114 JouIr,NATr, R,A.S.

(CEYLON)"
[Vor,.
XVL
The above
royal order, it will be seen,
refers to the grant
macle to Simfro Pin6o, as a reward for his military serviceso
of the villages of Kuttripitiya
antl Opand,ke,
of which the
royal letter of 17ih March 1653, quoted in my Paper, also
speaks. As from this latter we learn that Joanna de
Menclonga was the last of the
('three
lives
"
for which the
grant was made, ancl as Simflo Pinhflo was the first, I think
the second must have been X'ernflo Pinhfio, ancl that
't
Jod,o"
in
the above document is a copyist's bluntler: at any rate,
I have founcl no other reference to a Jofro Pinhdo.
6. Mr. Josnpn reail the following Paper:-
No. 50.-1899.]
er,aervAvaNNA uonorlAna. 115
ATTAGTYAVANNA
lvroHott,rile,
THU AUTHOR OF
.,
KUSAJdTAKA K/iVYAYA."
By D. W. Fnncusox.
Mn. A. Mplvors erry^*t*o.*e, Mudaliydr, the learned
author of the
((
Comprehensive Grammar of the Siphalese
Language," in his scholarly eclition of Kwsajri,taka Kriuyaya
(1897),
says, on pp. xi-xii. of the Preface :-
Like most other authors who flourishecl in this country in early
times, very tittle is known of the author of Kusajatalca Rauya.
"
Mohott6la
"
or
'(
Mukaveli
"
affixed to his name designates his office,
that of registrar held hy him under the Dutch Government, or, as
usually appliecl,
"
secretary or writer to the household of a native
chieftain of high rank." His father, Dharmadvaja, who was himself
a poet and a man of, great learning, was a native of llisvella, a
village which may be identified with the modern llissglla in Gaflgaboda
pattu of the SinS k6rale, which, according to the Census of 1891,
contained 340 inhabitants. It is possible that Alagiyavanna was born
here and received his eilucation under his father. Ilaving received
his appointment from King R6,jasi4ha II. (1634-1684 E.o.) at the
instance of the Dutch Government, he travellecl in various parts of
the maritime districts of Ceylon which were then under that Govern-
ment, and collecteil materials for the compilation of the valuable
Government recorcl known as the Dutch
((
Tombu."t3 It is said that
he was investecl with much authority, and had the power to sentence
to death a number of persons not exceeding six at a time, and that
accordingly a
"
low caste
"
man named Alagiya, who, on being askecl
for his name, impertinently repliecl
((
That is the same as your own,"
was ordered by him to be put to death by his two legs being tied to the
trunks of two acljoining arecanut palms broughi together by ropes,
which were afterwards cut asunder, so that the man's limbs were torn
in two by the receciing force of the two trees.
*
A correspondent of the' Ceylon Obseraer (June 14, 1897) says :-,,The
Dutch in the 17th century, when the maritime provinces passetl into their
hands from the Portuguese, requestecl the help of R5,ja Singha If. in ilrawing
up a register of the inhabitants and lancls of their new possessions. The
services
of Alageyawanna Mohotala, the eminent Si4Lhalesepoet, were placecl
at their clisposal, and the result was the compilation of the famous langi
Thombo,
or the Sighalese Domesday Book."-D, W. F.
116 JouRNAr,, R,.A.s. (cnyr,oN).
[Vor,.
XVI.
Alagiyavannawas also author of the foilowingworks:-Seuzr,l .Asna
alias Kulclcula Sanclisaya (cock's
messag e), Sublrashita (moral maxims),
Nitiscrra,ya (moral laws), Mahahatana (on the wars between the Portu-
guese and the Si4halese), Pnrangiltulu,na (on the wars between the
Dutch and Si4halese), Dahamsoil,da
Jatctha (a poetical version of a
Buddhist birth story), Xlunigunaratnanralul1a (or Buddha's virtues),
Dussilawata (on misconiluct of Budiihist rnonks).
He is saial to have repeateil a stanza offhand while on his deathbed,
in which he threatened the angel of death ihat if he should at any
time succeed to his post, he (the poet) would make the angel and his
wife dance on the outer verandah of their house. meaning that he
would bring them to the situationin which he then was. This stanza
is cited on page viii (swpra). The dates of his birtir and ileath are not
known. This poem uncler consideration, accorcling to its conclucling
stanza,was composed in the year 1532 of the Saka era, which corres-
pontls with 1610 a.o.
This poem, according io its 19th stanza, was written at the request
of a pious and learnecl lady named Melik S6,mi, wife of Attanir,yaka,
a minister of Br{,jasigha I. (1581-1592 A.D.), who maile Sit6,waka hi!
seat of Government.
Mr. Gunas6kara has not given h.is authorities for the few
details he records of the poet's career, but they are, I believe,
taken from Mr. John Perera's Helctd'iu-rajan'iya (p. 23I);
and, with regaral to trvo of his statements, I think I can
show that he is in error. I refer to the assertions that
Alagiyavanna helcl the office of registrar
((under
the Dutch
Governmeni," and that he
('received
his appointrhent from
King Rri,jasigha (1634-1684) at the insrance of the Dutch
Government.t'
In voL III. of t}:e Ori,ental,ist were printed, unater the
heading
"
Donatie die geilaen heeft den Ooningh van Ceylon
Dom Joan Pereapanilerr"
*
a number of Dutch documents
*
To this heading the eilitor of t'he Orien,taldsf appencled the following
footnote :-t'A Dutch translation, discoverecl by Mr. F. IL de Vos, of the
deecl of gift of the Island of Ceylon to the Port'uguese, of which a transla-
tion from the original Portuguese by Mr. Donald Ferguson appeared on
page 28 swpra," This is a very misleading note, as only the first clocument
is a Dutch translation of the cleed of gift, the others being translations
of Portuguese clocuments connected therewith, or relative thereto, of such
importance that an English translation shoulcl have been given. Mr. de
Vos ought also to have stated. wlterc he discovered these documents.*
D.W. X"
No. 50.-1899.]
er,ecryAVANNA MoHorrAr,A. LJl
sent to that periodical by Mr. F. H. de vos, of Galle, one of
which (p. 196) commences as follows (I translate) :_
_
fn the year after the salutary birth of our Lorcl Jesus Christ, one
thousand six hunclred, on the 26th day of the month of March. in this
city and fortress St. Lawrence of Colombo, on the f.gland of beylon.
in the dwelling of AnthonioYaz Freire, nobleman of the l(ing's house
and admi'istrator of the royal revenues of the saicl rsland an"tl of the
territories thereto appertaining, he himseif being personaliy present,
and in like manner present f, Balthasar Marinho, secretary of the
royal administration, there appeared before us Dom Jeronimo Bana_
clua RaIIe, e,hief moetjaer, Don Jeronimo Aliqua, Iate
loud,l
nroe,tjaer,
Dom Jeronimo Samara de vagua,
lsi,c
for
-,,Samara'devaiqou"o;'?1,
nzoetjaer, and Annaas Plalla,rntoetjaer, ancl Dom Francisco Velquio, inter_
p:reter._of this tom,bot all of whom were sllmmoned, at the request of
the saial royal administrator, for the fulfiIment of this tombo
;
and the
oath having been given to all to swear on the Holy Gospels, and an
oath having been taken from Annaas Raale after the custom of the
heathen, to siucerely and openly declare the truth of all that shail
be asked of them, on condition, and warning given to the same, that
in case at any time hereafter it shourcl come to appear that they had saicl
and answered other than the real truth, they should withoui any doubt
be punished according to the form ur.d jr.ii"u
of his ilIajesty,
It will be noticed that the above document professes to
have been written in the year 1600. This is an error (of
the Dutch transiator's perhaps) for 1616. Antfio Yaz Freire
did. not arrive in Ceylon as ued,or da
.fazenda
before the end
of 1609 or beginning of 1610,* ancl left the Isiancl at the end
of 1616
;t
while Balihazar Marinho did not come to Ceylon
as secretary of the
faeenrJa
before 1615.{ We ma-v take it
as certain, therefore, thai 1616 was the year in rvhich the
ilocument was written; antl the date March 26 is significant,
for on March L,76L6, Dom Nuno Alvares Pereira arrived at
Colombo from India ancl took over the generulship
of
Ceylon from llanuel Mascarenhas Homem.d
Of the four Mohottiydrs
,mentioned,
three, it will be
noticed, were
"
Christians," and all three, curiously enough,
'r See Monthly L,it. Rel., vol. IV., p.211, note"-D. W. F.
f
See .Doa. Renr. da Inclia, tomeIY., p. 229.-D. W. F.
I
Cf. Doc. Retn., tomelY., p. 32, with references to this man in tomes I.,
II., rII.-D. W. F.
5\
Bocarro, pp. 481, 495.-D. W. F.
118 JouRNAL, R.A.s. (cEYr,oN). [Vol.
XVI'
bearing the name of the then Viceroy of India (1612-1617)
and. former General of Ceylon (L594-L6LZ), the infamous
Dom Jeronimo d.e Azevedo, who possibly u'as their sponsor
at their baptism. Of the three, the name of most interest
to us is that of
((Don
Jeronimo Aliquia," this last worcl
lieing an evident clerical error for
"
Aliguia." It was only
when recently re-reacting this documeni that the conjunction
of this name with the iiile'tnrceffaer" led me to the
conclusion that the secretary-poet
Alagiyavanna was referrecl
to; and, by a remarkable coincidence, immediately after
coming to this conclusion I lightect upon a document in the
manuscript department of the Briiish Museum Library
which confirms the conclusion'
It is contained in tome 8
of the series of Portuguese royal clispatches to the viceroys,
proclamations, &c., comprising forty volumes, and numberecl
"Adclitional,
20,861-20,900."
It is a letter from Philip III'
to the Viceroy of India (the Concte tle Red.ond.o), dated
March 24, 1.6'20, and runs as follows :-
Conde VB,ey amigo,-Eu El Rey vos envio muito saudar. como
aquelle
que amo. For parte cle Dom Jeronimo cle Aliguiamanais
Motia* di tombo das terias e Alcleas cla Iiha cle Ceillao se me fez
petigab em que peile o tltullo cle Mutiar de minha fazend'a e que o
ieitor de Columbo continue com elle rega6 e mi.timento ordinario que
o geral e veclor cla fazenda lhe orclenarad e que se the restetuisse os
p"dugo* de Alcleas e terras que se the tirou Dom Nunes Alures Peir"'
sendo geral tle Ceilla6 estanclo lhe confirmaclos pella memeraf e junta
de Altleas que venilesse esta sua pretenga6 me pareceo remetervola e
vos encomendo que a vejaes em despacho e me consulteis sobre ella o
que vos parecer pella Lista clos despachos' Escrita em Lisboa aos
vinte quatro de Margo de mil seis centos vinte.
Tronsl'ati'on.
Frientl, count, ancl viceroy,-I the King send you all greeting as
him whom I love. On the part of Dom Jeronimo de Aliguiamana,
moti,arof the lanils ancl villages of the Is1and of Ceilla6, a petition has
been presentecl to me' inwhich he begs for the tiile of muti'ar of my
fctzend,a,and
that the factor of Columbo continue to him the allowance
ancl orclinary sustenance that the general and the vedor clct
fazenda
No. 50.-1899.] er,e.ervAVANNA MoHoTrArrA. 119
commanded,,ancl that there be restored to him the portions of viilages
and lands that Dom Nunes Alures Peiru when general of Ceillad took
from him, they having been confirmeil to him by Lhe camara and, junta
of villages.'i3 Having seen this claim of his, I have thought fit to
remit it to you, and request you to consider it on receipt and advise
me thereupon as to what you think iight by the list of rescripts;
Written in frisbon on the Twenty-fourth of March, One thousand Six
hunclred ancl Twenty.
From the above letter we learn thai Alagiyavanna had
been deprivecl of certain lands by Dom Nuno Alvares
Pereira, who may possibly also have supersedeal him in his
office of 1\fohottiyri,r, since he is referred to in the clocument
of March 26, 1616, as
K
lo,te moetjaer.'? Though the date of
his petition is not stated, we may very well suppose it to
have been written towards the end of 1618, shortiy after
Constantino de Sd took over (in September of that year) the
reins of office from Nuno Alvares.t Whether Alagiyavanna
succeeded in the object df his petition I am unable to say,
as I have found no further reference to him.
It is eviclent from these documents that it was by the
Portuguese, anal not by the Dutch, that the poet-secretary
was employed
;
anct, as the l{ollanders were not in a position
to undertake tombo-making in Ceylon uniil half a century
later,{ it is extremely improbable that Alagiyavanna was
then alive. Noor, had he been, is it likely that the Dutch
would have consultecl Raja Sigha oi the subject.
A curious question arises out of the date, 1610, when the
Kwsajci,taka Kduyaya was written. The poet there writes as
a Bu,clilhist ;
in 1616 he was a (professed) Chri,sti,an : his
t'conversion,"
therefore, must have taken place between
those two dates.
*
Ttle canzara or chamber of Colombo consisted of I'h.e ntec'cad,ores,or
alclerrnen, and other leading citizens. Regarding lhe
,itt'nta,
see the
statement of 36, e Menezes, C. A. S. Journal, vol' XL, p. 532.-D. W. F.
f
See C. A. S. Journal, vol. Xf., pp. 494 and 495 (where
"
1619 " is an error
for'( 1618
";;
compare p. 513.-D. W. F.
I
The earliest reference to the subjeot that I know of is that by Ryklof
van Goens, in his
"Consideratien
over Ceylon," tlatecl June 21, 1661, as
given in Valentyn (Ce,gl,on), p. 157.-D. W'. F. *
Sfa for
'o
Aliguiauana."-D" W' F.
f
B'ic for
"
camara."-D. W. F.
i2t) JouRNArr, R,A.s. (c!ryr,oN).
[Vot.
XVI.
I learn frono Mr. D. M. de Z. Wickremasinghe
that among
the SiThalese manuscripts in the Briiish
Museum Library is
one (Or" 4964) ilescribed as
"
An anonymous
account of the
Banc{fra and Malala famiiies and of the titles and lands
besiowed on some of the'mernbers from time to time by
kirrgs of Ceylon," in which (on folio 5) there is a reference to
the poet-secretary,
but no light is thrown by it on his history.
7. The Crrernne.tt observecl that the Paper containeil a record of
interesting research into a matter which to Sirghalese students was of
great interest. Tbe author of that very learnecl poem was, as
Mr. Ferguson pointed out, at the time he v'rote the poem,
a Bucldhist,
anil a fer,v years after, apparently professed Christianiiy. The subject
was not of such general interest as that dealt with in the previous
Faper, but it was of interest to scholarly Sirghalese.
8. Ttre Cnarnuax saicl that, if there was no one desirous of making
any rema,rks on the seconil Paper, he would like to submit to tliem, in a
tormal manner, the purport of the observations made by Dr. Vandort,
at the conclusion of the first Paper, and ask the Secretary to convey
to IIr. D. W. Ferguson their apprcciation of his kindness in assisting
the Society's Journal, anil also their appreciation of the research ancl
trouble that he haii taken in the preparation of the two Papers read.
He moveil that they place on record a vote of thanks to Mr. D. W.
Ferguson for his two Papers.
Dr. YeNoonr seconcled the motion, which was carried.
9. l{r. FuncusoN proposed a vote of thanl<s to the Chair, and in
doing so said it was well deserved, for on theirfacethePapers for the
evening rvere scarcely attractive enough to clraw a special attendance.
The sccond of the Papers, however, mentionecl a fact lvhich made it
quite appropriate to have Mr. Mackwooil (the Chairman of the Ceylon
Chamber of Commerce) presiciing
;
for it told us that well nigh 300
years ago there lvas a
"
t)hamberof Colombo " consisting of 'uerr:atlorp's
or aldermen and other leacling citizens. Perhaps the Ohamber of the
present day woulcl hand over the honour of succeecling t'he up,rcad,ores
of olcl to the alclcrmen of the 'Iown
IJalI (laughtet'); bui siill the
fact remained. IIe rvas sure they would all corclially assent to the
vote of thanks.
This rvas seconcleil by I)r'. S*rnevANAMUT'ru and carried by acclama-
tion, Mr. Mecrlvoon ackrrowledging the vote briefly witfr thanks.
No. 5ti.-1Et)!)"1
PR,OCEEDINGS.
COUNCIL MEETING.
Culombo Museltm, Seyttember 11, lBgg.
Present :
Dr. Wl G. Vandort in the Ohair.
Mr. F. H. Moilder.
I
Mr. F. 0. .Roles, IIon. Treasurer.
Mr. G. A. Joseph, Flonorary Secretary.
Rusi,ncsx.
1. Read and coufinncd Minutes of Council Meeting held
on June
20,1899"
2, Laid on the table Circular No. 60, containing the opinions
of
Mr. Bell anil Dr. Vandort regarcling the translation of Valentyn, vol.
Y., Ceylon.
Resolveil,-That 1\[r'. Donald Ferguson
be communicatecl
with in
order to ascertain whether he would be willing to undertake
the
revision ancl editing of the existjng translation.
3. Laid on the table correspondence forwarcled by His Excellency
the Lieutenant-Governor
regarding the award of a gold
medal as an
encouragemenl
to Oriental learning
to be given under the auspices
of
bhe Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain, and inquiring
wheiher the
Ceylon Branch of the B,o;'al Asiatic Society is tlisposed
to aclopt, or
suggest, any measure of co-operation.
Resolved,-That the correspondence be circulated for the opinions
of Members of the Couucil.
4. Laicl on the table letter from rhe llonorary Secretary
(Com-
mittee of Control of the Regional Bureau for India and Ceylon) of
the International
Catalogue of Scientific Literature,
forwarding a
Paper
regarding the scherrre of the Catalogue, and suggesting that ihe
Paper
be published in the Journal, and also thai the Society do
obtain
"
primary slips
"
from the authors of Scientific Papers.
Resolvecl,-That
the Secretary be informed that the Paper will bo
published
in the Society's Journal, ancl that the Society will co-operate
with
the Bureau in obtaining from authors of Papers the necessary
*lips
for
the proposecl Catalogue.
27_99
K
*:
)n