Note 312 — Chapter II · SĪLAVAGGA.

So at p. 121 of the Mahāvaŋsa the king sends Mahinda to find out why the state elephant refused his food. Mahinda finds the motive to be that the elephant wants a Dāgaba to be built; and the king, “who always gratified the desires of his subjects,” had the temple built at once! The author of the Mahāvaŋsa must often have heard the Jātaka stories told, and this among the number.