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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
On the 2nd of January, 1874, being the full-moon day of the month Phussa, I was permitted, by the kindness of my friend Kæwiṭiyâgala Unnânsê, to be present at a chapter of priests assembled for the recitation of the Pâtimokkha or office of the confession of priests. The chapter was held in the Sîmâ or consecrated space in the ancient Lohapâsâda, or Brazen Palace, in the city of Anurâdhapura, and under the shadow of the sacred Bo-tree, grown from a branch of the tree at Buddha Gayâ, under which, as tradition relates, the prince Siddhârtha attained to supreme Buddhahood. The branch was sent to Devânampiyatissa, King of Ceylon, by the Emperor Açoka, in the year 288 B.C., now upwards of two thousand years ago. It was in this remarkable spot, under the shadow of the oldest historical tree, and in probably the oldest chapter-house in the world, that it was my good fortune to be present at this service. The building has none of its original magnificence. The colossal stone pillars alone remain as a memorial of the devotion of the kings and people of Ceylon to the religion which was taught them by Mahendra, the great apostle of Buddhism. In place of the nine storeys which these pillars once supported, a few in the centre are now made to carry a poor thatched roof no larger than that of a cotter's hut, and hardly sufficient to protect the chapter from the inclemencies of the weather. Still there was a simple and imposing grandeur in the scene. At the back of some dozen or more of these gigantic pillars were stretched pieces of white calico, to form the sides of the room: the ceiling in like manner was formed by stretching white calico above the pillars to conceal the shabby roof, the bare ground was covered with clean mats, two lamps gave a dim light, the huge columns, grey with age, stood out against the white calico. At the top of the long room thus formed was hung a curtain of bright colours, and through a space left for the entrance were visible, row after row, the pillars of the ancient palace, their broad shadows contrasting with the silvery brightness of the tropical moon.
page 69 note 1 I offer a translation of these stanzas with much hesitation. The three passages beginning “Iti pi so,” “Svâkkhato,” and “Supaṭipanno” are from the Tripiṭaka. The others, though very ancient, bear the same relation to the Pâli of the Buddhist scriptures that the Latin hymns of the middle ages bear to the writings of Virgil. For this reason they have a special interest, but they are very difficult to interpret, and as there is no commentary to them the priests themselves have doubts as to the meaning of some of the words. I have not on this account thought it desirable to omit, them, as I believe they will be new to the learned in Europe, and of interest to those who desire to ascertain the real feeling of the professors of the Buddhist religion.
page 98 note 1 The days of the new and of the full moon.
page 98 note 2 It must not be less than four, vide the Interrogatory on the following stanza.
page 109 note 1 This is supplied by the commentary.