Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History Part 85

[Footnote 1: _Rajaratnacari_, p. 73.]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., p. 60.]

[Footnote 3: _Rajavali_, p. 214.]

[Footnote 4: B.C. 204. _Rajavali_, p. 190.]

[Footnote 5: A.D. 1267, _Rajartnacari_, p. 104.]

[Footnote 6: _Rajaratnacari_, pp. 104, 134.]

_Bells_.--Bells were hung in the palaces[1], and bell-metal is amongst the gifts to the temples recorded on the rock at Pollanarrua, A.D.

1187.[2]

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxi. pp. 128, 129.]

[Footnote 2: TURNOUR'S _Epitome, &c.,_ Appx. p. 91.]

_Bronze_.--Bronze was cast into figures of Buddha[1], and the _Mahawanso_, describing the reign of Dhatu-Sena, A.D. 459, makes mention of "sixteen bronze statues of virgins having the power of locomotion."[2]

[Footnote 1: A.D. 275. _Mahawanso_, ch. x.x.xvii. p. 236; _Rajavali_, p.

l35.]

[Footnote 2: _Mahawanso_, ch. x.x.xviii. p. 257.]

_Lead_.--Lead was used during the wars of Dutugaimunu and Elala, and poured molten over the attacking elephants during the siege of Wijittapoora.[1] As lead is not a native product of Ceylon, it must have been brought thither from Ava or Malwa.

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxv. p. 152.]

_Gold and Silver._--Ceylon, like the continent of India, produces no silver and gold, save in the scantiest quant.i.ties.[1] The historical books, in recording the splendour of the temples and their riches, and the wealth lavished by the kings upon the priesthood, describe in perpetually recurring terms, the mult.i.tude of ornaments and vessels made of silver and gold. In early times the most precious of these were received as gifts from the princes of India, and in the second century before Christ the _Mahawanso_ records the arrival of s.h.i.+ps in the south of the island, "laden with golden utensils." The import of these might possibly have been a relic of the early trade with the Phoenicians, whom Homer, in a pa.s.sage quoted by Strabo (l. xvi. c. 2. s. 24.), describes as making these cups, and carrying across the sea for sale in the great emporiums visited by these s.h.i.+ps.[2] A variety of articles of silver are spoken of at very early periods. Dutugaimunu, when building the great dagoba, caused the circle of its base to be described by "a pair of compa.s.ses made of silver, and pointed with gold;"[3] parasols, vases, caranduas and numerous other regal or religious paraphernalia, were made from this precious material. Gold was applied in every possible form and combination to the decoration and furnis.h.i.+ng of the edifices of Buddhism;--"trees of gold with roots of coral,"[4] flowers formed of gems with stems of silver[5], fringes of bullion mixed with pearls; umbrellas, s.h.i.+elds, chains, and jewelled statuettes[6], are described with enthusiasm by the annalists of the national wors.h.i.+p.

[Footnote 1: Amongst the miracles which signalised the construction of the Ruanwelle dagoba at Anaraj.a.poora was the sudden appearance in a locality to the north-east of the capital of "sprouts" of gold above and below the ground, and of silver in the vicinity of Adam's Peak.--_Mahawanso_, ch. xxviii. pp. 166, 167.]

[Footnote 2: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxii. p. 153. [Greek]--Iliad, xxiii. 745.]

[Footnote 3: _Mahawanso_, ch. x.x.x. p. 172.]

[Footnote 4: Red coral, equal in its delicacy of tint to the highly-prized specimens from the Mediterranean, is found in small fragments on the sea-sh.o.r.e north of Point-de-Galle.]

[Footnote 5: _Mahawanso_, ch. x.x.x. p. 179.]

[Footnote 6: _Mahawanso_, ib. p. 180.]

The abundance of precious stones naturally led to their being extensively mounted in jewelry, and in addition to those found in Ceylon, diamonds[1] and lapis lazuli [2] (which must have been brought thither from India and Persia) are cla.s.sed with the sapphire and the topaz, which are natives of the island.

[Footnote 1: _Rajaratnacari_, p. 61.]

[Footnote 2: _Mahawanso_, ch. x.x.x. p. 182.]

The same pa.s.sion existed then, as now, for covering the person with ornaments; gold, silver, and gems were fas.h.i.+oned into rings for the ears, the nose, the fingers, and toes, into plates for the forehead, and chains for the neck, into armlets, and bracelets, and anklets, and into decorations of every possible form, not only for the women, but for men, and, above all, for the children of both s.e.xes. The poor, unable to indulge in the luxury of precious metals, found subst.i.tutes in sh.e.l.ls and gla.s.s; and the extravagance of the taste was defended on the ground that their brilliancy served to avert the malignity of "the evil eye"

from the wearer to the jewel.

_Gilding_.--Gilding was likewise understood by the Singhalese in all its departments, both as applied to the baser metals and to other substances--wood-work was gilded for preaching places[1] as was also copper for roofing, cement for decorating walls, and stone for statuary and carving.[2]

[Footnote 1: _Rajaratnacari_, p. 60.]

[Footnote 2: Rock inscription at Pollanarrua, A.D. 187--196.]

_Coin_.--Although the Singhalese through their sacred writings had a knowledge of coined money, and of its existence in India from a period little subsequent to the death of Gotama Buddha[1]; and although their annalists give the names of particular coins in circulation[2], at various times, no Singhalese money has yet been discovered of a date antecedent to the eleventh century. The Chinese in the fifteenth century spoke with admiration of the gold pieces struck by the kings of Ceylon, which they found in circulation on their frequent visits to the emporium at Galle[3]; but of these only a few very rare examples have been preserved, one of which bears the effigy and name of Lokaiswaira[4], who usurped the throne during a period of anarchy about A.D. 1070. Numbers of small copper coins of the eleventh and twelfth centuries have from time to time been dug up both in the interior and on the coast of the island[5]. A quant.i.ty of these which were found in 1848 by Lieutenant Evatt, when in command of a pioneer corps near the village of Ambogamoa, were submitted to Mr. Vaux of the British Museum, and prove to belong to the reign of Wijayo Bahu, A.D. 1071, Prakrama I., A.D. 1153, the Queen Lilawatte, A.D. 1197, King Sahasamallawa, A.D. 1200, Darmasoka, A.D.

1208, and Bhuwaneka Bahu, A.D. 1303. These coins have one and all the same device on the obverse,--a rude standing figure of the Raja holding the _trisula_ in his left hand, and a flower in the right. His dress is a flowing robe, the folds of which are indicated rather than imitated by the artist; and on the reverse the same figure is seated, the name in Nagari characters being placed beside the face[6].

[Footnote 1: The _Mahawanso_ mentions the existence of coined metals in India in the tenth year of the reign of Kalasoka, a century from the death of Buddha, ch. iv. p. 15. According to Hardy, in the most ancient laws of the Buddhists the distinction is recognised between coined money and bullion,--_Eastern Monachism,_ vol. vii. p. 66.]

[Footnote 2: The coins mentioned in the _Mahawanso, Rajaratnacari, and Rajavali_ are as follows: B.C. 161, the _kahapanan (Mahawanso_, ch. x.x.x.

pp. 157, 175), which TURNOUR says was a gold coin worth ten _ma.s.sakan_ or _ma.s.sa_. The latter are "the pieces of gold formerly current in Ceylon," a heap of which, according to the _Rajaratnacari_ (p. 48), was seen by King Bhatia Tissa when he was permitted to penetrate into the chamber of the Ruanwelle dagoba, A.D. 137. The silver ma.s.sa, according to TURNOUR, was valued at eightpence. These are repeatedly mentioned in the _Rajaratnacari_ (A.D. 201, p. 60, A.D. 234, p. 62, A.D. 1262, p.

102, A.D. 1301, p. 107, A.D. 1462, p. 113). The _Rajavali_ speaks of "gold ma.s.sa" as in circulation in the time of Dutugaimunu, B.C. 161 (p.

201). The word _masa_ in Singhalese means "pulse," or any description of "beans;" and it seems not improbable that the origin of the term as applied to money may be traced to the practice in the early Indian coinage of stamping small _lumps_ of metal to give them authentic currency. It can only be a coincidence that the Roman term for an ingot of gold was "_ma.s.sa_" (Pliny, L. x.x.xiii. c. 19). These Singhalese ma.s.sa were probably similar to the "punched coins," having rude stamps without effigies, and rarely even with letters, which have been turned up at Kanooj, Oujein, and other places in Western India. A copper coin is likewise mentioned in the fourteenth century, in the _Rajavali_, where it is termed _carooshawpa_; the value of which UPHAM, without naming his authority, says was "about a pice and a half."--p. 136.]

[Footnote 3: _Woo heo peen_ "Records of the Ming Dynasty," A.D. 1522, B.

lxviii. p. 5. _Suh Wan heen tung kaou_, "Antiquarian Researches," B.

ccx.x.xvi. p. 11.]

[Footnote 4: Two gold coins of Lokaiswaira are in the collection of the British Museum, and will be found described by Mr. VAUX in the 16th vol.

of the _Numismatic Chronicle_, p. 121.]

[Footnote 5: There is a Singhalese coin figured in DAVY'S _Ceylon_, p.

245, the legend on which is turned upside down, but when reversed it reads "_Sri Pa-re-kra-ma Bahu_."]

[Footnote 6: _Numismatic Chronicle_, vol. xvi. p. 124]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The Kandyans, by whom these coins are frequently found, give the copper pieces the name of Dambedenia _challies_, and tradition, with perfect correctness, a.s.signs them to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when the kings of that period are believed to have had a mint at Dambedenia.

A quant.i.ty of coins similar in every respect to those dug up in Ceylon have been found at Dipaldinia or Amarawati, on the continent of India, near the mouth of the Kistna; a circ.u.mstance which might be accounted for by the frequent intercourse between Ceylon and the coast, but which is possibly referable to the fact recorded in the _Mahawanso_ that Prakrama I., after his successful expedition against the King of Pandya, caused money to be coined in his own name before retiring to Ceylon.[1]

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. lxxvi. pp. 298, 299, UPHAM's _Trans_. The circ.u.mstance is exceedingly curious of coins of Prakrama, "identical"

with those found at Dambedenia, in Ceylon, having also been discovered at Dipaldinia, on the opposite continent; and it goes far to confirm the accuracy of the _Mahawanso_ as to the same king having coined money in both places. Those found in the latter locality form part of the Mackenzie Collection, and have been figured in the _Asiat. Researches_, xvii. 597, and afterwards by Mr. PRINSEP in the _Journ. of the Asiat.

Soc. of Bengal_, vi. 301. See also a notice of Ceylon coins, in the _Journ. As. Soc. Beng._ iv. 673, vi. 218; CASIE CHITTY, in the _Journ.

of the Ceylon Asiat. Soc.,_ 1847, p. 9, has given an account of a h.o.a.rd of copper coins found at Calpentyn in 1839; and Mr. Justice STARKE, in the same journal, p. 149, has given a _resume_ of the information generally possessed as to the ancient coins of the island. PRINSEP's paper on _Ceylon Coins_ will be found in vol. i. of the recent reprint of his _Essays on Indian Antiquities_, p. 419. Lond. 1858.]

_Hook-money_.--No ancient silver coin has yet been found, but specimens are frequently brought to light of the _ridis_, pieces of twisted silver wire, which from their being sometimes bent with a considerable curve have been called "_Fish-hook money_." These are occasionally impressed with a legend, and for a time the belief obtained that they were a variety of ring-money peculiar to Ceylon.[1] Of late this error has been corrected; the letters where they occur have been shown to be not Singhalese or Sanskrit, but Persian, and the tokens themselves have been proved to belong to Laristan on the Persian Gulf, from the chief emporium of which, Gambroon, they were brought to Ceylon in the course of Indian commerce; chiefly by the Portuguese, who are stated by VAN CARDAEN to have introduced them in great quant.i.ties into Cochin and the ports of Malabar.[2] There they were circulated so freely that an edict of Prakrama enumerates the _ridi_ amongst the coins in which the taxes were a.s.sessed on land.[3]

[Footnote 1: This error may be traced to the French commentator on RIBEYRO's _History of Ceylon_, who describes the fish-hook money in use in the kingdom of Kandy, whilst the Portuguese held the low country, as so simple in its form that every man might make it for himself: "Le Roy de Candy avoit aussi permis a ses peuples de se servir d'une _monnoye_ que chacun peut fabriquer."--Ch. x. p. 81.]

[Footnote 2: "Les larins sont tout-a-fait commodes et necessaires dans les Indes, surtout pour acheter du poivre a Cochin, ou l'on en fait grand etat."--_Voyage aux Indes Orientales._ Amsterdam, A.D. 1716, vol.

vi. p. 626.]