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Sri Lanka Ancient Legends and Chronicles
The first major legendary reference to the island is found in
the great Indian epic, the Ramayana (Sacred Lake of the
Deeds of Rama), thought to have been written around 500 B.C. The
Ramayana tells of the conquest of Lanka in 3000 B.C. by
Rama, an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. Rama's quest to
save his abducted wife, Sita, from Ravanna, the demon god of
Lanka, and his demon hordes, is, according to some scholars, a
poetic account of the early southward expansion of Brahmanic
civilization.
Buddhist Chronicles
The most valuable source of knowledge for scholars probing
the legends and historical heritage of Sri Lanka is still the
Mahavamsa (Great Genealogy or Dynasty), a chronicle
compiled in Pali, the language of Theravada Buddhism, in the
sixth century. Buddhist monks composed the Mahavamsa,
which was an adaptation of an earlier and cruder fourth century
epic, the Dipavamsa (Island Genealogy or Dynasty). The
latter account was compiled to glorify Buddhism and is not a
comprehensive narrative of events. The Mahavamsa, however,
relates the rise and fall of successive Buddhist kingdoms
beginning with Vijaya, the legendary colonizer of Sri Lanka and
primogenitor of the Sinhalese migrant group. In the
Mahavamsa, Vijaya is described as having arrived on the
island on the day of the Buddha's death (parinibbana) or,
more precisely, his nirvana or
nibbana
(see Glossary), his
release from the cycle of life and pain. The Mahavamsa
also lavishes praise on the Sinhalese kings who repulsed attacks
by Indian Tamils.
Vijaya is the central legendary figure in the
Mahavamsa. He was the grandson of an Indian princess from
Vanga in northern India who had been abducted by an amorous lion,
Simha, and son of their incestuous and half-leonine offspring.
Along with 700 of his followers, Vijaya arrived in Lanka and
established himself as ruler with the help of Kuveni, a local
demon-worshiping princess. Although Kuveni had betrayed her own
people and had given birth to two of Vijaya's children, she was
banished by the ruler, who then arranged a marriage with a
princess from Madurai in southeastern India. Kuveni's offspring
are the folkloric ancestors of the present day Veddahs, an
aboriginal people now living in scattered areas of eastern Sri
Lanka
(see Sri Lanka - Ethnic Groups
, ch. 2). Many scholars believe that the
legend of Vijaya provides a glimpse into the early settlement of
the island. Around the fifth century B.C., the first bands of Sri
Lankan colonists are believed to have come from the coastal areas
of northern India. The chronicles support evidence that the royal
progeny of Vijaya often sought wives from the Pandyan and other
Dravidian (Tamil) kingdoms of southern India. The chronicles also
tell of an early and constant migration of artisan and mercantile
Tamils to Sri Lanka.
From the fifth century A.D onward, periodic palace intrigues
and religious heresies weakened Buddhist institutions leaving
Sinhalese-Buddhist culture increasingly vulnerable to successive
and debilitating Tamil invasions. A chronicle, a continuation of
the Mahavamsa, describes this decline. The main body of
this chronicle, which assumed the less than grandiloquent title
Culavamsa (Lesser Genealogy or Dynasty), was attributed to
the thirteenth century poet-monk, Dhammakitti. The
Culavamsa was later expanded by another monk the following
century and, concluded by a third monk in the late eighteenth
century.
Data as of October 1988
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