A.D. 1155.The details preserved in the Singhalese chronicles as to the works for irrigation which he formed or restored, afford an idea of the prodigious encouragement bestowed upon agriculture in this reign, as well as of the extent to which the rule of the Malabars had retarded the progress and destroyed the earlier traces of civilisation. Fourteen hundred and seventy tanks were constructed by the king in various parts of the island, three of them of such vast dimensions that they were known as the "Seas of Prakrama;"[1] and in addition to these, three hundred others were formed by him for the special benefit of the priests. The "Great Lakes" which he repaired, as specified in the Mahawanso, amount to thirteen hundred and ninety-five, and the smaller ones which he restored or enlarged to nine hundred and sixty. Besides these, he made five hundred and thirty-four watercourses and canals, by damming up the rivers, and repaired three thousand six hundred and twenty-one.[2]
1: Rajaratnacari, p. 88
2: The useful ambition of signalising their reign by the construction of works of irrigation, is still exhibited by the Buddhist sovereigns of the East; and the king of Burmah in his interview with the British envoy in 1855, advanced his exploits of this nature as his highest claim to distinction. The conversation is thus reported in YULE'S Narrative of the Mission. London, 1858.
"King. Have you seen any of the royal tanks at Oung-ben-le', which have recently been constructed?
"Envoy. I have not been yet, your Majesty, but I purpose going.
"King. I have caused ninety-nine tanks and ancient reservoirs to be dug and repaired; and sixty-six canals: whereby a great deal of rice land will be available. * * * In the reign of Nauraba-dzyar 9999 tanks and canals were constructed: I purpose renewing them."—P. 109.
The bare enumeration of such labours conveys an idea of the prodigious extent to which structures of this kind had been multiplied by the early kings; and we are enabled to form an estimate of the activity of agriculture in the twelfth century, and the vast population whose wants it supplied, by the thousands of reservoirs still partially used, though in ruins; and the still greater number now dry and deserted, and concealed by dense jungle, in districts once waving with yellow grain. Such was the internal tranquillity which, under his rule, pervaded Ceylon, that an inscription, engraved by one of his successors, on the rock of Dambool, after describing the general peace and "security which he established, as well in the wilderness as in the inhabited places," records that, "even a woman might traverse the island with a precious jewel and not be asked what it was."[1]
1: Moore's melody, beginning "Rich and rare were the gems she wore," was founded on a parallel figure illustrative of the security of Ireland under the rule of King Brien; when, according to Warner, "a maiden undertook a journey done, from one extremity of the kingdom to another, with only a wand in her hand, at the top of which was a ring of exceeding great value."
A.D. 1155.In the midst of these congenial operations the energetic king had command of military resources, sufficient not only to repress revolt within his own dominions, but also to carry war into distant countries, which had offered him insult or inflicted injury on his subjects. His first foreign expedition was fitted out to chastise the king of Cambodia and Arramana[1] in the Siamese peninsula, who had plundered merchants from Ceylon, visiting those countries to trade in elephants; he had likewise intercepted a vessel which was carrying some Singhalese princesses, had outraged Prakrama's ambassador, and had dismissed him mutilated and maimed. A fleet sailed on this service in the sixteenth year of Prakrama's reign, he effected a landing in Arramana, vanquished the king, and obtained full satisfaction.[2] He next directed his arms against the Pandyan king, for the countenance which that prince had uniformly given to the Malabar invaders of the island. He reduced Pandya and Chola, rendered their sovereigns his tributaries, and having founded a city within the territory of the latter, and coined money in his own name, he returned in triumph to Ceylon.[3]
1: See ante, [p. 406, n.]