STATE OF LANKA BEFORE KING VIJAYA part 1

At this stage it may be useful to visualiz the state of Lanka immediately prior to the arrival of Vijaya and his band of men. The reader has to be cautioned by stating that Lanka could not have been an isolated spot devoid of humanwhich habitations. It is difficult to believe that the sea borne vessels did not know the existence of this Island and the nature of its human inhabitants. The ships capable of making such coastal voyages were in use. It is stated in the Chronicles that Vijaya and his men put out to sea at a port located on the Western Coast of India. The ship could not have accomplished its journey without prior preparation. This meant the experiences of sea faring persons would have been of considerable assistance in the final arrangement One has to accept such a proposition. Whether this event took place before or after the occurrence of the tidal wave that inundated miles of land around the Coast of Kelaniya one cannot say with certainty. No geological evidence is available The only evidence comes from the legends and ancient historical chronicles and literature. Be that as it may

Is the lost kingdom of Kelaniya a mere myth One cannot just discard this myth. or is it a fact? There appears to lie hidden some factual event of the nature of the disaster described. Earth tremors and tidal waves are known to have occur- red in historical times. Due to earth movements the course of the Mahaveli changed after 200 B.C. Another earth movement may have occurred after 12th Century A.D. One such minor tidal wave was recorded in the East Coast in 1938 and another bigger tidal wave occurred in the Eastern Coast in 1978. f the Ravana legend is to be believed then the possibility of his kingdom having been submerged by the tidal wave around Kelaniya may provide some kind of answer. For the Vibhishana cult has developed in Kelaniya and continues to dominate that region even to this day

Ravana was a demon king. He was a Rak- shasa the earliest non-human being mentioned in the Rg Veda. These kings lived in the hinterland of Lanka. They were connected to the Naga clans in Kelaniya and Nagadipa. Their seat of power may have been in the vicinity of ancient Tammannapura or probably in ancient Vijitapura mentioned in the Mahavamsa.

On the other hand modern literary critics and historians of India have strong doubts about Lanka in the Ramayana as being modern Lanka. They seem to favour the view that the spot to which Sita was removed by Ravana was in India itself. Some historians think Lanka was a mere hypothetical spot that existed in the imagination of poets. The author of the Ramayana wanted to picture a distant place full of riches and beauty The elements of the vision of such a spot were derived from the stories of rich merchants of the time. The identification of Lanka of the Ramayana with Sri Lanka still remains literary problem for the historians. But the legend continues to evoke in the minds of the literary men of Lanka visions of golden palaces, glittering turrets, exquisite ornaments, gems, decorative designs, flower gardens and ponds inducing the highest aesthetic sensibilities.

Tribal groups are always mentioned in legend, myths and stories of Lanka. These were the Asuras, Rakshasas, Yakshas and Nagas According to prehistoric evidence the use of stone implements in all the stages of evolution have been discovered in Lanka. These provide certain evidence of the progressive evolution of human culture in all these stages of development from hunting and food gathering to partial settlement.

It has been explained earlier that the Island was occupied from very ancient times by several ethnic groups. The chronicles mention some of them as Asuras, Yakkhas, Rakshas and Nagas. They were living during prehistoric times. Some were occupying the coastal regions whilst others were living in the hilly kingdoms. Even then these two groups were related to each other and therefore they had established relationships by marriage. The people occupying the Coastal region were also mixed to some degree due to the presence of shipwrecked mariners from the Indian continent.

These groups both coastal and inland may have been the surviving members of people who times. Unfortunately, no human skeletal remains of prehistoric periods have been discovered so far ancientas to enable anyone to ascertain evidence regarding The stone implements can establish a parallel development arrived in the Island during the ethnic composition of these people.

and evolution similar to that of the Indian continent. Judging by the scanty ethnographic evidence it may be assumed that the earliest inhabitants were a kind of Negrito. Next in antiquity were the Australoid race of men. Both categories may have migrated from a central region in North West of India. The third group came along the coastal plains from the Mediterra- nean region and crossed over to Lanka along a land connection. These were the human groups signs inhabiting the Island when Vijaya and his men arrived.

Some writers have referred to the arrival of certain other groups of men prior to the coming of Vijaya. One such area of diffusion is the North Western region(1) of India. As evidence a word in a Sinhala inscription is cited. The word is Kam- boja and it is taken to refer to a group of suchir people who had settled down in the Southern part of the Island. Another writer using the material in the Kohambakankariya has suggested that a group of people had arrived in Lanka from a region South East of present Pakistan. This region is the same as North Western area of India. Such scanty references are not suflicient to base an argument in support of ethnic connec- tion with such a distant region.

As for the coming of Vijaya it is said that he was not the first comer. His expedition was the culmination of a series of such visits by mariners of ancient times who visited Lanka for trade or adventure. The former version is established and recorded in the ancient chronicles of Lanka Judging by the information from all sources Vijaya and his men came from Vangadesa. This is West Bengal of modern times. Accordingl the historical record of Vijaya and his band of 700 followers proceeded to the Western littoral of India and took ship from this ancient port of Supparaka

During Buddha's visit to Lanka, it is said, the Doctrine was preached to the Yakkhas assembled at Mahiyangana plains. No doubt they listened and understood the medium of expression, This speech must surely be a kind of old Prakrit thed in India. This was very similar to the Pali la guage. Likewise the Nagas listened to the Dhamma preached by the Buddha during his next visit. The Nagas too, woud have under- stood the same language. These tribal groups survived into later times. They had absorbed alli the human groups which arrived in the Island from very ancient times as mentioned earlier.

Certain other influences could not have failed to enter Lanka during the time of Indus civilization. It is now definitely known that the elements of the Indus civilization had spread as far south as the Bombay region. The trade between the ports of this region was carried in ships and such trading vessels could not have failed to reach the ports in Lanka's Western littoral. Evidence of some human intercourse is rovided by the punched marked coins discovered in several places in Lanka. Certain undecipherable signs and symbols may bear a close resemblance to the innumerable signs found (which may form the script used) in the ancient seals found in the Indus Valley. Another class of signs and symbols ofmay be represented by the crude drawings and painted images found in the ancient coins of Lanka. Pieces of pottery too may be associated with that Indus civilization(). It does not follow that people of that civilization settled here in large groups. But the presumption is that partthere prevailed commercial and trade connectio terialbetween ancient Lanka and West Asian Civiliza tions like Indus and Mesapotamia and Egypt

From the far eastern region possible move- ments of traders or shipwrecked mariners should be considered. Such people came from the Indonesian Islands whilst on their way to Mada- gascar. The sea voyage was too long and naturally the havens of the South of Lanka offered safe stopping places on their way across the ocean to the East African coast and Madagascar. The recent studies of such trade possibilities between these two areas have been able to establish that the cinnamon used in preserving the mummies of Egypt has definitely come from the Far East either Indonesia or Burma. Lanka too may have obtained this plant from Indonesia. The would have used the haven at Kirinda or Hamban- tota

The Jataka stories like the Valahassa Jataka have alluded to Lanka in the tales relating to travellers of the sea who came for trade and commercial purposes. The shipwrecked mariners enedwere lured by the Yakkha women who wandered along the western coastal plains of Lanka. The havens were along this coast and the ships from India used these harbours at Tammenna, Mantota (Mahatittha) and even Kelaniya.

Babylonian and Persian records. India had trade More tangible evidence can be found in the with Babylonia. Special reference to ports in Lanka is found. These can be identified with a fair degree of certainty. Gems are also mentioned among the materials such as cotton, rice, apes and peacocks taken into the Western shores. Phoenicians, Arabs. Greeks and Indonesians were the people who conductod such trade in ships built to weather the oceans,

Tribes of Yakkhas and Nagas have lived in the Island during the period immediately prior to the arrival of Vijaya. The state of the Island at the time of Vijaya's arrival can be reconstructed from the evidence of the Mahavamsa itself. Some of the ancient sites of human settlement named in the Mahavamsa were Mahiyangana, Samantakuta Laggala, Dighavapi, Sirisavatthu, Lankapura, Nagadipa and Kelaniya. The coastal region extending from Kelaniya to Nagadipa was inhabi- ted by people who practised agriculture. In fact the shipwrecked mariners who remained behind were taught the art of cultivation. The safe havens at this time were Mahatittha and Gonagamaka. It shows that two types of human settlements had been established by this time. One was that of the river valleys in the hill country. There the people were living in caves as well as open stations. They were the Yakkha tribes, and the other was the settlement of the plaines bordering the sea along the Western border. These people were nomadic cultivators with semi-permanent homes These were the Nagas.

wandered along the western coast. She had Kuvanna is described as a Yakkhini who lured men and kept them confined until she extracted her prize. They were just the kind of women who magic powers to assume different forms at will Hermits are mentioned in the Vijaya story. Does this fact support the view that by this time ascetics were wandering in the Island. Perhaps that may have been the case. Kuvanna is described as a woman hermit seated at the foot of a tree. This is the pose of a hermit. But the difference was that she was spinning. Agriculture and the art of weaving are practices known to settled communi- ties. This surely is a certain sign that there was developed community. The followers of Vijaya who saw her by the tank had no fear to approach the tank because hermits cause no harm to an living being

A dog appears before the band of Vijaya's men. The presence of a dog confirmed the belief among the people that a human habitation should be in the vicinity. Another humane quality was the offering of food to hungry men. This was an ancient virtue in the Asian societies. The food consisted of rice and other foods of every kind. Rice was cooked with condiments for Vijaya's men. Here again the knowledge of cooking with condiments should be kept in mind. The first portion was offered to Kuvanna the Yakkhini. Was it an offering to please the devil or was it the custom to offer food to a woman? A splendid bed was prepared by Kuvanna now appearing in the form of a lovely maiden bedecked with all ornaments. She thus reveals her true identity as a, princess, perhaps the head of a matriarchal society of the Yakka tribe. At night Vijaya enjoying blissfully the night in bed with his spouse heard the sound of music and signing The Yakkha communities were preparing for a wedding feast and music and singing were a prelude to the revelry that would follow

To be continued