists, that impelled by the traditions associated with Mount Meru, the mythical abode of Siva, holy Sanyasis still continue to search, as did their forbears, for the plant Sansevi, the tree of life and immortality said to grow on the slopes of sacred mountains. . It might be added that these Hindu beliefs are not universally accepted, for they are not contained in the Puranas. They probably date from the Cholian invasions, A.D. 1025, when a goodly po_rtion of the mountain regions was occupied by the Hindu SOJoumers.
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Among the marvellous stories which were carried to the four comers of the known world by the early Arab voyagers, not the least in interest were undoubtedly those respecting the pinnacle by which they steered their craft into the anchor-ages of Serendib and the mysterious relic on the summit of Al Rohoun-so called from the Ruhuna division of the Island. Fostered by such wondrous tales, may be, the idea fixed itself on the mind of the Moslems, that the
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mountain of Serendib sprang from the site of Eden's garden, and that it was from the Peak that Adam, venerated as the greatest of all partriarchs, was permitted to take a last lingering look at the abodes of bliss from which he was for ever expelled. According to other traditions it was the pinnacle on which Adam alighted when he was cast out of Paradise, and where he remained standing on one foot until years of penitence and suffering Had expiated his offence-'-thus forming the footprint. And so about the tenth century the Peak came to be called Baba Adam-Malai, or literally "Father Adam's Mountain", and became a place of pilgrimage to the followers of the Prophet.
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Soon after the sixteenth century the Portuguese endeavoured to tighten the meshes of these varied time-worn legends. De Couto, a Portuguese chronicler, pleads most earnestly in favour of the theory that the impression on the rock is a mark left by the knees of Saint Thomas-the physical result of his devotions. Tennent, in his book on Ceylon, adds that this chronicler fortified his own theory by appeal to the many similar phenomena in Christendom, such as the hollows worn in the steps of the Santa Casa of Jerusalem on the spot covered by the church of the Ascension at the Mount of Olives; and on the racks on which the three disciples reclined in the Garden of Gethsemane. Nevertheless, conflicting claims were advanced by others of the same faith, which undoubtedly is the reason why the name derived from the Mohammedan traditions remained unchanged and the mountain top came to be called by thetn Pico de Adam. A short stride leaves us with the present name-Adam's Peak.
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The sacred relic from which so many legends spring is sheltered by a small quadrangular building called the ran-hili-ge, meaning "the golden crowned .house" , It is bedecked with lengths of cloth and flags offered by the pilgrims.
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Below this temple are two bells, the constant clanging of which never fails to attract attention. A legend tells us that the bells proclaim the purity of the pilgrim who clangs them as many times as he has made pilgrimages to the Peale If they are rung by an unclean person or a greater number of times than the ringer's record permits, the bells, they believe, will refuse to sound!
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Should you spend a night on the summit of Adam's Peak, ·you will witness varied and extraordinary scenes of earth and air. No picture blended in cold print will inspire those overwhelming sensations which_ assail the person who stands on this eminenceas it were on a throne of clouds. No pen may venture to capture those profound thougbts and impressions which tingle the human frame· and attune the mind to appreciate the many legends which the centuries have woven. On the summit of this mountain lies a secret which can mould the imagination by contemplation of nature's grandeur, to trace the motives which have prompted Buddhist or Mohammedan, Hindu or Christian to endow the spot with due solemnity, and acknowledge a Beneficent Power. tennent kindles a spark sufficient in itself to raise the fire which lights_up the wonderful outlook from the summit: he says "The Panorama from the summit of Adam's Peak is perhaps the grandest in the world as no other mountarn, although surpassing it in altitude, presents'the same unobstructed view over land and sea. Around it to the north and east, the traveller looks down on the zone of lofty hills that encircle the Kandyan kingdom, whilst to the westward the eye is carried for over undulating plains threaded by rivers like cords of silver, till in the purple distance the glitter of the sunbeams on the sea marks the line of the Indian Ocean."
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Forbes has helped to reconstruct the picture of the mellowing effects of moonlight and the eerie touch of befogged darkness which
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chase each other in rapid succession. He says, in his book Eleven Years in Ceylon, "At first the moon shining bright made the features of the nearer mountains appear distinct, while the deep valleys looked fathomless from the dark shadows that fell on some and the cold grey mist that lay in others. Small clouds occasionally detached themselves and ascended casting a chill damp for the few seconds that they hung around the sacred pinnacle ere they slowly floated onward or sank back again upon the mountain. A breeze then stirred and clouds that had hitherto lain in repose were at once in wild co~motion, passing, enveloping or pressing in tumultuous masses along the mountains, which overspreading, they seemed to· engulf. When these airy billows rolled and heaved round the Peak, the rock appeared to sink in the abyss ..... " There cannot be any sensation which will more fittingly conspire to recall the old-time legend that here the spirits; from unrecorded ages down to the present time, hover in clouds and darkness near . their sacred fane and native forests.
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And it is at such moments, so a monk on the summit told me, that occasionally, very occasionally, the voice of the mountain of Samanala is heard across space. In the stillness, it comes, clear as the note of a gong, in strange words, but with sinister meaning. Those who h"ave not heard it before stand astonishedwondering at the voice; those who have, call to mind the dire calamity which follows in its train. They say, when the mountain last spoke it foretold the death of the Chief Monk of Sri Padasthana (Adam's Peak). At day-break, on the mountain top, all are alert. All eyes turn towards the rising sun which, in its dazzling brilliance, gives rise to the belief that he salutes the Buddha's footprint seven times by dipping below the horizon. Genuflections, invocations and shouts greet his appearfil\ce over a purple range of hills and then, hurriedly, all rush to the opposite side where the mystery shadow of the Peak awes the beholder.
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Many more of these old, old legends and beliefs associated with this solitary eminence remain to be told to a new world. They cluster around, shrouding it in romance as do the morning mists. Some of these stories are so old that they have gone beyond recall: new ones take their places. So will it ever be through thr successive ages as the ceaseless pilgrimage continues.
BIBUOGRAPHY "In Maldives, and Ceylon", Journal R.A.S. (Ceylon Branch), 1882, Extra No. pp. 160.
BATIJTA, IBN
BROHIEJt,
"Legends of the Peak", Observer Annual, 1927.
R. L.
CARPENTER,
CUMMING,
From Adam's. Peak to Elephanta, 1892, Revised 1921.
E.
C. F.
GORDON
Ausflug nachden Adamspik au/ Ceylon, Vienna, 1859.
FRAVBNFELD, GEORGE
GUNASEKARA,
"The Sacred Caves at. .. " Ceylon Today, Vol. 6, pp. 26-29, 1958.
W. M;
IIAECIU:L, ERNEST
Der _Adam's Pik of Ceylon, 1883.
JAYATILAKA, (SIR) BARON
"A Royal Pilgrimage to Sri Pada", The Buddhist, Vol. IX, pp. 34, 36, 1938.
NELL, (DR.) A.
"Observations about ..." Journal R.A.S. (Ceylon Branch), Vol. XXVIII, 1920.
PARANAVITANA, (DR.) S.
"The God of Adam's Peak-Saman or Yarna", Artibus Asiae, No. 18, 1958.
PERERA,
"Adam's Peak", C.A.L.R., Vol. V, No. I, pp. 6-11, 1919.
(FR.) S. G.
"The Holy Mountain", Ceylon Today, Vol. VI, No. 4, PP· 27-29· 1957; also "Sri Pada", Times of Ceylon Annual., 1939.
RANKINE, EsME
RAVEN-HART, (MAJOR) SKEEN, WILLIAM
SPENCE, M.
A.
TENNENT, (SIR)
R.
Ceylon-History in Stone, Ch. 14, 1964. Adam's Peak (Legends, Traditions, Historical Notices), London, 1870; also "The Origin of the Sacred Footprint",Joumal R. A. S. (Ceylon Branch), No. 16, pp. 61-112,1870-71. "Valentyn's Account of Adam's Peak", Journal R.A.S. (Ceylon Branch), Vol. VII, No. 23, pp. 49-56, 1881. Jungle 1ide, Ch. II; "A Holy Mountain" London 1930.
STILL, JOHN
290
Two Happy Years in Ceylon, Vol. II, pp. 310-344. •
J. E.
Ceylon, Vol. 11, pp. 123-139, 1860
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GLOSSARY
G~ARY OF LOCAL TERMS
Anicut
- Corruptly Anicut karn. A dam, a dyke, an embankment, a channel to direct water into different streams for purposes of irrigation.
Ara (Arr or Aro)
-(From the Tamil Aru) A stream.
Bath-malla
-A traveller's meal or ration of cooked rice and curry usually packed neatly in a kind of portable bag improvised from the spathe of an areca leaf. "Bathmula" is the expression current in the Kandyan districts.
Bisokotuwa (Sluice tower)
Chena
Chiu
Dagoba
_, A square shaft or well sunk on the up-stream side of the bund of a tank to the bottom of a sluice leading from the inside of the tank to the fields outside, serving as a regulator and silt-trap. - (\ chena is ~ patch of jungle land cleared by bum tng and felling and then fenced in normally with the stout branches of the felled trees and thereaf ter cultivated with vegetables (the dry-zone vari eties as a rule) and sometimes with hill-rice. Each such ch~na is abandoned after a couple of years so that 1t may regain its fertility. The Sinhalese form of the word is hena. A chena-yaya would mean a stretch of continuous chena plots. -
A crude but very useful and effective torch for open-air use, made either by tying together a few coconut leaves tightly or by similarly tying together one or more of the drie'd sheaths of the coconut 'flower'.
-Literally, Relic-Chamber. A Buddhist memorial mound or stupa of earth or brick sometimes faced with stone containing generally a chamber in which is preserved a casket of relics ...
Damana {Parkland) - Park-country with high trees, generally long abandoned paddy fields.
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Deviyo
-A god, a deity or deified h~ro.
Devala IDevalaya)
-A temple dedicated to a god, deified hero or local divinity.
Ea
- Brook, rivulet, channel, canal (Clough's Diction ary). Jl!& precise meaning in each instance would be decided from the context.
FJa-amuna
- A dam erected across a water-course or ela.
Gal-bemma
- A stone wall, a stone rampart, a stone embank ment.
Gal-wana
-A spill-way built of stone or cut in rock.
Gama
-A village, or rustic settlement.
Ganga
-A large river. A smaller river would generally be called an "Oya"
Gows
-A "gowwa" is generally thought equivalent to 3 or 4 English miles. Four 'gows' would make a 'yojana' (Sinhalese yoduna).
Horowwaor Sorowwa
-The sluice of a tank or trunk canal. A deep square outlet taken under the embankment to conduct the water to channels.
-A pool or waterhole in a rocky expanse. They would be natural meeting places of forest animals in search of water.
Kovil
-A Hindu temple dedicated to one or more gods and or goddesses.
Kulam
-A tank (Tamil). Adapted into Sinhalese in the form kulama and often forming the end portion of place-names in the dry zone.
Kurakkan
-
A fine grain raised on high lands or chenas; millet
29~
SEEING CEYLON
Lanka
- The popular and oldest name of Ceylon derived from its beauty and perfection.
Maha
-
Great. The paddy crop sown in August-Septem ber and reaped in February-March. The supple mentary crop reaped in September is known as 'Yala'-vides.v. Yala.
GLOSSARY
with an outsize oar serving as a rudder. They are often fitted with a removable cadjan roof sloping towards either side. Padda-boats are used both. for passenger traffic and for cargo. Palama
-Abridge.
Pelessa (Paelaessa)_ -A grassy glade, long abandoned paddy-fields.
Makara-torana
-A kind of ornamental arch invariably adorning the entrance to a vihara stµine-room. "Torana" is a kind of tr_iumphal arch. This particular torana is called 'makara torana' because it embodies twin dragons (makara), one at each side, supporting the upward curve of the arch.
Mahavamsa
-A poetic chroflicle of the origin and history of the Sinhalese race and of its kings and their achieve ments written by a Buddhist monk named Mahanama. "Maha Vamsa" literally means ''The Great Dynasty".
Maidan
Maligawa
Palu-(tree)
~
Pansala
_:_ A monastic building, the monk's residence. Literally a grass-roofed or leaf-roofed hut (pan=leaf +sala = hut).
Pokuna
-
Rajakariya
- Hereditary service to the King. The word is now · used indiscriminately for services done to a nobleman or temple; or for the duties of an office. Service time.
- A large green esplanade. The ~erm is of Indian (through Persian) origin and literally means a pa rade-ground.
A tropical tree (Manilkara hexandra) commonly found in the dry zone of Ceylon.
A pond, a pool, a mere.
-'- Strictly Arahat or Arahant-a saint (in Buddhist usage) who has completely emancipat~d himself from the passions and defilements which lead to rebirth; a perfect saint.
- Palace or royal residence. Occasionally the · adjuncture of a devala, presumed to be the abode of the deity, is also called maligawa. The Dalada Maligawa or Palace of the Tooth Relic is so called as a result of this usage.
RaCa
~ Country,
Natchereen
- see Kurakkan (Inda-Portuguese).
Raelapana
Oya
-A rivulet, stream, small river.
Padda-boo
-
- Wave-breaker, from Re/a: Wave, and pahana: stone. Stone revetments of pitchings on the inner surface of an embankment or bund. The stones serve as "ripple-bands" and resist the action of constant wave play which would invariably eat into the earth and destroy any bund not similarly protected.
Sagara
-Ocean.
294
Large flat-bottomed boats or barges, square at both ends and with a steer both at bow and stern so that the vessel's passage through the water may befacilitated. Padda-boats are generally poled like a punt and are fitted at the stem
district, inhabited country; term gener ally applied to the three ancient divisions of Ceylon.
295
SEEING CEYLON
Samudra
- Sea (ocean).
Sandesa
-An Indian Hindu mendicant usually yellow-robed and wandering from one place of pilgrimage to another. Literally one who renounced the world.
Tamarind (tree)
-
Tank
-:-An artificial reservoir built in natural depressions and valleys to hold up the rain water, drainage, or the water led into it from a river or stream by means of a canal or channel.
ThpaI
Tamarindus indicus.
- The system of carriage of mails. In early British times and before the introduction of railways, of good roads and of the motor car, mails were carried by runners in relays from one post office to the next. -A dam, weir, or obstruction built across a river to trammel the '!Valer and turn it into an artificial channel.
Vana
- The spill of tank.or an irrigation trunk channel. ·
Vapi
-
Vihana
296
took their morning walk; afterwards these halls were used as temples and sometimes became the centre of whole monastic establishment. The word Wihara or Vihara is now used only to designate a building dedicated to the memory of Gautama Buddha, and set apart for the daily offering of flowers and of food. To the vihara proper there has been added in modem times an image house for the figures of the Buddha in the three attitudes-standing, as the counseller, sitting, in meditation, reclining, in eternal repose ·of unbroken peace and happiness; and these figures now form prominent objects in every Vihara. It should not be confounded with Pansala, which signifies the building occupied by the monks, distinguished from the temple or place of worship around which the several monastic buildings are clustered.
- Literally a message or missive. In Sinhalese literature is a genre of poems called Sandesa by reason of the fact that the machinery of the poem always includes some one, usually a bird who is entrusted with the duty of carryi~g the messages or missive from one person, e.g. the poet himself, or some character such as king or queen, to another person usually a god or goddess. _
Sanyasi
Tekkam
GLOSSARY1
Large oblong pond, pool, lake. Vapi is the Pali term for lake. Sinhalese wewa.
- Residence of monks. A Buddhist temple . originally the hall where the Buddhist monks
Vila
-
A swamp or field, the higher parts only of which can be cultivated. A small pond.
Villu (Vila)
-
Pond; lake over-grown with lotus, sometintds water-meadow.
Wewa, or wiva
- Tank or reservoir.
Yakka
-
Yakko
-- Designation of certain supernatural beings who are under the rule of Vessavana (Skt. Vaisravana, name of the god Kuvera). In the Mahavamsa the aboriginal inhabitants of Ceylon are frequently called Yakkha (Geiger's Mahavamsa, p. 297).
Yala
-
A supernatural being, usually of malignant char. acter, a demon.
One.of the Sinhalese harvests, the lesser one r~peA in September-vide s. v. Maha. .
,.~
Yaya
- A tract of paddy or "chena" fields.
297
SEEING CEYLON
Yoda-ela (Yodi-FJa~
-
A "giant'' irrigation channel for conducting water to a storage reservoir or serving as a distributing trunk canal. Popularly on account of its magnitude it is supposed to have been constructed by giants. "Yoda" as an attributive adjective commonly means gigantic, huge, not necessarily carried out by giants.
INDEX Abhayagiri Abhayawewa Aborigines (Yakkas or Veddas) Adam's Berg (Mulgirigala) Adam's Peak (Sri Pada) Alupola. Approach Climb from Ratnapura Hindu traditions King Kirti Sri Nis.t_anka Kuruwita Approach Legends of Moslem traditions Routes to St. Thomas and Aggabodhi II Agrabodhi Ill Akasa Chaithya (see Elephant Rock) Akattimuraippu Akuru-ketu-pana (Inscription) Allai-tank Alutnuwara Amaduwa (Turtle Island) Ambalangoda: Dutch Church (now a garage) Oostdyk Inscription "Rust-Huys" at: Sea erosion Ambalantota Amban-ganga Amparai Angamedilla Yoda-ela Anicut (or dam) Anuradhapura: Bo-tree · Arivu Aru Avukana:. Image of Buddha Legend of Statue Balaharuwa Balaluwewa Baker, (Sir) Samuel Barberyn (Beruwela): Customs House Ketchimalai Mosqu~ Lighthouse Port of
298
21 20 26. 34, 37. 71, 111. 114, 119 207 163. 186. '207. 271-290 282 251-282 286 274,286 282 284-290 286-287 273-274 287
so 79
87,88 273 110 114 248-249' 149, 172-176 172-175 173-175 174-175 175-176 231 60. 63, 93 117 63-64 133
19-22, 33. 34, 131. 140 19 88. 92 81-84 79, 81, 84, 86 84, 86 125 72-75 56-120 155. 158-163 161-162 161
162-163 162-163
299
INDEX
SEEING CEYLON
Barnes, (Sir) Edward, (Marine drive) · Basawakkulam Basses ·Bell, H. C. P. Bentola : Amabert Inscription Bentola Ganga Oysters Portuguese Fort Rest House Rural Church (Dutch) Beruwala (see Barberyn) Bintenne Bisokotuwa (valve-pits) Blair, Douglas Blow-hole Bolgoda Lake Bo-tree Brownrigg, (Governor) Brown's Hill (Malara) Burgomaster Chair Burma (war with) City-tanks Clark, H.O. (lost in jungle) Coaching days Coconut Palm Colombo (old): Dutch Fortifications Galle Face Military executions Colpetty Race-course Culavamsa Dagobas: Gem Dagobas Jetawanarama Mirisavet~ Sandhagiri Yataala . Dastota Dematagala Deniyaya Devanampiyatissa Devil-bird Devil-dancing Dhatusena , Dhatusena ff Dickson, (Sir) John Diga-vapi
207 19, 20, 22 2S4, 2S5 48, 181, 106, 107 149, 164-166 16S 164-166 164 164, 16S 164 16S 114. 116 51, I03, 134 105 199, 202 149 19 2S3 192 188 68, 69 19 238, 239 150, 151 159 142 142-165 143, 144 144 144, 146 68, 69
240 33, 34 20, 21 240 240 66, 71, 133 254 192 240 2280230 193-197 75, 76 23 IOI 117
Dimbula-gala (sec Gunners' Quoin) Divulanai Tank Diyakeliya
Dondra: Devil-dancer Festival time lbn Batuta's visit Kiri Vihara Portuguese destruction of Sinhasana Vishnu Kovil Dumbutullawewa Dutch Colombo (nomenclature) Dutthagamani
122 24 193-197 194-196 193-194 196 196 197 196 196 60 142, 143 20, 21
116 Early emigrant bands 40. 41, 93. 96, 97 Elahera Canal: 40 Historic Tamarind tree. 56, 71, 102, 118, 120, 122, 124, 221, 223, 228 Elephants 253, 255 Elephant Rock 220, 221 Embilipitiya 258 Engelbrecht: 260 Appointed Game Sanctuary Keeper 261-262 Arrest in First World War 258-259 As Boer prisoner of war 253 His grave 263 Posthumous vindication 61, 64 Eramudu Gap 54 Fagan, Lt. M. H. (At Polonnaruwa) 54, 55 Description of Ruins 217 Foenander, P. 76 Forbes, Major 95 Fornbauer, Johan. (Report on Kantalai) Gajabahu Galle: a Busy Port Dutch Character in Dutch Port Portuguese Fortifications Rhumassala Kanda Underground sewerage system Watering Point Galle Face Gal Oya Valley: Legend Giant's Tank: Dutch connection with Ward's visit tp
231 149, 177-187 180 182-184 179, 180 177 185, 186 184 185 143, 144 116-123 122 89-92, 133 89 90, 91 'l()1
100
INDEX
SEEING CEYLON
Giritale-wewa Unique features of Giruwa Pattu Gobbs (of Serendib) Godalcumbura, Dr. C. E. Gona (river) see Kala Oya Gonagala Gunners' Quoin (Dimbula-gala)
50-51 51 18, 219 109, 157 107 256, 257 111
Habarana Hambantota Hambantota District Dunes Lewayas Martello Tower Salt manufacture at Town of Vegetation of Water Supply at Hambegamuwa Tank Handapan Vila Hanuman Tradition Haycock (Dutch, Hooyberg) Hikkaduwa: Famous Temple at Hingurak (Prince): Damana Legend of Hingurakgoda Ho ... o-Maniya (see Blow-hole) Horabora-wewa : Legend of Hot Spring at Mahapaelaessa Historic Tamarind tree
25, 32 149 198 233 234 230 234 232, 234-236 237 233 125, 126 70 25, 186 164 175 36-47 47, 48 36, 37 47
lbn Batuta Ibrahim Saibo Handari-deviyo lndi-Katu-pana Inginiyagala lrrakkamam Irrigation (ancient): Building skill Ceylon cement (ancient) Channels (or elas) Consolidation of earth Kudagal-amuna Mahagal-amuna , Mortising Sluices (or Horowwas) Spill-ways (or vaan)
196 65 74 275 118 117
302
114, 115 114, 115 227, 228 40
129, 134 134 131 130 242 242 133, 134 131, 134 131, 133, 134
System of haulage Systems of levelling and measurement Valve-pits (Bisokotuwas) Wave-breakers (raelapana) Working tools Canals (see Elahera and Jaya Ganga) lsurumuniya Jaya Ganga Jetawanarama (see Dagobas) Jethatissa Johnston, (Sir) Atr·---~er: Diary of Kadambanadi (see Malwatu Oya) Kadavera (legend of) Kadiligama Highway Kala Oya: Valley of Kalametiya Kalapuwa Kalawewa: Legend of Ilandari-deviy1 Legend of Kadavera Legend of Namal Kumara Kalinga Nuwara: Anicut and Channels at Boats built near Rapids near Kallar Anicut Kalu Ganga Kalutara : Banyan tree Dutch Fort Gangatilaka Vihara Portuguese Fort Railway to Rest House (Old) Rubber Welapura Kantalai : Legend of Dutch references to Rest !-louse Kara Ganga (see Amban-Ganga) Karam bag a la Kasyapa Katuwana Fort Kavudulla wewa: Built by Park country near
l.9, 130
132, 51, 51. 127,
133 134 134 129 20 70
79 235 235, 251, 252
74, 75 273 72, 75 72-86 219 72, 74, 77 74 72,74 77 67-7.1 26 68 69 111 152 149, 151-157 157 154, 155 -156 152, 153, 154 151 155 151, 152 157 46, 93-97 93-95 95-96 97 227, 228 23, 107 211-216, 218 46-48, 93 47 47
303
SEEING CEYLON .
INDEX
'Kavantissa Kelanitissa (legend oO Kirinda Kirindi-Oya Kirti Sri Nissanka Knox, Robert Kodiyar Bay Kondavattavan Kosgoda Kulam (Tamil) Tank Kumbukkan Oya Kusta Raja statue
240, 241, 253, 240, 149, 139, 238, 242, 274,
Lagoons Lewayas Levels Lieshing, LF. Liyangahatota (anicut) Lost (in jungles) Ludovici, Leopold
110 157 132 IOI 220, 223 57, 59, 90, 79, 238, 239 253
255 • 241 240 245 286 21 110 I 17 170 127 251, 258 189, 190
Madirigiriya: 48, 50 Vatadage at .48 Magama 127 Magul Maha Vihara 130, 158 Maha (Cultivation season) 99, 104 Mahadaragala (see Nachchaduwa) Mahakandiya I 17 Mahapaelaessa 226-228 Mahasena 33-38, 46, 69, 95 Maha Ruhuna 124, 127': 149, 198 Mahavamsa 20, 23, 26, 33, ~O. 53, 54, 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 69, 72, 76, 95, 1 I 7, 196, 208 Mahaveli-Ganga : 67, l lO, 101, 102, 114, 133 Navigable section 68 Malaria 40, 44, 244 Malwatu Oya 21, 22, 23, 88, 133 Mandagala 254 Mantota 88 Maradankadawala II1 Martello Tower 235 Maskeliya 274 Matara: 151, 192, 193 Dutch Church at 191 Redoubt van Ee" 191 Sinhalese Fort 191 Menik Ganga 252, 254, 258 Minneriya: 22, 23 And Malaria 40 As Military post 38-39.
304
Builder of Colonization of Devala Development Company In Abandonment Legends of References from Backhouse References from Dr. Davy References from Forbes, (Major) The Tank (or lake) Mirisavati Moggallana Monsoons Moragola Moragoda (ruins at Padaviya) Mount Lavinia: Boer sojourners Mulgirigala: Heydt's notes on Tika or text of Mahavamsa Nachchaduwa Na-gal Nalanda-oya (cut) Namal Kumara legend National Parks Nevill, H. Nicholas, (Dr.) C. R. Nila-maha-yodaya Nilwala Ganga Nissangala Lena . Nissanka, Kirti Sri North, (Hen.) Frederic (his tour) . Nuwaragala (ruins at) Nuwarawewa Ordination (Buddhist clergy) Orubandi Siyambalagaha Padaviya : Archaeological Reserve Cultivation programme· Deiyanne Kanda Early visits to Hindu influence Mistaken for Parakrama Samudrr Paral<,rama Pillar Palanquin (travelling in) Palatupana : -Forts off
33 43-45 37 38-45 38 34-36 39 39 39 33, 34, 36, 93 21 23 17, 159,217,219,248,271 155 105 147, 148 148, 149 206-210 208, 209 208 22, 23 21 76 75 120, 149, 199, 241 70 81, 257 231 191, 217 274 274, 286 150 '113 19, 21, 22 68 40 98-108 104 99 98, 100 100-103 104, 106
io5 99, 101, 102, _I03 175, 251 1.41, 246, 248, 252, 256, 258 252-253
· 305
INDEX SEEING CEYLON
Panadura Pandukabhaya Parakramabahu -
306
149 20, 26 52, 53, 70 60, 66. 72, 130 IOI 255, 256 153 257 165, 166 51-59, 111, 113, 140 53 65 57-59 56 5~ 54-55 60-66 54 131 65 111 39 198 131 198 231 221, 225 255 185, 186 122 231-232 25-31, 34 26 29 26 29 27 27 30 120 149, 245-257 111 234 224 283 81, 82 284
Sasserukanda: Caves and lnscripti~ns at (mage of .Buddha at Legend of statue Schweitzer, Christopher (at Kalutara) Senanayake, (Rt. Hon.) D. S. Scnanayake Samudra Seru Vila, Buddhistic remains Sigiriya Silavakanda Sinhala (ge-names) Sinhala kings;_ Aggabodhi II · Agrabodhi III Devanampiyatissa Dhatusena Dhatusena II D1,1tthagamani Gajabahu Jetthatissa Kassapa IV Kasyapa Kavan Tissa Kelani Tissa Kirti Sri Nissanka Mahasena Moggallana Pandukabhaya Parakramabahu (the Great) Raja Sinha II Vatta Gamani or Valagam Bahu ... Vijaya Bahu Sinha Raja Adaviya: Baedde Maehaelli, the spirit of Sinhalese iron and steel Sitala Ganga Sitharawila Wewa Skinner, (Major) Sluices Spill-way Spittel, (Dr.) R. L. (Devil Biro, Sri Pada (see Adam's Peak) ·star Fort (Matara) Steel, Thos. Sudukanda Gap Tambalagam Tamankaduwa: Egoda Pattu of Stock-breeding of
81 82' 83-86 84-86 154 62, 120 72. 118, 119 110, 111 131. 140 257 231, 232 50 79 20, 240 75, 76 23 20 231 79 106 24 4 4U, 241, 253, 255 109, 240, 241 274, 286 23, 33'-38. 46, 69. 95 23 20. 26 52. 66 197 21. 83, 285 68 166-171 168-170 127 274 244 76 131, 133 131, 133. 134 229 191 234 61 97 53, 71 71 65
307
INDEX
SEEING CEYLON
Tangalla : Dutch Fort Dutch wells Tank~ (from Portuguese Tanque): Abhayawewa Akattimuraippu Balaluwewa Basawakkulam City Tanks Dumbutullawewa Diga-Vapi Divulana Giant's Tank Giritale-wewa Hambegamuwa Horabora-wewa Irrakkamam Kala-wewa Kantalai Kavudullawewa Kondavattavan Mahakandiya Minneriya Nachchaduwa Nuwarawewa Padaviya Parakrama Samudra Ridiyagama Rukam-tank Senanayake Samudra Seru-vila Sjtharawila Tissawewa (Maha Ruhuna) Tissawewa Topawewa Vakaneri Tank Vedarasen Kulam Toda-wewa Wahalkada · Tekkam (same as anicut) Tennent, Emerson Thunberg's visit Tihawa (see Tissamaharama) Tissawewa (Maha Ruhuna) Tissawewa Tissamaharama Toddy Topawewa Tumour, George Turtle Island (see Amaduwa)
308
148, 20 I. 202 202. 205 203 127. 128 20 87. 88 72-75 19, 20. 22 19 60 117 122 89-92, 133 50-51 124, 125 114-115 117 72, 74-77 46, 93-94 46-48. 95 117 117 33, 34-36, 93 22, 23 19, 21, 22 98-108 60-66, 72, 130 231, 232 113 72,118, 119 110, 111 244 124, 127, 244 19, 20, 22 57, 65 111 96 244 98 91, 133 33, 100 162
Twynam. (Sir) William
91
Ulama (sec Devil-bird) Ulawatuna (kgend oO Urubokka Dam Uragasmanhandiya Usimalai
138, 189 217. 218 170
Vakaneri-tank Vannathi-palam Vanni Vapi (Sinh): pond, pool, lake Vatadage Veda-inna-Maligawa Veddas (see Aborigines) Vendarasen Kulam Verugal Vihara-Mahadevi Vijaya Bahu Vila(Villu) Vil-aliya Vatta Gamani or Valagam Bahu Waggalmodera Wahalkada Walawe Ganga: Reservoir Ward, (Sir) Henry Wasgamuwa (intermediate zone) Wave-breakers (raelapana) Weligama Wewa (Sinh.) Tank Wickremasinghe, D. M. de Z. Wiggin, Chase Yakkas (see Aborigines) Yakkura Yala (Sowing season) Yala (Village) Yodakandiya Wewa Yoda Wewa
277 105 99, 111 87, 104 134 48, 54, 55 38 97 111 241 68 67. 70, 110, 246, 248 71 21. 83, 285 . 189 98 220, 223, 231 90, 92, IOI, 127, 244, 245 64 134 148, 189, 190 127 26. 102, 107, 108 71
70, 71 99, 104 . 251, 252. 258 244 244
124, 127, 244 19, 20, 22 127, 240, 242 159, 161 · 57, 65 76
309 ·
I
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