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by Rajitha Weerakoon

The Mahavamsa author seemed to have loved coincidences. Some of the significant historical events he had documented had taken place by sheer chance. According to Mahavamsa, Sinhabahu shaved half the heads of his eldest son Vijaya and of his 700 friends and banished them from his kingdom of Lalaata for the grave crimes they had committed. His subjects were asking for their blood. The boat "accidentally" had washed ashore on the northwestern coast of Sri Lanka. This had occurred on the very day of the Buddha's demise.

Anuradhapura today

Vijaya and his men's settlement on this isle, Mahavamsa author declares, launched the Sinhala race! What do other contemporary historical chronicles, scientific analyses of excavations by arachnologists and a critical study of Mahavamsa reveal of the coherence of these statements? Do these fit into the scenario that had taken place at the time outsider and within the country?

Dipavamsa states that 3 months before arriving in Thambapanni, Vijaya had been in Bharukaccha, a port said to be at the mouth of Narmada River on the Western coast of India and that Vijaya set off from Supparaka - another famous port on the west Indian coast. If so, was he making enquiries from navigators who were touching these ports and that he found himself on Sri Lankan shores not merely by accident?

Excavations in Anuradhapura according to former Commissioner of Archaeology Dr. Siran Deraniyagala show of evidence that by about 700 BCE Anuradhapura was almost a city, 100 acres in extent and was linked to a network which dealt with copper and high quality iron and steel industry. This may have paved the way for international trade links. Archaeological evidence show that the indigenous inhabitants were using iron tools for cultivation of paddy and that they already knew of water-management. Small tanks had been in existence long before Vijaya arrived.

Evidence of the existence of horses during excavations in Anuradhapura reveals that horses alien to Sri Lanka, had been brought from North India as early as 900 BCE. For what? Horses were needed for transportation of traders into the interior of the island? Therefore, archaeologists conclude that a robust economy was in existence in Anuradhapura long before the Aryans' arrival. The only evidence lacking is that the inhabitants had any navigational skills.

It is a historical fact that from over 1,000 BCE, Arabs were enjoying the monopoly of navigation in the Indian Ocean. The west coast of India was the hub of trade conducted by these Arab traders. The next on their sea-route to China were the ports-of-call in the northwest coast of Sri Lanka where they stopped over for trade or when their ships were wrecked. Steady migration from North India to Sri Lanka according to archaeological evidence, was taking place from around 1,000-900 BCE. Arab traders probably were in the business of bringing these migrants from India to Sri Lanka. And while in Sri Lanka, they may have travelled to Anuradhapura for business as evident in the discoveries of foreign coins, pottery, ceramics etc.

Is it possible then that Vijaya who had been to some of the Indian ports before his arrival here, did not know of the economic prosperity, the rich vegetation, the availability of water and cultivation that were taking place in Sri Lanka? And of pearls in the northwestern sea and of gems which may have been the pet subject of the Arabs as well as the advanced knowledge of iron-technology the inhabitants possessed?

More importantly that there was no Royalty ruling Sri Lanka?

Historians are yet to find the location of Lalaata or Laata Kingdom and therefore, we cannot make geographical, economical, political and sociological comparisons of the two countries. But does not the spontaneous yell "Thambapanni" Vijaya made as he landed demonstrate his concentrated focus on the geographical conditions of the country and his relief and jubilation at noticing the rich redness of the soil? Therefore, is it not possible that the information Vijaya received at the Indian ports excited the would be rulers that they decided to strike gold?

Vijaya as Yuvaraja in Lalata Kingdom already has had experience in governance. The military strategies and administrative skills he demonstrated after his arrival are not illustrative of a banished criminal. He lured a local ruler and with her help, exterminated the leaders of the indigenous clan. Then he named his capital and appointed 8 ministers. Details given in the chronicles of their colonies show planning and management.

Mahavamsa statement of Vijaya and of his 700 followers being banished for grave crimes committed cannot have been announced by the victims themselves. Therefore could it have been spread by his arch enemies - the Yakshas who would have resented the elimination of their leadership and for forcefully taking over the rule of their country?

The mention of Vijaya in Sri Lanka's first historical chronicle Dipavamsa very briefly is that Vijaya and his men arrived in Sri Lanka set up rule and that Vijaya descended from a lion or a man by the name of Sinha. He as a result was called Sinhala. And that he set off from Supparaka port and was seen before arriving here at Bharukachcha Port.

Mahavamsa therefore, the second historical chronicle written a century later, had not reproduced the deportation story from Dipavamsa. When an author depends on sources that come down through oral-transmission hundreds of years, in this case a thousand years after the event had taken place as Mahavamsa was written in the fifth century CE, inaccuracies are inevitable.

And without examining the origin, perhaps Mahavamsa author used this canard planted by the Yakshas and were doing the rounds very effectively for centuries?

The threat especially from the Yaksha clan on Vijaya and his men and the rivalry between the inhabitants and the intruders evidently had been great. It is suggested that Vijaya may have set up Thambapanni as his capital close to the sea to make his escape easier in case of a security threat? And was security uppermost in his mind when he got his Ministers to set up colonies virtually surrounding or in close proximity to the capital city?

A folk tale speaks of an Aryan going to the yakshas to get a job done using iron-technology. The Aryan watched the technique and was killed when he attempted to shout to his people the formula. Old documents identify them, the most powerful clan at the time, as masters in iron-work and that they were called "yamana." The fact that they had resisted imparting their knowledge to the intruders shows that the yakshas did not accept them. Therefore ancient literature speak of the Aryans bringing down people from India for jobs where expertise was needed and for jobs concerning security.

Mahavamsa author had made a deliberate attempt to identify in derogatory terms the four indigenous clans - Raaksha, Yaksha, Naaga and Deva while elevating Vijaya's royalty and the Aryans to a point that their arrival marked the birth of Sri Lankan nation. Mahavamsa mentions that at the time, the combined name for the four clans was Sivhela (the four helas) or Sinhala. But in his search for the beginning of the nation and to secure a place for the royalty he gave priority to the origin of Vijaya - Sinhala or Sinhale (blood of the lion) as the name of the race. By this time, there may have been a large number of indigenous inhabitants living on the island - the Heladiva whose trials and triumps over the years had been giving shape to a unique civilisation based on water, irrigation, cultivation and iron-technology.

In fact, excavations in Anuradhapura show that before the advent of the Aryans, there had existed colonies from Early Iron Age centering around areas rich in minerals and water. Could it be then that Aryan intruders overpowered the local inhabitants and took over the colonies that were already set up?

And these reports reveal that long before Vijaya arrived, the settlers had been leading a life based on agriculture, rearing domestic animals, weaving their own textiles and turning out pottery. According to Prof. Sudharshana Seneviratne, Professor of Archaeology of the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka's civilisation commenced in the Early Iron Age between 900-400 BCE. The use of iron staged a revolution as the inhabitants battled with the rough environment and controlled it rather than living off nature.

However there is no evidence to show that they used iron to make weapons of destruction which proves the existence of a peaceful agrarian based society. Destruction of peace commences in history with Vijaya's arrival.

What made Mahavamsa author support the Aryans against the island's inhabitants? According to analysts, Mahavamsa author Mahanama Thera was a devout Buddhist monk and the Buddha was an Aryan. Therefore wherever possible, he attempted to write with relish our links with the Aryans and the Kshatriya clan of the Buddha. Mahavamsa author may have also desired to say that the Sinhala nation began with a race considered as the most developed in the world.

However at the time Mahavamsa was written, the original inhabitants had merged with the Aryans especially after the arrival of Buddhism and were identified as Sinhala.

Vijaya, Mahavamsa says lived with Kuveni for several years and had not expressed a desire to part from her. It had been his 8 ministers, who by now risen in rank and importance and desiring to have suitable partners who had convinced Vijaya that in order to perform a formal coronation, he should marry into a Royal family. When doing so, not only for Vijaya, but partners for all his people - 99 royal princesses, 18 clans and 1,000 persons Mahavamsa author says were sent from the Pandyan King of Southern Madhurapura.

And Vijaya by now in control with Kuveni's use being worn off, may have agreed for marriage with a Southern Indian State for the purpose of holding a coronation alone but to seek assistance, in case there was a serious threat from the inhabitants. Whereas his brother Sumitta who succeeded his father Singhabahu as king of Lalata kingdom had married a princess from Magadha kingdom. It is suggested that as Vijaya himself was from a northern Indian State, his bride too should have come from the North!

Another strange coincidence of the Mahavamsa author which had sent modern historians into confusion was fixing the demise of the Buddha at 544 BCE and timing it with the date of Vijaya's arrival in Sri Lanka.

In order to adjust to this time-frame, we find unrealistically enhanced periods of reign given to the early kings - seventy years of reign to Pandukabhaya (with his age at 107), sixty years of reign to Mutaseeva and 80 years of reign to Devanampiyatissa and his four brothers!

Devotion to Buddhism, political developments adverse to the religion at the time and literary traditions that existed may have driven Mahavamsa author to manipulate facts at times and give his own interpretations. The authenticity of most of these facts however has been substantially established by archaeological, epigraphical, numismatic and literary sources. But as we encounter too many strange coincidences and twists it is time interpretations guided by prejudices and other factors are eliminated and edited on a scientific and rational foundation to satisfy the enquiring minds of students of history.

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