Evening star., 1901-10-03

iessiy destroying palace and temple. with
every treasure of art and beauty Where
the p.oudest city OF the east shone In
wealth and splendor and worshiped with a
glorious ritual there are now only mighty
runs. the fallen figures OF giants and The
oNerpowertng vegetation Of the jungle COW
erlng All things. Efforts are. however. now
oeing made to bring to light many of the
@onderfui buildings which nov lie buried.
Inc government OF Ceylon Is excavatIng
ana gradually clearing, and the King OF
siam, who Is the chief royal Buddhist I'm
the world. Is having buildings repaired at
MS own expense. The beauty of this res
toration is that there can be no modern
aodltions; support here. little cement
there. is all that can be attempted. while
one hopes much for more excavation. II
Is estimated that there is enough work in
sight for the next twenty years and enough
Tor the next twenty centuries hidden In
the jungle,
The sacred Bo Tree.
One Of the most interesting relics at An
uradhapura is the famous sacred DO tree
without doubt the oldest tree in the world
OF which we can ascertain the exact age.
We know from the Stnhalese chronicles
that 1t was planted in the year 2ss &c.
and is therefore 2.lss years old. and is a
branch OF the identical tree under which
Gotoma attained Buddhahood.
II was brought to Ceylou by Sanghamit-
Ia. sister OF Mahinda. who had preached
the new religion of Buddha In the Island
about the year 3o7 b. &. and through whom
King Tissa. his queen. courtiers and at last
his people were converted. Wonderful leg
ends have been left by the native histo-
rians OF the transit and reception in Ceylon
of the sacred branch. il seems that no one
would dare to lop the sacred parent tree,
and that the difficulty was solved by a
priest, who was inspired to draw line
round branch with a golden pencil. when
the branch Immediately severed itself. and
was brought with great honor and much
ceremony to Ceylou Such a hold has this
legend over the mind Of the Buddhist today
that no pilgrim will dare to gather a leaf
from the tree but will, with the greatest
veneratiou. pick up those which lie on the
ground and treasure them for the rest OF
his life as his most sacred possession. The
tree STANDS in grove about eighty feet
square. am around ii are several shrines
at which offerings. chiefly of flowers and
candles. are made is approached by
three tiers of terraces, the steps of which
have some finely carved moonstones and
the pedestals are covered with gigantic fig
ures OF animals.
The Isurumuniya temple. carved out of
the natural rock. has a splendid position.
though the modern entrance, with its tiled
root gives one rather a shock. Before Il
and behind it lie large lotus ponds. inhab-
ited by sacred crocodiles. The terraces
which lead to the shrine are covered with
frescoes and sculptures in bas-relief. The
natural rock itself is frescoed in high re-
lief, and beautiful carving abounds every
where.
One of the most interesting temples is
called Loha Pasada. the brazen palace. 1t
was built by Dutthagamini. a successor cf
King Tissa. for community Of Buddhist
monks. The sixteen hundred monolitnic
columns of granite, on which il rested are
all that now remain. The college is said
TO have contained 1000 dormitOries and 10
have been 232 feet square. All the pillars
were covered with FURNISHED brass ard or
namented with precious stones, the buIld-
ing itself being nine stories high. In the
large hail stood a royal throne. supported
by pillars of gold. all resting OF golden
lions and sUrmounted by an imperial cam
opy of glistening white. To this day one
can see the marks Of the wedges used in
quarrying the granite
Many Hidden Treasures.
The jungle around AnuradhapuIa hides,
no doubt, many treasure in its lcafy
depths. We, Of course. in our limited stay.
could only see those which were easiest OF
access. One day we visited four huge
dagobas, one of which was 405 feet high
and 1,130 in diameter. They are conicaI
buildings OF brick or stone. more monu-
meRt than temple. One celebrated a great
victory, another is the shrine for a hair
from the eyelash of Buddha. a third a vast
treasure house. into which none bat the
highest rank of the priesthood mighr en-
ter. The Ruauweii or gold dust dagoba is
a stupendous building OF solid bricAwork.
Inc PASSAGES Within are Wlde enough Tor
and, as the excavations -0ceed,
galleries, courts, platforms supported by
hundreds of carved elephants. come to
light. with altar slabs, scrolls. tahlc,s eie-
plants heads. great statues of Buddhd and
kings. One OF these is said to be King
ii is sculptured in dolnmite
and the folds of the robe are especially
beautiful. The pupils of the eyes were
now. Another statue in dolomite repre-
sents Ratiyatissa /, who came to the throne
b. c. 10 1t Is eight feet high, much
weather-worn and broken.
In the heart OF the forest we came uDon
another colossal figure, that of the seated
Buddha, a monolith eight feet high which
has probably been where we saw il for a
years 1t stands upon three pil-
lar stumps, now buried. and is carved in
very dark granite. The surface Is now
quite black The hands like those of all
the seated Buddhas, are. as usual, placed
in the lap, the back of the right hand rest
ing on the left palm. The crossed feet are
carved in an impossible position. intended
To show the magal lakunu. or sacred marks
on the soles.
1t is, of course impossible to investigate
thoroughly in SO short a
time my companion and 1 had at our
disposal. / was due at my new billet in a
few days time, and the ruins cover a wide
extent On all sides are vast dagobas, sur
rounded by shrfnes and stonework of great
beauty, and often I'm excellent preservation.
The ruins of numberless temples, guard
houses and priests quarters, pillars with
finely nodded capitals and massive stones.
figures of gods and kings, of elephants and
liens, horses and oxen. stand out promi-
nently on every side. Large and handsome
''pckunas," or bathing places. with three
or four tiers of massive stonework leading
down to them. remind one that the ancient
Sinhalese valued cleanliness as much as
godliness. How are the mighty fallen
was in ones mind all the time.
At the present day Anuradhapura is a
town. as Ceylon towns go. IL is
the headquarters of the government agent
Of the north central province. There is
plenty of big game-leopard. bear sambur
etc.-a good rest house, a goal and tele-
graph station and within few years there
win be a railway station. for Anuradhapura
has the misfortune, archaeologically speak
ing. to be one Of the most important places
on the new line connecting the Jaffna penin-
sula with the rest of the island Its pres
ent nhabitants-formerly there were 100000
are not many, and a few yellow-robed
priests still keep up some of the ancient
ceremonies.
The Tugboat Captain.
From the Atlantic.
A tug lay hard by. and the captain added
his bit to my sociological nocturne. as 1