Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History Part 93

[Footnote 3: _Ibid._, ch. x.x.xvi. p. 229. This belief in the power of averting lightning by mechanical means, prevailed on the continent of India as well as in Ceylon, and one of the early Bengalese histories of the temple of Juggernauth, written between the years A.D. 470 and A.D.

520, says that when the building was completed, "a _neclchukro_ was placed at the top of the temple to prevent the falling of thunderbolts."

In an account of the modern temple which replaced this ancient structure, it is stated that "it bore a loadstone at the top, which, as it drew vessels to land, was seized and carried off two centuries ago by sailors."--_Asiat. Res._ vol. xv. p. 327.]

The term "wajira-chumbatan" in the original Pali, which TURNOUR has here rendered "a gla.s.s pinnacle," ought to be translated "a diamond hoop,"

both in this pa.s.sage and also in another in the same book in which it occurs.[1] The form a.s.sumed by the upper portion of the dagoba would therefore resemble the annexed sketch.

[Footnote 1: In describing the events in the reign of Dhaatu-Sena, the king at whose instance and during whose reign the _Mahawanso_ was written by his uncle Mahanamo, between the years A.D. 459, 477, the author, who was contemporary with the occurrence he relates, says, that "at the three princ.i.p.al chetyos (dagobas) he made a golden chatta and a diamond hoop (_wajira-chumbaton_) for each."--_Mahawanso_, ch. x.x.xviii. p. 259.

Similar instances of gems being attached to the chattas of dagobas are recorded in the same work, ch. xlii. and elsewhere.

The original pa.s.sage relative to the diamond hoop placed by Sanghatissa runs thus in Pali, "Wisun satasaha.s.sagghe chaturocha mahamanin majjhe chatunnan suriyanan thapapesi mahipati; _thupa.s.sa muddhani tatha anaggha wajira-chumbatan_," which Mr. DE ALWIS translates: "The king caused to be set four gems, each of the value of a lac, in the centre of the four emblems of the sun, _and likewise an invaluable adamantine_ (or diamond) _ring on the top of the thupa._" Some difficulty existed in TURNOUR'S mind as to the rendering to be given to these two last words "_wajira-chumbatan_." Prof. H.H. WILSON, to whom I have submitted the sentence, says, "_Wajira_ is either 'diamond,' or 'adamant,' or 'the thunderbolt of Indra;'" and with him the most leaned Pali scholars in Ceylon entirely concur; De Saram, the Maha-Moodliar of the Governor's Gate, the Rev. Mr. Gogerly, Mr. De Alwis, Pepole the Hight Priest of the Asgiria (who was TURNOUR'S instructor in Pali), Wattegamine Unnanse of Kandy, Bulletgamone Unnanse of Galle, Batuwantudawe, of Colombo, and De Soyza, the translator Moodliar to the Colonial Secretary's Office. Mr.

DE ALWIS says, "The epithet _anagghan_, 'invaluable' or 'priceless,'

immediately preceding and qualifying _wajira_ in the original (but omitted by Turnour in the translation), shows that a substance far more valuable than gla.s.s must have been meant." "_Chumbatan_," Prof. Wilson supposed to be the Pali equivalent to the Sanskrit _chumbakam_, "the kisser or attractor of steel;" the question he says is whether _wajira_ is to be considered an adjective or part of a compound substantive, whether the phrase is a _diamond-magnet pinnacle_, or _conductor_, or a _conductor_ or _attractor of the thunderbolt_. In the latter case it would intimate that the Singhalese had a notion of lightning conductors, Mr. DE ALWIS, however, and Mr. GOGERLY agree that chumba_ka_ is the same both in Sanskrit and Pali, whilst chumba_ta_ is a Pali compound, which means a _circular prop_ or _support, a ring_ on which something rests, or _a roll of cloth_ formed into a circle to form a stand for a vessel; so that the term must be construed to mean _a diamond_ circlet, and the pa.s.sage, transposing the order of the words, will read literally thus:

thapapesi tatha muddhani thupa.s.sa he placed in like manner on the top of the thupo

anagghan wajira-chumbatan.

a valuable diamond hoop.

TURNOUR wrote his translation whilst residing at Kandy and with the aid of the priests, who being ignorant of English could only a.s.sist him to Singhalese equivalents for Pali words. Hence he was probably led into the mistake of confounding _wajira_, which signifies "diamond," or an instrument for cutting diamonds, with the modern word _widura_, which bears the same import but is colloquially used by the Kandyans for "gla.s.s." However, as gla.s.s as well as the diamond is an insulator of electricity, the force of the pa.s.sage would be in no degree altered whichever of the two substances was really particularised. TURNOUR was equally uncertain as to the meaning of _chumbatan_, which in one instance he has translated a "pinnacle" and in the other he has left without any English equivalent, simply calling "wajira-chumbatan" a "chumbatan of gla.s.s."--_Mahawanso_, ch. x.x.xviii. p. 259.]

[Ill.u.s.tration:

A. Crown of the Dagoba.

B. The capital, with the sun on each of the four sides.

C. The spire.

D. The umbrella or chatta, gilt and surrounded by "chumbatan," a diamond circlet.]

The chief interest of the story centres in the words "_to serve as a protection against lightning_," which do not belong to the metrical text of the _Mahawanso_, but are taken from the explanatory notes appended to it. I have stated elsewhere, that it was the practice of authors who wrote in Pali verse, to attach to the text a commentary in prose, in order to ill.u.s.trate the obscurities incident to the obligations of rhythm. In this instance, the historian, who was the kinsman and intimate friend of the king, by whose order the gla.s.s pinnacle was raised in the fifth century, probably felt that the stanza descriptive of the placing of the first of those costly instruments in the reign of Sanghatissa, required some elucidation, and therefore inserted a pa.s.sage in the "tika," by which his poem was accompanied, to explain that the motive of its erection was "_for the purpose of averting the dangers of lightning_."[1]

[Footnote 1: The explanatory sentence in the "tika" is as follows:

"Thupa.s.sa muddhani tatha naggha wajira-chumbatanti tathewa maha thupa.s.sa muddhani satasahasaggha nikan maha manincha pat.i.tha petwa ta--ahetta asani upaddawa widdhanse natthan adhara walayamewn katwa anaggha wajira-chumbatancha pujeseti atho."

Mr. DE SARAY and Mr. DE AIWIS concur in translating this pa.s.sage as follows, "In like manner having placed a large gem, of a lac in value, on the top of the great thupa, he fixed below it, _for the purpose of destroying the dangers of lightning_, an invaluable diamond chumbatan, having made it like a supporting ring or circular rest." Words equivalent to those in _italics_, Mr. TURNOUR embodies in his translation, but placed them between brackets to denote that they wore a quotation.]

The two pa.s.sages, taken in conjunction, leave no room for doubt that the object in placing the diamond hoop on the dagoba, was _to turn aside the stroke of the thunderbolt_.

But the question still remains, whether, at that very early period, the people of Ceylon had such a conception, however crude and erroneous, of the nature of electricity, and the relative powers of conducting and non-conducting bodies, as would induce them to place a mistaken reliance upon the contrivance described, as one calculated to ensure their personal safety; or whether, as religious devotees, they presented it as a costly offering to propitiate the mysterious power that controls the elements. The thing affixed was however so insignificant in value, compared with the stupendous edifice to be protected, that the latter supposition is scarcely tenable. The dagoba itself was an offering, on the construction of which the wealth of a kingdom had been lavished; besides which it enshrined the holiest of all conceivable objects--portions of the deified body of Gotama Buddha himself; and if these were not already secured, from the perils of lightning by their own sanct.i.ty, their safety could scarcely be enhanced by the addition of a diamond hoop.

The conjecture is, therefore, forced on us, that the Singhalese, in that remote era, had observed some physical facts, or learned their existence from others, which suggested the idea that it might be practicable, by some mechanical device, to ward off the danger of lightning. It is just possible that having ascertained that gla.s.s or precious stones acted as insulators of electricity, it may have occurred to them that one or both might be employed as preservative agents against lightning.

Modern science is enabled promptly to condemn this reasoning, and to p.r.o.nounce that the expedient, so far from averting, would fearfully add to, the peril. But in the infancy of all inquiries the observation of effects generally precedes the comprehension of causes, and whilst it is obvious that nothing attained by the Singhalese in the third century antic.i.p.ated the great discoveries relative to the electric nature of lightning, which were not announced till the seventeenth or eighteenth, we cannot but feel that the contrivance described in the _Mahawanso_ was one likely to originate amongst an ill-informed people, who had witnessed certain phenomena the causes of which they were unable to trace, and from which they were incapable of deducing any accurate conclusions.[1]

[Footnote 1: I have been told that within a comparatively recent period it was customary in this country, from some motive not altogether apparent, to surmount the lightning conductors of the Admiralty and some other Government buildings with, a _gla.s.s summit_.]

CHAP. X.

SINGHALESE LITERATURE.

The literature of the ancient Singhalese derived its character from the hierarchic ascendency, which was fostered by their government, and exerted a preponderant influence over the temperament of the people. The Buddhist priesthood were the depositories of all learning and the dispensers of all knowledge:--by the obligation of their order the study of the cla.s.sical Pali[1] was rendered compulsory upon them[2], and the books which have come down to us show that they were at the same time familiar with Sanskrit. They were employed by royal command in compiling the national annals[3], and kings at various periods not only encouraged their labours by endowments of lands[4], but conferred distinction on such pursuits by devoting their own attention to the cultivation of poetry[5], and the formation of libraries.[6]

[Footnote 1: _Pali_, which is the language of Buddist literature in Siam, Ava, as well as in Ceylon, is, according to Dr. MILL, "no other than the Magadha Pracrit, the cla.s.sical form in ancient Behar of that very peculiar modification of Sanscrit speech which enters as largely into the drama of the Hindus, as did the Doric dialect into the Attic tragedy of Ancient Greece." In 1826 MM. BURNOUF and La.s.sEN published their learned "_Essai sur le Pali_," but the most ample light was thrown upon its structure and history by the subsequent investigations of TURNOUR, who, in the introduction to his version of the _Mahawanso_, has embodied a disquisition on the antiquity of Pali as compared with Sanskrit (p. xxii. &c.).]

[Footnote 2: _Rajaratnacari_, p, 106.]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid_., p. 43-74]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid_., p. 113]

[Footnote 5: _Rajavali_, p. 245; _Mahawanso_, ch. liv., lxxix.]

[Footnote 6: _Rajavali_, p. 244.]

The books of the Singhalese are formed to-day, as they have been for ages past, of _olas_ or strips taken from the young leaves of the Talipat or the Palmyra palm, cut before they have acquired the dark shade and strong texture which belong to the full grown frond.[1] After undergoing a process (one stage of which consists in steeping them in hot water and sometimes in milk) to preserve their flexibility, they are submitted to pressure to render their surface uniformly smooth. They are then cut into stripes of two or three inches in breadth, and from one to three feet long. These are pierced with two holes, one near each end, through which a cord is pa.s.sed, so as to secure them between two wooden covers, lacquered and ornamented with coloured devices. The leaves thus strung together and secured, form a book.

[Footnote 1: The leaves of the Palmyra, similarly prepared, are used for writings of an ordinary kind, but the most valuable books are written on the Talipat See _ante_, Vol. I. Pt I. ch. iii. p. 110.]

On these palm-leaves the custom is to write with an iron stile held nearly upright, and steadied by a nick cut to receive it in the thumb-nail of the left hand. The stile is sometimes richly ornamented, shaped like an arrow, and inlaid with gold, one blade of the feather serving as a knife to trim the leaf preparatory to writing. The case is sometimes made of carved ivory bound with hoops of filigreed silver.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WRITING WITH A STILE.]

The furrow made by the pressure of the steel is rendered visible by the application of charcoal ground with a fragrant oil[1], to the odour of which the natives ascribe the remarkable state of preservation in which their most sacred books are found, its aromatic properties securing the leaves from destruction by white ants and other insects.[2]

[Footnote 1: For this purpose a resin is used, called _dumula_ by the natives, who dig it up from beneath the surface of lands from which the forest has disappeared.]

[Footnote 2: In Ceylon there are a few Buddhist books brought from Burmah, in which the text is inscribed on plates of silver. I have seen others on leaves of ivory, and some belonging to the Dalada Wihara, at Kandy, are engraved on gold. The earliest grants of lands, called _sannas_, were written on palm-leaves, but an inscription on a rock at Dambool, which is of the date 1200 A.D., records that King Prakrama Bahu I. made it a rule that "when permanent grants of land were to be made to those who performed meritorious services, such behests should not be evanescent like lines drawn on water by being inscribed on leaves to be destroyed by rats and white ants, but engraved on plates of copper, so as to endure to posterity."]

The wiharas and monasteries of the Buddhist priesthood are the only depositaries in Ceylon of the national literature, and in these are to be found quant.i.ties of ola books on an infinity of subjects, some of them, especially those relating to religion and ecclesiastical history, being of the remotest antiquity.

Works of the latter cla.s.s are chiefly written in Pali. Treatises on astronomy, mathematics, and physics are almost exclusively in Sanskrit, whilst those on general literature, being comparatively recent, are composed in Elu, a dialect which differs from the colloquial Singhalese rather in style than in structure, having been liberally enriched by incorporation from Sanskrit and Pali.[1] But of the works which have come down to us, ancient as well as modern, so great is the preponderance of those in Pali and Sanskrit, that the Singhalese can scarcely be said to possess a literature in their national dialect; and in the books they do possess, so utter is the dearth of invention or originality, that almost all which are not either ballads or compilations, are translations from one or other of the two learned languages.

[Footnote 1: TURNOUR'S Introd. to the _Mahawanso_, p. xiii. A critical account of the Elu will be found in an able and learned essay on the language and literature of Ceylon by Mr. J. DE ALWIS, prefixed to his English. translation of the _Sidath Sangara_, a grammar of Singhalese, written in the fourteenth century. Colombo, 1852. Introd. p. xxvii.

x.x.xvii.]

I. PALI.--Works in Pali are written, like those of Burmah and Siam, not in Nagari or any peculiar character, but in the vernacular alphabet. Of these, as might naturally be expected, the vast majority are on subjects connected with Buddhism, and next to them in point of number are grammars and grammatical commentaries.

The original of the great Pali grammar of Kachchayano is now lost, but its principles survive in numerous treatises, and text-books written at succeeding periods to replace it.[1] Such is the pa.s.sion for versification, probably as an a.s.sistant to memory, that nearly every Singhalese work, ancient as well as modern, is composed in rhyme, and even the repulsive abstractions of Syntax have found an Alvarez and been enveloped in metrical disguise.

[Footnote 1: The Rev. R. SPENCE HARDY, to whom I am indebted for much valuable information on the subject of the literature current at the present day in Ceylon, published a list in the _Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Asiatic Society_ for 1848, in which he gave the t.i.tles of 467 works in Pali, Sanskrit, and Elu, collected by himself during his residence in Ceylon. Of these about 80 are in Sanskrit, 150 in Elu (or Singhalese), and the remainder in Pali, either with or without translations. Of the Pali book 26 are either grammars or treatises on grammar.

This catalogue of Mr. Hardy is, however, by no means to be regarded as perfect; not only because several are omitted, but because many are but excerpts from larger works. The t.i.tles are seldom descriptive of the contents, but in true Oriental taste are drawn from emblems and figures, such as "Light," "Gems," and "Flowers." The authors' names are rarely known, and the language or style seldom affords an indication of the age of the composition.]

Of the sacred writings in Pali, the most renowned are the _Pitakattayan_, literally "The Three Baskets," which embody the doctrines, discourses, and discipline of the Buddhists, and so voluminous is this collection that its contents extend to 592,000 stanzas; and the Atthakatha or commentaries, which are as old as the fifth century[1], contain 361,550 more. From their voluminousness, the Pittakas are seldom to be seen complete, but there are few of the superior temples in which one or more of the separate books may not be found.

[Footnote 1: They were translated into Pali from Singhalese by Buddhaghoso, A.D. 420.--_Mahawanso_, c. x.x.xvii, p. 252.]