. Two happy years in Ceylon . t, andwhich is the dam to which the lake owes its existence, isabout sixty feet wide on the summit, and about two milesin length. The whole was faced with hewn stone, but theroots of large trees have dislodged the great blocks, andoverthrown this massive masonry. We were close to the ruins of Prakramas audience-hall, and lion-throne, marked by a number of dwarf stonepillars and by a solitary finely sculptured lion with curlymane and twisted claws and tail. He is about 7 feet longby 6 feet 6 inches high. IVe were fortunate in seeing himin the right place, as he was
. Two happy years in Ceylon . t, andwhich is the dam to which the lake owes its existence, isabout sixty feet wide on the summit, and about two milesin length. The whole was faced with hewn stone, but theroots of large trees have dislodged the great blocks, andoverthrown this massive masonry. We were close to the ruins of Prakramas audience-hall, and lion-throne, marked by a number of dwarf stonepillars and by a solitary finely sculptured lion with curlymane and twisted claws and tail. He is about 7 feet longby 6 feet 6 inches high. IVe were fortunate in seeing himin the right place, as he was shortly afterwards removed toColombo, there to grace the museum. His date, in commonwith that of most of the ruins, must be about 1153. On the farther end of the embankment stands a cyclopeanstatue of King Prakrama, sculptured in full relief from amass of dark rock. He is represented reading an ola, ,a long scroll, and the sculptor has not given him a pleasantexpression. The height of the statue is 11 feet 6 THE WATA DkGt. 117 By some accident the upper half of his head was broken andhas been replaced rather on one side. The Government Agent(Sir F. Dickson), who was with us, bade his men climb onto the shoulders of the statue and put it straight. Withundisguised horror they refused to stand on the shouldersof a king, but they climbed up the rock behind him, andwith great difficulty contrived to reach it and do what wasneeded. I found a very attractive spot for a comprehensive sketchat the Wata Dage or round treasure-honse, a circular build-ing of red brick on a raised and terraced mound. It issurrounded by a low wall of huge stone slabs, all coveredwith a sort of diaper pattern of four-leafed flowers, whichis quite unique in my experience of Oriental each slab stands a tall monolithic column withfinely sculptured capital. The terrace wall round the moundis all very richly sculptured with rows of grotesque fat men,lions, and lotus blossoms al
Size: 1287px × 1941px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectsrilank, bookyear1892
