dition to them of a promise to grant the request of should complete the stanza: වන බඹරා මලනොතලාරොණටව මලදෙදරාපනගලවාගිය සෙටෙ -- any who Kalidas, not Rishi Kalidaas, the "Shakespeare of the East," who during this reign visited Ceylon, acquired the native Singhalese, and made accessions to the literature of this Island by his own compositions;-invited perhaps by the attractions of the lady to whom we have already referred, was once spending a day with her, when he saw the above lines and that which followed them. The poet, to whom the pen of royalty was perceptible, could not be long in conceiving the comparison, which the prince with a sense of delicacy had failed to institute; and at once completed the stanza by superscribing, (as the genius of the Singhalese language very frequently admits) instead of subjoining the two following lines: Poet...සිසතඹරා සියතඹරා සියස වෙ නි On resorting to the roseate receptacle for the sake of its sweets, The forest bee got to the honey without bruising the flower, VERSIFIED. "Inthralled by blushing sweets; their power shall keep The anxious mind from rest and eyes from sleep. * Though closed at eve, the glowing Lotus see Unhurt at dawn release the captive bee." The above, we regret, is not a literally correct translation of this elegant but difficult verse. The difficulty arises not from any supposed difference of dialect from the one now in * The pink Lotus is meant. use, but from the alliterations employed, the same word conveying at each repetition a different meaning-a fact with which the reader is, perhaps, already familiar. Hence the difficulty of deciphering its meaning in a language which has but few particles, and fewer auxiliary verbs, and whose elegance in poetry consists chiefly in the elision and permutation of letters, must be obvious. After considerable inquiry and discussion amongst the pandits of the present day, we submit the following with much diffidence, as the meaning which we attach to the stanza. "1, As the relation of the Sun (or King of the Solar race) in the company of the Lotus-eyed beauty-2, was without full sleep to his eyes; (so)-3, The forest bee which reached its sweets without bruising the flower (whilst it was open)-4, escaped with life when the flower had expanded (escaped not with life until the flower had again expanded.")† It will be perceived that there is no difference of dialect between the above and the poetry now in use. And this circumstance would have led us to doubt the veracity of the historian, in reference to its date, but for divers confirmatory proofs which we derive from other sources. With respect to the apparent similarity in style, it is to be observed that the ancient poetry generally consisted of blank verse, and that this was so constructed, that, as in Milton's Paradise Lost, between it and modern *The above translation may be rendered free by the omission of the italicised passages. If the bee sat on the flower whilst it was open, and escaped it not until the flower had again expanded, it follows as a matter of course, that in the interval of time between these two periods the flower faded, which the Royal Poet intended to convey. Mr. Knighton's poetical English version of the stanza nearly approaches ours in the text, and is as follows: "By Beauty's grasp in turmoil uncomposed He's kept a prisoner with eyes unclosed; But if all night the Manel keeps the bee, The morn beholds him gay, unhurt and free." rhymes we perceive a wide difference. But where rhymes had been adopted, even in ancient times, the language was nearly the same as that which presents itself now. If the reader be at the pains to examine the Sidath' Sangarawa, he will find that the blank verse in which it is composed, is apparently another dialect, although it is not 80 in fact, whereas the rhymes which occur in it (e. g. the one at the conclusion of the declensions) nearly approximate, if they be not identical with, the very style now used by the Singhalese. To return however to the history of the verse under consideration. The courtezan, with a view to obtain the promised reward, murdered the poet, and represented to the King that she had herself completed the stanza. The King required but little reflection to detect the falsehood, and discover the murder of a friend who had suddenly disappeared. Inquiries were instituted, and the body of the murdered pandit was found. The end was tragical! The King "with tears Watering the ground, and with his sighs the air Frequenting, sent from heart contrite, in sign "prostrate fell" upon the blazing funeral pile of the murdered poet, and sacrificed his own life for that of Kalidas! According to tradition this sad occurrence happened at a place called Hath-bòdiwatta at Anurajapura; and some suppose, from the similarity of the name which they find given to a spot in the Matura District, that Kumaradàs died in the latter place. But this we apprehend is a mistake. We now pass over several Sovereigns, amongst whom is Silaakàla, A. D. 534, (when the Wytulian heresy, again introduced, was exposed by a priest of the name of Johty Pala,) and Aggrabodi, a. D. 589, during whose reign twelve poets of great genius flourished in his Court, but of whose history nothing is known. Judging at least from the style of Pradeepikawa and Amawatura, which have been handed down to us, and which furnish us with no other information beyond the name of their author, Gurulugomi, we may assign them a place at this period of our narrative. These books are upon the whole written in a very chaste style, and are of the highest authority amongst us at the present day. They may indeed be regarded as two of our classics. We select the following from Amawatura, which treats of THE MIND, THE CHIEF Agent of Sin. මෙසේ බුදුන් වැඳ එකත්පස්වහු උපාලි මහසිටු වහන්සේ දීර්ඝ තපස් විමෙයට අය හෝයි කීහ,, අයමහ සිටයි වදාලෝ උහු හා උපන්කතායෙක් ඇත හෝයි කීහ,, ඇත මහ සිටැ යි වදාලෝ,, කුමන කතායෙක් හෝයි කීහ,, බුදුහු උහුහා උපකතාතාවදා ලෝ එසඳ උපාලි මහ සිටු දි ඝිතපස් විහට සාධුකාර දී සතරහු ගේ සස්න දත්තේ නම්ගේ ය ලාමකවූ මනෝ දණ්ඩය මහත් වූකාය දණ්ඩය හා සමවන්නේ නොවෙයි පවු කිරීමට කාය දණ්ඩය ම මහා සාවද්යය වාග්දණය මනෝදණ්ඩය ළස්වන්නේ නොටෙයි කී බුදුහු ඉදින් මහසිට බොල් රැසකහීදි වූ ක නුවක් සෙයි න්නොසැවිසැබව පිටා සිටිනේ වී නම් තාහාතතා කරම්හයි වදා ලෝ වහන්සේ මම් සැබැට පිහිටාසිටිමි වදාරනු මැනවැයිකි,, කියග මහසිට මේ ලෝකයෙහි සිහිල් දිය නොගෙණ හුනු දිය වලඳක රහනුවටෙක් බලවත්ලෙක්ව සිහිල්දිය නොලදින් මෙලේ වී නම්නිගණ්ඨනාථ පුත්ර උන් කොහි උපදියෙයි වදාලහ,, වහන්සේ මනස් සත්ය නම් දෙවි කෙනෙක් ඇති ඔවුන් කෙරේ උපද්දීමනස්සී බැඳී මෙලෙහා යසිකීහ. ඔහු සිහිල් දිය වලඳ නොකරනු කුම ද්වයත්,, නුවටහුයෙහි වී ඇත යන සිතින් සිහිල් දිය නොගත්තී එහි කුඩාදිය බිඳු කුඩාපන්දුවහයෙහි මහත් දිය බිඳු මහත්ත්පනුවහසෙ තිමෙසේ පන්දු වහයන සිතින් සිහිල් දියවලඳ නොකර න නුවට හට පිත්තද්වරයෙක් ඇති ඔහු හට හුණු දිය බොනු හෝ අත්පාදෝනේ හෝ පෂේක කරනුහෝ නොරිසිසෙයි රෝගබලවත්වෙයි සී හිල්දිය උව මැනව එයින් රෝගය සංහිඳෙයි මේ වනාහීහුනුදියම වලඳ කෙරෙයි. ඒ නොලද කලකාඩි වලඳ කෙරෙයි සිතින් වූ කල සිහිල් පැන් බියටිදුවෙයි වලඳකටටිද්වෙයි එයින් ඔහුගේමනෝ දණ්ඩ එහිම බිඳෙයි හේකාය දණ්ඩ වාග් දණ්ඩ රන්නේමම් සිහිල් A පැන්බියටියෙම්මට සිහිල් පෑ දෙවයි කියන්නටනොනිස්ස ඔහු මෙසේ රක්නා ලද කාය දණ්ඩ වාග් ඥණ්ඩයෝ චුනිහෝ පිලිසඳ හෝ අාන්නට නොහැක්කාහා මනෝදණඃ යචනාහි බුන් නේද චුනිද් පිලි සැඳුද් අරාමය මෙසේ දුර්වල වන බැවින් කාය දණ්ඩ වාග් දණ්ඩයෝලාමකයහ මනෝදණඩයම බලවත් වේ. මහත් වේ මෙසේ උපාලිගහපතිහි බුන්මනෝදණ්ඩ ඇති නුවටහු මනස් සත්යනම් දෙවි කෙරෙහි උපද්දීයිකිකල මහසිට සිහිළුලවා කියතාකා සදණ්ඩ මහතැයි පලමු කිබ සහ දැන් මනෝදණ්ඩ මහ තැයි පසුව කියන බස හා ඝටිත නොවෙයි වදාලෝ "Having thus accosted Budha, and having taken his respectful distance, Upali the great Situ * inquired, ‘Lord, has Deerga the Ascetic been here?' Budha answered, · Maha Situ, he has.' ' Was there any conversation with him?' asked the Situ. Budha replied, 'there was.' 'What might that conversation be?' inquired the nobleman. Budha then related the whole of the conversation with the ascetic. † Whereupon Upali Maha Situ, having expressed * Situ, equivalent to an English Baronet, was a rank which was conferred by the Sovereign on account of the great wealth of a person. It may be considered as a grade of the peerage of our forefathers. A person who had this rank conferred on him had access to the Royal Household, and was altogether one (as we gather from books) who controlled the councils of the state. Since the conversation is not given here, a few words may be necessary in explanation of the text. On reference to the Medum sangiya, the reader will find the following to be the substance of that conversation. The ascetic in question, who was the disciple of a false Teacher named Nighantanathaputtra, who assumed the character of a Budha, entered into a dispute with Gowtama as to the means by which sins are committed.' Deerga was ignorant of Karma (sin), and stated that the appellation for it with which he was acquainted was Danda. Gowtama, not wishing to quarrel about words, inquired from the ascetic with how many dandas be was acquainted. He replied Three, 1st of body, 2d of mind, and 3d of word.' Gowtama, whose doctrines were the same in this respect, except in the substitution of Karma for Danda, wished to know which of the three was the greatest incentive to the commission of sin. The ascetic replied, Kaya-danda or the instrument of body.' Gowtama disputed the correctness of this doctrine, and laboured to prove that the chief instrument for the commission of sin was the mind or Mano-danda; but the ascetic did not yield to the doctrines of Gowtama, and departed maintaining his own opinion in the matter. |