Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c44.92

c44.92

§ 324. It is a known fact that Ceylon had numerous institutions in common with India. In fact both had practically the same civilization, and from that point of view Ceylon was a part of India. A Ceylonese friend of mine has often told me that the history of India can never be complete without the history of Ceylon. It must be admitted that it is true. Here we have an illustration. In India while we lost our institutions under stress from outside and decay from within, they lived longer in the island girt by the great sea-moat. As late as the middle of the 10th century A.C. the orders issued by the king are orders of the Supreme Council or His Majesty-in-Council (*Sabhā*). All the members of the Council sign the document. See for instance the record of king Abhāsalamevan edited by my friend Mr. Wickramasinghe in *Epigraphia Zeylanica*, Volume II, p. 1, where the whole council conjointly makes the gift, the grant of privilege: