Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History Part 75

[Sidenote: A.D. 302.]

The story of the kings of Ceylon of the _Sulu-wanse_ or "lower line," is but a narrative of the decline of the power and prosperity which had been matured under the Bengal conquerors and of the rise of the Malabar marauders, whose ceaseless forays and incursions eventually reduced authority to feebleness and the island to desolation. The vapid biography of the royal imbeciles who filled the throne from the third to the thirteenth century scarcely embodies an incident of sufficient interest to diversify the monotonous repet.i.tion of temples founded and dagobas repaired, of tanks constructed and priests endowed with lands reclaimed and fertilised by the "forced labour" of the subjugated races.

Civil dissensions, religious schisms, royal intrigues and a.s.sa.s.sinations contributed equally with foreign invasions to diminish the influence of the monarchy and exhaust the strength of the kingdom.

Of sixty-two sovereigns who reigned from the death of Maha-Sen, A.D.

301, to the accession of Prakrama Bahu, A.D. 1153, nine met a violent death at the hands of their relatives or subjects, two ended their days in exile, one was slain by the Malabars, and four committed suicide. Of the lives of the larger number the Buddhist historians fail to furnish any important incidents; they relate merely the merit which each acquired by his liberality to the national religion or the more substantial benefits conferred on the people by the formation of lakes for irrigation.

[Sidenote: A.D. 330.]

[Sidenote: A.D. 339.]

Unembarra.s.sed by any questions of external policy or foreign expeditions, and limited to a narrow range of internal administration, a few of the early kings addressed themselves to intellectual pursuits.

One immortalised himself in the estimation of the devout by his skill in painting and sculpture, and in carving in ivory, arts which he displayed by modelling statues of Buddha, and which he employed himself in teaching to his subjects.[1] Another was equally renowned as a medical author and a pract.i.tioner of surgery[2], and a third was so pa.s.sionately attached to poetry that in despair for the death of Kalidas[3], he flung himself into the flames of the poet's funeral pile.

[Footnote 1: Detoo Tissa, A.D. 330, _Mahawanso_, x.x.xvii. p. 242.]

[Footnote 2: Budha Daasa, A.D. 339. _Mahawanso_, x.x.xvii, p. 243. His work on medicine, ent.i.tled _Sara-sangraha_ or _Sarat-tha-Sambo_, is still extant, and native pract.i.tioners profess to consult it.--TURNOUR'S _Epitome_, p. 27.]

[Footnote 3: Not KALIDAS, the author of _Sacontala_, to whom Sir W.

Jones awards the t.i.tle of "The Shakspeare of the East," but PANDITA KALIDAS, a Singhalese poet, none of whose verses have been preserved.

His royal patron was k.u.mara Das, king of Ceylon, A.D. 513. For an account of Kalidas, see DE ALWIS'S _Sidath Sangara_, p. cliv.]

[Sidenote: A.D. 400.]

With the exception of the emba.s.sy sent from Ceylon to Rome in the reign of the Emperor Claudius[1], the earliest diplomatic intercourse with foreigners of which a record exists, occurred in the fourth or fifth centuries, when the Singhalese appear to have sent amba.s.sadors to the Emperor Julian[2], and for the first time to have established a friendly connection with China. It is strange, considering the religious sympathies which united the two people, that the native chronicles make no mention of the latter negotiations or their results, so that we learn of them only through Chinese historians. The _Encyclopoedia_ of MA-TOUAN-LIN, written at the close of the thirteenth century[3], records that Ceylon first entered into political relations with China in the fourth century.[4] It was about the year 400 A.D., says the author, "in the reign of the Emperor Nyan-ti, that amba.s.sadors arrived from Ceylon bearing a statue of Fo in jade-stone four feet two inches high, painted in five colours, and of such singular beauty that one would have almost doubted its being a work of human ingenuity. It was placed in the Buddhist temple at Kien-Kang (Nankin)." In the year 428 A.D., the King of Ceylon (Maha Nama) sent envoys to offer tribute, and this homage was repeated between that period and A.D. 529, by three other Singhalese kings, whose names it is difficult to identify with their Chinese designations of Kia-oe, Kia-lo, and the Ho-li-ye.

[Footnote 1: PLINY, lib. vi. c. 24.]

[Footnote 2: AMMIa.n.u.s MARCELLINUS, lib. XX. c. 7.]

[Footnote 3: KLAPROTH doubts, "si la science de l'Europe a produit jusqu'a present un ouvrage de ce genre aussi bien execute et capable de soutenir la comparaison avec cette encyclopedie chinoise."--_Journ.

Asiat._ tom. xxi. p. 3. See also _Asiatic Journal_, London, 1832, x.x.xv.

p. 110. It has been often reprinted in 100 large volumes. M. STANISLAS JULIEN says that in another Chinese work, _Pien-i-tien_, or _The History of Foreign Nations_, there is a compilation including every pa.s.sage in which Chinese authors have written of Ceylon, which occupies about forty pages 4to. _Ib_. tom. xxix. p. 39. A number of these authorities will be found extracted in the chapter in which I have described the intercourse between China and Ceylon, Vol. I. P. v. ch. iii.]

[Footnote 4: Between the years 317 and 420 A.D.--_Journ. Asiat._ tom.

xxviii. p. 401.]

In A.D. 670, another amba.s.sador arrived from Ceylon, and A.D. 742, Chi-lo-mi-kia sent presents to the Emperor of China consisting of pearls (_perles de feu_), golden flowers, precious stones, ivory, and pieces of fine cotton cloth. At a later period mutual intercourse became frequent between the two countries, and some of the Chinese travellers who resorted to Ceylon have left valuable records as to the state of the island.

[Sidenote: A.D. 413.]

[Sidenote: A.D. 432.]

It was during the reign of Maha Nama, about the year 413 A.D., that Ceylon was visited by Fa Hian, and the statements of the _Mahawanso_ are curiously corroborated by the observations recorded by this Chinese traveller. He describes accurately the geniality of the climate, whose uniform temperature rendered the seasons undistinguishable. Winter and summer, he says, are alike unknown, but perpetual verdure realises the idea of a perennial spring, and periods for seed time and harvest are regulated by the taste of the husbandman. This statement has reference to the mult.i.tude of tanks which rendered agriculture independent of the periodical rains.

[Sidenote: A.D. 459.]

Fa Hian speaks of the lofty monuments which were the memorials of Buddha, and of the gems and gold which adorned his statues at Anaraj.a.poora. Amongst the most surprising of these was a figure in what he calls "blue jasper," inlaid with jewels and other precious materials, and holding in one hand a pearl of inestimable value.[1] He describes the Bo-tree in terms which might almost be applied to its actual condition at the present day, and he states that they had recently erected a building to contain "the tooth of Buddha," which was exhibited to the pious in the middle of the third moon with processions and ceremonies which he minutely details.[2] All this corresponds closely with the narrative of the _Mahawanso_. The sacred tooth of Buddha, called at that time _Datha dhatu_, and now the _Dalada_, had been brought to Ceylon a short time before Fa Hian's arrival in the reign of Kisti-Sri-Megha-warna, A.D. 311, in charge of a princess of Kalinga, who concealed it in the folds of her hair. And the _Mahawanso_ with equal precision describes the procession as conducted by the king and by the a.s.sembled priests, in which the tooth was borne along the streets of Anaraj.a.poora amidst the veneration of the mult.i.tude.[3]

[Footnote 1: It was whilst looking at this statue that FA HIAN encountered an incident which he has related with touching simplicity:--"Depuis que FA HIAN avait quitte la _terre de Han_, plusieurs annees s'etaient ecoulees; les gens avec lesquels il avait des rapports etaient tous des hommes de contrees etrangeres. Les montagnes, les rivieres, les herbes, les arbres, tout ce qui avait frappe ses yeux etait nouveau pour lui. De plus, ceux qui avaient fait route avec lui, s'en etaient separes, les uns s'etant arretes, et les autres etant morts. En reflechissant au pa.s.se, son coeur etait toujours rempli de pensees et de tristesse. Tout a coup, a cote de cette figure de jaspe, il vit un marchand qui faisait hommage a la statue d'un eventail de taffetas blanc du pays de _Tsin_. Sans qu'en s'en apercut cela lui causa une emotion telle que ses larmes coulerent et remplirent ses yeux." (FA HIAN, _Fo[)e] Kou[)e] Ki_, ch. x.x.xviii. p. 333.) "Tsin" means the province of Chensi, which was the birthplace of Fa Hian.]

[Footnote 2: FA HIAN, _Fo[)e] Kou[)e] Ki_, ch. x.x.xviii. p. 334-5.]

[Footnote 3: _Mahawanso_, ch. x.x.xvii. p. 241, 249. After the funeral rites of Gotama Buddha had been performed at Kusinara, B.C. 543, his "left canine tooth" was carried to Dantapura, the capital of Kalinga, where it was preserved for 800 years. The King of Calinga, in the reign of Maha-Sen, being on the point of engaging in a doubtful conflict, directed, in the event of defeat, that the sacred relic should be conveyed to Ceylon, whither it was accordingly taken as described.

(_Rajavali_, p. 240.) Between A.D. 1303 and 1315 the tooth was carried back to Southern India by the leader of an army, who invaded Ceylon and sacked _Yapahoo_, which was then the capital. The succeeding monarch, Prakrama III., went in person to Madura to negotiate its surrender, and brought it back to Pollanarrua. Its subsequent adventures and its final destruction by the Portuguese, as recorded by DE COUTO and others, will be found in a subsequent pa.s.sage, see Vol. II. P. VII. ch. v. The Singhalese maintain that the Dalada, still treasured in its strong tower at Kandy, is the genuine relic, which was preserved from the Portuguese spoilers by secreting it at Delgamoa in Saffragam.

TURNOUR'S _Account of the Tooth Relic of Ceylon; Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal_, 1837, vol. vi. p. 2, p. 856.]

[Sidenote: A.D. 459.]

One of the most striking events in this period of Singhalese history was the murder of the king, Dhatu Sena, A.D. 459, by his son, who seized the throne under the t.i.tle of Kasyapa I. The story of this outrage, which is highly ill.u.s.trative of the superst.i.tion and cruelty of the age, is told with much feeling in the _Mahawanso_; the author of which, Mahanamo, was the uncle of the outraged king, Dhatu Sena was a descendant of the royal line, whose family were living in retirement during the usurpation of the Malabars, A.D. 434 to 459. As a youth he had embraced the priesthood, and his future eminence was foretold by an omen. "On a certain day, when chaunting at the foot of a tree, when a shower of rain fell, a cobra de capello encircled him with its folds and covered his book with its hood."[1] He was educated by his uncle, Mahanamo, and in process of time, surrounding himself with adherents, he successfully attacked the Malabars, defeated two of their chiefs in succession, put three others to death, recovered the native sovereignty of Ceylon, "and the religion which had been set aside by the foreigners, he restored to its former ascendancy." He recalled the fugitive inhabitants to Anaraj.a.poora; degraded the n.o.bles who had intermarried with the Malabars, and vigorously addressed himself to repair the sacred edifices and to restore fertility to the lands which had been neglected during their hostile occupation by the strangers. He applied the jewels from his head-dress to replace the gems of which the statue of Buddha had been despoiled. The curled hair of the divine teacher was represented by sapphires, and the lock on his forehead by threads of gold.

[Footnote 1: This is a frequent traditionary episode in connection with the heroes of Hindu history.--_Asiat. Researches_, vol. xv. p. 275.]

[Sidenote: A.D. 459.]

The family of the king consisted of two sons and a daughter, the latter married to his nephew, who "caused her to be flogged on the thighs with a whip although she had committed no offence;" on which the king, in his indignation, ordered the mother of her husband to be burned. His nephew and eldest son now conspired to dethrone him, and having made him a prisoner, the latter "raised the chatta" (the white parasol emblematic of royalty), and seized on the supreme power. Pressed by his son to discover the depository of his treasures, the captive king entreated to be taken to Kalawapi, under the pretence of pointing out the place of their concealment, but in reality with a determination to prepare for death, after having seen his early friend Mahanamo, and bathed in the great tank which he himself had formerly constructed. The usurper complied, and a.s.signed for the journey a "carriage with broken wheels,"

the charioteer of which shared his store of "parched rice" with the fallen king. "Thus worldly prosperity," says Mahanamo, who lived to write the sad story of the interview, "is like the glimmering of lightning, and what reflecting man would devote himself to its pursuit!"

The Raja approached his friend and, "from the manner these two persons discoursed, side by side, mutually quenching the fire of their afflictions, they appeared as if endowed with royal prosperity. Having allowed him to eat, the thero (Mahanamo) in various ways administered consolation and abstracted his mind from all desire to prolong his existence." The king then bathed in the tank; and pointing to his friend and to it, "these," he exclaimed to the messengers, "are all the treasures I possess."

[Sidenote: A.D. 477.]

He was conducted back to the capital; and Kasyapa, suspecting that the king was concealing his riches for his second son, Mogallana, gave the order for his execution. Arrayed in royal insignia, he repaired to the prison of the raja, and continued to walk to and fro in his presence: till the king, perceiving his intention to wound his feelings, said mildly, "Lord of statesmen, I bear the same affection towards you as to Mogallana." The usurper smiled and shook his head; then stripping the king naked and casting him into chains, he built up a wall, embedding him in it with his face towards the east, and enclosed it with clay: "thus the monarch Dhatu-Sena, who was murdered by his son, united himself with Sakko the ruler of Devos."[1]

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. x.x.xviii. To this hideous incident Mahanamo adds the following curious moral: "This Raja Dhatu Sena, at the time he was improving the Kalawapi tank, observed a certain priest absorbed in meditation, and not being able to rouse him from abstraction, had him buried under the embankment by heaping earth over him. His own living entombment _was the retribution_ manifested in this life for that impious act."]

[Sidenote: A.D. 477.]

The parricide next directed his groom and his cook to a.s.sa.s.sinate his brother, who, however, escaped to the coast of India.[1] Failing in the attempt, he repaired to Sihagiri, a place difficult of access to men, and having cleared it on all sides, he surrounded it with a rampart. He built three habitations, accessible only by flights of steps, and ornamented with figures of lions (siho), whence the fortress takes its name, _Siha-giri_, "the Lion Rock." Hither he carried the treasures of his father, and here he built a palace, "equal in beauty to the celestial mansion." He erected temples to Buddha, and monasteries for his priests, but conscious of the enormity of his crimes, these endowments were conferred in the names of his minister and his children.

Failing to "derive merit" from such acts, stung with remorse, and anxious to test public feeling, he enlarged his deeds of charity; he formed gardens at the capital, and planted groves of mangoes throughout the island. Desirous to enrich a wihara at Anaraj.a.poora, he proposed to endow it with a village, but "the ministers of religion, regardful of the reproaches of the world, declined accepting gifts at the hands of a parricide. Kasyapa, bent on befriending them, dedicated the village to Buddha, after which they consented, _on the ground that it was then the property of the divine teacher_." Impelled, says the _Mahawanso_, by the irrepressible dread of a future existence, he strictly performed his "aposaka"[2] vows, practised the virtue of non-procrastination, acquired the "dathanga,"[3] and caused books to be written, and image and alms-edifices to be formed.

[Footnote 1: I am indebted to the family of the late Mr. Turnour for access to a ma.n.u.script translation of a further portion of the _Mahawanso_, from which this continuation of the narrative is extracted.]

[Footnote 2: A lay devotee who takes on himself the obligation of asceticism without putting on the yellow robe.]

[Footnote 3: The dathanga or "teles-dathanga" are the thirteen ordinances by which the cleaving to existence is destroyed, involving piety, abstinence, and self-mortification.--HARDY'S _Eastern Monachism_, ch. ii. p. 9.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FORTIFIED ROCK OF SIGIRI]

[Sidenote: A.D. 495.]

Meanwhile, after an interval of eighteen years, Mogallana, having in his exile collected a sufficient force, returned from India to avenge the murder of his father; and the brothers encountered each other in a decisive engagement at Ambatthakolo in the Seven Corles. Kasyapa, perceiving a swamp in his front, turned the elephant which he rode into a side path to avoid it; on which his army in alarm raised the shout that "their liege lord was flying," and in the confusion which followed, Mogallana, having struck off the head of his brother, returned the krese to its scabbard, and led his followers to take possession of the capital; where he avenged the death of his father, by the execution of the minister who had consented to it. He established a marine force to guard the island against the descents of the Malabars, and "having purified both the orthodox dharma[1], and the religion of the vanquisher, he died, after reigning eighteen years, signalised by acts of piety."[2] This story as related by its eye-witness, Mahanamo, forms one of the most characteristic, as well as the best authenticated episodes of contemporary history presented by the annals of Ceylon.

[Footnote 1: The doctrines of Buddha.]

[Footnote 2: _Mahawanso_, ch. x.x.xix. Ma.n.u.script translation by TURNOUR.

TURNOUR, in his _Epitome_, says Kasyapa "committed suicide on the field of battle," but this does not appear from the narrative of the _Mahawanso_.]