Two happy years in Ceylon . the white woman from a far-away islewho dares to invade his sanctuary. Beside the broken statue lies an oblong stone marked withdiamond-shaped holes. A similar stone lies in the outer quadrangleof the Temple of the Tooth. They were probably yoga stones, onwhich devotees might gaze fixedly to intensify their meditations. The circular brick wall is only about twenty feet in height, buton its summit a noble banyan has established itself, and throws outsuch a network of great white roots, reaching to the base of themound, that its roots are in truth as conspicuous as th
Two happy years in Ceylon . the white woman from a far-away islewho dares to invade his sanctuary. Beside the broken statue lies an oblong stone marked withdiamond-shaped holes. A similar stone lies in the outer quadrangleof the Temple of the Tooth. They were probably yoga stones, onwhich devotees might gaze fixedly to intensify their meditations. The circular brick wall is only about twenty feet in height, buton its summit a noble banyan has established itself, and throws outsuch a network of great white roots, reaching to the base of themound, that its roots are in truth as conspicuous as the wide-reachingarms, which were the chosen playground of a large troop of frolic-some monkeys of all ages and sizes, jumping, swinging, chattering,scolding, grimacing, as if they were trying to show off their accom-plishments to the strange invader of their sanctuary. Several hadthe neatest little babies, which cuddled in the maternal arm, rode onher back, or held on by her long tail, as the case might be. See Chapter - ^ <: o POLLANARUA 391 The clear blue of the sky forming a background lo the warm richreds of the brickwork, the white banyan stems and stonework, andthe greens of foliage and grass, made a pleasant scene, and presentlya solitary priest ascended the steps, and his brown skin and saffrondrapery and palm-leaf fan added just the needful touch of yellowlight. To the right of the picture rises the Sat-mahal-prasada, orPalace of .Seven Storeys. It is a small building in very perfectpreservation, but it is only 28 feet 6 inches square at the base, andthere is nothing to indicate what it was used for; possibly a cell forsome fiinciful priest. Between it and the \Vata Dage lies a very remarkable huge i)lockof stone known as the Galpota or stone book. It measures 28 feetin length by 5 in width, and averages 2 feet 6 inches in depth ; butonly the top and the four sides are hewn so as to represent a giganticbook. For some reason unknown. King Kirti Nissanga caused
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectsrilank, bookyear1901
