CHAP. III
THE CONQUEST OF CEYLON BY WIJAYO, B.C. 543, AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF BUDDHISM, B.C. 307.
B.C. 543.The sacred historians of Ceylon affect to believe in the assertion of some mysterious connection between the landing of Wijayo, and the conversion of Ceylon to Buddhism, one hundred and fifty years afterwards; and imply that the first event was but a pre-ordained precursor of the second.[1] The Singhalese narrative, however, admits that Wijayo was but a "lawless adventurer," who being expelled from his own country, was refused a settlement on the coast of India before he attempted Ceylon, which had previously attracted the attention of other adventurers. This story is in no way inconsistent with that told by the Chinese Buddhists, who visited the island in the fifth and seventh centuries. FA HIAN states, that even before the advent of Buddha, Ceylon was the resort of merchants, who repaired there to exchange their commodities for gems, which the "demons" and "serpents," who never appeared in person, deposited on the shore, with a specified value attached to each, and in lieu of them the strangers substituted certain indicated articles, and took their departure.[2]
1: Mahawanso, ch. vii.
2: FA HIAN, Foĕ-Kouĕ-ki, ch. xxxviii. See a notice of this story of FA HIAN, as it applies to the still existing habits of the Veddahs, [Vol. I. Pt III. ch. vii.]
B.C. 543.HIOUEN-THSANG, at a later period, disposes of the fables of Wijayo's descent from a lion[1], and of his divine mission to Ceylon, by intimating, that, according to certain authorities, he was the son of a merchant (meaning a sea-faring trader), who, having appeased the enmity of the Yakkhos, succeeded by his discretion in eventually making himself their king.[2]
1: The legend of Wijayo's descent from a lion, probably originated from his father being the son of an outlaw named "Singha."
2: "Suivant certains auteurs, Sengkia-lo (Wijayo) serait le nom du fils d'un marchand, qui, par sa prudence, ayant échappé à la fureur homicide des Lo-tsa" (demons) "réussit ensuite à se faire Roi."—HIOUEN THSANG, Voyages &c. l. iv. p. 198.
Whatever may have been his first intentions, his subsequent policy was rather that of an agriculturist than an apostle. Finding the country rich and fertile, he invited merchants to bring their families, and take possession of it.[1] He dispersed his followers to form settlements over the island, and having given to his kingdom his patrimonial name of Sihala[2], he addressed himself to render his dominions "habitable for men."[3] He treated the subjugated race of Yakkhos with a despotic disdain, referable less to pride of caste than to contempt for the rude habits of the native tribes. He repudiated the Yakkho princess whom he had married, because her unequal rank rendered her unfit to remain the consort of a king[4]; and though she had borne him children, he drove her out before his second marriage with the daughter of an Indian sovereign, on the ground that the latter would be too timid to bear the presence of a being so inferior.[5]
1: HIOUEN THSANG, ch iv.
2: Whence Singhala (and Singhalese) Silan, Seylan, and Ceylon.
3: Mahawanso, ch. vii p. 49. Rajaratnacari, ch. i.
4: Mahawanso, ch. vii. p. 51.
5: Ibid., p. 52.
B.C. 504.Leaving no issue to inherit the throne, he was succeeded by his nephew[1], who selected a relation of Gotama Buddha for his queen; and her brothers having dispersed themselves over the island, increased the number of petty kingdoms, which they were permitted to form in various districts[2], a policy which was freely encouraged by all the early kings, and which, though it served to accelerate colonisation and to extend the knowledge of agriculture, led in after years to dissensions, civil war, and disaster. It was at this period that Ceylon was resolved into the three geographical divisions, which, down to a very late period, are habitually referred to by the native historians. All to the north of the Mahawelli-ganga was comprised in the denomination Pihiti, or the Raja-ratta, from its containing the ancient capital and the residence of royalty; south of this was Rohano or Rahuna, bounded on the east and south by the sea, and by the Mahawelli-ganga and Kalu-ganga, on the north and west; a portion of this division near Tangalle still retains the name of Roona.[3] The third was the Maya-ratta, which lay between the mountains, the two great rivers and the sea, having the Dedera-oya to the north, and the Kalu-ganga as its southern limit.
1: B.C. 504.
2: Mahawanso, ch. vii. p. 51, ix. p. 57; Rajavali, part i. p. 177, 186; and TURNOUR'S Epitome, p. 12, 14.
3: The district of Rohuna included the mountain zone of Ceylon, and hence probably its name, rohuno meaning the "act or instrument of ascending, as steps or a ladder." Adam's Peak was in the Maya division; but Edrisi, who wrote in the twelfth century, says, that it was then called "El Rahoun."—Géographie, &c. viii, JAUBERT'S Transl. vol. ii. p. 71. Rahu is an ordinary name for it amongst Mahometan writers, and in the Raja Tarangini, it is called "Rohanam," b. iii. 56, 72.
B.C. 504.The patriarchal village system, which from time immemorial has been one of the characteristics of the Dekkan, and which still prevails throughout Ceylon in a modified form, was one of the first institutions organised by the successors of Wijayo. "They fixed the boundaries of every village throughout Lanka;"[1] they "caused the whole island to be divided into fields and gardens;"[2] and so uniformly were the rites of these rural municipalities respected in after times, that one of the Singhalese monarchs, on learning that merit attached to alms given from the fruit of the donor's own exertions, undertook to sow a field of rice, and "from the portion derived by him as the cultivator's share," to bestow an offering on a "thero."[3]
1: It was established by Pandukabhaya, A.D. 437.—Mahawanso, ch. x. p. 67, Rajaratnacari, ch. i.
2: Rajaratnacari, ch. ii., Rajavali, b. i. p. 185.
3: The king was Mahachula, 77 B.C.—Mahawanso, ch. xxxiv.
From the necessity of providing food for their followers, the earliest attention of the Bengal conquerors was directed to the introduction and extension of agriculture. A passage in the Mahawanso would seem to imply, that previous to the landing of Wijayo, rice was imported for consumption[1], and upwards of two centuries later the same authority specifies "one hundred and sixty loads of hill-paddi,"[2] among the presents which were sent to the island from Bengal.
1: Kuweni distributed to the companions of Wijayo; "rice and other articles, procured from the wrecked ships of mariners." (Mahawanso, ch. vii. p. 49.) A tank is mentioned as then existing near the residence of Kuweni; but it was only to be used as a bath. (Ib. c. vii. p. 48.) The Rajaratnacari also mentions that, in the fabulous age of the second Buddha, of the present Kalpa, there was a famine in Ceylon, which dried up the cisterns and fountains of the inland. But there is no evidence of the existence of systematic tillage anterior to the reign of Wijayo.
2: Mahawanso, ch. xi. p. 70. Paddi is rice before it has been freed from the husk.
B.C. 504.In a low and level country like the north of Ceylon, where the chief subsistence of the people is rice, a grain which can only be successfully cultivated under water, the first requisites of society are reservoirs and canals. The Buddhist historians extol the father of Wijayo for his judgment and skill "in forming villages in situations favourable for irrigation;"[1] his own attention was fully engrossed with the cares attendant on the consolidation of his newly acquired power; but the earliest public work undertaken by his successor Panduwasa, B.C. 504, was a tank, which he caused to be formed in the vicinity of his new capital Anarajapoora, the Anurogrammum of Ptolemy, originally a village founded by one of the followers of Wijayo.[2]
1: Mahawanso, ch. vi. p. 46.
2: The first tank recorded in Ceylon is the Abayaweva, made by Panduwasa, B.C. 505 (Mahawanso, ch. ix. p. 57). The second was the Jayaweva, formed by Pandukabhaya, B.C. 437. (Ib. ch. x. p. 65.) The third, the Gamini tank, made by the same king at the same place, Anarajapoora.—Ib. ch. x. p. 66.
B.C. 307.The continual recurrence of records of similar constructions amongst the civil exploits of nearly every succeeding sovereign, together with the prodigious number formed, alike attests the unimproved condition of Ceylon, prior to the arrival of the Bengal invaders, and the indolence or ignorance of the original inhabitants, as contrasted with the energy and skill of their first conquerors.
B.C. 307.Upwards of two hundred years were spent in initiatory measures for the organisation of the new state. Colonists from the continent of India were encouraged by the facilities held out to settlers, and carriage roads were formed in the vicinity of the towns.[1] Village communities were duly organised, gardens were planted, flowers and fruit-bearing trees introduced,[2] and the production of food secured by the construction of canals,[3] and public works for irrigation. Moreover, the kings and petty princes attested the interest which they felt in the promotion of agriculture, by giving personal attention to the formation of tanks and to the labours of cultivation.[4]
1: Mahawanso, ch. xiv. xv. xvi.
2: Mahawanso, ch. xi. p. 60 (367 B.C.), ch. xxxiv. p. 211 (B.C. 20), ch. xxxv. p. 215 (A.D. 20). Rajaratnacari, ch. ii. p. 29. Rajavali, p. 185, 227.
3: Mahawanso, ch. xxxiv. p. 210 (B.C. 42), ch. xxxv. p. 221, 222 (A.D. 275), ch. xxxvii. p. 238. Rajaratnacari, ch. ii. p. 49, and Rajavali, p. 223, &c.
4: Mahawanso, ch. x. p. 61, xxii. p. 130, xxiv. p. 149. Rajavali, p. 185, 186. The Buddhist kings of Burmah, at the present day, in imitation of the ancient sovereigns of Ceylon, rest their highest claims to renown on the number of works for irrigation which they have either formed or repaired. See Yule's Narrative of the British mission, to Ava in 1855, p. 106.
B.C. 307.Meantime, the effects of Gotama's early visits had been obliterated, and the sacred trees which he planted were dead; and although the bulk of the settlers had come from countries where Buddhism was the dominant faith, no measures appear to have been taken by the immigrants to revive or extend it throughout Ceylon. Wijayo was, in all probability, a Brahman, but so indifferent to his own faith, that his first alliance in Ceylon was with a demon worshipper.[1] His immediate successors were so eager to encourage immigration, that they treated all religions with a perfect equality of royal favour. Yakkho temples were not only respected, but "annual demon offerings were provided" for them; halls were built for the worshippers of Brahma, and residences were provided at the public cost, for "five hundred persons of various foreign religious faiths;"[2] but no mention is made in the Mahawanso of a single edifice having been then raised for the worshippers of Buddha, whether resident in the island, or arriving amongst the colonists from India.
1: According to the Mahawanso, Vishnu, in order to protect Wijayo and his followers from the sorceries of the Yakkhos, met them on their landing in Ceylon, and "tied threads on their arms," ch. vii.; and at a later period, when the king Panduwasa, B.C. 504, was afflicted with temporary insanity, as a punishment in his person of the crime of perjury, committed by his predecessor Wijayo, Iswara was supplicated to interpose, and by his mediation the king was restored to his right mind.—Rajavali, p. 181.
2: Mahawanso, ch. x. p. 67; ch, xxxiii, p. 203.
It was not till the year B.C. 307, in the reign of Tissa, that the preacher Mahindo ventured to visit Ceylon, under the auspices of the king, whom he succeeded in inducing to abstain from Brahmanical rites, and to profess faith in the doctrines of Buddha. From the prominent part thus taken by Tissa in establishing the national faith of Ceylon, the sacred writers honour his name with the prefix of Déwánan-pia, or "beloved of the saints."
B.C. 307.The Mahawanso exhausts the vocabulary of ecstacy in describing the advent of Mahindo, a prince of Magadha, and a lineal descendant of Chandragutto. It records the visions by which he was divinely directed to "depart on his mission for the conversion of Lanka;" it describes his aërial flight, and his descent on Ambatthalo, the loftiest peak of Mihintala, the mountain which, rising suddenly from the plain, overlooks the sacred city of Anarajapoora. The story proceeds to explain, how the king, who was hunting the elk, was miraculously allured by the fleeing game to approach the spot where Mahindo was seated[1]; and how the latter forthwith propounded the Divine doctrine "to the ruler of the land; who, at the conclusion of his discourse, together with his forty thousand followers, obtained the salvation of the faith."[2]
1: The story, as related in the Mahawanso, bears a resemblance to the legend of St. Hubert and the stag, in the forest of Ardennes, and to that of St. Eustace, who, when hunting, was led by a deer of singular beauty towards a rock, where it displayed to him the crucifix upon its forehead; whence an appeal was addressed which effected his conversion. "The king Dewananpiyatissa departed for an elk hunt, taking with him a retinue; and in the course of the pursuit of the game on foot, he came to the Missa mountain. A certain devo, assuming the form of an elk, stationed himself there, grazing; the sovereign descried him, and saying 'it is not fair to shoot him standing,' sounded his bowstring, on which the elk fled to the mountain. The king gave chase to the flying animal, and, on reaching the spot where the priests were, the thero Mahindo came within sight of the monarch; but the metamorphosed deer vanished."—Mahawanso, c. xiv.
2: Mahawanso, ch. xiv. p. 80.
Then follows the approach of Mahindo to the capital; the conversion of the queen and her attendants, and the reception of Buddhism by the nation, under the preaching of its great Apostle, who "thus became the luminary which shed the light of religion over the land." He and his sister Sanghamitta thenceforth devoted their lives to the organisation of Buddhist communities throughout Ceylon, and died in the odour of sanctity, in the reign of King Uttiya, B.C. 267.
B.C. 289.But the grand achievement which consummated the establishment of the national faith, was the arrival from Magadha of a branch of the sacred Bo-tree. Every ancient race has had its sacred tree; the Chaldeans, the Hebrews[1], the Greeks, the Romans and the Druids, had each their groves, their elms and their oaks, under which to worship. Like them, the Brahmans have their Kalpa tree in Paradise, and the Banyan in the vicinity of their temples; and the Buddhists, in conformity with immemorial practice, selected as their sacred tree the Pippul, which is closely allied to the Banyan, yet sufficiently distinguished from it, to serve as the emblem of a new and peculiar worship.[2] It was whilst reclining under the shade of this tree in Uruwela, that Gotama received Buddhahood; hence its adoption as an object of reverence by his followers, and in all probability its adoration preceded the use of images and temples in Ceylon.[3]
1: "They sacrifice upon the tops of mountains, and burn incense under oaks, and poplars, and elms, because the shadow thereof is good."—Hosea, iv. 13.
2: The Bo-tree (Ficus religiosa) is the "pippul" of India. It differs from the Banyan (F. indica), by sending down no roots from its branches. Its heart-shaped leaves, with long attenuated points, are attached to the stem by so slender a stalk, that they appear in the profoundest calm to be ever in motion, and thus, like the leaves of the aspen, which, from the tradition that the cross was made of that wood, the Syrians believe to tremble in recollection of the events of the crucifixion, those of the Bo-tree are supposed by the Buddhists to exhibit a tremulous veneration, associated with the sacred scene of which they were the witnesses.
3: Previous Buddhas had each his Bo-tree or Buddha-tree. The pippul had been before assumed by the first recorded Buddha; others had the iron-tree, the champac, the nipa, &c.—Mahawanso, TURNOUR'S Introd. p. xxxii.
B.C. 289.In order that his kingdom might possess a sacred tree of the supremest sanctity, king Tissa solicited a branch of the identical tree under which Gotama reclined, from Asoca, who then reigned in Magadha. The difficulty of severing a portion without the sacrilegious offence of "lopping it with any weapon," was overcome by the miracle of the branch detaching itself spontaneously, and descending with its roots into the fragrant earth prepared for it in a golden vase, in which it was transported by sea to Ceylon[1], and planted by king Tissa in the spot at Anarajapoora, where, after the lapse of more than 2000 years, it still continues to flourish and to receive the profound veneration of all Buddhist nations.[2]
1: The ceremonial of the mysterious severance of the sacred branch "amid the din of music, the clamours of men, the howling of the elements, the roar of animals, the screams of birds, the yells of demons, and the crash of earthquakes," is minutely described in an elaborate passage of the Mahawanso. And its landing in Ceylon, the retinue of its attendants, the homage paid to it, its progress to the capital, its arrival at the Northern-gate "at the hour when shadows are most extended," its reception by princes "adorned with the insignia of royalty," and its final deposition in the earth, under the auspices of Mahindo and his sister Sanghamitta, form one of the most striking episodes in that very singular book.—Mahawanso, ch. xviii. xix.
2: The planting of the Bo-tree took place in the eighteenth year of the reign of King Devenipiatissa, B.C. 288; it is consequently at the present time 2147 years old.
THE BO TREE AT ANARAJAPOORA