The ruined cities of Ceylon / by Henry W. Cave.

  • Henry William Cave
Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The ruined cities of Ceylon / by Henry W. Cave. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    commanded his army of strong men to ransack the kingdom of Lanka, even as a wild fire doth a forest. Thereupon these wicked disturbers of the peace stalked about the land hither and thither crying out boastfully, ‘ Lo! we are the gaints of Kerala.’ And they robbed the inhabi- tants of their garlands and their jewels and every- thing that they had. They cut off also the hands and feet of the people and despoiled their dwell- ings. Their oxen, buffaloes, and other beasts they bound up and carried away forcibly. The rich men they tied up with cord and tortured, and took possession of all their wealth and brought them to poverty. They broke down the image houses and destroyed many cetiyas. They took up their dwellings in the viharas and beat the pious laymen therein. They flogged children and sorely distressed the five ranks of the religious orders. They compelled the people to carry burdens and made them labour heavily. Many books also of great excellence did they loose from the cords that bound them and cast them away in divers places. Even the great and lofty cetiyas they spared not, but utterly destroyed them, and caused a great many bodily relics which were unto them as their lives to disappear thereby. Alas! alas! Even so did those Tamil gaints, like the giants of Mara, destroy the kingdom and religion of the land. And then they surrounded the city of Polonnaruwa on every side, and took
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