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Dipavamsa (study)

by Sibani Barman | 2017 | 55,946 words

This page relates ‘Eleven Kings� of the study on the Dipavamsa conducted by S. Barman in 2017. The Dipavamsa is the base material of the Vamsa literatures of Ceylon (Srilanka or Sri-Lanka) writtin the Pali language.

Chapter 4h - The Eleven Kings

The history of Ceylon in the next three centuries followed the path of usual ups and downs. Ѳ峦ḷa-Ѳپ succeeded ղṭṭ峾ṇ� as king of Ceylon and ruled for fourteen years (76-62 B.C.). He was the son of 󲹱ṭa岵 and Գܱ-devi. ղṭṭ峾ṇ� adopted him. The child Ѳcūḷa-Ѳپ was taken by ղṭṭ峾ṇ� when he was forced to flee from the ٲḷa.

Ѳcuḷa worked in a rice field and in a sugar mill near ṇṇ for three years disguised as a labour, and donated the wages so earned to the thera Ѳܳ and to the Ѳī貹پ 󾱰-ṅg. He built the վ known as Ѳṇḍ辱, Abhayagallaka, Vaṇkāvaṭṭagalla, Dīghavāhugallaka, and . Ѳcūḷa had two sons, Tissa (poisoned by the notorious Գܱ) and ṭa첹ṇṇپ.

He was succeeded by Vaṭṭagāmanī’s own son ǰ岵 or Ѳ岵 (62-50 B.C.). He was hostile to the ṅg and destroyed eighteen s where he had not been given refuge during the days of his rebellion against his cousin Ѳculika-Ѳپ. ṅk is said to have suffered a famine during this era. He was poisoned by his queen Գܱ after a reign of twelve years. The damage done by him to the cause of Buddhism was so great that the author of Ѳ屹ṃs was convinced that “the evil doer was reborn in Lokantarika-niraya�.

After the death of ǰ岵, Ѳ峦ḷa’s son Tissa (50-47 B.C.) ruled three years as king and took Գܱ as his wife. In the mean time Գܱ developed a passion for the senior gate-watchman Siva at the king’s palace and killed the king Tissa giving poison. Then in succession she had as husbands Siva, the palace guard; ղṭu첹, a Tamil carpenter; Tissa, a woodcarrier; the ٲḷa Niliya, a palace priest;—all of whom she removed by poisoning. After Niliya, Գܱ ascended the throne and became the first queen of ṅk for four months. In the end she was killed by ṭa첹ṇṇپ, the second son of Ѳ峦ḷa-Ѳپ.

ṭa첹ṇṇپ was the second son of Ѳcuḷika and reigned for 22 years (41-19 B.C). He entered the ṅg being affraid of infamous Գܱ, but later he laid an army against Գܱ and slew her. ṭa첹ṇṇپ burned Գܱ in the palace with royal honour, and built a new palace.

On the Cetiya mountain, he ercted an Uposathagara, a thupa of stone and planted a bodhi-Tree. He founded the Pelagama , made the ղṇṇ첹-canal, Ambadugga-tank, and Bhayoluppala and laid out the Padumassara-vana. He erected for his mother a nunnery called the Dantageha and also constructed seven cubits height wall and a trench, round Գܰ󲹱ܰ.

The ī貹ṃs referred him as ṭi첹ṇṇ-Abhaya, and described him as a very devoted supporter of the nuns. Kuṭikaṇṇa had a horse of ĀᲹԱⲹ race called ҳḷaṇṇ. The վṅg commentary mentioned two theras Բ�ūܻ󲹳 Thera of Ҿ峾첹ṇṇ and Tipitakaū岵 Thera as being honoured by the king specially.

ٳ󾱰󲹲ⲹ was the son and successor of Kuṭakaṇṇa-Tissa and reigned for twenty-eight years (19 B.C.- 09 A.D.). He was called Bhatika or Bhatiya because he was the elder brother of Ѳdāṭhika Ѳ岵. He was very virtous. He repaired the dz󲹱岹, and built two for the Ѳٳū貹, and an ܱDzٳ岵 for the ճܱ峾.He planted sumana and ujjaka flowers at cost of the tax appointed for himself.

Once, he covered the whole Ѳٳū貹 with sandalwood pastes embedded with sweet-smelling flowers. On another occasion he covered the same with flowers and sprinkled them with water drawn by machines from the Abhaya-. In the ī貹ṃs, the name of the lake was mentioned as Khem which was on the west side of the ճū貹. Again, he made a plaster covering mixed with many cartloads of pearls for the Ѳ-ճū貹. A net of coral knotted with golden lotus as large as waggon-wheels was made and thrown over the cetiya. One day the king heard the chanting of Arahants in the relic chamber of the Ѳ-ճū貹. He decided to see them. He lay down at the foot of the stone-pillar, fasting, resolving not to rise until he had seen them. The Theras made a door by which he could enter into the relic chamber. The king having seen all the adornment of the chamber, described them for the benefit of the people, making figures modelled with clay in illustration of his descriptions. Bhāṭikābhaya did many other works of merit: held 28 ձ-festivals, organized offerings for the Bodhi-Tree, and showed great hospitality to the monks at many places.

Once hearing a skilful judgment given by Ā󾱻󲹳첹-Godha-Thera, Bhāṭikābhaya proclaimed that all disputes should be taken to the monk for settlement.. To settle a controversy between the monks of Abhayagiri and those of the Ѳ屹, he appointed ī󲹰ⲹṇa, a Brahmin minister, of him.

The idea of taking study as a particular profession or �gantha-dhura� is mentioned for the first time during ṭi󲹲ⲹ’s reign. The king supplied requisites for bhikkhus engaged in occupation with books or study, at five spots, namely, the three receiving places (ܱ貹ṭṭԲ), called Citta, Ѳṇi and Mucala and also in the Paduma house and the beautiful 󲹳ٳٲ-岹.

His queen 峾ī was the daughter of a cattle-butcher. Once, a large number of cattle-butchers were appointed as scavengers in the palace by the king, as they were unable to pay the fine demanded. One of them had a beautiful daughter and the king fell in love with her and married her. Owing to her, her kinsmen, too, lived in happiness.

Bhāṭikābhaya accepted everything after verification. Once he learned from a sutta that of all perfumes, that of jasmine was the strongest. To verify this, the king placed in a room four kinds of perfume and a handful of various flowers including jasmine. He then left the room and shut the door. After a while, when he opened the door, the first smell which greeted him was that of jasmine. Realizing the truth of the Buddha’s statement, he fell down and worshipped him.

The king once asked a reciter to recite from the jayamangala an auspisious stanza connected with all the three jewels. The person recited the stanza beginning with the words � tapati , ratti پ Ի徱....�. At the end of each the reciter saluted the setting sun, the rising moon, the ṅg respectively, and at last, he stretched his hands upwards in salutation of the Ѳ-ճū貹. The king asked him to hold his hands there and placed in them one thousand pieces.

Bhāṭikābhaya was succeeded by his younger brother Ѳdāthika-Ѳ岵 (9A.D.-21 A.D.) and he reigned for twelve years. He extended the courtyard of the Ѳٳū貹 by 쾱ñ󲹲 tones laid on plaster round the Ѳٳū貹, and turned the sand pathway into a wide court. He put up, in all s, chairs for the preachers. He built the ṭṭ󲹱-ճū貹, and made it firm at the risk of his own life. He laid out the grounds round Cetiya-pabbata, placed traders shop on both sides of the road, adorned the road here ane there with flags, arches, and triumphal gates, and initiated a great celebration called the Ҿṇḍū. From the 岹Բī to Cetiyagiri he laid carpets to comfort the pilgrims.

He built the Ѳṇi nāgapabbata, the Kalanda, the Samudda and the Cūḷānāgapabbata-s, and donated land for the use of monks in ṇaī貹첹 and Maṇḍa辱-վ in gratitude for favours shown to him by novices of these monasteries.

He had a queen called ٲḷadevi (probably a Tamil lady) who died young.

He had two sons� Āmaṇḍagāmaṇi-Abhaya and Kaṇirajānu-Tissa, both of whom succeeded to the throne.

He gave himself and his queen, his two sons, his state elephant and his state horse to the ṅg. But the ṅg refused to take such gifts.

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