Palaces.—The royal residences as they were first constructed, must have consisted of very few chambers, since mention is made in the Mahawanso of the earliest, which contained "many apartments," having been built by Pandukábhaya, B.C. 437.[1] But within two centuries afterwards, Dutugaimunu conceived the magnificent idea of the Loha Pasada, with its quadrangle one hundred cubits square, and a thousand dormitories with ornamental windows.[2] This palace was in its turn surpassed by the castle of Prakrama I. at Pollanarrua, which, according to the Mahawanso, "was seven stories high, consisting of five thousand rooms, lined with hundreds of stone columns, and outer halls of an oval shape, with large and small gates, staircases, and glittering walls."[3]
1: Ibid., ch. x. p. 66.
2: Ibid., ch. xxvii, p. 163.
3: Mahawanso, ch. lxxii. UPHAM'S version, p. 274.
In what now remains of these buildings at Anarajapoora, there is no trace to be found of an arch, truly turned and secured by its keystone; but at Pollanarrua there are several examples of the false arch, produced by the progressive projection of the layers of brick.[1]
1: FORBES'S Eleven Years in Ceylon, vol. i. ch. xvii. p. 414.
The finest specimens of ancient brickwork are to be seen amongst the ruins of the latter city, where the material is compact and smooth, and the edges sharp and unworn. The mortar shows the remains of the pearl oyster-shells from which it was burnt, and the chunam with which the walls were coated, still clings to some of the towers, and retains its angularity and polish.[1]
1: Expressions in the Mahawanso, ch. xxvii. p. 104, show that as early as the 2nd century, B.C., the Singhalese were acquainted with this beautiful cement, which is susceptible of a polish almost equal to marble.
Of the details of external and internal decoration applied to these buildings, descriptions are given which attest a perception of taste, however distorted by the exaggerations of oriental design. "Gilded tiles"[1] in their bright and sunny atmosphere, must have had a striking effect, especially when surmounting walls decorated with beaded mouldings, and festooned with "carvings in imitation of creeping plants and flowers."[2]
1: Rajavali, p. 73.