Note 116 — Chapter XII · ANURADHAPURA
Reading edition
The reigns of most of these kings have been neatly summarised, as so many tales in which ‘irrigation, subjugation, and assassination’ form the main incidents, to which we may add the building of useless relic-shrines. Many of the kings were distinguished only for their amazing superstition, and the first queen who held the throne was so bad as to be remembered only as ‘the infamous Anula.’ Having poisoned her husband, King Chora Naga—i.e., Naga the Marauder—and also her son Tisso, she successively selected a porter of the palace, a carpenter, a carrier of firewood, a Brahman, and various other lovers, to share her throne, till she was finally put to death by her own grandson.
About A.D. 30 there reigned a king, by name Yatalaka Tissa, whose history affords a curious true version of ‘The Prince and the Peasant.’ His gate-porter Subha resembled him so strikingly, that sometimes the king amused himself by exchanging dresses with him. Subha, however, found these tastes of royal honour so attractive, that he contrived to effect the exchange in good earnest. The king was dethroned, and the porter took his place, and reigned till he was slain by the next man. And so the long tale goes on.