Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History Part 104

According to the _Tung-teen_, the intercourse between them and the Singhalese, began during the Eastern Tsin dynasty, A.D. 317--419[1]; and one remarkable island still retains a name which is commemorative of their presence. Salang, to the north of Penang, lay in the direct course of the Chinese junks on their way to and from Ceylon, through the Straits of Malacca, and, in addition to its harbour, was attractive from its valuable mines of tin. Here the Chinese fleets called on both voyages; and the fact of their resort is indicated by the popular name "Ajung-Selan," or "Junk-Ceylon;" by which the place is still known, _Ajung_, in the language of the Malays, being the term for "large s.h.i.+pping," and _Selan_, their name for Ceylon.[2]

[Footnote 1: _Tung-teen_, A.D. 740, b. clx.x.xviii. p. 17.]

[Footnote 2: _Sincapore Chronicle_, 1836.]

The port in Ceylon which the Chinese vessels made their rendezvous, was Lo-le (Galle), "where," it is said, "s.h.i.+ps anchor, and people land."[1]

[Footnote 1: w.a.n.g-KE, _Suh-wan-heen tung-kaou_, b. ccx.x.xvi p. 19.]

Besides rice, the vegetable productions of the island enumerated by the various Chinese authorities were aloes-wood, sandal-wood[1], and ebony; camphor[2], areca-nuts, beans, sesamum, coco-nuts (and arrack distilled from the coco-nut palm) pepper, sugar-cane, myrrh, frankincense, oil and drugs.[3] An odoriferous extract, called by the Chinese _Shoo-heang_, is likewise particularised, but it is not possible now to identify it.

[Footnote 1: The mention of sandal-wood is suggestive. It does not, so far as I could ever learn, exist in Ceylon; yet it is mentioned with particular care amongst its exports in the Chinese books. Can it be that, like the calamander, or Coromandel-wood, which is rapidly approaching extinction, sandal-wood was extirpated from the island by injudicious cutting, unaccompanied by any precautions for the reproduction of the tree?]

[Footnote 2: _Nan-she_, b. lxxviii. p. 13.]

[Footnote 3: _Suh-Hung keen-luh_, b. xlii. p. 52.]

Elephants and ivory were in request; and the only manufactures alluded to for export were woven cotton[1], gold ornaments, and jewelry; including models of the shrines in which were deposited the sacred relics of Buddha.[2] Statues of Buddha were frequently sent as royal presents, and so great was the fame of Ceylon for their production in the fourth and fifth centuries, that according to the historian of the Wei Tartar dynasty, A.D. 386-556, people "from the countries of Central Asia, and the kings of those nations, emulated each other in sending artisans to procure copies, but none could rival the productions of Nan-te.[3] On standing about ten paces distant they appeared truly brilliant, but the lineaments gradually disappeared on a nearer approach."[4]

[Footnote 1: _Tsih-foo yuen-kwei_, A.D. 1012, b. dcccclxxi. p. 15. At a later period "Western cloth" is mentioned among the exports of Ceylon, but the reference must be to cloth previously imported either from India or Persia.--_Ming-she History of the Ming Dynasty,_ A.D. 1368--1643, b.

cccxxvi. p. 7.]

[Footnote 2: A model of the shrine containing the sacred tooth was sent to the Emperor of China in the fifth century by the King of Ceylon; "_Chacha Mo-ho-nan,"_ a name which appears to coincide with Raja Maha Nama, who reigned A.D. 410--433.--_Shunshoo_, A.D. 487, b. xlvii. p. 6.]

[Footnote 3: Nan-te was a Buddhist priest, who in the year A.D. 456 was sent on an emba.s.sy to the Emperor of China, and was made the bearer of three statues of his own making.--_Ts[)i]h-foo yuen-kwei,_ b. li. p. 7.]

[Footnote 4: _Wei-shoo,_ A.D. 590, b. cxiv. p. 9.]

Pearls, corals, and crystals were eagerly sought after; but of all articles the gems of Ceylon were in the greatest request. The business of collecting and selling them seems from the earliest time to have fallen into the hands of the Arabs, and hence they bore in China the designation of "Mahometan stones."[1] They consisted of rubies, sapphires, amethysts, carbuncles (the "red precious stone, the l.u.s.tre of which serves instead of a lamp at night")[2]; and topazes of four distinct tints, "those the colour of wine; the delicate tint of young goslings, the deep amber, like bees'-wax, and the pale tinge resembling the opening bud of the pine."[3] It will not fail to be observed that throughout all these historical and topographical works of the Chinese, extending over a period of twelve centuries, from the year A.D. 487, there is no mention whatever of _cinnamon_ as a production of Ceylon; although ca.s.sia, described under the name of kwei, is mentioned as indigenous in China and Cochin-China. In exchange for these commodities the Chinese traders brought with them silk, variegated lute strings, blue porcelain, enamelled dishes and cups, and quant.i.ties of copper cash wanted for adjusting the balances of trade.[4]

[Footnote 1: _Tsih-ke,_ quoted in the Chinese _Mirror of Sciences,_ b.

x.x.xiii. p. 1.]

[Footnote 2: _Po-w[)u]h yaou-lan,_ b. x.x.xiii. p. 2.]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid_.]

[Footnote 4: _Suy-shoo_, "History of the Suy Dynasty," A.D. 633, b.

lx.x.xi. p. 3.]

Of the religion of the people, the earliest account recorded by the Chinese is that of F[)A] HIAN, in the fourth century[1], when Buddhism was signally in the ascendant. But in the century which followed, travellers returning from Ceylon brought back accounts of the growing power of the Tamils, and of the consequent eclipse of the national wors.h.i.+p. The _Yung-teen_ and the _Tae-ping_ describe at that early period the prevalence of Brahmanical customs, but coupled with "greater reverence for the Buddhistical faith."[2] In process of time, however, they are forced to admit the gradual decline of the latter, and the attachment of the Singhalese kings to the Hindu ritual, exhibiting an equal reverence to the ox and to the images of Buddha.[3]

[Footnote 1: _Fo[)e]-Kou[)e] Ki_, ch. x.x.xviii.]

[Footnote 2: _Tae-ping_, b. dccxciii, p. 9.]

[Footnote 3: _Woo-he[)o]-peen_, "Records of the Ming Dynasty," b.

lxviii. p. 4; _Tung-ne[)e]_, b. cxcvi. pp. 79, 80.]

The Chinese trace to Ceylon the first foundation of monasteries, and of dwelling-houses for the priests, and in this they are corroborated by the _Mahawanso_.[1] From these pious communities, the Emperors of China were accustomed from time to time to solicit transcripts of theological works[2], and their envoys, returning from such missions, appear to have brought glowing accounts of the Singhalese temples, the costly shrines for relics, and the fervid devotion of the people to the national wors.h.i.+p.[3]

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. xv. p. 99; ch. xx. p. 123. In the Itinerary of Ke-Ne[)E]'s _Travels in the Western Kingdoms in the tenth Century_ he mentions having seen a monastery of Singhalese on the continent of India.--Ke-Ne[)E], _Se-y[)i]h hing-ching_, A.D. 964--976.]

[Footnote 2: _Tae-ping_, b. dcclx.x.xvii. p. 5.]

[Footnote 3: _Taou-e che-le[)o]_. "Account of Island Foreigners," quoted in the "_Foreign Geography_" b. xviii. p. 15. _Se-y[)i]-ke foo-choo_.

Ib. "At daybreak every morning the people are summoned, and exhorted to repeat the pa.s.sages of Buddha, in order to remove ignorance and open the minds of the mult.i.tude. Discourses are delivered upon the principles of vacancy (nirwana?) and abstraction from all material objects, in order that truth maybe studied in solitude and silence, and the unfathomable point of principle attained free from the distracting influences of sound or smell."--_Ts[)i]h-foo yaen-kwei_, A.D. 1012, b. dcccclxi. p.

5.]

The cities of Ceylon in the sixth century are stated, in the "_History of the Leang Dynasty_," to have been encompa.s.sed by walls built of brick, with double gates, and the houses within were constructed with upper stories.[1] The palace of the king, at Anaraj.a.poora, in the eleventh century, was sufficiently splendid to excite the admiration of these visitants, "the precious articles with which it was decorated being reflected in the thoroughfares."[2]

[Footnote 1: _Leang-shoo_, A.D. 630, b. liv. p 11.]

[Footnote 2: _Ts[)i]h-foo yaen-kwei_, b. dcccclxi. p. 5.]

The Chinese authors, like the Greeks and Arabians, are warm in their praises of the patriotism of the Singhalese sovereigns, and their active exertions for the improvement of the country, and the prosperity of the people.[1] On state occasions, the king, "carried on an elephant, and accompanied by banners, streamers, and tom-toms, rode under a canopy[2], attended by a military guard."[3]

[Footnote 1: Ibid.]

[Footnote 2: The "chatta," or umbrella, emblematic of royalty.]

[Footnote 3: _Leang-shoo_. b. liv. p. 10.]

Throughout all the Chinese accounts, from the very earliest period, there are notices of the manners of the Singhalese, and even minute particulars of their domestic habits, which attest a continued intercourse and an intimate familiarity between the people of the two countries.[1] In this important feature the narratives of the Arabs, who, with the exception of the pilgrimage made with difficulty to Adam's Peak, appear to have known only the sea-coast and the mercantile communities established there, exhibit a marked difference when compared with those of the Chinese; as the latter, in addition to their trading operations in the south of the island, made their way into the interior, and penetrated to the cities in the northern districts. The explanation is to be found in the ident.i.ty of the national wors.h.i.+p attracting as it did the people of China to the sacred island, which had become the great metropolis of their common faith, and to the sympathy and hospitality with which the Singhalese welcomed the frequent visits of their distant co-religionists.

[Footnote 1: This is apparent from the fact that their statements are not confined to descriptions of the customs and character of the male Singhalese, but exhibit internal evidence that they had been introduced to their families, and had had opportunities of noting peculiarities in the customs of the females. They describe their dress, their mode of tying their hair, their treatment of infants and children, the fact that the women as well as the men were addicted to chewing betel, and that they did not sit down to meals with their husbands, but "retired to some private apartments to eat their food."]

This interchange of courtesies was eagerly encouraged by the sovereigns of the two countries. The emperors of China were accustomed to send amba.s.sadors, both laymen and theologians, to obtain images and relics of Buddha, and to collect transcripts of the sacred books, which contained the exposition of his doctrines[1];--and the kings of Ceylon despatched emba.s.sies in return, authorised to reciprocate these religious sympathies and do homage to the imperial majesty of China.

[Footnote 1: _Hiouen-Thsang_, Introd. STANISLAS JULIEN, p. 1.]

The historical notices of the island by the Chinese relative to the period immediately preceding the fourteenth century, are meagre, and confined to a native tradition that "about 400 years after the establishment of the kingdom, the Great Dynasty fell into decay, when there was but one man of wisdom and virtue belonging to the royal house to whom the people became attached: the monarch thereupon caused him to be thrown into prison; but the lock opened of its own accord, and the king thus satisfied of his sacred character did not venture to take his life, but drove him into banishment to India (Teen chuh), whence, after marrying a royal princess, he was recalled to Ceylon on the death of the tyrant, where he reigned twenty years, and was succeeded by his son, _Po-kea Ta-To_."[l] In this story may probably be traced the extinction of the "Great Dynasty" of Ceylon, on the demise of Maha-Sen, and the succession of the Sulu-wanse, or Lower Dynasty, in the person of Kitsiri Maiwan, A.D. 301, whose son, Detu Tissa, may possibly be the _Po-kea Ta-to_ of the Chinese Chronicle.[2]

[Footnote 1: _Leang-shoo_, "History of the Leang Dynasty," b. liv. p.

10.]

[Footnote 2: _Mahawanso_, c. x.x.xvii. p 242. TURNOUR'S _Epitome_, &c., p.

24.]

The visit of Fa Hian, the zealous Buddhist pilgrim, in the fifth century of our era, has been already frequently adverted to.[1] He landed in Ceylon A.D. 412, and remained for two years at Anaraj.a.poora, engaged in transcribing the sacred books. Hence his descriptions are confined almost exclusively to the capital; and he appears to have seen little of the rest of the island. He dwells with delight on the magnificence of the Buddhist buildings, the richness of their jewelled statues, and the prodigious dimensions of the dagobas, one of which, from its alt.i.tude and solidity, was called the "_Mountain without fear_."[2] But what most excited his admiration was his finding no less than 5000 Buddhist priests at the capital, 2000 in a single monastery on a mountain (probably Mihintala), and between 50,000 and 60,000 dispersed throughout the rest of the island.[3] Pearls and gems were the wealth of Ceylon; and from the latter the king derived a royalty of three out of every ten discovered.[4]

[Footnote 1: The _Fo[)e]-Kou[)e] Ki_, or "Description of Buddhist Kingdoms," by FA-HIAN, has been translated by Remusat, and edited by Klaproth and Landresse, 4to. Paris, 1836.]

[Footnote 2: In Chinese, _Woo-wei_.]

[Footnote 3: _Fo[)e]-Kou[)e] Ki_, c. x.x.xviii. pp. 333, 334.]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid._, c. x.x.xvii. p. 328.]