A handbook for travellers in India, Burma, and Ceylon . . coming more prosperousand healthy. The newly constructedrailway is expected to re-vivify thismoribund part of the Island. Stepsare being taken to encourage thegrowth of cotton. The main objects of interest atAnuradhapura may be divided intoDagabas, Monastic buildings, andPoktinas or Tanks. (See FergussonsEastern Ajrhitecture, i. 22S-242.) I. Dagabas.—A dagaba is a bell-shaped construction erected over somerelic of Buddha or a disciple (see ). It is always solid, and is sur-mounted by a cubical structure calledthe//, which again i
A handbook for travellers in India, Burma, and Ceylon . . coming more prosperousand healthy. The newly constructedrailway is expected to re-vivify thismoribund part of the Island. Stepsare being taken to encourage thegrowth of cotton. The main objects of interest atAnuradhapura may be divided intoDagabas, Monastic buildings, andPoktinas or Tanks. (See FergussonsEastern Ajrhitecture, i. 22S-242.) I. Dagabas.—A dagaba is a bell-shaped construction erected over somerelic of Buddha or a disciple (see ). It is always solid, and is sur-mounted by a cubical structure calledthe//, which again is surmounted by alofty spire. The number of dagabas inAnuradhapura is countless, and theyvary in size from the enormousmasses of the four great dagabas totiny objects barely two or three feetin diameter. The four chief dagabasare— I. The Ruanwelli Dagaba, com-pleted about 90 Itsdiameter is 252ft., but it does not retain its originalaltitude, having been much injured bythe Tamils in dilTerent invasions. Itis now only iSo ft. in height. The ^Mile. [To face V- 494 ROUTE 7. KANDY TO ANURADHAPURA 495 lower part of the structure and theplatform on which it stands werecleared about the year 1873, and thevarious fragments of the so-calledfour chapels facing the cardinalpoints were put together and restored. 2. The Abhayagiriya (Mount ofSafety) is the largest dagaba of diameter is 327 ft., and its heightwhen perfect was about 270 ft. It hasnow lost great part of the pinnacle,and its present height is only about260 ft. It stands on a grand pavedplatform, eight acres in extent, raisedsome feet above the surroundingenclosure. The enormous mass ofbricks in this structure baffles concep-tion. Sir Emerson Tennent calculatesthat they are sufficient to constructa town of the size of Ipswich orCoventry, or to build a wall lO from London to ti on the summit having shownsymptoms of falling, it and whatremained of the stump of the spireabove it have been put i
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