[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, xxi. p. 129. The other historical books, the
_Rajavali_, and _Rajaratnacari_, give a totally different character of
Elala, and represent him as the desecrator of monuments and the
overthrower of temples. The traditional estimation which has followed
his memory is the best attestation of the superior accuracy of the
_Mahawanso_.]

[Sidenote: B.C. 161.]

But it was not the priests alone who were captivated by the generosity
of Elala. In the final struggle for the throne, in which the Malabars
were worsted by the gallantry of Dutugaimunu, a prince of the excluded
family, the deeds of bravery displayed by him were the admiration of his
enemies. The contest between the rival chiefs is the solitary tale of
Ceylon chivalry, in which Elala is the Saladin and Dutugaimunu the
Coeur-de-lion. So genuine was the admiration of Elala's bravery that his
rival erected a monument in his honour, on the spot where he fell; its
ruins remain to the present day, and the Singhalese still regard it with
respect and veneration. "On reaching the quarter of the city in which it
stands," says the _Mahawanso_[1], "it has been the custom for the
monarchs of Lanka to silence their music, whatsoever cession they may be
heading;" and so uniformly was the homage continued down to the most
recent period, that so lately as 1818, on the suppression of an
attempted rebellion, when the defeated aspirant to the throne was making
his escape by Anarajapoora, he alighted from his litter, on approaching
the quarter in which the monument was known to exist, "and although
weary and almost incapable of exertion, not knowing the precise spot, he
continued on foot till assured that he had passed far beyond the ancient
memorial."[2]

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxi.]

[Footnote 2: FORBES' _Eleven Years in Ceylon_, vol. i. p. 233.]

[Sidenote: B.C. 161.]

Dutugaimunu, in the epics of Buddhism, enjoys a renown, second only to
that of King Tissa, as the champion of the faith. On the recovery of his
kingdom he addressed himself with energy to remove the effects produced
in the northern portions of the island by forty years of neglect and
inaction under the sway of Elala. During that monarch's protracted
usurpation the minor sovereignties, which had been formed in various
parts of the island prior to his seizure of the crown, were little
impeded in their social progress by the forty-four years' residence of
the Malabars at Anarajapoora. Alt