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ANURADHAPURA

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 157 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ANURADHAPURA , a ruined See also:

city of See also:Ceylon, famous for its See also:ancient monuments. It is situated in the See also:North-central See also:province, Anuradhapura became the See also:capital of Ceylon in the 5th See also:century B.C., and attained its highest magnificence about: the commencement of the See also:Christian era. In its See also:prime it ranked beside See also:Nineveh and See also:Babylon in its See also:colossal proportions—its four walls, each 16 m. See also:long, enclosing an See also:area of 256 sq. m.,—in the number of its inhabitants, and the splendour of its shrines and public edifices. It suffered much during the earlier Tamil invasions,; and was finally deserted as a royal See also:residence in A.D. 769. It See also:fell, See also:corn-pletely into decay, and it is only of See also:recent years that the See also:jungle has been cleared away, the ruins laid See also:bare, and some measure of prosperity brought back to the surrounding See also:country by the restoration of hundreds of See also:village tanks. The ruins consist of three classes of buildings, dagobas, monastic buildings, and pokunas. The dagobas are See also:bell-shaped masses of See also:masonry, varying from a few feet to over 'co 1in circumference. Some of them contain enough masonry to build a See also:town for twenty-five thousand inhabitants. Remains of the monastic buildings are to be found in every direction in. the shape of raised See also:stone plat-forms, See also:foundations and stone pillars. The most famous is the Brazen See also:Palace erected by See also:King Datagamana about 164 B.C. The pokunas are bathing-tanks or tanks for the See also:supply of drinking-See also:water, which are scattered everywhere through the jungle.

The city also contains a sacred Bo-See also:

tree, which is said to date back to the See also:year 245 B.C. The railway was extended from Matale to Anuradhapura in 1905. See also:Population: town, 3672; province, 79,110.

End of Article: ANURADHAPURA

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