ලංකා විස්තරය -Lanka Wistharaya

සුදු මහත්මයෙක්ගේ කියවීමක් ඇසුරින් ....
This is a little tract ,the part of which seems as if it might be a section of some larger work, but I have never met with it .It contains an account of the buildings at the Bodhi maluwa at Buddha-Gaya ,and the distance of the principal Buddhist cities etc. from it .I have a separate copy of this section which occupies only four pages ,which seem to be about eighty years old. I have only seen this ,and my complete copy ,which seems to from one work by one writer. This first part relates that the Bodhimandala is like a naabhimandala,or omphalos to India . *On the north of the spot where Gauthama became Buddha ,at a gavva off ,is the nigrodha tree known as Ajapala .* From the Ajapala tree to the Neranjara river is 150 fathoms the spot where he accepted the kusa grass ,from that spot 120 fathoms . * The Bodhimandalaya is 20 fathoms off that .On the place where the throne arose, after he became Buddha ,that throne having disappeared,there now is a seat four cubits and a span in size .From that at eleven cubits off ,is a seated image of the Buddha ,upon a throne, ten cubits high .Over that is a pavilion ,eighteen fathoms square ,and thirty five fathoms high . *Between that and the Vajrasana throne is three cubits . *The Bodhi three is three fathoms and a cubit in circumference ,and is 25 fathoms high . * off the five great branches the stump of the southern branches sent to Lanka is a short cubit long.From the place where he fixed his eyesight as a gaze offering ,is nine fathoms . *The Ruwan Sakmana or Golden cloister is five fathoms to the north of the Bo tree. *The Ruwan ge or Golden house in 30 fathoms north west of the tree . *The Ajapala tree is south east of the tree to the south .The Rajayathana tree is a drum’s sound off also .On the south east is the scene of the duskara kriya,or straining,that is after Buddhaship ,and it is a cock’s crow off the tree . *To the east of the tree is the Neranjana river, at 509 fathoms off .The width of the river is the sound of a bullock’s lowing. *On the south east of the tree is the place where Dukula pandith lived as an ascetic ,and at two days journey off .*The Vankagiri is a three days journey off -direction not stated .The pansala where Vessanthara bodhisath lived is Sixty pathoms off the pansala of Manthri Devi.*The pond is 22 fathoms off the pansala .At the rock near the pond is the Bodhisath footprint ,two cubits long .The width of the pond is five fathoms ,and it is twenty fathoms and a short cubits sleep .Rajagaha is three days journey north east off the Bo tree .In the midst of that city on the top of the Pandawa rock is the palace of King Bimbisara .The place where the Bodhisath ate his alms ,is a drum’s beat southeast of that palace .The palace where the elephant Dhanapala was subdued is a drum’s sound to the north east of the Pandawa rock .Dhanapala is better known as Nalagiri .On the south east ,the road to the Gijjakuta is a drum’s sound off the spot.There Devidath thera rolled the stone down .From Magadha nuwara to Jayathira is 30 days journey (this is obscure in my copy ):(තිස් දවසින් ගමනින )From Jayathura city ,Kalinga Nuwara is a seven dayes journey to the south.At present a day’s journey is understood by Sinhalese to be six to seven gavvas,or 24 to 28 miles .Other towns enumerated in the same way.I have no clue to the source of the information here ,but it has the appearance of being a genuine record ,and probably translated from the colophon of some Pali work ,in which the translator took no interest .

The second part then states that Kalani ,in Ceylon ,is 2800 gavaas off jethavanaraama in India ???.It next states that during the rule of Ravana , his palace was surrounded with the salt ocean like a moat ,and had seven loha-pavu ,or bronze ramparts ,and eights gates ,It had 56 gopuras,entrance towers .and seven great palaces for the king,besides 25 for his relations .Owing to his sins his city was submerged .The flood in the reign of Kalani -Tissa is also related ,and the submergence of nine lesser islands ,and 29 mudal ratas,or revenue districts ,and 53,000 villages.The division of Ceylon into the the three kindoms ,Pihiti ,Maya , Ruhunu is noticed,whence ,the author states ,came Tri-Sinhala .The divisions of these are then given as 28 for Maya ,42 for Pihity,and 47 for Ruhunu ,but unfortunately some of the divisions of each rata are enumerated .

Anuradhapura is described ;it was four gavvas square ,with the royal palace in the center ,and in four great streets ,Chandra-vanka ,Vali -maha -vithiya,Hinguvan vithiya,and Rajamaha vithiya.

The present work appears to be about three centuries old,but it would seem that some earlier author ,having secured the first potion ,which we may call Bhodhimandala varnanawa ,and translated it ,enlarged it into a little book by further details regarding Ceylon .In these details there is no allusion which would apply to Ceylon subsequent to the reign of Kasyapa V,about A.D 900 .Polonaruwa ,the later capital ,is not mentioned, and the enumeration of districts shows very imperfect acquaintance with the outlying districts ,suggestive that the list was compiled during a period of foreign aggression .The names of the divisions suggest that the present authorship followed a manuscript that had become unintelligible to him,for not only are more than half the names omitted ,but several are given in forms that seems quite corrupt ,to a degree that would not arise from hasty writing .I should wish to collate the manuscript with others before using this material to correct the Siri Laka kada ayuru ,but it is seems to me that the latter is a latter work ,and that better copies of the present one ,would throw increased light upon the early divisions.Thus Velagamnuwara ,for Velgam in the Sirilak kada ayuru ,explains itself as correct ,for it is doutless the Valikamamdivision of modern Jaffna.Yavagachcheriya for Chava-gachcheri is probably an old form of the name derivedfrom an ancient Javanese fort or factory.The Deyiyagal danavva given here for Degal-rata of Ruhunu also seems an older and more correct reading ,whilst amongst names not given in the other work ,the present book quotes a Kandapana rata of Ruhuna ,which sounds as if uncorrupted .My copy a has 8 leaves ,and is about 80 years old.

නමෝ තස්ස .....තවද දඹදිවට නාභිමන්ඩ්ලයක් බඳුවූ අනන්තපරිමාන බුදුවරයාණන් බුදුවූ බෝධිමන්ඩ්ලයෙහි අප මහාගෞතම රාජෝත්තමයාණන් වහන්සේ බුදුවූ ස්ථානයට උතුරු දික් භාගයෙන් නිග්‍රෝධවෘක්ෂයට ගවුවෙකි ........

***පූර්ව ශ්‍රී මහා බෝධීන් වහන්සේ බුදුන් පිටදුන් වර්ෂයට උතුරු දිශා නියම ගම් සිට සුජාතාවන් කිරිපිඬු පිළිගන්වාටා ආ තැන සිට නීග්‍රෝධ වූ වෘක්ෂ මුලයට ගව්වෙකි .

***සනික්රගෝ වෘක්ෂයේ සිට අජපල් වෘක්ෂයට සිට නේරංජනා ගංගාවට එකසිය පනස් බබයෙනි (150).

***නේරංජනා මේ ගංගාවේ හි සිට කුසතණ පිළිගත් තැනට එකසිය බබයෙකි (100).

***දකුණු දිග කුසතන පිළිගත් තැනසිට බෝධි මණ්ඩලයට විසි බබයෙකි.(20).

***වජ්ජාසන පාදයෙහි සිට කුසතන ශපතන් සිට පොලොව පැලී නැගී (8) අට රියන් වජ්ජසනය රූඩව හිඳ මාර පරාජය කල්පය අතත් ස්ථානා වා නැතුව ආසනයාසතෙරියන්වී වී හිද හීය නා..

ඇත් පාරලී වනයේ සිට උතුරුදිග විශාලා මහනුවරට එක දවසක් ගමනකි .දාගැබ ඇති බෝධි මණ්ඩලයට බස්නාහිර දිසාවෙන් පැනොම ගුහාවට සතර දවසින් ගමනකි .ගංගාව පළල ගව්වෙකි .මේ ගංගාවට බටහිරට බරණැස් නුවර දස දවසින් ගමනකි .මේ නුවරට දෙගව්වන් ප්‍රමාණ තැන ඉසිපතනාරමයයි .... ඉන්දියාවේ මෙහෙමද?

පොතපත ඇසුරින් ........