PALLONARUA. In Ceylon, Anaradhapura is a deserted city. It seems to have become the capital of Ceylon about B.C. 400. About B.C. 250 it became one of the principal capitals of Buddh ism in the east, which it continued to be till about A.A. 750, when the repeated invasions of the Tamil races led to its abandonment for Patio narua, which continued to be the capital somee centuries. Anaradhapura has within ts limits ruins of topes or dhagobas, the Lows Mahn Pays, Abhayagin, Jetawana, Thupanamaya, Lankariunya, Saila, and Ruanwelli. It was erected B.°. 250, to hold the right jawbone of Buddha. Subsequently, at the beginning of the 4th century, a tooth was brought from India, and deposited in a small building erected for the purpose on one of the angles of the platform of this building. The Lows Maha Paya, or Great Brazen Monastery, was erected B.C. 161, by king Duttagaimuni. It is 225 feet square, and with 9 storeys, and 100 cells for priests. In A.D. 285, Mahasena destroyed it, but it was re-erected of 5 storeys by his son. It never regained its previous fame, and fell into decay, and the 1600 pillars which once supported it alone remain ; they are unhewn blocks of granite. The quadrupeds sculptured on the Aua
radhapura city, also at Hullabid in Mysore, and at Amravati, are the elephant, lion, horse, and bull ; the birds are the hansa or sacred goose, or pigeons. Besides these, there is at Anaradhapura a temple called Iswaramunya, partly cut in the rock, partly structural. But to Buddhists the most sacred object there is the Bo Tree, which was brought there by Mahinda and Sangamitta, son and daughter of Asoka, who introduced Buddhism into Ceylon.
The Pallonarua temples were mostly built A.D. 1153-1186, by Prakrama Bahu. Its rock-cut structure, called Gal Vihara, has a seated figure of Buddha 16 feet in height, one standing figure 25 feet, and one recumbent 45 feet long, in the conventional attitude of his attaining Nirvan. In front is the Jetawana Rama temple, 170 by 70 feet, with an erect statue of Buddha 58 feet in height. The Rankot Dhagoba and the Mahal Prasada are also of interest, the last being a repre sentative of the seven-storeyed temples of Assyria. See Architecture.