4: A.D.459. Mahawanso, ch. xxxviii. p. 258.
5: Ibid, ch. xxiii. p. 138.
6: Ibid, ch. xxix. p. 169; ch. xxx. p. 179.
7: Ibid., ch. xxiii. p. 139; Rajaratnacari, p. 49.
8: Ibid, ch. xxix. p. 169; Rajaratnacari p. 51.
9: Mahawanso, ch. xxx. p. 177; Rajavali, p. 269. Woollen cloth is described as "most valuable"—an epithet which indicates its rarity, and probably foreign origin.
10: Mahawanso, ch. xiv. p. 82; ch. xv. p. 87; ch. xxv. p. 151; carpets of wool, ib. ch. xxvii. p. 164.
Intercourse with Kashmir.—Possibly the woollen cloths referred to may have been shawls, and there is evidence in the Rajatarangini[1], that at a very early period the possession of a common religion led to an intercourse between Ceylon and Kashmir, originating in the sympathies of Buddhism, but perpetuated by the Kashmirians for the pursuit of commerce. In the fabulous period of the narrative, a king of Kashmir is said to have sent to Ceylon for a delicately fine cloth, embroidered with golden footsteps.[2] In the eighth century of the Christian era, Singhalese engineers were sent for to construct works in Kashmir[3]; and Kashmir, according to Troyer, took part in the trade between Ceylon and the West.[4]
1: The Rajatarangini resembles the Mahawanso, in being a metrical chronicle of Kashmir written at various times by a series of authors, the earliest of whom lived in the 12th century. It has been translated into French by M. Troyer, Paris, 1840.
2: Rajatarangini, b. i. sl. 294.