Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c14.56

c14.56

We therefore infer, with Cunningham, that the original "tank" of Rāmagāma was "adroitly changed into a river" by the Ceylonese author so that the relics which were in the charge of the Nāgas of the tank might be conveyed to the ocean-palace of the Nāga king. From there they could as readily be comveyed to Ceylon as to any other place.⁶ The river was thus necessary in the Ceylonese legend to transfer the relics from Rāmagāma to the ocean and to establish the authenticity of the remains enshrined in the Great *stūpa* of Anurādhapura. But the legend can have no weight against the united testimony of the two pilgrims who, independently and many centuries later, found the *stūpa* but saw no river. Hence, we reject the fabricated story of the river in preference to the one about the tank, reported by Fa-hsien and Hsüan Tsang. Apart from the evidence of this legend, the identification of Rāmagāma with Deokali is the most suitable one.¹