Narrative
දඹදෙණි අස්න
Not translated into English
Anonymous · 1270
Synopsis
The text describes Dambadeniya, the royal capital: an inner city, protected by a wall of eighteen cubits, and an outer city, enclosed by three ramparts of stone, clay and wood. It names the streets, that of the mercenaries, that of the servants, that of the merchants, and counts the inhabitants: nine hundred sculptors, eight hundred potters, nine hundred elephant keepers, twenty-four thousand soldiers paid from the treasury, and seventy-five thousand wells within the enclosure.
Context
The text preserves an image of the capital that excavations do not allow to be verified: no major dig has been carried out on the site, and its figures are those of the author. Historians of architecture nevertheless use it to reconstruct the city, as N. de Silva does in the volume on architecture published for the centenary of the Department of Archaeology, in 1990; remains of the earthen wall are still visible on the spot.
Who it is for
A short, descriptive text, with no characters or plot, to be consulted for what it says about the city; no translation.
Prizes and reception
The main source for picturing the capital, Dambadeniya, of which almost nothing remains on the ground.