Zitierlink:
https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/taprobanian1887/0107
Avgust, 1887.3
NOTES AND QUERIES.
107
he would give many, and a die would then be used
to make the great man’s piety come easy to him.
How eagerly the public would try to share in such
good work, and how jealously the merit of it would
at times be guarded, is shown by the passage in the
Mahawanso, where the Thero then residing atPiyan-
gala, who is related to a bricklayer engaged in
erecting the Maha Thupa, persuades the artificer to
use his bricky artfully manufactured after the exact
pattern of those used by the king’s workmen. To
1’ecover the merit thereby lost, the king dupes the
Thero into accepting as its value two valuable cloths
and a thousand coins. (Tumour’s Mahawanso,
p. 177.)
I conclude the Naka Maharama and the Yattha-
laka dagabas were built by public subscription, how-
ever much assisted by the royal bounty.
As to the period at which they were built, if
we may trust the name, the Naka Maharama was
named as a compliment to a Naka Maharaja. Such
a king, father of a Main Tisa, is known to me
from inscriptions. These two kings I have at present
tentatively identified with Kuda Sri Naga of A.D. 182,
and Wohara Tisa of A.D. 201, and they cannot be
much, if at all earlier, and very little later.
The first Maha Naga’s dagaba is probably that now
called the Maenik dagaba, Maenik being a modern
Sinhalese form of Manaka, still in common use as a
name.
Muller made a dreadful mistake over one Naka
Maharaja’s name, and Main Tisa’s, and by some in-
comprehensible error gives their inscription, No. 98,
Galkowila,1 as beginning “ S iddham Manaka maha-
rajaha putu Bata Tisa Maharaja, &c.” If one
refers to the plate, it is quite clear, but it reads
“ Siddham Nakamaharajaha puta Main Tisa Maha-
raji.” It is a pity Dr. Muller did not visit and
Copy the other well known inscription of this king
at Uchchayppu Kallu, 20 miles off Gaikowila.
The letters on the Magama bricks present the
following peculiarities, which in Ceylon at once
stamp them as not earlier than the later part of the
first hundred years A.D.
The ma is not of the old shape, but has assumed
that characteristic of the Wahaba dynasty. The first
of the two-—ya—is also that especially character-
istic of Gajabahu’s inscriptions, and of his successors.
I have nowhere seen it in inscriptions prior to A.D.
25 or so.
The na is very peculiar, and also a letter charac-
teristic of the Gajabahu period, but not seen prior
to A.D. 25 or so (Tumour’s chronology).
The second—ga—given by Mr. Parker, is also a
letter of the same later period, but has not often
occurred within my own observation. I have never
seen any approach to it in early inscriptions.
Of these the h and y are quite “test” letters, and
settle the age at once, as not earlier than A.D. 25.
Taking all known facts and circumstances into
consideration, it seems probable that with the
revolution that brought Mahanaga raja, father of
Ila Naga, to the throne of Runa Magama, there
also came into use a newer form of the old alphabet,
closely resembling certain variants of the Asokha
characters, until then not generally used in Ceylon.
The persistence of certain old characters, especially
the straight stroke ra, probably then restricted in use
to the rough initial with a sound of “ira,” renders
it more probable the Naka Maha Arama was named
after Mahanaka, father of Ila Naga, than after Naka
Maharaja, father of Main Tisa. The royal names,
though giving some probability to the latter, must,
I think, yield to the counter-argument derived from
the apparent age of the letters, For a change from
Maha Naka to Naka Maha in the title of one and
the same king, I do know one precedent, that of
Aya Tisa or Tisa Aya.
Editor.
Macropthalm us serratus, Ad. and Wh.
The fossil crab of Trincomalai.
On page 130, Vol. I., of this Journal I have recorded
the occurrence of a fossil crab in nodules of fine clay
near Trincomalai. I have now identified this crab
as Macropthalmus serratus, Adams and White,
discovered at the Philippines during the voyage of
H.M.S. “ Samarang.” In Myer’s report on the
Brachyura of the Challenger Expedition (p. 250) this
species is further noticed, and it is exquisitely
figured at Plate XX., fig. 1.
In May last the Director of the Colombo Museum,
Mr. Haly, procured a fine specimen of this crab,
caught in the net of a fisherman at Colombo, and
exactly corresponding with the figure cited. The
crabs from Kuchchavelli are completely fossilised,
and the clay in which they are preserved must there-
fore be an early post-tertiary formation. These
fossils are greatly sought after, and exported to
India for use as medicine.
Editor.
Ok A REMARKABLE SeA SNAKE FROM COLOMBO.
(Hydrophis taprobanica, Haly, MSS.)
I purchased a very remarkable sea snake recently
from a Colombo fisherman, a description of which
may perhaps interest you.
Head very small, neck slender, but the thin part
of the body is much less than one-half the total
length. Upper jaw slightly projecting beyond the
lower ; two post-oculars ; the third upper labial not
1 Page 77 of Ceylon Inscriptions.
NOTES AND QUERIES.
107
he would give many, and a die would then be used
to make the great man’s piety come easy to him.
How eagerly the public would try to share in such
good work, and how jealously the merit of it would
at times be guarded, is shown by the passage in the
Mahawanso, where the Thero then residing atPiyan-
gala, who is related to a bricklayer engaged in
erecting the Maha Thupa, persuades the artificer to
use his bricky artfully manufactured after the exact
pattern of those used by the king’s workmen. To
1’ecover the merit thereby lost, the king dupes the
Thero into accepting as its value two valuable cloths
and a thousand coins. (Tumour’s Mahawanso,
p. 177.)
I conclude the Naka Maharama and the Yattha-
laka dagabas were built by public subscription, how-
ever much assisted by the royal bounty.
As to the period at which they were built, if
we may trust the name, the Naka Maharama was
named as a compliment to a Naka Maharaja. Such
a king, father of a Main Tisa, is known to me
from inscriptions. These two kings I have at present
tentatively identified with Kuda Sri Naga of A.D. 182,
and Wohara Tisa of A.D. 201, and they cannot be
much, if at all earlier, and very little later.
The first Maha Naga’s dagaba is probably that now
called the Maenik dagaba, Maenik being a modern
Sinhalese form of Manaka, still in common use as a
name.
Muller made a dreadful mistake over one Naka
Maharaja’s name, and Main Tisa’s, and by some in-
comprehensible error gives their inscription, No. 98,
Galkowila,1 as beginning “ S iddham Manaka maha-
rajaha putu Bata Tisa Maharaja, &c.” If one
refers to the plate, it is quite clear, but it reads
“ Siddham Nakamaharajaha puta Main Tisa Maha-
raji.” It is a pity Dr. Muller did not visit and
Copy the other well known inscription of this king
at Uchchayppu Kallu, 20 miles off Gaikowila.
The letters on the Magama bricks present the
following peculiarities, which in Ceylon at once
stamp them as not earlier than the later part of the
first hundred years A.D.
The ma is not of the old shape, but has assumed
that characteristic of the Wahaba dynasty. The first
of the two-—ya—is also that especially character-
istic of Gajabahu’s inscriptions, and of his successors.
I have nowhere seen it in inscriptions prior to A.D.
25 or so.
The na is very peculiar, and also a letter charac-
teristic of the Gajabahu period, but not seen prior
to A.D. 25 or so (Tumour’s chronology).
The second—ga—given by Mr. Parker, is also a
letter of the same later period, but has not often
occurred within my own observation. I have never
seen any approach to it in early inscriptions.
Of these the h and y are quite “test” letters, and
settle the age at once, as not earlier than A.D. 25.
Taking all known facts and circumstances into
consideration, it seems probable that with the
revolution that brought Mahanaga raja, father of
Ila Naga, to the throne of Runa Magama, there
also came into use a newer form of the old alphabet,
closely resembling certain variants of the Asokha
characters, until then not generally used in Ceylon.
The persistence of certain old characters, especially
the straight stroke ra, probably then restricted in use
to the rough initial with a sound of “ira,” renders
it more probable the Naka Maha Arama was named
after Mahanaka, father of Ila Naga, than after Naka
Maharaja, father of Main Tisa. The royal names,
though giving some probability to the latter, must,
I think, yield to the counter-argument derived from
the apparent age of the letters, For a change from
Maha Naka to Naka Maha in the title of one and
the same king, I do know one precedent, that of
Aya Tisa or Tisa Aya.
Editor.
Macropthalm us serratus, Ad. and Wh.
The fossil crab of Trincomalai.
On page 130, Vol. I., of this Journal I have recorded
the occurrence of a fossil crab in nodules of fine clay
near Trincomalai. I have now identified this crab
as Macropthalmus serratus, Adams and White,
discovered at the Philippines during the voyage of
H.M.S. “ Samarang.” In Myer’s report on the
Brachyura of the Challenger Expedition (p. 250) this
species is further noticed, and it is exquisitely
figured at Plate XX., fig. 1.
In May last the Director of the Colombo Museum,
Mr. Haly, procured a fine specimen of this crab,
caught in the net of a fisherman at Colombo, and
exactly corresponding with the figure cited. The
crabs from Kuchchavelli are completely fossilised,
and the clay in which they are preserved must there-
fore be an early post-tertiary formation. These
fossils are greatly sought after, and exported to
India for use as medicine.
Editor.
Ok A REMARKABLE SeA SNAKE FROM COLOMBO.
(Hydrophis taprobanica, Haly, MSS.)
I purchased a very remarkable sea snake recently
from a Colombo fisherman, a description of which
may perhaps interest you.
Head very small, neck slender, but the thin part
of the body is much less than one-half the total
length. Upper jaw slightly projecting beyond the
lower ; two post-oculars ; the third upper labial not
1 Page 77 of Ceylon Inscriptions.