[Footnote 1:  Rajaratnacari, p. 60.]

[Footnote 2:  Rock inscription at Pollanarrua, A.D. 187—­196.]

Coin.—­Although the Singhalese through their sacred writings had a knowledge of coined money, and of its existence in India from a period little subsequent to the death of Gotama Buddha[1]; and although their annalists give the names of particular coins in circulation[2], at various times, no Singhalese money has yet been discovered of a date antecedent to the eleventh century.  The Chinese in the fifteenth century spoke with admiration of the gold pieces struck by the kings of Ceylon, which they found in circulation on their frequent visits to the emporium at Galle[3]; but of these only a few very rare examples have been preserved, one of which bears the effigy and name of Lokaiswaira[4], who usurped the throne during a period of anarchy about A.D. 1070.  Numbers of small copper coins of the eleventh and twelfth centuries have from time to time been dug up both in the interior and on the coast of the island[5].  A quantity of these which were found in 1848 by Lieutenant Evatt, when in command of a pioneer corps near the village of Ambogamoa, were submitted to Mr. Vaux of the British Museum, and prove to belong to the reign of Wijayo Bahu, A.D. 1071, Prakrama I., A.D. 1153, the Queen Lilawatte, A.D. 1197, King Sahasamallawa, A.D. 1200, Darmasoka, A.D. 1208, and Bhuwaneka Bahu, A.D. 1303.  These coins have one and all the same device on the obverse,—­a rude standing figure of the Raja holding the trisula in his left hand, and a flower in the right.  His dress is a flowing robe, the folds of which are indicated rather than imitated by the artist; and on the reverse the same figure is seated, the name in Nagari characters being placed beside the face[6].

[Footnote 1:  The Mahawanso mentions the existence of coined metals in India in the tenth year of the reign of Kalasoka, a century from the death of Buddha, ch. iv. p. 15.  According to Hardy, in the most ancient laws of the Buddhists the distinction is recognised between coined money and bullion,—­Eastern Monachism, vol. vii. p. 66.]

[Footnote 2:  The coins mentioned in the Mahawanso, Rajaratnacari, and Rajavali are as follows:  B.C. 161, the kahapanan (Mahawanso, ch. xxx. pp. 157, 175), which TURNOUR says was a gold coin worth ten massakan or massa.  The latter are “the pieces of gold formerly current in Ceylon,” a heap of which, according to the Rajaratnacari (p. 48), was seen by King Bhatia Tissa when he was permitted to penetrate into the chamber of the Ruanwelle dagoba, A.D. 137.  The silver massa, according to TURNOUR, was valued at eightpence.  These are repeatedly mentioned in the Rajaratnacari (A.D. 201, p. 60, A.D. 234, p. 62, A.D. 1262, p. 102, A.D. 1301, p. 107, A.D. 1462, p. 113).  The Rajavali speaks of “gold massa” as in circulation in the time of Dutugaimunu, B.C. 161 (p. 201).