Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c14: Appendix to Chapter V. Māyāmataya
Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c14
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Contents
- c14.25 — 6 parts
Appendix to Chapter V. Māyāmataya
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The *Mayāmataya* is, according to the account which the unknown writer gives of his work, a translation into Sinhalese of an original work written in Sanskrit *ślokas*, made in *Śaka* 1756 (A.D. 1837). The authorship of the original work is ascribed to the *ṛishis*; its date is quite uncertain, but it is probably not less than several centuries old, and contains matter that may be much older. The work is intended for architects, but it is rather an astrological handbook and guide to the reading of omens than a manual of craftsmanship Maya-like the Sāriputra or the Vaijayantaya. The work is badly arranged, and full of contra-dictions and redundancies, and even considered apart from these defects, appears to contain much that is puerile and superstitious. The chief subjects dealt with are the propitiation of nature spirits who may be injured or offended at various stages of the work, practical advice as to the planning of a house and laying out of a town, and information as to auspicious and inauspicious omens, and astrological information as to what are favourable times for beginning the different kinds of work. The Sinhalese builder is still careful to begin his work at an auspicious hour, and believes that the neglect of this precaution would be disastrous. But the elaborate ceremonies connected with the felling of the ‘auspicious post’ (magul kapa) are never now observed in the case of ordinary houses, and even in the eighteenth century they would only have been observed in the case of very important buildings, and when felling the ȩhala gaha for the perahera.*
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The injunction to avoid a hollow tree for the magul kapa reminds us of the beautiful story in the jataka book, the Kusanāḷi Jataka,† of which the gist is as follows:
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The Bōdhisat was born once as a dēva that dwelt in a clump of kusa grass in the king’s garden at Benāres. In the same garden there grew a beautiful Wishing-tree, with a straight stem and spreading branches, and the king loved it. In it dwelt one who had been a king of dēvas and was now reborn as a tree-dēvī; and the Bōdhisat was her great friend. Now the palace roof was a king-post roof, and the main pillar had grown shaky. The royal carpenters were ordered to replace it with another; but they could find no tree good enough, except the beautiful Wishing-tree. They came to the king and told him that they feared to fell this sacred tree. But he ordered them to set about it at once. So they went to the garden, and made offerings to the tree, meaning to fell it the next day. But the tree dēvī was plunged into the deepest sorrow when she heard their words and knew that her dear tree was to be destroyed. No one of the other forest dēvas could offer help, when at last the Bōdhisat came thither, and being told of the news, answered hopefully, ‘Have no fear, I will see that the tree is not cut down.’
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Next day, when the carpenters came, the Bōdhisat assumed the form of a chameleon and ran up and down the tree, in and out, so that it seemed to be a hollow tree, and full of holes. Then he rested on the branches and wagged his head to and fro. Seeing this, the master-craftsman, thinking it was a hollow tree, laid his hand on it and exclaimed, ‘The tree is rotten, we were too hasty last night in making our offerings, let us be off to find another.’ And so they went off full of scorn for the great tree which has been saved by the wisdom of the Bōdhisat.
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An equally beautiful jataka, is the Bhadda Sāla Jataka which I quote in full:
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‘Long ago, when Brahmadatta, who observed the Ten Duties of a ruler, was reigning in Benāres, there came into his mind this thought, ‘Everywhere in India are kings whose palaces have many columns; what if I build a palace supported by a single column only? Then shall I be the first and singular king among all other kings!’ So he summoned his craftsmen, and ordered them to build him a magnificent palace supported by a single pillar. ‘It shall be done,’ they said, and away they went into the forest.
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There they found a tree, tall and straight, worthy to be the single pillar of such a palace. ‘Here are trees,’ said they, ‘but the road is rough, and we shall never be able to remove them; let us go ask the king what is to be done.’ But when they did, the king said, *Bhadda Sala Jataka*
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∗ As described on p. 38. † ‘The Jataka,’ edited by E. B. Cowell, 1895—1907. The Kusanāḷi Jataka is No. 121 in Vol. I.
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‘Somehow or other you must bring them, and that immediately.’ But they replied, ‘Neither somehow nor anyhow can it be done.’ ‘Then,’ said the king, ‘look for a tree in my own park.’
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So they set out for the park, and there found a lordly śal tree, straight and beautiful, worshipped by village and town and the royal family alike. They told the king, who answered, ‘You have found me a tree in the park; it is well, go now and fell it.’ ‘So be it,’ said they, and returned to the park, taking scented garlands and other offerings in their hands. When they were come back to the great tree, they hung upon it a garland of five branches, and girt it with a cord, fastened a knop of flowers against it and lit a lamp, and so honouring the tree, they spoke thus before it, ‘On the seventh day from this we shall fell this tree, for this is the king’s command. Let those dēvas who may be dwelling in the tree depart elsewhither, and not unto us be the blame.’
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The dēva that dwelt in that tree heard their words, and thought to himself, ‘These craftsmen are agreed to fell my tree, and to destroy my home. I myself shall perish when my place of habitation is destroyed. Also the young śal trees that are all about me will be destroyed; and in them there dwell many dēvas of my kith and kin. My own death touches me not so near as the destruction of my children, let me then save their lives if I may avail thereto.’ So at the hour of midnight, the tree-dēva, in the radiance of his divinity, entered the king’s resplendent chamber, and stood beside the royal pillow sobbing, his glory lighting up the whole room. At which the king was overcome with fear and surprise, and stammered out, ‘What god art thou, that dost appear floating in the air, wearing an angel’s garb: what is thy grief, why dost thou weep so heavily?’ To which the dēva-prince replied, ‘I am called in thy realm, O king, the Lucky-tree; for sixty-thousand years all men have loved and worshipped me. Many a house and town, many a palace too they made, yet never did me wrong; honour thou me, even as they did, O king.’ But the king answered, ‘Never have I yet seen a trunk so fine, so tall and great of girth, so thick and strong. I shall raise a glorious palace, resting on a single column; there shalt thou long endure.’ The dēva-prince answered, ‘Since thou are set on my destruction, one thing I ask, to cut me small, cut me piecemeal and limb from limb, O king, if thou must cut at all. Cut first the top, the middle next, and then the root of me—and if so thou fellest me, O king, death will not give me grievous pain.’ The king said then, ‘This is a painful death—to sever from the living frame first the hands and feet, then nose and ears, and last of all the head. O Lucky-tree, O forest-lord, why will thou thus be cut piecemeal, what gain is thine thereby?’ To which the Lucky-tree replied, ‘Hearken now while I reveal the meaning of my wish to be felled in pieces—there is a sufficient and a worthy reason for it: my kith and kin have grown up around me, and beneath my shade, I should crush them if I fell entire upon them, and very great would be their sorrow.’ The king was greatly moved at these words and thought within himself, ‘This is a noble-minded god that would save the dwellings of his fellows despite the destruction of his own; and he broke into these words, ‘O Lucky-tree, O forest lord, thy thought is noble indeed; as thou wouldst save thy kindred, so I shall spare thee, have no more fear.’ Then the dēva-prince spake to the king, and counselled him and left him. And the king took to heart his words, and gave generous gifts and alms, until the time came for his departure to join the hosts of heaven.”*
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It must not be thought that the only idea in this so-called ‘tree-worship’ is one of propitiation of a feared unseen power; combined with and softening this feeling, is the old Hindu feeling of sympathy for everything that has life, and desire to avoid injury to living things. Mayā-It has everywhere been held that, apart from the little organized life of the tree itself, mataya trees and forests are the abode of nature spirits (nymphs, dryads, dēvas, nats, etc.) approximating to, but scarcely reaching the human plane of evolution. Nowhere has this been more the case than in India, where, moreover, a logical perception of the unity of all life is expressed in a repugnance to the destruction of life in any form.
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∗ ‘The Jataka,’ ed. Cowell: No. 465, Vol. IV. I have endeavoured to put the unsympathetic prose and doggerel verse of the original translation into passable English.
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“A true Hindu would not heedlessly injure the slightest object that has life. A tree is as much a manifestation of the Divine Wisdom and Power as the man himself, and the Dēvas engaged in the building up of a flower, love their work with as much fond regard as the artist, who paints its picture, loves the semblance. The man, who, through thoughtlessness or ignorance, injures these divine works, incurs the anger and ill-will of these elemental workers. Therefore a Hindu in plucking a flower or cutting a twig prays to the Supreme, and asks permission of the industrious ones who have made it. By the very fact that he recognizes their labour and appreciates their actions he propitiates these Sylvan Dēvas and gets their good-will and blessing.”*
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There is thus a double strand in ‘tree-worship’—a desire to avert revenge by due propitiation; and a shrinking from the infliction of injury. In its extremest form, and when the tree-dēva is conceived to be malignant, the first feeling has led even to human sacrifices offered to trees, and this, as it is clear from the literature,† must have been a custom at some long past stage of social development; the other feeling finds expression in the gentle consideration and beautiful ceremonial of the Māyāmataya, verses 20—27, and in the universal Hindu love of trees and forests.
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The idea of the actual relation between the dēva and the tree is of a mystical character. The anti-realism of Indian philosophy makes it possible for the most intellectual minds to accept the possibility of other worlds and other beings than those we call material; for even to the material world a merely relative reality is granted,—the phenomenal world exists at all, only in so far as it exists in relation to a mind, and to none of us is it the same identically. Hence the impossibility of questioning the ‘reality’ of another man’s subjective experience, or denying the possible existence of beings of many orders, having a reality as great, but no greater than that of this phenomenal world.
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The relation between tree and dēva is symbolically represented in art and literature in various ways. Often a face is drawn amidst the branches‡ to suggest rather than to show the indwelling dēva, whose life is, in a strange way, the tree’s life, or bound up with it, yet is not the tree itself. At other times the tree dēva is represented as dwelling in a mansion which is in, or perhaps rather ‘at’ or ‘through,’ the tree, and which is not ordinarily visible to human beings.§ This is a form of the well-known folk-lore conception of the ‘invisible house.’
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The tree-dēva is able to leave the tree, and has its own divine form, conceived as anthropomorphic, yet can assume other forms at will, and on returning, ‘enters’ the tree and becomes invisible; the dēva’s life is ended with that of the tree. Tree dēvas may be either malignant or beneficent. In Ālavakadamanaya the tree-spirit is a man-eating devil; in the Sutasoma Jātaka, a gentle dryad, to whom the man-eating rājā endeavours to make human offerings, in complete misunderstanding of her true character. But otherwise, the tree-spirit is realised as gentle and beneficent, and honoured as such by offerings of flowers and sandal paste, and the love of the people; his or her home must be kept clean and pure. There is a wonderful delicacy and beauty in these pagan ideas. There is nothing more characteristic of paganism, than its ideal conception of the purity and delicacy of the personified powers of nature, and of the local habitations of the gods. Just as in Iceland Thorolf Mostbeard laid down that ‘no man unwashed should turn his eyes to Holyfell, and that nought should he done to death there, either man or beast,’* so in Ceylon, even the Kapurāla may not enter the dēvāle sanctum unless free from ceremonial defilement, the threshing floor is a sacred and pure place, and the worshipper in a Hindu temple must bathe and put on a clean cloth washed by his own hands ere worshipping, and the inner precincts are closed to those of lower caste who are eaters of meat and otherwise follow the less spiritual modes of life.
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∗ S. C. Vasu, ‘Daily Practice of the Hindus,’ pp. 33, 34. † E. G. Sutasoma Jātaka, and Ālavakadamanaya. ‡ As in illustrations to the Sutasoma Jātaka, at Degaldoruva. § As in Ālavakadamanaya and in pictures made for me, to illustrate it.
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Whatever views may be held as to the real meaning of these things, which some would call superstition, and some would call poetry, I am sure at least of this, that *no good will is ever wasted*, and that in the selfish or the loving attitude of men towards even a tree, there is some actual meaning, some real truth, some impulse, which has, in its own way, its own effect. It would be easy to say more, but this will perhaps suffice. Before turning, however, from this subject, to me of such great interest, I will throw a sop to the philistine, as follows: these feelings and ideas, whether they be regarded as ‘superstitious’ or not, have nevertheless a practical aspect; for the Indian objection to the unnecessary destruction of trees and forests, however sentimental, would have checked or prevented such a wholesale destruction of forest as has now, for example, turned whole districts in Ceylon into nightmare prospects of unending tea plantations, reduced the rainfall, and increased both the rate of soil erosion in the hills, and the liability of the lowlands to disastrous floods, at the same time necessitating so strict a preservation of the remaining timber that the husbandman is hard put to it to get the wood needed for fences, ploughs and the like, and the householder to get the timber needed for the massive construction of houses such as those of a century ago.
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It is time to return from this digression to the Māyāmataya itself.
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Of particular interest are the verses speaking of good and evil craftsmen, and their fate in this life and in lives to come. It must be understood that in the old days a man’s trade was the heaven-ordained work of his caste or guild, and the resulting idea of *noblesse oblige*, together with the sanction for morality which the doctrine of *karma* carries with it, had something to do with the excellence of the old craftsmen’s work.
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Some of the verses devoted to practical advice are shrewd and even obvious, as the warning not to build on a site which is wet even in dry weather (v. 243); the recommendation to grow such fruits as jak, coconut, mango, and sugar-cane about the house (v. 266). The work, in fact, appears to contain a practical nucleus of sound advice, now much corrupted, misunderstood and overlaid by meaningless superstition. It is, nevertheless, of interest as revealing some of the ideas associated by the architect with his work, and giving details of methods of construction and social customs of which mention might not be readily found elsewhere. A summary now follows:
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Summary of partial translation of the Māyāmataya: 1—5. Invocation of Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha. 5—9. Of those for whom the book is intended, viz., learned and skilful architects. 10—14. “They who know but the (bare) meaning of words sport not in forest of poesy. (But now) let one who is wise (even) in the speech of common folk abide in the forest of poetic sport. I sing in common speech, the meaning of what is written in the ślokas, in Sinhalese that is meet for all. O master builders,* this is an incomparable book, written Māyā-in the common tongue, which if any one regard with the eye of wisdom, ’twere for the mataya bettering of work in this world. . . . How to build houses aright, what site and month are meet, how beams should be cut, to explain, I shall unfold the virtues of Māyāmataya.” 15—16. Of inauspicious months. 17—19. Of bad omens when setting about the work. 20—27. Directions for felling the ‘auspicious post’ (magul kapa).
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(20) “Know this O builders, when the magul kapa is to be felled, that you should go to the tree’s root and clear it round about, (21) draw the aṭamagala diagram, set filled pots in the four corners, sprinkle sandal-milk, (22) the next day go and speak as follows: ‘Thou Deva dwelling in this tree, be pleased to leave the tree, if thou dost wish well to my house,’ (23) thus praying, break a branch from the tree, lay it on the ground, drag it away and throw it beneath another tree, (24) clean and order that tree trunk, scatter flowers, betel, sandal, and say ‘I pray thee, Deva, go to this tree and give thine own to me.’† (25) Having thus besought the Deva, hearken how to fell and take away the tree thus won by prayer, and what manner of man should fell the tree. (26) Of moderate hue, without a blemish even so large as a gingelly seed, neither over tall nor over short, with long hair like a peacock’s train, (27) with hairy chest and downy cheeks—nought amiss with his limbs—by such persons should this be done.” 28—38. What sorts of trees are not suitable, sex of tree, &c.
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(30) “A tree thin at the top is female, say the ṛishis; one thin in the middle is of neither sex; (31) a tree of one thickness throughout from root to end, should you see such one, know without doubt it is a male; (32—35) if it be thin at the top, a fierce yakiṇi is dwelling in that tree, fell it not; (33) but if you see a tree with a trunk like a drum, cut that tree for the house, and take it for the magul kapa, no harm will follow. (34) If you fell a tree with a hollow trunk to build your house, fear and sorrow will result, bringing every kind of evil on the house. . . . (38) For dwellings of priests (saṅgharāma), and for devales, for lion thrones (simhāsana) and for royal palaces (rājamandira) it is well to choose a mī tree (Bassia longifolia) for the magul kapa.” 39—41. Omens drawn from the manner in which the tree falls. (39) “When cutting down the magul kapa, cut a furrow round the tree, and thus felling the magul kapa, mark which way it falls, consider what advantage or disadvantage will result, learn from the direction of its fall whether the builder should build or not. (49) If it falls to the East from the place where it is felled, the utmost wisdom will be attained by the owner of the house; if to the South, that gives long life; if to the West, a shifty mind . . . . .” 42—45. Of measurements.
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(42) “Taking the magul kapa thus duly felled, note that a cubit (riyana) is measured thus—a right cubit, a span and four fingers, thus the vaḍu-riyana (craftsman’s cubit) is measured by builders. (43—45) For five cubits in length, verily the breadth should be three; for six and a half cubits in length, take surely for the house three and a half in breadth. . . If eleven cubits be taken for the length of the house, let it be just seven and half in breadth. (46) If the length be overmuch, the housewife will die, if the breadth, death will result to the goodman, but if the house be duly meted, every blessing and joy will follow, therefore do not make the breadth or length overmuch or overlittle.” 47—50. Omens connected with the erection of the *magul kapa*. 51—55. Offering to nature spirit dwelling on the chosen site. (51) “When preparing the pit to set up the *magul kapa*, make offerings of sandal, rice, flowers and lamps, and virgin spikes of the king coconut; (52) prepare the *bali* thus and set it near the *magul kapa*, put offerings both of gold and silver in the pit; (53) if betimes you do not seek the *Vāsu Devi’s** foot great misfortunes will befall the house, every person in it will be destroyed. . . . (55) For the weal of men of this world, rishis of old gave forth the word, no jest their speech, therefore build houses in such wise as to avert misfortune.” 56—61. Of the Bhama Naga, etc.
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(56) “In the three months of the Goat, Yama, and the Sun, dwells the *Bhāma Naga* laying tail to West and head to East, back to the North and belly to the South; (57) in the three months of the Crab, the Lion and the Virgin he sleeps with tail to the North and head to the South, back to the East and belly to the West; (58) in the three months of the Scales, the Scorpion and the Bow he lies with tail to the East and head to the West, back to the South and belly to the North; (59) in the three months of the Makara, the Water-pot and Fish the *Bhāma Naga Rāja* lies tail to the South and head to the North, back to the East and belly to the West; (60) set up the trunk, knowing the portent of the *Bhāma Naga* dwelling thus, prepare the site for the house, marking the four corners, make *bali* offering in eight corners for the *yakshas* to enjoy. (61) Take *ghi*, milk-rice, sugarcane and jaggery, idda flowers (*Wrightia zeylanica*), take oil, and twist a wick, take sandal, ratmal (*Ixora coccinea*), betel, camphor, and let the *eduru* (*kapurala*) make offerings in the four corners of the house.” (The peculiarities of the *Bhāma Naga* (Earth Serpent) and omens connected are not further explained, nor is it clear that any offerings are to be made to him). 62—72. Of various *yakshas*, not named, occupying the different quarters, facing which the house should not be built until they have been propitiated by various offerings. 73—81.
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Of Naga chiefs, occupying the different quarters, and the appropriate offerings to be made to them. 82—87. Knowledge of sites suitable for men of the four castes. 88—89. Of setting up the four corner posts. (89) “In the four corners set up the four posts of four colours thus, (viz.) at one time; if set up at two or three (different) times they will not endure, so sayeth Māyāmataya, be sure of it.” 90. Of doors. “If the cubit (*riyana*) be divided by the builder into four parts, each of them is called a foot (*padaya*): take eight feet for the height of the door and four and a half in width.” 91—93. Of the auspicious quarter in which to cut earth for the house (‘the first sod’), viz., the N.E. 94—96. On the auspicious quarter on which to sink the well, viz., the N.E. 97—98. Of auspicious months, days, asterisms (*nekat*) and aspects. 100. Of moving in: “Take my friend, rice from a virgin’s hand, let a pregnant woman pound that grain, and after you have cooked it, invite Brahman priests to the house, thereafter choosing a lucky hour, move in the goods and chattels.”
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∗ *Erbyggja Saga.*
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∗ The word ‘vaḍu’ (vaḍuvo) I have translated ‘builders,’ as it means something much more than a mere carpenter, and yet not an ‘architect’ who only designs and does no work himself. The various uses of the word are explained in Chapter III. † The whole of this procedure is related in the very beautiful Bhadda Sāla Jataka, quoted above; see also Davy, ‘Travels in Ceylon,’ 1821, p. 171, and ‘Service Tenures Commission,’ 1872, p. 461, and p. 38 of this book.
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∗ *i.e., the tutelary deity of the site, the ‘Genius Loci.’*
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101—109. Of the auspicious quarters on which to set cattle sheds, stables, dung heap, Mayā-buffalo-shed, kitchen, devale, copper workshop, a Bereṇḍi kovil, a Gaṇapati kovil, cooly mataya ‘lines,’ smithies (kammal), and goldsmiths (ranakura) workshops, festal houses, houses for kambura and tarahala smith’s families, for beravayo, dhobies, potters (kumbakarayo), flower sellers (mālākarayo), vihāra and kovil. The laying out of a small town with a royal residence in the midst of it, is what is here considered, as expressly stated in verse 115 below.
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110—118. Of fences, and omens drawn from the measuring.
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(115) “This is the science of laying out a town, that fame, riches, and plenty may result; if you know not how to build a town thus, evil will befall both king and town.”
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119—130. Of good and evil craftsmen:
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(119) “Builders that build houses thus (aright), after their death will be reborn in a royal family; painters, if they make images accordingly, will be born in noble families: (120) cunning and skilful builders, though they should die, are friends of mine, for an they do, they become rulers and nobles, such is the old saying of the rishis. (121) One who knows amiss his craft, taking hire wrongfully, the which wife and children eat and enjoy, bringing misfortune on the owner of the house, (122) that builder after his death will fall into hell and suffer: these sayings are in Māyāmataya, what then, O builders, is to be done? (123) There are men who make images of Buddha, though knowing nought of their craft; put no faith in what they say. (124) Builders and painters both who wot nought of their craft, when hire is given according to the work accomplished, take that money and rush home therewith; (125) though they get thousands, there is nothing even for a meal, they have not so much as a piece of cloth to wear; that is the reward of past births, you know; (126) dying, they fall into hell and suffer pain a hundred lacs of years; if they escape, they will possess a body deformed and live in great distress and want; (127) when born as a man it will be as a needy builder; the painters eyes will squint—look ye, what livelihood can be for him? (128) Builders who know their business well, will become rājās lacking nought, so also cunning painters are meet to become nobles. (129) Builders and painters taking money falsely from other men, thereby grow poor, so ancient sages have declared and shewn; (130) doubt not this saying was in the Māyāmataya book of rishis’ lore; therefore let builders and painters study Māyāmataya; misfortunes ensuing both in this world and the next are told of in the ślokas, behold in how excellent a manner.”
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130—141. What month and phases of the moon are auspicious for various buildings, e.g.: (132) “Skilful and cunning builders make a buddalaya in Vesak month, or devales, as for Viṣṇu Deviyo; (133) even so, ye painters make images of gods and Buddha with zeal in Durutu month. . .”
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142. “If the birth house (sutabamiya) be set four cubits distant from the house, on the North-east, it will be well: but if it be set twelve cubits from the house, wealth of cattle will perish, the rishis say.”
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143—145. Of various auspicious and inauspicious dimensions.
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146—151. Of remedies for various misfortunes befalling the inmates, by removal of earth from particular places in the house, wherein the cause of the evil is thought to be buried.
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152—163. Of the peculiarities of houses of various dimensions.
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164—191. Of days good for building, and further astrological information as to auspicious months, nekat (asterisms) and dimensions.
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192—214. Of the seven ‘sira’ (Girikulu, Valmika, Mahanduva, Maha, Kappa, Mandā, Uva), the evil effects of which are to be avoided, and of the different kinds of land by name, according to the shape, and their virtues (Ayatana, Parnika, Ivat, Samanala).
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is laid on the importance of removing stones and potsherds, poisonous roots and creepers, otherwise disease and death will follow. 215—223. Of five divisions of a land (*Nanda, Bhaddra, Jaya, Rikta, Parna*), and the three parts of each, making fifteen in all, and of the results of building on one or the other of these parts. 224—227. Of the portent of various plants growing on the site. Iron in the soil will lead to death. 228—232. Classification of lands into seven kinds. 233—255. Of other sorts of land according to shape, colour of soil, etc., thus: (240) “What would befall a man who should build a house on land of the hue of gold and graphite? He will have gold, silver, iron and riches. (241) The man who chooses land free from stones to build a house will have cattle and no sickness, it has many virtues profitable to all. (243) Land that is wet at the time when there is no rain is bad. O sir! if a house be built then, it will be involved in sickness night and day.” 256—260. Of various trees which should be removed before building. The holes made by their removal are to be filled with earth from another place, and the house may be built a year, or six months later.
261. Apparently an old proverb. “If any person build a house in the middle of a village he will become the chief of the clan (*kulaya*); many who have not seen the ślokas of *Mayamataya* do not believe it.” 262—268. Further mention of lands of different colours or having certain plants growing on them. Of good fruit trees. Of other auspicious and inauspicious trees, thus:
(266) “All such fruits as jak and coconut, mango, *damba*, sugarcane and mandarins grown on the land about the house are of excellent flavour”; (but v. 268 mentions mangos amongst trees which should be removed). 68—271. Of white-ant hills. Contradictory views of different *rishis* are mentioned. 272—281. Of levelling the ground and the results. Further warning against ant hills. Do not build on a graveyard. Of auspicious plants.
283. Colophon. “In the year 1759 of Śaka era, when the sun was in the ‘Scales,’ on the fifteenth day of the month; in this year was the śloka book taken by me, and this book of 281 verses finished.”
Linked texts (1)
- Jātaka — Pāli