I'tate

I{ALO ]SI,ANi)
JouRNAL, R.A.s.

302

(cnvl-ox) [Vor' XXXI

PRE.BUDDHIST RELIGIOUS BELIEFS IN

CEYLON

/', .

BY

S.

PARANAViTANA'
Epigraphical Assistant to the Archaeological Commissioner'
The religious beliefs

that u'ere prevalent among the

in the third
The
sturlied'
centurv lr.fo." Clrrist have been very littie
materialsal,ailable{orasuclrastudyareveryscanty.
subiect;
From the chronicles, rve learn verv littie on this
has
lvith
us
furnish
they
and even the meagre information
not receivecl the attention that is due'

Sinhalese people be{ore they accepte<1 Buddhism

Tne XIaltd,uamsa,

l. Slr(rrn \.r.ris

Zrv-\nar

tn its account of the {oundation of

fourtli century B'C"

Anuraclhapura by Panqlukabhaya in the

merrtionsanumberofreiigiousarrclpublicinstittrtionsestabli'shecl there b)' that monarch' Anuradhapura' in later times'

Buddirists ; and' as
becanie the hol1r city of the Sinhaiese
authentic tradition about
such, the monks must have preserved
account in
its origin. Therefore, it mav be assumecl that this
'fhe
present paper 1s
ltre Mah(iuarhsa is based on facts'
Pa[rd'ukflbhaya'
of
inainly a stuclv o{ the religious {ounclations
and other
supplemented herc and there b-v epigraphical
light
lit"rary eviclence rvherever such are found throrving
on the subject uuclcr discussion'

MALE

ISL.qND

same order as
clo not propose to discuss them in the
the other hand' it would
the.v are founcl in the chronicle' On
convenient if thev are taken in connection

be more
In
withthe clifferent cults to rvhich thev appertained'

so

o{ a lower level of
doing, we shall frrst cJiscuss thosc beUefs
culture as the rvorship o{ the yakpas'

2. Gnevn oB Sar,r,(N Munlulran

No.

8z

.-rg2gl

eRE.BUDDHrsr REr-rcrous ts,bLrEFS

30.3

yaksa oults: Cittarija.

of the roth chairter of tt X,Iahd,uamsa,
we read :- " He (paldukdbhaya) settlecl" the
yakkha
KaJavela on the east sicle of the city, the yakkha
Cittaraja

In Vv.

B4-88

at the lower end of the Abhaya tank. The slave

rvoman who
had helped in time past ancl r,vas reborn a yakkhiTi,
the
th<iughtful king settlecl at the south gate of
the city. Within
the roval precincts, he housed the
;zakkhiqr in the form of a
rrrare. Yeerr by year, he had sacrificial offeriirgs
made to
them and to other yakkhas; but on festival clays he
sat rvith
Cittarir,ja beside him on a seat of equal hcight,
and having
;:ods and men to dance before him, the king took his pieasure.
in joyous zr.nd merrv wise.,,1r; In the sarne .hop,"r,
vv ro:l_ro5,
it is saici :-" With Kdlavela ancl Cittaraja who rvere visible
1in hodily forrn), the prince enjoyed his goocl fortune,
he rvho
iiad yakkhas and bhlrtas for friencls.,,(r)

l r. Henry

parker (s) is of opinion

that the two yakkhas
:id,lavela and Cittaraja were trl,,o chiefs of
the aborigines
..i Ceylon whorn pan{ukabhava treatecl ll,ith
spccial honour,

ris a matter of policv, to reconcile these

savages rvlio had
i ,.:en dispossessed of their la'c1 by the

i'vacling

Sinhalese.

i',e two yaksas gainecl anything by sharing

an cqual throne
Pancl'liabhaya. on the otlier ha'cl, it is cited
as an
i: r;trDple of the king,s majesty
ancl greatness that he sat on
r:rir QUel eminence with these supernatural
beings.
ir aiso otlrer eviclence, outside the XtI ahdaa.drsa, to There
prove
tii:ti a yaksa namecl Cittar6ja was thc object
of a popular
r:,.rit in ancient India. In
the I{uruclharnma Jdtaka, it is
ilr.i,'l 61 Dhanaiijaya, king of
the Kurus :_,,Dvery third year,
irr lhe month of Kerttika (November)
the king usecl to holcl
a lL':siival callecl the Kattika Feast.
\Vhile keeping this feast
tirr kings usecl to decl< thenselves
out in great magnificence,
1" Geiger,s transiatir
z lbid pp 75-76'
2. A*ci,ent Ceyton" ii'tt.'
'o'

.itir

3o4

JoURNAL,

R.A's'

(cnvlox) [vor' XXXI'

of a goblin
and clress up like goils, they stood in the presence
the four
to
shoot
would
(yakkha) ,ra*.a Cittardja, ancl they
painted
and
florvers'
points o{ the compass arrows wreathed in
th-e.feast,stood
in clivers colours. This king, then, in keeping
ff,
and shot
Cittardja'
of
presence
on the bank of a iake, in the
-,rd*
\
t'
"(1)
arrows to the four qtrarters
spirits rnentionetL
Besicles the identity in names, the trvo
ottrer points in
have
in the Mahd,ttath,sa and in tjne Jataka,
was below
common. At Anuradhapura, the abode o{ Cittaraja
king Dhanaflthe tank Abhayavd,pt (tsasavakkulam)' When
the side of
by
stood
jaya of the Kururlhamma Jataka
tank
a
k:ahi
Cittard,ja, it was on the embankment o{
rvas
Cittaraja
that
clear
becomes
it
this,
fdliyd). From
a water spirit' On speciai festival clays' Paq{uLkfr'bhaya
pl."r.,te (ratikIS'a) in the presence of Cittarija'
enjoyed
"roti"
by the-side of
and-in the Jdtaka story, the Kuru king stoocl
and shot flowery
this spirit on the day of the Karttika festival

"rro*rtothe{ourquarters'Inlaterlndianmythology'
god of Love ;
the flowery arrows are a svmbol of Kama' the

Cittara,ja, too,
and their occurrence in tlris story shows that
out by the story
was of a simiiar nature. This is also borne
love affairs
clandestine
in
the
given in lhe Mahauafnsa,thal

olCittaandGama4i,theparentsofPa4{.ukSbhaya,this
ancl saved them
yakqa took the part of the young lovers
i.o* many a periious situation'(') The name Cittaraja
mind
itself-if we may interpret it as meaning " King of the
of
one
or heart" ( )-has afflnity wttin ilI an obhat a' mindborn"
of Karttika'
the names o{ the Hindu Cupid' The festival
B

had a saturnalian
during which this yaksa was worshipped'
tiris day;(ai
character. Much sexuallicense rvas allowed on
custom' on the night
and, according to one account, it was the
r. Idtaha" translabiun I[' P' 254
2. See Mahduanisa Ch' IX'
Kurudhamma Jataka has
?. Rouse' in ftit'-tti"trtifn of the
Citrarail)'e.r1oyea
(Skt
Colours'
,."r,a3r"a^ii-'ting ;i *u"" that this lestiva
;n tt e
'"""
shdrvs
i,
+ls
iit"na,
i.""
company of women'

.\o"

8z

.-rgzgl

pRE_BUDDHrsr nEI-rcrous

BELTDFS

3o5

this festival, for tire king to go round the

city splendidly
attired, stopping at the cloors of the chief houses,
wt itstyourlg
ivomen came and scattered flowers on
him. (r)
But the h[ah,a,aanisa r,vouid make us be]ieve
that along
rvith Kd,lavela, Cittard,ja also was of Ceylon
origin. Beforl
he was born as a yaksa, rre is saicl to ira,re
been a trustecl
servant of Pand.ukabhaya,s father; and
we have already
referred to the part he playecl in that
prince,s love intrigue.
itories connecteci witli the gods of p.opt.
or" .r.ry oit.r,
"
associated with their heroes. pandukabhaya
was the national
hero of pre-Bud<lhist Ceylon ancl, it
is very likely that many
;
:,tories from the current folklore of
the clay were graftei
tcr the romantic account of his
career as given in the chronicle.
1n <1oing this, it is naturar to make
ceyio' the scene of these
rrtories, and, in this way, Cittardja
is clescribecl as a yaksa
',i Ceylon origin; though his cult was prevalent at ilre same
lirne, or even eariier, in India" es ar-,
analogou.s
it rnay be mentioned that to the Hindu colonists instance,
of Java,
tire heroes of the Mahdbherata were of
Javanese origin and
tlre battles between the Kauravas ancl paT{avas
were"fought
{ril Javanese soil.
oJ

The Genius of the Tisivava

As the Abliayavfi.pi had its guardian spirit

in Cittard,ja,
,"' had the Tissavapi
an unnameci genius as its protector.
'
.li'ii'r, we are told in an inscription
of ihe tentn century, that
ii.re fss1111111 .ri Vihera was situatecl ..
by the side of the Tissa

t;urk the waters of tvhich formecl

the clwelling place of a genius

(irrAzrs) who was convertecl

by the
tirrele to beof servicetothereligionas

Saint r ahinda and was

welj as to the world.,,4z;
1'lris spirit is here callecl
a ro'lt,ls ; but the word.s yaksa and

r.
?.

See Umrnadanti JJtaka, Vol. V o, zr{f

Vessagiriya Slab inscriptio" or ltSrri#L

w n.z.r., p. 33ff
uisin
uinoyd
)i',,,1','0i",#'!:^^Yil,,i!"
sasun urida
tunn, 'ptr.tngu-,11.a/tahim.iyan
pon I tsa uunnisd pihiti Isurmenu, eic.
t:"
!".i*
{u(. (.xlreme srmllarity, in rhc tcnth
'.b (u
,, ,,,_.",
century script, between
.r
mbols
',,'.
lor ha anrl ng.a, ir:. \Vi.kr;;;;i;r,.
i
wronslv read
P , trtr tor pirinsi. rrr","'"ie,
i'ls i;;;;i;r;;':i "' rhis".passage,.which
;dmits

'"

is (lo-ubtful, is far irom

;;;;;;i;""

JoriRNAL,

306

It.A.s' (cEYI-oN) fVor' XXXI

No.

and
rakpasa are appliecl inclilTereutlv to tire same being'(l)
genius of thc'lisdvava is mentioned here in dealing
hence the

century
u,ith tire yakga cults' As the people in the tenth
the
X'lahincla'
by
believet'l that tiris spirit u'as convertetl
rvas
he
t1'rat
apostle of lJtLclclhisrl in Ceylon, it is obvious
there is
k*n.u. in pre-Buclclhist times' As far as I knor'r"
of this vaksa by
no rnention in li.teratule c'{ the conversion
to his brother
I'Iahincla ; but sirnilar feats are ascribe{l
in
r'vho proclairnecl thc message of the Buddha

"

missioners

Kastimir ancl ottrer

cor-rntries'

4!

8z

.-'--rg2gl

pRE_BUDDHrsr

rrEt-rcroLrs

BELTEFs

3oT

cailed lfahejaqhara.(1) It is
stated jn fite Muluuatnsa (()lt.
ry
\r. 3o) in connection with the founclation
of the Thrlpardma,
that the rorral elephant bearing the
sacrccl relic that was to
lre cnshrined in this Slif
a carneont of the citr. frorn
the south_

crn gate. proceedecl as far as

tire slirine of this traksa
rrnd the' returneil to the site
of the sacrecl;;_;.I"T"
rnore reference to hiil is founcl
in later literature ancl it is
tirat his shrine rvas .enrorishecr to
find room for
'ossible
the
Bucltlhist mo'astic b*ilcli'gs
that
sprang
u;r arouncl the
'I'hfrpd,ra,ma.

Vaiilavana and other yaksas.

Ki,lavela

in the

story
His
of Pa4qlr,rka,bhaya is not knorvn from other sotlrces'
continued
citv
the
of
gate
shrine which "r-as near ttre eastern
later times ; for lahirsena in tlie fourth century
Kt1lavela who is associatecl rvith Cittardja

to
It is
is said to have constrircted a cetiya at this place'(')
yaksa,s
not stateil that I'Iahd,sena,s cetiytt' stlpplanted tlre
of the
r'vorship
older
the
shrine ; therefore, it is likely that
the
down

lhe king of ail the yakgas is

Vaisrava4a rvho is a familiar
in Iluclclhist mytirolcgy, U";r.,g.nr.riaerecl
one of the four
great kings reigning in
the jowest c,f the six heavens.
He is
;r1so r,vell known in
Hindu ,rrytt oiogy
Kuvera, the god of
r:iches. Naturaily, this imporia"t
"; r,rra.s
p...**g"
not neglected
iry tsa!{ukd,b}raya i' his ..h"-.
figr_rre

J-r.ir*r"",

founcrations

rvhen le.sserdivinities who

were tris subordi.ntes rvere
honoured.
,{s

paid to
yaksa prevailecl sicie by si<le rvith the honours
the cetiya
cet'iya. X'loreover, as rvill be seen in the secluel'

his abode was fixed a banyan

tr". ,r.u. the western gate
,,1 the citt'.{r} About
tree worship rve r,vill speak in
its
ilroper place.

trf Anuradhapura
to tliat r.vorsirip" The site of the eastern sate
is near tlie modern NakS' Vehera'

cult is not mentioned,

lut rvho is connecterl lvith paldukdbhava,s
legencl, was named
iutindhara. His haunt was the int ,r"*.a .frimbariyangana

cuit ; and'
*ur, lrl' pre-Budclhist Inclia' a {eature of the yakpa
devoted
been
have
may
tfiir'p"rti".tfar one built by l{ah:rsena

Maheja

Another yakga. of whom

a separate

;rear the river ilIahaviligaiiga

in tlie "eastern part of the island.
r{is

in Par}fluAnother yaksa rvorshipped bv the Sinhaiese

situated
shrine'
His
k:ibhava's time was namecl l'{aheja'
was
Thirpariima
a little distance to the rvest o{ the present

wife was the yaksinr Cetiyd r,vho

has already been
'itentioned. (3) Jayasena of Arit6liapabbata rvas
another
:'rputed yaksa in ancient Ceylon.
The Rosardhini has .an

who proved to
For instance, that monster callecl Raktiiksi
Sanshabodht
of
Siri
i,,"tt
oi";;;i;;
p"opil
tt
to
be a scourgc
" .tit""
in the iater
bnt
"
llah.attanisa
tie
tf,"
"irt"
uv
is callecl a tahhka
ot
rahhlnsa' (See
^l"ili*'iI
vol"'n'\'J;;""1":";
Hatthaaanagaltn
'Vatitsa' Ch' Vl' V: t")' rl
"pitrt"t
XXXV, ,'. o'2

9o. Tr,.". ,];f, _conrains flre readings Maheiii

..
rotred.a.
'ilrc Sanzanta
attd
plri/:fu
ircn says rhat this was yaksa n", i)tri'"|
,'1b""*Tii, t
comnrenl,,,
a
i
"
tr,e colombo
, clitioir
"}lrin*-

r.

ch.

"nl"Aor-tii'o'''oqotto
the Lahhanatdt'a sAt'n,*ii';;;';;;;iii;'"nt1v
and ' liing of thc Rriksasrs"
2. ,a/2. XSXVIl' V' 44'

''l.fz.

stvled ' I(ing of Yaksas

r. l\[r'. X.

2. _11a. X. 8q.
. 3. Mu. X,5i and 1rhd, p. zor. It is also stated there that
jJsa yastilled in the bitric or si.is-variiu*rii,"",i'uiluvu

thrs

annirrirarcd

JouRNAL, R.A.s.

308

(cEYLoN) [Vor. XXXI

No"

(Adam's Peak).

probable that this deity

Sinhalese before their acceplance of

It is, therefore,

was known to the

Buddhism. In the ilenatiya Sutta of t]ne Dt'gloa l{ikaya,
a yakkha namerl Sumana is mentioned. It is possible that
'sumana of Adam's Peak was identical with this yakqa
.and was later elevated to the dignity of ailetta' The fact
that his abocle was on a mountain and not in one of the six
heavens agrees qr.rite well with the epithet of bkutnm'adeua
'the gods of the earth' applied to the yaksas. Elsewhere,
I have identified him with the Mahay5,na Bodhisattva
Samantabhadra ; guided by the iconographical representation
of the deity in later times;('?) Such merging in of local deities
with gods o{ a more universal character is a familiar
phenomenon.

pRE_BUDDHrsr

REr,rcrous BELTEFs

309

Mdna*

vaka Jdtaka ; whereas, in others

",*tf

appears amongst the peaks

from

Malrdor. (r)

.h.""pf."r. alone. She also

of Govardhana, in a later stele

Another yaksini was installed

at the southern gate
of the city. Her name is not given;
but it is said that in
her previous birth, she was
thl slave *o_ur, who rescued
Pan{ukdbhaya, in his infancy,
f.o_ inl plots laid out by
his uncles, to murder him. (f

The lllestern
Tr
Lile lwahaarmsa,

eue6n"

chapter X, v. 89, tells us

that panflukEgocidess named e"."fl*".U;ini

bhaya instailed a
rvestern gate of aucient Anuraclhapura.

nsal th.
prof. Geiger, in
the introduction to his edition
of tnuilfr.onicle comments
on the name as follow-s :_The
nu^" porr:himard,jiniseems to
mean 'the Western pueens: j
it is used for the name of
the chapel or sanctrrary of those
goddesses" I think, it is
not merely
accidental, that the ."rr""to"r1r
of the facchimar_
pacchimad.ad,raaisat,iage

Yaksinis.

*?, built

Oi the female spirits worshipped in ancient Anuradhapura,

in the fourth century 13.C., the first in importance was Va{avamukhi, the mare faced fairy who seerrr-s to have been specially
honoured by Pal{ukdbhaya as she was installed rvithin the

royal palace itself. There is hardly any doubt that

Va{avEmrrkhi was the same as the yakpini named Assamukhi,
mentionecl in the Padakusaiam5,navaka Jetaka'(3) Inthis

story, she acted as a fairy god-mother to the Bodhisattva

then known as Paclakusala. She taughthim a charm by the
virtue of which one was able to detect a thief even a{ter the
expiry of seven years. Assamukhi seems to have been the
.centr-e of a popular cult in North India at the time of the rise

(at the Western

:!0"t "
Gate).
We cto not know ."ythirr;: ;l*"r"r,
.ro,rt rhe

character of these Western

go".r, ; ;;"):;.r" perhaps death

(s) prof. Geiger translates the
word p acchimard,j ini
ir.s if it were in the plural
number. It I
singular ; one of the variant forms
occ'ri*,f ,ilT"fl:l,1:lJ
godtlesses. "

p.accltintard,jinim,if. tak.enas
the correct

Sc'

VoIII' pt' r p'64'

o.,il, l'

the accusative
singuJar. Therefore, it is evident
thut ;;y one .Western
[ueen,' and not many of them, was instatted
by pan{u-

I'rdbhaya.

Chinese

pilgrim Hieun Tsiang gives

us a clue to
go..rr., ifJ glrr., t*o versions

.Tn"
., identity
the
of this . Western
r.

r. Ediiinn of r9o7, P. 87 ff.

;. ee Mahayaii'siin Cfu,Ion C. J.
3. Jataha, III. P. 5oz ff.

.-rg2gl

of Buddhism.
"tn: is.clepicted in early lluddhist sculptures
at Bhdjd,, Sdnci, Bodh Gayi, and patalputra.
fn some of
these she appears in scenes
depicting tfr" paaakusala

interesting story of a fight between him and GofhaImbara, one of the ten warriors of Duffhgemaqi'(t)
In the first of the three supposed visits of the Buddha
to Ceyion, he is saicl to have preached his doctrine to Sumana'
the cleity who had his abode on the summit of Samantakufa

82

See Coomaraswamy,

p"

3.

26, ...

11,1y.,

g5.
X. ^Histoly

Mahduamsa, Geiger,s

"aitio.r,

of Ind,ian and Ind,ouesialx Art,

Introduction, p. LIV.

3ro

JouRNAL, R.A.s.

(cEYLoN) [Vor' XXXI

'

of the legend connected with the origin of the

Siniialese
told him
was
what
was
people; one of them, most probably,
other
the
and
ty ift" Sinhalese monks whom lie met at Keici'

\o. 82.-1929]

pRE_BUDDHrsl RELrGrous

BELTEFS 3rr

to assuage, and rvhose hateful tempers are casily

arousecl;
tiut to kiii your own father, this is a rebeilious
(unnatural)
tlisposition. I wiil reward your goocl cieed largely;
but you

shall be banishecl from the country as the

punishment of your
crime. Thus, the laws will not be ilfringecl ancl
the king,s
worcl not vioiated.' On this, he prepared
two large shi"ps
iboats) in which he storecl much provision (c,rrecl rice or other
grain). 'fhe mother he detainecl in the kingclom,
and provided
her lvith all necessa.ry things as the ,eJurd
of the services
clone. The son anrl daughter each were placed
in a sep&rate
boat, and aba'.oned to the chance
of the ouot". ancl thewind.
The boat in which the son r,vas embarkecl,
clriven over the sea,

In the {ormer version'

a lion"their living
with
princess
the meeting of the amorous
thern' the manner
to
together, the birth of a son and claughter
in which the rnother an<1 chilclren escapecl from the lion's
the lion's
'den, their subsequent arrival in a human habitation'
by
committed
ravages
the
pursuit of his wi{e ancl chilclren,
king's
the
{olk'
in. Ung of the beasts among the country
pro"I"-ation offering a rich reward to any person rvho would
tia fri. couutry o{ this unwelcome visitor and the killing of
the lion by his own son agree, in the main' with the version
of this legend as tolcl in the Ceylon chronicles'

came to this Ratnadvrpa. Seeing

it abounded
gems, he took up his abocie here.,,

From this point, Hieun Tsiang's narrative differs t'idely

from the Ceylonese traclition. According to the latter' the
lion's son was cfferecl the kingclom of Vanga by the grate{ui
people. He refused this ofier, and rvent to La$a where he
founded a city ancl reigned there with his sister as his queen'

" Afterwards, merchants seeking for gems frequently

to the island. He then killecl the merchant
chief and
detained his chilclren. Thus he extencled
his race. His
sons and grandsons becoming numerous,
they proceede<l
to elect a king ancl ministers anrl to clivide the
people into

basecl on the Sanskrit Si11r'h'ald'aadd'na'

His son wasVijaya, the conquerorof Ceylon and the eponymous

hero of the Sinhalese race. According

to Hieun Tsiang' it

was the lion's son, and not his granclson, who colonised Ceylon ;
ancl the lion's daughter, the sister of Simhala,was tl're a.ncestress

of a race of Amazons hnown as the 'Western Women'' That

part of the story which is pertinent to the subject under dis-

cussionmaybestbegivenintheChinesepilgrim'sou'rlwotds'
" The king then saici, ' Who is this man who has done
such a rvonclerful deed ? Allurecl by promises o{ reward
tl're
c.n the one hand, ancl alarmed by {ear of punishment on
wbole
the
revealed
last
at
he
other, if he kept back anything,
from beginning to end ancl told tlie touching story without
reserve" The king said 'Thou wretch, if thou wouldst
kill thy father, how much more those not related to thee !
Your <leserts indee<1 are great for clelivering my people from
the savage cruelty of a beast whose (passion) it is difBcuit

with precious

r:ame

tiasses. They then buiit a city and erectecl

towns, and seized
on the territory by force; ancl because
their original founcier
got his name by catching a jion, they cailecl
the country
lafter his name) Sirhhala,,,
boat in which the girl was embarkecl was clriven
,rver the sea till it reacired persia
(po-la-sse), the abode of
demons who by intercourse wiili her engenclered
"l'estern
a clan of wcimen chilclren, anci therefore the country
is now
" The

;allecl the country of the Western lVomen.,,{r)

According to this story, the ancestress of this
mythical
race of the 'Western Women , rvas
the sister o{ Sinihala,

r:eputed founrler of the sinharese

the

race. Therefore, it is natural

that tlieir queen (i.e. the Western Oueen) lvas an

object of
;iopular veneration among the primitive Sinhalese. As
r. Beal's

:139-240.

Bud,d.hist Reaord.s

of the Western World,, yol" II. pp.

3rz

JOURNAL,

R.A.s.

(covroN) [\ror. XXXI"

these women are said to have had their origin by the intercourse of Sinihala's sister with the western demons (yaksas),
the worship of their queen must be considered one phase of

the then widely prevalent yakqa cult.

In his account of Persia, through which country he passed
onhisreturn to China, Hieun Tsiang gives some more inform,ation about the 'Western Women.' He says:-" To the
southwest of Fo-lin, (1) in an island of the sea, is the kingdom
of the Western Women. Here, there are only women, lvith
no men ; they possess a large quantity of gems and precious
stones, which they exchange in Fo-lin. Therefore, the king
of Fo-lin sends certain men to live with them for a time. If
they should have male children, they are not allowed to bring
them up." 1z;
The existence, to the west of India, of an island inhabited
by a race of Amazons has also been believed in by mediaeval
travellers. Marco Polo says that 5oo miles to the south of
Kesmacoran (identified with Makran in Balrrchistan) there
was an island of Males and another of Females. About their
location" Colonel Yule, the editor of Marco Polo remarks :" It is not perhaps of much use to seek a serious identification of the locality of these islands or, as Marsden has done,
to rationalise the fable. It ran from time immemorial and"
as nobody ever found the islands, their locality shifted with
the horizon though the legend long hung about Socotra and
its vicinity"" (3 ) Yule also gives reference to other mediaeval
travellers who had left accounts of these two islands.

of the

stories about the island of the

in t]ne Mahdaaritsa version of the Sinihala legend. When Vijaya, the conqueror of Ceylon, was
reminisence

Amazons is also found

banished with his foilowers from his native land, their wives
were sent abroad in one ship and their children in another.

r, Sup-posed to be the same as the Byzantine empire.

2. Beal, op cit, p. 279.
3. Yule, Traaels oJ Marco Polo,London, tgz6. Vol, II. pp" 4o4405.

No.

8z

.-rg2gl

pRE-BUDDHrsr RELrGrous BELTEFS

313

The women were ca.st ashore in an island where they founcl

h.sbands' The Island was thenceforward knorr'n as Mahitadvipei, (the Island of Females). The ship in which the
children sailed was driven to another island which received
thename of Nagnadvipa (the Island of Nakerl Men). These
two islandscorrespond to the two mentioned by Marco polo.

(t)

According to the Mahauaritsa narrative, the ancestress

of the inhabitarrts of the Female Island was the wife and not
the sister of the hero of the Sjmhaia legend.. This confusion
may be drre to the fact that the clan to which Vijaya belonged
seems

to have practiced the custorn of sister marriage.

Sinhalese folklore, too, knows of a land, namecl Stripura

(the City of \{/omen), peopled by a race of Amazons"
I have
heard that Gajabahu I, the hero of many a popular ballad
of
theSinhalese, visited this Land of Women on the occasion of

his expedition to south India. Mv informant also tolcl me

that Stripura is but another name for Malabar" This Sinhalese
tradition about a race o{ women reputed to have livecl some_
where on the west coast of India is supported by persian
and
Arab travellers of the ninth century A.D. who . reported at
Bussora that there dwelt in the kingdom of Thafek on
the
west coast of India, a race of women very fair and beautiful,
,A.ccorcling to its situation as given by these travellers,
J. Kennedy thinks that the land of these fair women was somewhere in the neighbourhoocl of Goa. He also mentions
that
there is alocal tradition in Goa to the effect ,that there
existed
not far off to the south-east a race of women noted for their
fairness and their beauty, the descendants of a portuguese
convent of dissolute nuns who had established a community
of free love and were rulerl by an abbess , (z; Ibn Batuta,
the uxorious Arah traveller of the fourteenth centurv had
Etymologic_ally, the names Mahilddvrpa and
seern to be identical with Maladive and Nicobai, the Nagnadvipa
name"s oi ti,o
groups of jstands ofi rhe u.est coast of Ceylon. ' tw"niiiiiipi:iii.
^""'

Motadiua and Naggadipo:T. N;ii";;ril'

2. J. R. A. S. Ior r9o4. p. 163.

314

JoURNAL, R.A.s.

(cEvLo\) Vor. XXXI

also heard about this land o{ women; and triecl to get definite

information about it

; but without success. (1)

From the above, it becomes clear that the mytli of a race
of Amazons living somervhere to tire west of India or in the

west of India itself r,vas rvideiy prevalent {rom remote down

to modern times" In the time of Hieun Tsiang, it lvas believed
that these women had their origin in the sister of Siriihala.
The mention of the Female Island in the Mahauarir,sa in this
connexion, and the stories still current in Sinhalese folklore
about a ' City of Women' points to the fact that the myth of
the Arnazons was known in ancient Ceylon. 'lherefore, it is
hardiv open to doubt that the 'Western Queen' of PaTqlukebhaya's time was the queen of 'the WesternWomen' rnentioned
by the Chinese traveller"
Wrat the nature of this godcless's cult rvas, when she
ceasecl to be an object of popular devotion, rvhether there are
anv traces of her cult in modern Sinhalese folk religion and
whether her cult was absorbed in that of any of the female
divinities worshipped by the Sinhalese today, are questions,
there is not suffrcient evidence to answer rvitir certainty.
Genenal Remarks on the Yaks.a Cults,
Considering the wide diffusion. in ancient Ceylon, of the
cult of the yaksas, some remarks about these heings in general
may be appropriate here.(') From what n'e learn in the
Buddhist and Jaina writings, the belicf in, and propitiation
of the yaksas appear to have been tire principal factor in
the reiigion of the middle and lower classes of society in
India during the times preceeding and just following the
advent of the Budclha. In many a Buddhist legend, we
read of yaksas wiro had their abodes in trees,lal<es,mountains,
rivers, ,and other striking natural phenomena. As a class,

r. The location of the Amazons in l\{alabar might tre due to the

matriarchal organisation of society prevaiiing among the Nayars.
2. About yaksa worship in India, see Sir Chas. Eliot Hind,wism,

ilnd Buddhism, Vol. I., p. to3, Archaeologi.cal Swruey of India, Llemoir

No. 3o, p. 7 and Ramprasad Chanda int}'e Journalof the Department
of Letters, Calcutta University. VoL IV, p. 77 tr.

Nc-t.

82.--1929) pR[.-rrur)I)IIIST

RELr(;IOUS

BDT.IEFS 3r5

the yaksas corresponded verv closely to the fairies and elves

of European rnythology. The great majority of the early
converts to Buddhism in Inclia were from the ciasses of people
devoted to 1'aksa cults anci evcn after their adoption of the
highcr faith, the1, continued to honour their former gods.
.{mong tire sculptures of Barahut, one of the earliest Buddhist
sttpas in India, thcre are clepicted a large number o{ yaksas ;
ancl the earliest known sculptures in tlie rounci,in India, are
figures of these demigods. ('; Several legends narrate how the
Buddha converted man]- of these yaksas and thereafter

these beings gave

up their evil ways and became

good

Bucldtrists themselves. Ea"ch of these iegends, it is evident,

comlneil]orates the conversion of a yaksa worshipping tribe
to the tenets of Buddhisrn. The people, loth to give up their
familiar superstitions, convertecl the object of their former
veneration to the new faitiithey bad adopted;and, divesting
hirn of those features not in keeping with Buddhistic ideas,
continued to honour him in a new capacit)'. We have seen
above that this has happened in Ceylon in the case of the
genius of tire Tissavlpi.
Each country and town in ancient India had its tutelary
Mah,amdyilrr,,(2) a magical text of theNorthern
Buddhists, whicli rvas translated into Chinese in the fourth
century A"D., gives a long list of srich yaksas and the piaces
rvhere thev had their abode. Among these, three, namely,
Vibhisala, (3 ) Kalasodara, (a ) and Dhane(vara(u )are saicl to he
the tuteiary yakqas of Ceylon. Of these, the first, Vibhisala,
lhe brothcr o{ Rdvana, is still rvorshipped at Kdlaniya and
is supposed.tobe one of the four guardian cleities of the isiand.

yaksa. The

Dhane{vara

is another name of Kuvera Vaiiravana

w}ro,

we have seen above, was u'orshipped itt aircient.Anuradhapura

:is

r " The Parkham, Patna, [Iathuri and Besnagar figurcs. Jayaswal

o{ opinion that the first two a.re portrait statues oI Sisunlga }iings"
z"- Edited by M. Sylr'ain Levi, in the J. A. for rgr5. p, 40 fi.
3. l'ibh,saltas Tdutraparnyu)tt.

4. Laitthdydit. Kalasodarah.
5. Sihhalesu Dlta,nesuarah.

316

JouRNAL, R.A.s.

(crvror,r) [Vor. XXXI

No.

8z

.-rg2gl

pRE-BriDDHrsr RELrGroLrs BELTEFS

317

in the time o{ PaT{ukebhaya. This god was, at a later time,

incorporated in theMahdyanaBuddhist pantheon and several
images of him have been found in Ceylon. 'lhe second namecl

us that they were dedicatecl to -vaksa worsirip anrl after the

advent of the Brrddha, the people converted. thern into
Buddhist Viheras.(1)

Kalasoclara ('pot-beltied') may be another name of Vailravana.

: The word yahsa is now generally rendered into Iinglish

The conditions, in pre-Buddhist Ceylon, of the yaksa

cults appear to have been exactly similar to those in North
India in the time of the Buddha ; ancl, in spite of the adoption

but the conception of yaksas as evil spirits

is of later growth. Though, from the very beginning, the
as 'demons,'

yaksas were more feared than lovecl and were supposed to

.cause great calamities unless propitiated in time there r,vas
originaily very little difierence betwecn the yaksas and the
'devas. In fact, one o{ the names of the yaksas as a class,
was bhumytatleua ' llte gods of ttie earth.' The goci Sakka
thc king of heaven is, in one piar;e, st5'16fl a yakkha ;(r ) ancl
in one of tlre earliest Buddhist loots, the Majjhi.tna Nika1,a,
the Buddhahimself is given thisepithetin a hymn of praise.( j )

In the Mahamoy,urri, already mentionecl, Viqnu, Siva and

Karttikeya, tlie most popular of the Puranic Hindu gods
are mentioned as the

an inscription on

tutelary yaksas of different cities. In

statue of Mafribhadra, discovered at

Pawaya in the Gwalior state, that

-vaksa is calle d, a bhagaaat,(z)

one of the rnost familiar of the epithets of the Buddha as

well as of Vislu. The worcl yaksa is clerivecl from the root
ya;'i, 'to offer,' and means a 'being worthy of offerings.,
The degeneration in th e meaningof this worci tinds paralells in

the history of the word asura,

in

Persia.
Some

of the principal

in India, and that of clet:a

{eatures

of the

yaksa religion
recur in the popular aspects of Buddhism. The worship of
the caitya, so characteristic of popular Buclclhism in many
countries including Ceylon was originally connected with
the yaksas. The Pali pitakas mention several cetiyas u,hich
existed in the Ruddha's life time at Vesdli, Rajagaha, Alavi
and other places. Buddhaehosa in his commentaries informs

r9

r. Majjhi.wa Nihaya I.p. 253.

2. Majjhima Nihaya. t. p. 386.
3. 'l-he Annua! Archaeolgi.ocal, Report oJ

r5-rgr6.

of Buddhism as the national religion, the earlier

the

Gualior

Stale,

vaksa

worship flourished side by side among the masses and has

persisted down to modern times" It has also given rise to
a considerable amount of folk literature. Most of these, as
ihey exist today, are of late origin ; and, a good. number of
the yaksas in vogue at present are either later creations; or
as their names imply, introduced from the peoples of a
lower culture in South India. Still, a critical study of this
literature, comparing them with the evidence furnished about
the yaksas in Buddhist, Jain and other Indian literatures
would doubtless yield interesting results.
Tnee Worship.
The banyan tree rvhich was sacred to the king of the
Yaksas has been noticed. At Anuradhapura, in paq{ukabhaya's time, there was another sacred tree in a palmyra
palm which was the abode of a god named Vyadha or Vyadhi

deva.(,) There is some doubt as to the correct form of the

; both forms occuring in the manuscripts. prof.

name

Geiger adopts the form Vyadhideva and translates as . go<1

sf disease.' But as PaT{ukabhaya is said to have established

a settlement of hunters (uyad,ha) to the north of the city,

it may have been that this god was installed for their benefit;
and

take the form Vyldhadeva as the correct reacling and

translate it a.s' god of hunters.' This is also the view adopted
by Sri Sumangala and Ratuvantudave, the learned translators
crf the Mahaaath,sa

into Sinhalese. \\rhatever the interpre_

r. Sec Payanatthaiotihu p. j44.

z. Mha" Ch. XV. "89.

lt

3IB

JoURNAL,

rr.A.s. (cErrLoN) lVor. XXXI"

tation of this word may be, we have here two instances of

tree worship in pre-Buddhist Ceylon. The palmyra palm
seems to have been considered sacred in ancient India
during the time of the Buddha. For, we reacl in the
Vinaya Pitaka that on one occasion when the clisciples
of the Buddha cr"it dor,vn young palmyra palms to
rnake sandals out of their leaves, the people made an
up-roar and complained that they were destroying 'life
with one sense' (ekindriyam iiuaryl. The Buddha in orrler
not to hurt the religious susceptibilities of the people forbade
the use of sandals made of palmyra leaves, with the remark
'that the peopJe believe that life dwelis in a tree.'(1) This
passage would make us believe that the tree itself was
considered a spirit. But in the tr,vo instances of tree worship
quoted above, and in almost all the other references on the
subject we come across in Indian literature, the sanctity of
the tree was due to its being regarded as the abocle of a
divinity who had an existence quite apart from the place of
his temporarv so'journ.
The worship of trees seems to have been intimately
connected with that of the vaksas and the cult of the caityas.
Most of the sacred trees owed their sanctity as the abodes of
yaksas. Some of the sliipas mentioned in line pitakas and
which are said by Buddhaghosa to have been yaksa sanctuaries
were sacred trees or groves. Among the Bardhut sculptures
are several sacred trees which in the inscriptions engraved
below them aresaid to be cetiyas. Quite in keeping with
this, the cetiga and the tree are intimately connected in
popular Buddhism. The tree specially venerated b5z the
Buddhists is the asaattha (Sin ^Fo) under which the Buddha
received enlightenment. This tree was already an object
of popular worship in India before it was appropriated
by the Buddhists as a means of honouring their master.

r.

Mahdaaggd. Y. ?.

t.

No.

Bz

.-rgzgl

pRE-BLrDDHrsr REr-rcrolrs

BELTEFS 3rg

ilii

There is nothing improbabJe in the story that the Bodhisattva

on that critical night spent his time under an aivatthatree.

tsut the fact that this tree was already considererl sacred
must certainly have contributed to the wide popularity which

its rvorship attained later

among

tlie

Buddhists.
Tire worship of caitya trees is also attucled to in the
Diuyaaad.iina (p" 16+). Apart from tire special veneration

paid to the Bo-tree, the tree cult of ancient times is still

prevaient among the Siniralese. There are many trees in
villages which are reputecl as the homes of supernatural
beings and no villager woulcl dare to lay an axe on one of these

for fear of oflending the cleitv. Many a calamity

which
has overtaken a" rustic farnily is traced hy the wise men of
the village to a membcr of that family havins committecl
the offence of deprirring a porverful spirit of his leafy abode.

li
,iiL
i

rj
I

Patron Deities of partiaular Trades.

If the cleity who hacl his abocle in the sacred palmyra
of Anuradhapura was the hunters, god, it shows us that there
were special clivinitics worshipped by the peopie of difierent
trades in pre-Buddhist Ceylon. Another such deity was the
Kamm:rradeva or 'the god of the blacj<smiths., When
Devanampiya Tissa marked out the boundaries of the
consecrated ground set aside for the Bnddhist Church, the
houndary line is said to have passecl by the sicie of thc shrine
dedicated to this god.( t ) In acldition to these cleities of parti_
cular castes, there was also a guardian cleity of the whole
city of Anuradhapura. His slirine is mentionccl in the twenty_
1i{th chapter (r'. 87) oI the Mahaualltsa.. In that memorable
encounter of Dutthagdmarli r,vith Bhaihrka, u,hen the heroic
lcing went to face the Tamil invacler on the plain of Kolam_
bahalaka to the north of the cit-r,, the king,s elephant an<l
along r,vith him, the rvhole arrny retreatccl as far as the shrine
of the city god near the bounclary of the Mahavihara.

t.

Xtlaqhod,dhir:anisa,

136

ll,l

fl

'fli

i#ii
;#rl

.)-v

JouR\"{r-, R.A.s. (cnvroN)

26

lVor. XXXI.

Cult of the stars.

names borne by men and

Personal
women reflect the
religious beliefs prevailing in a country. 'fherefore, an exarnination of the names occuring in the earliest inscriptions will
throrv some light ol our topic. The earliest inscriptions

are short donative records; ancl are all tsuddhistic. Rut

as it takes some time after the introduction of a new religion

for the people to adopt personal

names suggestive of the

changed religious atmosphere, those found in the earliest
Buddhist inscriptions may be taken as evidence for preBuddhist religious conditions. The great majority of the
personal names occtrring in these records are astral ones
(nakgatranatna). From the Vedic times, the knowledge of
the twenty-eigirt lunar mansions "lva.s prevalent in India
and each day of the month had its particular nakpatra. These
constellations \Mere knolvn to the primitive Sinhalese; and
the custom of naming a person a{ter the tt'aksatva in rvhich

he rvas born, was comrnon" The

Rasaaahini expressJv

mentions this in the case of Phussadeva, one of the'uvarriors

o Du!-thagdmagi.(1) He was so natned because his natal
star was Pusya. This was considerecl a particularly lucky
one; and its synonymn 'fiqya (P. 'fissa) was aclopted as the
name of many o{ the early kings of Ceylon. Other constellations which u'ere in popular fal'our were Klttika, Rohar;a,
A{lesa, Phalgu4a, Vidaktra, Anurldha, Asedha and Revata.
The constellation Anuradha seems to have been specially
favoured bv women, for most of the princesses of ancient
Ceylon known to us were named after this nakgatra, (Anuradi,
Anu(li, Anula). The public holidays rvere solemnised in
connection with these naksatrus; and were consequently
called naksatrakriilrl. The clay on which the full moon was
in coniunction with one of the luckSr stars was celebrated
with great merriment and rejoicing. Of these, the K[rttika

festival, which has been mentioned

r. Colombo

r9o7

p.

16r.

in

connection with

No.

8z

.-rtlzgl

pRE-BUDDHrsr REr.rcrous

BELTEFS

32r

Cittaraja, contined till very late times, for Knox gives

an
account of its celebration in the time of RajaSinhaIL(ry
The worship of the stars, in the time when Budd.his'
was
first bcing preachecl in Inclia, is re{erred to in the Tlcerigdthd
(v.

r+:)

where, of course, the practice is condemned

as useress.

The Barahut inscriptions prove that, in the North_West

of
India, too, the people had a predilection for names
suggestive

of astral conntellations. The Sungas, a dynasty which

ruled
at Vidisn about the second century B. C. hacl all such
names,

e.g. Pusy'itra, Pha-igugimitra etc. This custom

is stilr
practisecl by the Nlaharajas of Travancore, whose
personal
names are those of their natal stars.
The propitiation of heavenly boclies, as many
other
superstitions nf pre-Buddhist Ceylon, is still in vogue
among
the Sinhalese. But in the modern practice, more
importance
is attachcd to the tweive signs of the Zodiac and the
planets
than to the lunar mansions. The former, of course were
unknorvn in India and Ceylon cluring the time that
we are
speaking of.

Brahmanism in pre-Buddhist Ceylon.

Side by side with these reiigious beliefs of a lower
level
of culture tliat we have so {ar discussed, the Brairmanical
reiigion also seems to have had its foilowers in pre_Buddhist
Ceylon; and the Brrrhmanas helcl an honourable place
in
society in those early days. One of the followers in Viiaya,s
train, Upatissa, who founcled Upatissaglma which was for
some time the capital of the Sinhalese kingdom, and
who
rvielded the sceptre of Ceylon from the cleath of Vijaya
until
the arrival of Pa4{uvdsudeva was a BrAhmana and held
;
the
offrce of domestic chaplain to Vijaya.(r) The young
prince
tsa.r(luknbhava was entrusted bv his mother to a Brhamana
named Paqr{ula to be instructed in royal accomplishments.
lhis Brahmana was a man of great rvealth ancl it was ire
wiro

r- Historical Relation, p. go.

z, Lthu. Ch. V. VII. V. 4,1.

'l

ouItNAL, R.A.s.

(cr,vrois) i\ior. XXXI

furnishecl Pap{ukabhaya rvith the sinews of war in the long

struggle between the latter and his uncles' Papdula's son
Candra, like many others of his caste in India, served Pa4dukabhaya in the capacity of a military comrnander in addition

to priestly functions.ll) Pa4qlukibhava's buildings in

Anuradhapuraincluded

dwelling place for the l3rihmanas.

(')

Another building of Pal{ukabhaya named Sotthisnla is

explained by the commentator to lhe ilIahiiuainsn as 'a house
set apart for the recital of tnantras by Brahmalas'. But this
explanation is doubtful as the alternative meaning of 'hospital'
has aiso been given by the commentator. Dcvanampiya Tissa
had a Br5hma4a chapiain who was sent in company rvith
the king's nephew Arittha on an embassy bearing presents
to A!oka.(3) When the branch of the sacred Bodhi tree r'vas
brought to Anuradhapura, one of the halts between that city
and the sea-port was in the village of a Brahmana named
Tivakka or Tavakka.(a) Among the distinguisheci persons
present on the occasion o{ the planting of this sacred tree,
this Brdhmana is speciallymentioned ;(5 ) ancl one of the eight
Bodhi saplings was pianted in his village. (6) In theenumeration
of the different places passed by Devenampirra Tissa rvhilst
marking the boundaries of the consecrated area in Anuradhapura, the shrine belonging to a Brahmana named Diyavasa
is mentioned in the Mahabod.hiasmsa.(7)

The earliest inscriptions too, bear testimony to the

in Ceylon just after the introduction
of Buddhism. They must therefore, have been living in
pre-Buddhist Ceylon, too. And the presence o{ the Brdhmanas
is evidence for the prevalance of their religious beliefs. One
of the donors of caves at Sdss6ruva in the Kuruldgala District

presence of BrShmanas

r.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Z.

Mhu. Ch. X. V. zo fi.

Ibid \r. roz.

Ibid C}:.. Xl. V. zo.
Mahiiuamsa Ch. 19. V.

37.

V.Sl.
V.6r.
Mahabodhiuafisa, p. 136.
Ibid
Ibid

No.

8z

.-rg2g)

pRn-tst.rDDr{rsr rtElrcrous

BELTEFS

323

was a Brdhma4a named Somadeva son of Vasakani. The

owner of a cave at Yingala in the Nuvarakalaviya District
is given in the inscription on the brow of the cave as
Viritasana the son of the Brahmana Kosika lXaus'ii<a)"(')

The Brdhmanas mentioned in the chronicles and the

inscriptions were naturally those who were in sympathy
with the Buddhist movement. There must have been many

others who were indifferent or opposed to the cause o{

Ilucldhism; and, hence were not mentioned in the recorcls of
the times. Whether these Brahmanas were versed in Veclic
iore and solemnised Vedic sacrifices, we do not know ; but the
name Yagadata (Sacrifice given) occurring in one of the
' Vessagiriya' Cave inscriptions shows that even after the
introduc"tion of Buddhism, a memory, at least, of the
Brahmanical sacrifices was preserved in Ceylon. The
llrahmanas are occasionallv mentioned in the Mahaaa,insa
till cornparatively recent times and the oflrce of the pwroltita
continued down to a. late period.

Jainism in Ceylon.
Pa.r{ukabhaya is also said to have built dwelling
for tlre

places

Giri and Kumbhal{a. (, ) The

ward nigantha (Skt. nirgrantha) is applied in the pali writings
to the Jainas, the followers of Mahavi,za, (Nigantha N[thaputta of the Buddhist Scriptures) a teacher contemporary
nigary,lhas named Jotiya,

with the

Buddha.

It is true that in later Pali writings, the word is

used

vaguely to denote non-Buddhist sects. For instance, in the

Dalhaaarirsa (v. zo9), nigary,tha evidently means a Vaisnava.
But in the fifth century, when the Mahauainsa was written,
chis word has not yet assumed this uncertainty of meaning
for Buddhaghosa always uses it in its original sense. Therefore, it is likely that Mahdnama had the Jainas in his mind

r.
2.

These inscriptions have not yet been published.

Mahduathsa Ch. X. VV gZ-gS.

ll

J a'l

.IouRNAr-, R.A.s.

when he used this word. Is

it

(cnvlox) [Vor. XXXI.

poss ible thatso

early

as

Pag{u-

kdbhava's time, the followers of Mahavrra had penetrated

so far to the south as Ceylon ? According to Jaina literary
tradition, in the reign of Candragupta, the MaurSra, liig
foilowers of Mahavrra under Bhadrab,rhu migrated to South
India owing to a sevcre famine in the north. The introduction
o{ this religion to Mysore, where it prcvails till rrow, is traced
to this event. Chandragupta liimself is said to have accompanied Bhaclrabahu on this journel, and endecl his days in
South India as a Jaina ascetic.(1) Frorn Tamii iiterature"
too, we learn that there were Jainas in the Pagdya country
{rom very earlv times. The traditirin of the rrigration of the
Jainasto the Southin Chandragupta's reign has been accepted
by historians a.s trustworth.v. If the Jainas, on this occasion,
travelled from Magadha as far as South lndia, it is not
improbable tirat some of tliem crossed over to Ceylon.
According to the chronology of th.e MalruuLtrirsa, Pagdukabhaya's reign was earlier than that of Chanclragupta. But
the dates of the early kings o{ Ceylon, as given in tha.t clironicle

have been proved to be untrustr,vorthy. PaTqlukebhaya

was the granclfather of Tissa, the younger contersporary of
I
the great Asoka., the grandson of Chandragupta. Therefore,
it stands to reason that Pa4gluknbhaya himself was a contemporary of the hrst Matirya emperor. Then, the rnigration
of the Jainas tri the south {al1s within his reign and the statement in lhe Mahavarhsa that Pan{.ukabhaya patronised the
Jainas seems to be a historical fact.
One of the Jaina monasteries built by Palduknbhaya,
that of lhe niganth,a named Giri, figures later in the history
of Ceylon. Valtagdmani Abhaya, when he rvas flying before
the Taruil invaders, passed this monastery; and the Jaina
abbot cried out 'The great black Sinhalese is running away.'
The king kept this affront in mind ; and when he regained

r. Lewis Rice, Ilysore and Coorg, p.

3 ff"

\o.

8z

._*r;zgl

pRE-BUDDHrsu REl-rcrous

BELTEFS

325

the throne, he demolished.theJainamonasteryand

built the
i\bhiryagiri Vihnra in that place. (r
Accorcling trs the Maltd_
)
vai.r.sa!6hd,. ilris monastery was the
scene of a lragedy
time of Khallatandga, predecessor of Vaffagamapi.in the
This
king, when he discoverecl a plot against
his life Uy frir rr"pf,.*r,
went to Gir-i,s rqonastery ancl ended
his life by
fire. At the spot, tvhere this etent occurred, entering th;
Khailafanlga,s
kinsmen built a cetiy-a called,the Aggipavisaka(r).
Votto"galna$i's persecution of the
.]ainas _u, p.rtrop. not confined
to the destruction oJ the monastery oi
Clri. At any rate

t'e hear no more of them in the

Ceylon chronicles; and,

fainism seems to"have disappearecl from Ceylon
about the
lteginning of the Christian era.

No remains of any Jaina monuments

have ever been
in Ceylon. The earliest Stupas and,
Vihiiras of Jainism
tiid not differ from those of Buddhism
; so much so, that
ryithout the evidence of the inscriptions
or of iconography
it would be extremery difficult to iifferentiate
bbtween the
i"wo. Jaina iconographS, had not yet developed
in
the times
th-at we are d.ealing with" fn
the period during which this
ri:ligion was prevalent in ceyron
thlre were no monuments
i,'uilt of durable materials" llloreover,
when Jainism c]is_
iippered, their places of worship
must have been appropriated
b.y the Buddhists_as it happened
u,ith regard to the monas_
ieryof Giri-and any traces of the
earlierfJith woula certainly
lrave been otrliterated in this
way. Some of the earliest
stii;as of srnait dimensions may,
however, be
T:,t::_iuo"{
ln orJgrn.
.iatna
fr-iund

paribbajakae, Ajivakas
etc.
wandering ascetics named the paribbajakas
ancl the
, .- In"
rl'jivakas, the sect founded by
Makkhali Gosila, a teacher
,:,rntemprary with the Buddha,
were known in early
Ceylon.

t, M-uhduayitsa Ch. 34, y. 444.

z. Mahduaritsa tiha'p.
444.

326

JoURN;\L, R.A.s.

(cEYLoN) [Vor. XXXI

The queen of Panqluvasudeva and her attendants came to

this island in the guise of Paribhajakas"(1) Par.I{ukabhava
built a monastery for the Paribbajakas and another for the
Ajlvakas.(?) In addition to thesc sects which are definitely
named, it is said there were numerous ascetics who are
referred to by the vague epithet of sant'a4za.(:') 'lhisword
can be applied to any non-Brahmanical religieux including
the Buddhist monks" To the west of Anuradhaptlra, Pandukabhaya is said to havc settled fi.ve hundred families of
heretics"(n) \Vhat religious beliefs are intended by this term

it

is not at all clear.

Phallio Worship.
In v. roz of the tcnth chaptcr ol the X[ahauat11sa, it is
said that Pan{ukiibhaya built, here and there in ancient
Anuradhapura, houses namecl Sivikfrsala ancl Sotthisala.
The latter name we havc al.ready dealt with. lhat first r'vord
has been explained by thc commentator as ' a shrine housing

a Sivalinga'; but he is not confident of this intcrpretation

as he gives the alternative rneaning of iying-in-home ' 1.J;
Prof. Geiger, in histranslation adopts the sccold expianation.
But as these trvo terms are mentioned in company with other
buildings of a religious naturc, the lirst explanation might
be possible. If so, in the tirne of Pa+dukdbhaya, phallic
u'orship {ormed part of thc religion of thc peoplc of Ceylon"
Considering the great antiquity and the ivide cliflusion of this
cult,it is notimpossible that it rvasso. Kautilya,in enumerating the deities to whorn shrines shoulcl bc dedicated within a
king's capi.ta1, mentions Siva also.(o) It is not sta,ted whether
the deity n'as to be represented by an icon or by the li4,ga
symbol. At this time, Siva irad not yet risen to the position
of the Suprcme Deity as he becamc to one great section of
the Hindus at a latcr age. For Kautilya mentions liim in
t" f,[ahd.aaritsa, Ch, 8. V. 24.
2. Ibid Ch^ X. V\r. ror, ro?.
3. ,Iifu. X, \r" 98. (,) Ibid \'-. roo"
5. -1[rthduanisa tiltu p. zo7.
6. l)r. S:rmasa,stry's translation, zncl erlition., p. 59.

No.

8z

.-tg2gl

pRE-BUDDHrsr RElrcrorrs

BELrErrs

327

companv u'ith such rninor divinitics as the AJvins (the

I)ir-ine Plivsicians) Vaisrava4a and Madira (the Goddess

of

I-iquor). Tbe IIul.tcrutunsatlkd, ltas anotirer reference to

phailic *,orsirip in ancient Ceylon. King Ma.hhsena, aftcr
he 'nvas forced to clesist from persecutirg the orthodox
l{ahirvih,:rra, clirectecl his rlestruclive energies against
nonilucklhist religions. Thc chronicle sa1,s, that he
ciemoiishecl
several shrines of thc cicvas;(')ancl ihe tika add,s
that they
rverc slrrines trctusing lingam,s.(2) It is possible that
the
commentator unconsciously transferrecl the conclitions
of

his orvii tirncs to those of a previctus age but, on the other

;
u'lie' 'nve co'sider that pharlic worship lvas thc principal
religious faitlr oi thc Tamils, the nearest neighbouis
of in"
Sinlialese, it is not cliflrcult to bclieve that the iatter people
li'ere also attacired to this c*lt beforc they acloptcd B'crtrhism
;
and also continuccl to honour thc Sivalinga evcn after this
ervent. Propcr names such as Siva, Ilahasiva and Sivaguta
rccuring i' tiie earliest inscriptions show trrat this gocr was
rvorshipped b1' thc Sinhalese of the earliest perioci.
lLancl,

0onclusions.
F'rorn the forcgoing clisctr.ssion about the religious
r--onditions pre'.iling i' ceylon when the missionaries
of
Asoka prcacherl the doctrines of thc Englightenecl Onc, it
irecomes clear that tlrt_. grcat nrajorit1,of thepcopleworshippcd
Liature spirits, callecl thc laksas, r,vho wcre sripposed to clweli
in rivers, lakes, mountains, trccs, etc. The worship of ilre
sacrecl trees or groves rvas aiso connectecl with this priniitive
rr-'1igio'. The hea'enly bocries rcceivccl thc acloration of the
ireople, ar-rcl to a great extcnt influcncccl their every clay life.
'['he
more intellectual among t]rc people, perhaps lollowed
tn.e {Srahmaptcal r'.,iigic." Ascetics of clifferent sects livecl
in the collntrv and each musr have hacl his own following
utrcng the masse,r. 'Ihese conditions are, on the whole
r"ery simitar to the state of reiigious bcliefs prevailing
in
"\or:th Inclia clurinq the life time of the liudclha.

t. .\,Iohritarisu Ch. 37 y.4.o.

2" trIahd.tamsaihd, p. 5oz

328

JouRNAr-,

n.A.S. (Crl'r-oN)

The Governor said it rvas not in his po$'er to contribute anything

o{ value to the discussion on the very interesting paper to rvhich they
had ali listened, and it t'as hardly necessary, at tbat late hour, to s'aste
thcir time and his by saying things u'hich were not rvorth saying. But
he wished those ufio rvere in a position, to do so, and thus shorv their
appreciation of the trouble u'hich Mr. Paranavitana had taken in
preparing the paper and make any suggestions on the subject matter
whith the lecturer had collected by his erudition.
Dr. Paul E. Pieris saicl that as one who had had a particularll'long
connection rvith the Societt'he u'ished to express his very grcat appreciation of the paper rvhich had been lead. It is of a type n'hich rve
are glad to welcome here and which I am alraid is not so cornmon as
migiit be and I can oniy expressthe hope that this rvili be the first of a
long series of papers which rl'e shall receive from [fr. Paranavitana'
I have long had the feeling that our Archaeological Department
is more Lkely to produce us best work only *'hen it rvorks in conjunction lvitli the Dcpartment in India and the paper that has beeu
iead to us tonight is to my mind not only proof o{ the great intrinsic
ability of the lecturer, not onlv proof of the great -pains rvhich he
has tiken, but also o{ the excellent training rvhich he has received
in India.
A number of tluestions rvere asked {rom the lecturer and an
interesting discussion ensued.
The lecturer, in reply to a question b-v Mr. E. W. Perela rvhether
the symbol oJ the God " Ilanddri Deil'o," dug out {rom some part- in
Anur6dhapura was still in existence, said that ]re knerv oI no syrnbol
associated- u.ith tlrat God. lfe knew o{ a god dulr- 'lvorshipped in
villages in connection rvith their harvests,
h.eplying to other questions raised, the lecturcr dealt rrith certain
criticisms'of-Tarnil and Saivite references. With regar<l to the refernces to " Lanl<a " in the Rfrmayana, the lecturer said emphatically :
"' I don't belicve that the Island of Ce,ylon is the same as I-anka. I
subscribe to the view that Cevlon is not Lanka, lvhich, perhaps, 1\as a
mythical
island which never existed."
The Governor proposed a cordial I'ote of thanks to the lecturer
and expressed great-apfreciation of the.paper. - They l'ere. all.gratelul
to him-and for his orvn part he rl'as gratified to feel that in tire,\rchaeological Department there t'as an officer lvho was tahing so -much pains
in the studl' of the foundations o{ the religions and other matters
connectecl rvith the island. He hopecl that the department to rvhich
Mr. Paranavitana belonged would continue to benefit by his erudition
in the cause of research, and he lvished to express his thanks to the

lectuler in a special sense.

The vote was carried rT'ith acclamation.

lMr. E. W, Perera proposed a hearty vote of thanks to the President.

They had been very fortunate in their past Governors in -having them
inviriably as their Patrons. His Excellenoy had lot onil- b-een. their
Patron but had taken upon himsel{ the onerous duties of Presiclent,

and taken those duties not as a sinecure but very seriortsly. He

that other members of their Society would take an example
,,o
fro'm His Excellency and not only have the same sense o{ lo1'a11u
-Ihe1' all
the Society, but a'lso attend its meetings more frequentl.v.
hopecl

knew how-busy a man the Heacl of the Government lvas and thev t'ere

to His Exceilenct.
"grateful
The Governor acknowlcclged the verl' kind l'ords in rvhicir l{r'
Perera had proposecl the vote o{ thanks to him and the kind lvay--i1t
which the in"etittg receir.ed it. It t'as ahvays a l2leasure for-His
Excellency to corne to their rneetings and he had never come there
s'ithout learning something l'hich he was able to carry a*'ay *'ith hirn

Nc-r. 8z

.-rtlzrll

I'ROCEI'DI\GS
.J2g

ll

COUNCIL MEETING,
Colombo Museum, December,
l6th lg2g.
Pt esent

..

His Iixcellencl Sir Flerbert

J. Stanlel-, K.C.X{.(;., l)a.tron in the chair.
Dr. P. E. Pieris, L!tt.D , a a:.,
and Dr. Joseph },earson, t).Sc.,
Vrcel)rcsiclcnts.
The Hon l\Ir
A.
cle
Siiya,
_W.
Dr. A. Nelt, l .R.Ct.S.
n{.L.C.
'\Ir. Herod (.;rrnaratna, J\Irrdalil.ar

I)r.

W:.F. Grrrtau-arrllrana,
(iate lluclalivar.
I lte Hr.n..NIr lr. B.
JaVatil;rka,
n{.A., t\LI_.C. I he Hon l\[r. 1.. ]lac:.,rt,, I\[..\.
Irr. G. P. IIalalas"k;r r.a, AI.A.,

''

Ph.Dnfessrs. C.

H. Collins, Ll,A.,
LIo n or

-l

S. C. paut

nT

I)

ltc Hon. llr. I:. \V. pt.rcr:t

trI.I_.L.

Mr. Edmuncl lteimers

,, L. J B. "I-urner, [{.A.
c.c.s.

C.C.S.. and Aubrey

nr-y

N.

Weinman,

S er.ye!ayi es
l

Business

,n,n:"\,;fl"#l. j::,,:j5liltocouncil
t'l;,t:lottt"*

so.;"1y

ir1

rreetins rrercl on firc iiilr

June,

candiclates rverc electerr

as .rembers

of gre

i. 'l']re Hon. Xlr. Etlnar<l St.

!\r. I,crera.
: rccommen.t IF].

ii.

,lrrhn
Qeo DV-Jacksorr

utgfr"i-rn-.re

pier.is,

n.r y'ry r.,Hli;:il'"

(canrab) : r".o__".r.i"J;i;i p iJ.. iJ o"."rriyogrrn.
iii. (Miss) Cornelia HildaMiriamjp.
r)ieris : recom_""dJ-;;"ii,. F_. I,- l)eranil.agala.
;. i,i",,..

lrNl

ir.. Felix

-Rt.ginald .tjias. -U.A., ip. C i,;"rir.

L.L nI.
(Cantab) , ,".o.ll{'

menclecl

,|..I,.

by

E. p.

Dcra,niyagala"

v. Jollr F_ric pcrera Guna u.ar- f n t; p;dana, Muclali'ai ;'il-]'

''ens'
U.t,.l\I. : ,"""n,,."nu"J trlu I:. p. l)crani;.agala.
vi. Vaithianailran
llecommednecr *-Kandiah '18 c' Proctor'
vii. Lcopor<r Arr.i;v
.o:,,prli ;,'::,1"*""*n-,
llavi,er : Reco
c31,_ n"sq";.1'::"T,i":1 1,i."?r,ii";H1."

'iii

ix.

recommended

-.lig;id,l,,-oo,.,,0.u,
"::recommended
by

R"ll::l,.
)i; *",
l_.r1"5rsingha. "
ie.

iri
l
i

iiir

tl

I
il

lt