Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c16.6

c16.6

In this style four māligāval of nine storeys each were built, with stairs leading up to them. Round these 500 smaller houses of inferior workmanship were also built. A store eighty cubits high, 500 houses outside the fort, 1,000 double shutters for the houses, a stone wall 7 ft. high, a metal rampart encircling it, 1,000 golden arches, 1,000 silver arches, were also constructed, and adorned with 1,000 flags and flaps and cloth dolls† appended thereto, there being also 1,000 elephants, 1,000 horses, 24,000 mercenaries, 2 lacs and 61,000 inhabitants in all. Like Śakraya, enjoying health and happiness, and so reigning, the king built and adorned the city, the only material used being stone.”‡