MAHAVAMSA MYTHOLOGY AND THE LIE TO PROTECT THE TERRORIST RELIGION (MAHANAMA OR SINHALA) BUDDHISM IN SRI LANKA

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

1. Superior Race,
2. Bhoomiputhra (sons of the soil),
3. Sinhaladivpa,
4. Unitary State and
5. 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.

HISTORY OF THE EASTERN (TAMIL) PROVINCES OF SRI LANKA

The Eastern Province has a land area of 9,361 square kilometers (3,613 square miles). The Tamils have had a presence in the region that goes back two millenia. 

Successive post-independence governments in Sri Lanka, backed by hardline Sinhalese nationalists, have attempted to deny the Tamil Hindu character of the region. 

They have attempted to do so through dubious efforts to distort history. 

This entails a highly selective read of the Pali and Sinhalese historical chronicles while suppressing the Sanskrit and Tamil literary evidence, the evidence of archeology and the records of outside travelers to the contrary.

This attempt to Sinhalize the East and to give it an exclusively Buddhist historical color is seen in the efforts of the current Percy Mahinda Rajapakse administration.

It is a naked attempt to grab Tamil land and to de-Tamilize it using history as one tool of many to legitimize the Sinhalization of the East. 

There is a veritable industry to roll back the Tamil character of the region.

This article presents some of the rich evidence that demonstrates the centuries old Tamil Hindu presence in the region. 

The East has been Tamil despite the efforts of independent Sri Lanka to settle Sinhalese peasants through land colonization schemes of dubious economic value.

Early Iron Age

Megalithic urn burials have been excavated in Kathiraveli in the Batticaloa district and north of Nilaveli in the Trincomalee district. 

This included black and red ware pottery tentatively dated to the 3rd century BCE and iron tools (Sudarshan Senivaratne, The Archeology of the Megalithic Black and Red Ware Complex in Sri Lanka, Ancient Ceylon, 1984). 

The ethnicity of these people can not be verified but remarkable parallels exist between these urn burials and those excavated in the Kaveri, Ponnaiyar, Tamraparani and Vaigai rivers in Tamil Nadu. 

Similar sites have been excavated in the Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Mannar districts. The Jaffna islands and the Aruvi Aru, Elapat Aru, Modarakam Aru and Kal Aru basins stand out. 

North Sri Lanka shared the same early iron age culture as did Tamil Nadu. 

Preliminary evidence suggests that the ‘megalithic culture’ witnessed the introduction of iron, the potters wheel, the plough, rice cultivation and minor tank irrigation.

TRICONMALEE:

The Siva temple at Trincomalee known as Koneswaram is of considerable antiquity despite the strenuous efforts of Sinhalese nationalist historians to deny the Tamil Hindu character of the ancient port city. 

The earliest reference to a Hindu temple is in fact the Pali chronicle, the Mahavamsa, where chapter 35, verses 40 to 41, indicate that King Mahasena destroyed three ‘Deva temples’ in Gokarna (Trincomalee), Erakavilla (Eravur?) and in the village of the Brahmin Kalanda to atone for his defiance of orthodox Theravada Buddhism. 

He reportedly built Buddhist viharas in their place. This was in the 4th century CE.

Gokarna in Sanskrit translates as the “cow’s ear” and signifies a place of Saivite Hindu worship. The place name Gokarna recurs in western Karnataka and in Nepal, where both sites boast of ancient Siva temples! 

The Buddhist vihara evidentally did not last long if one were to accept the tradition of the Vayu Purana dated to the 4th century CE. Chapter 48, verses 20 to 30, refers to the ‘Siva temple on Trikuta hill on the Eastern coast of Lanka’. 

While Sinhalese nationalist historians have tried to put a spin on the alleged Buddhist antecedents of Trincomalee, the evidence is clear that the ancient port city of Trincomalee or Gokarna was a Hindu place of worship since antiquity. 

Further, the Tamil Saivite saint Tiru Gnanasambandar sang of the glories of the Siva temple in Trincomalee in the 7th century. The Nilaveli inscription in the 10th century refers to a land grant made to this temple.

An 8th century Sanskrit inscription was excavated in Tiriyai. The inscription engraved in the South Indian Grantha script, refers to merchant mariners from Tamil Nadu who endowed this Mahayana Buddhist shrine dedicated to the Bodhisatva Avalokitesvara and his consort Tara. 

It was interesting that the inscription was recorded in Sanskrit and not in Pali. Neither was it inscribed in early Sinhalese characters. It relied on the South Indian Grantha script instead. Neither was Thiriyai a Theravada Buddhist sanctuary dominant in Sinhalese history. 

The Grantha alphabet was used to write Sanskrit in Tamil Nadu and is similar to the contemporary Malayalam script!

The inscriptions dated to the kings Udaya III and Mahinda IV in the 10th century refer to Tamil lands (Demel gam bim) in the eastern coast of Sri Lanka.

THE CHOLAS:

The Chola interlude in Sri Lanka’s history dated from 993 CE to 1070 CE. This period marked a deepening of the Tamil historical presence in the East. Inscriptions dated to this period refer to a Tamil village in Kantalai called Chatur Vedimangalam. 

This village, consecrated to the performance of Hindu religious rituals, had a local assembly that administered the community. (S. Gunasingham, Trincomalee Inscription Series, Peradeniya, 1974). 

Archeological ruins dated to the Chola period have been excavated in Trincomalee, Kantalai and Padavikulam. (S. Pathmanathan, The Kingdom of Jaffna, Colombo, 1978, page 44)

Chola-era inscriptions record the activities of Tamil mercantile communities in Padavikulam (renamed Padavi Siripura in Sinhalese). 

The mercantile groups referred to were the Ticai Aayirattu Ain Nurruvar (Velupillai, Ceylon Tamil Inscriptions, Peradeniya, 1971) and the Ayyavole. Taniyappan, a mercant from Padavikulam, laid a foundation stone for a Siva temple there. 

A Tamil inscription by Raja Raja Chola refers to Ravi Kulamanikkeswaram Siva Temple in Padavikulam. (K. Indrapala, Epigraphia Tamilica, Jaffna Archeological Society, 1971 - page 34). 

A 13th century Sanskrit inscription excavated here mentions a Brahmin village in the area. The paddy fields of Padavikulam were watered by the Per Aru river (renamed Ma Oya in Sinhalese).

The Cholas also expanded a Buddhist shrine, Vilgam Vihara, which they called Raja Raja Perumpalli near Mudalikulam (renamed Moraweva in Sinhalese). Other inscriptions mention a Chola prince - by the name of Lankeshwara Devar who administered Trincomalee.

A 12th century Tamil inscription from Kantalai refers to the Siva temple of Ten Kailasam. (Epigraphia Zeylanica). Another inscription from Palamottai from the Trincomalee district records a monetary endowment to a Hindu temple by a Tamil widow for the merit of her husband. This was administered by a member of the Tamil military caste - the Velaikkarar (Epigraphia Zeylanica, Volume 4, Number 20).

Chola era inscriptions refer to a settlement of the Velaikkarar in Kottiyaaram, known today as Sampur and Mutur. Kottiyaaram was divided into two Chola administrative units i.e. Raja Raja Valanadu and Vikrama Chola Valanadu. (T.N. Subramaniam, South Indian Temple Inscriptions, Madras 1953). 

These examples prove without doubt that the Trincomalee district had a distinct Tamil Hindu presence in the 11th and 12th centuries, a point denied by the Sinhalese nationalist historians of today who legitimize attempts to suppress evidence of the Tamil historical presence.

The Pali chronicle, the Culavamsa, mentions that King Aggabodhi II built an irrigation tank in Gangatata in the 7th century. Latter day Sinhalese nationalists identify Gangatata with Kantalai but the link is unclear. 

Tamil literary sources of a later date acribe Kantalai reservoir to Kulakoddan, a Chola prince. The evidence is once again uncertain.

MAGHA OF KALINGA

The invasion of Magha of Kalinga (Orissa) in 1215 CE deepened the Tamil historical presence in the East. Chapter 83 of the Culavamsa refers to Magha’s garrisons in Kottiyaaram, Trincomalee, Kantalai, Kattukulam and Padavikulam. 

The temple of Tirukovil in the Amparai district was built by Magha (Ceylon Tamil Inscriptions, page 6). Archeological evidence indicates that the Siva temple in Kokkadicholai in the Batticaloa district dated to his time i.e. the 13th century.

The Tamil lands of what is today Amparai and Batticaloa were traditionally divided into several principalities or ‘pattus’. 

These included Manmunai-pattu, Palukamam-pattu, Natukaatu, Eravur-pattu, Porativu-pattu and Koralaipattu. 

Pattu in Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam denotes a territorial division consisting of several villages ( T.V. Mahalingham, Administrative and Social Life under the Vijayanagara, P 81). 

Medieval Tamil texts dated to the 15th and 16th centuries, such as the Mattakalapu Manmiyam, the Konesar Kalvettu and the Dakshina Kailasa Puranam, not to mention the later Mattakalapu Purva Caritram, provide useful insights on the political conditions in what is today the Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts in the 13, 14 and 15th centuries. 

Sinhalese nationalist historians question the historical rigor of such textual evidence but the same critique could then be applied to the traditional Buddhist chronicles in Sri Lanka such as the Mahavamsa, the Culavamsa and the Pujavaliya!

The Vaiya Paadal, a late Tamil historical text dated to the 17th century, refers to the Brahmin Cupatittu who ruled Tiriyai, a Aanasingam who administered Kattukulampattu, a Maamukan who ruled Verukal and Thampalakamam, and a Mayilan who ruled over Kottiyaaram in the 1400s CE. The arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century and of the Dutch in the 17th century led to turbulence in the eastern districts of Ceylon. 

Many of the old Tamil principalities sought protection from the Kandyan kings. But this does not deny the early Tamil presence in what is today the Eastern Province. 

Muslims from Sri Lanka’s west coast fled to Kandy to seek protection from the Portuguese and were resettled on lands in what is today Amparai. The Kandyan kingdom was itself a multi ethnic one. 

The last four kings there were in fact from Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu! One Kandyan king built the Siva temple in Thampalakamam in the early 1700s.

While Buddhist remains in the East such as Deeghavapi and Seruvila do exist, these do not detract from the early Tamil association with the region just as the Tamil Hindu historical presence in the deep south of the island does not remove from the Sinhala character of the latter.

 I have highlighted a few of the many pieces of evidence that proves that the Tamil presence in the East is of considerable antiquity. 

The Tamils were a clear cut majority in that region until post-independent governments resettled Sinhalese in the region. Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism endeavors to suppress the historical evidence, but facts are stubborn. 

The Tamil Hindu historical claims to the East will not be forfeited regardless of the attempts by Percy Mahinda Rajapakse to transform the ethnic character of that land.