Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c6.14

c6.14

He erected the nine-storied brazen palace (Lohapāsāda) and built also the great Ruvanvẹli and Mirisavẹṭiya dāgabas. The Mahāvaṃsa accounts of the building operations and furniture of these are of the greatest interest, if only for comparison with the descriptions of buildings erected and offerings made by later kings, up to the beginning of the nineteenth century itself. “The monarch Duṭṭha Gāmaṇi . . . convening the priesthood, thus addressed them, ‘I will build for you a palace like unto that of the dēvas; send to the world of the dēvas, and procure for me a plan of their palace.’ Accordingly they dispatched thither eight priests. . . .” On their way to the Tāvatimsa heavens they saw a certain palace “having nine stories, provided with a thousand apartments and a thousand sleeping rooms. It had four faces, each having windows to the number of a thousand, like so many eyes; and the eaves of the roof were decorated with a fringe tinkling (with gems). . . . The aforesaid eight thēras, seeing this palace, immediately made a drawing of it on a cloth with vermilion; and returning thence, presented the drawing to the priests who sent it to the court of the king. The monarch on examining the same, and delighted therewith, repaired to the celebrated gardens (Mahāmēgha) and there built the glorious Lohapāsāda according to the plan of that renowned palace.”