[Footnote 3:  The Abhayagiri dagoba at Anarajapoora, built B.C. 89, was originally 180 cubits high, which, taking the Ceylon cubit at 2 feet 3 inches, would be equal to 405 feet.  The dome was hemispherical, and described with a radius of 180 feet, giving a circumference of 1130 feet.  The summit of this stupendous work was therefore fifty feet higher than St. Paul’s, and fifty feet lower than St. Peter’s.]

The king, in addition to this, built a number of others in various parts of Ceylon[1], and his name has been perpetuated as the founder of temples, for the rites of the new religion, and of Wiharas or monasteries for the residence of its priesthood.  The former were of the simplest design, for an atheistical system, which substitutes meditation for worship, dispenses with splendour in its edifices and pomp in its ceremonial.

[Footnote 1:  TURNOUR’S Epitome, p. 15.]

[Sidenote:  B.C. 289.]

The images of Grotama, which in time became objects of veneration, were but a late innovation[1], and a doubt even been expressed whether the religion of Buddha in its primitive constitution, rejecting as it does the doctrine of a mediatorial priesthood, contemplated the existence of any organised ministry.

[Footnote 1:  The precise date of their introduction is unknown, but the first mention of a statue occurs in an inscription on the rock at Mihintala, bearing date A.D. 246, and referring to the house constructed over a figure of Buddha.]

Caves, or insulated apartments in imitation of their gloom and retirement, were in all probability the first resort of devotees in Ceylon, and hence amongst the deeds of King Tissa, the most conspicuous and munificent were the construction of rock temples, on Mihintala, and of apartments for the priests in all parts of his dominions.[1]

[Footnote 1:  TURNOUR’s Epitome, p. 15.]

The directions of Gotama as to the residence of his votaries are characterised by the severest simplicity, and the term “pansala,” literally “a dwelling of leaves,"[1] by which the house of a priest is described to the present day, serves to illustrate the original intention that persons dedicated to his service should cultivate solitude and meditation by withdrawing into the forest, but within such a convenient distance as would not estrange them from the villagers, on whose bounty and alms they were to be dependent for subsistence.

[Footnote 1:  It is questionable whether the Sarmanai, mentioned by Megasthenes, were Buddhists or Brahmans; but the account which he gives of the class of them whom he styles the Hylobii, would seem to identify them with the Sramanas of Buddhism, “passing their lives in the woods, [Greek:  zontes en tais ulais], living on fruits and seeds, and clothed with the bark of trees.”—­MEGASTHENES’ Indica, &c., Fragm. xlii.]

[Sidenote:  B.C. 289.]