stery Abhayagiri in Anurādhapura which is said to have
been founded by the king Vartagāmani, in commemoration
of a taunt held out to him by a Nighaṇṭa Brāhmaṇa of the
name of Giri, when he fled after an unsuccessful encounter
with the Damila, the king making a vow to build a mona-
stery if he should be victorious; he called it Abhayagiri
from the name of the Brāhmaṇa (Giri) and the surname
Abhaya he had assumed himself. (Comp. Turnour's Mahāv.
p. 206 and Lassen's Ind. Alt. II. p. 433.) The monastery is
famed for the sect which inhabited it (see abhayagirivāsin)
and a tope erected in it. (Comp. Wilson's Ariana Antiqua
p. 39 and Lassen's Ind. Alt. II. p. 1008.) E. abhaya-giri
and vihāra.