IT IS SAID IN,
MAHAVAMSA CHAPTER VII – THE CONSECRATING OF
VIJAYA,
**But the king Sihabahu, since he had slain the lion (was called) Sihala and, by reason of the ties between him and them, all those (followers of VIJAYA) were also (called) Sihala.**
If Sihabahu whose father
had slain the lion was called "Sihala" and his eldest son Vijaya and his
followers were also called Sihala, then what about Vijaya’s twin brother
Sumitta and his followers in Sinhapura, India?
WHY ARE THEY NOT CALLED AS SIHALAS?
That itself proves that Vijaya and the Sinhala
race was a creation of Ven. Mahanama and the Mahavihara monks.
Another good example of
the myths, fantasies, superstitions and fables from the Mahavamsa is the
Elara/Dutugemunu episode.
Just around ten
lines/verses in the Pali chronicle Deepavamsa about the Elara/Dutugemunu was
blown up into 11 chapters in the Mahavamsa just to glorify Buddhism and the
Buddhist kings against the Aaseevaham Siddhars which gave birth to
- Superior Race,
- Bhoomiputhra (sons of the soil),
- Sinhaladivpa,
- Unitary State and
- Dhammadivpa Theories.
The Mahavamsa author
being a Buddhist monk and justifying the killing of around sixty thousand
Tamils/Hindus (aka invaders) by Dutugemunu is one reason why others
(non-Buddhists) think that Sinhala-Buddhism is somewhat of a violent barbaric
form of Buddhism where killing Tamils is justified.
THE KILLING OF TAMILS IN
SRI LANKA BY THE SINHALA – BUDDHISTS EVEN TODAY IS DUE TO THE UNCIVILIZED AND
BARBARIC ETHNO – RELIGION KNOWN AS SINHALA – BUDDHISM
There is a clear record
of all the main events of Buddha, the places he visited, with whom he was,
where and what he preached and to whom he preached, in the Buddhist scriptures
Tripitika, but nowhere it is mentioned that the Buddha visited or even spoke
about the island of Lanka. In order to protect Buddhism in Sri Lanka from those
powerful South Indian Hindu kingdoms, Ven. Mahanama wrote the Mahavamsa, by
added his own imaginations and myths. He has introduced many events concerning
Buddha which never took place, things that Buddha has never said or done,
events which are not mentioned in any of the Buddhist scriptures (both
Theravada and Mahayana).
PROTECTING
BUDDHISM
There was NO Buddhism in
Sri Lanka until Emperor Asoka’s missionary monks led by Mahinda converted the
Hindu (Siva worshipping) Naga King Tissa into a Buddhist in the 2nd century BC.
Similarly, there was NO
Sinhala race/tribe in Sri Lanka until the Mahavihara monks created it in the
10th century AD. When Hindu influence posed a serious challenge to Buddhism and
when Buddhism started to lose popular support and the patronage from the
rulers, the Buddhist institutions in India came under attack.
The Mahavihara monks of
Anuradapura including Ven. Mahanama, the author of the Pali chronicle Mahavamsa
and a close relative of the Buddhist Naga king Dhatusena witnessed the decline
and disorientation of Buddhism in India.
The events that took
place in India against Buddhism must have prompted the Mahavihara monks in Sri
Lanka to come up with a plan/strategy to protect Buddhism.
Due to their strong
devotion to Buddhism and desire to consolidate and protect this religion in Sri
Lanka they have decided to write the Pali chronicles Deepavamsa/Mahavamsa
making Sri Lanka a Dammadeepa/Sinhaladvipa (chosen land of Buddha where
Buddhism will prevail for 5000 years) and creating the Sinhala race by
integrating all the Buddhists from different tribes/ethnic groups into one race
and making them the sustainers of Buddhism (Gautama Buddha’s chosen people) to
protect Buddhism in Sri Lanka for 5000 years until the next Maithriya Buddha
arrive.
With the patronage of
the Buddhist Kings, it is the Mahavihara monks who assimilated all the
Buddhists from many different tribes together and called them Sihala (followers
of Mythical Vijaya).
There may have been
instances where the convicted criminals from India (Bengal/Gujarat) who were
exiled would have sleeked asylum in the island and would have been allowed to
settle and got assimilated with the local population, but there is NO
historical evidence what so ever to prove Vijaya’s arrival with 700 men or to
say there were Sinhalese during the Early Historic period.
The term ‘Sihala’ itself
first appeared ONLY in the 5th Century AD Pali chronicles Deepavamsa/Mahavamsa
and that also ONLY twice in the beginning chapters.
To date, no
archaeological evidence has been found to prove ‘Hela’ or ‘Sihala’ or ‘Sinhala’
existed before that or anything about Vijaya’s arrival.
Only the Mahavamsa Tika
that was composed very much later to interpret the Mahavamsa, mentions that it
was adopted from the mysterycal ‘Vamsa texts’ known as ‘Sihala Atthakatha’
(collection of Sinhala verbal stories).
Very strangely, most of
the mythical/supernatural stories from the so called ‘Sihala Atthakatha Vamsa
texts’ are very similar to those found in the Indian Epics and Puranas such as
the Mahabaratha/Ramayana.
Ultimately, the
Mahavamsa has transformed the Buddha into a special patron of Sinhala-Buddhism,
an ethnic religion created in Sri Lanka.
The above argument could
have been accepted if the terms ‘Hela’, ‘Sihala’, ‘Sinhala’ was found at least
somewhere outside Sri Lanka such as in any of the ancient literary works and/or
the stone inscriptions/rock edicts of neighbouring India (either South or
North) that was always associated with the island’s history, but unfortunately
nothing has been found until now.
The kingdoms of
Anuradapura and Polonnaruwa were NEVER known as Sinhala kingdoms and the Nagars
were Tamil kings who ruled these kingdoms never called themselves ‘Hela’,
‘Sihala’, or ‘Sinhala’.
There is no evidence to
prove that the Nagas were Sinhalese or they became Sinhalese. Subsequent to the
Chola domination of Sri Lanka in the 10th century A.D, people who identified
themselves as Buddhists and Sinhalese shifted their seats of rule from the
ancient kingdoms of Anuradapura and Polanaruwa towards South and Central Sri
Lanka while the people who identified themselves as Saivaites and Tamils moved
their ruling structures from these same regions to the North and East of the
island.
It was only after the 13th
century AD that the kingdoms of Kotte and Kandy were known as ‘Sinhale’ even
though some parts of the Tamil areas in North and East also came under the
Kandyan rule but Kandy was mostly ruled by the Kalingas of South-East India and
the Nayakkars of South India with whom the Tamils did not have any problems.
Also, the term
‘Sinhale’, appeared only in the 13th Century AD Chulavamsa and NOT in
Deepavamsa/Mahavamsa.
For example, according
to the Mahavamsa, Buddha made three magical trips to Sri Lanka, each time
colonizing another area of the island, in preparation for the formal
introduction of Buddhism two centuries after his death. One of these trips was
to settle a dispute between the Yakkhas and Nagas at Naga Divipa (Ninathivu)
where the Buddha tamed the Yakkhas, the non-human inhabitants of the island.
There is no evidence
whatsoever to support this claim (Buddha’s 3 visits), other than the three
chaithiyas (Buddhist structures) built in the recent past by the Sinhalese
Buddhists at 3 different locations to say, ‘This is where Buddha came.’ Even
the footprint of Buddha at Sri Pada (Adam’s peak) is nothing but an obvious
myth.
According to the
Mahavamsa, just before passing away, Buddha has called the Sakka (King of Gods)
and told him,
‘My doctrine, O Sakka, will eventually be
established in the Island of Lanka, and on this day, Vijay the eldest son of
Singha Bahu king of Sinhapura in the Lata country lands there with 700
followers and will assume sovereignty there. Do thou, therefore guard well the
prince and his train and the Island of Lanka. On receiving the blessed one’s
command, Sakka summoned God Vishnu and said, ‘Do thou. O lotus-hued one,
protect with zeal prince Vijay and his followers and the doctrine that is to
endure in Lanka for a full five thousand years’.
It should be noted that
in Buddhist scriptures, Buddha has never mentioned about any Hindu Gods, he
only talks about Devas and Bramahas from different worlds who have no
connection with any Hindu Gods.
Ven. Mahanama has
created an imaginary link between the three elements, Country-Race-Religion and
made it into one unit similar to the Holy Trinity, whereby Sri Lanka (Dhamma
Deepa), Buddha’s chosen people (Sinhalese), and Buddhism (Buddha Sasana) should
be protected for 5000 years. This is known as the Jathika chintanaya or the
Mahavamsa mindset and its outcome is the ‘Sinhala-Budda Deepa’ and ‘unitary
state’. Therefore, for the next 2500 years, a Sinhala Buddhist will never allow
a federal state or any autonomy for others (non-Sinhala-Buddhists) in Sri
Lanka.
What we witness today is
a kind of political Buddhism trying to promote the interests of the
Sinhala-Buddhist people, rather than religion (Buddhism) as a path for personal
salvation, and it is the main impediment to peace in the Island of Sri Lanka
because it is based on the doctrine of primacy and superiority of the Sinhala
race and the Buddhist religion.