{"id":103351,"date":"2020-06-09T16:19:20","date_gmt":"2020-06-09T23:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=103351"},"modified":"2020-07-03T15:10:18","modified_gmt":"2020-07-03T22:10:18","slug":"ven-ellawala-medhananda-part-7b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/06\/09\/ven-ellawala-medhananda-part-7b\/","title":{"rendered":"VEN. ELLAWALA MEDHANANDA Part 7B"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Revised . 27.6.20<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inscriptions found by Medhananda have\nhelped to confirm known historical facts and also advance our knowledge of the\nSinhala Buddhist civilization of ancient and medieval Sri Lanka.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inscriptions\nMedhananda   found refer to a wide range of\nSinhala kings. This indicates the extent of Medhananda\u2018s explorations. Here is\na list. Galkiriyagama kande vihara, Vavuniya inscription show that queen of\nking Uththiya<\/strong> built a Buddhist\nstructure here. King Uththiya\nreigned in Anuradhapura right after Devanampiyatissa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Nagapabbata\nvihara inscription says the vihara developed under Kutakanna Tissa (44-22BC). Linemalai  has an \ninscription of  Bhatika\nabhaya,(22Bc-47AD). Galkiriyagama kande vihara. Vavuniya also has an\ninscription  dated to Bhatika abhaya. Muvangala\ntemple, near Hingurana sugar factory has an inscription by king Subha\n(60-7).   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Kanitta\nTissa (167-86) was son of Mahallaka Naga said an inscription. Bovattegala\ninscription was issued in the 8th regnal year of king Jettatissa (263-73). Bilivana\nvihara inscription says Sirimeghavarna (301-328) donated a cave. Namalu vihara\ninscription also refers to king Sirimeghavarna. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An inscription\nfound near Allai wewa speaks of a donation to Kavudulu vehera by Dappula IV\n(924-35)    Paranadu\nAmuna pillar inscription, Ampara refers to king Udaya IV  (946-54). Veheragala Raja\nMaha Vihara Tammankaduwa has an inscription where Nissanka Malla (1187-96)\nadvises   the people of Ruhuna not to eat\nbulat. Kanichchigala in Beerihorowwa division also has an inscription by\nNissanka Malla. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda has found a lot of inscriptions\nrelating to Mahadatika\nMahanaga (7-19 AD).   Pasana pabbata\nVihara inscription says Mahadatikabuilt\nthe vihara, then purchased and donated 20 paddy fields, free of tax. He also gave the water tax from\nNaga\nEla for maintenance of\nthe vihara. Another inscription says\nMahadatika Mahanaga built Maninaga Pabbata vihara at Panam\npattu.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahasilu Mahatis\u2019s grandson and Kutakanna\nTissa\u2019s son Mahadatika Maha Naga had gifted lands to Sastravela vihara, said\nyet  another inscription.     Medhananda also found inscriptions of cave\ndonations which showed that Rabaya,\na minister under Mahadatika Mahanaga, had functioned in both Toppigala and\nSeruwila. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were inscriptions about Vasabha (67-111)\ntoo. There has been an administrative division of the Eastern province   known as Pajinikara. According on one\ninscription, Pajinikara was administered by Sona, the son of the minister\nBhojaka. Sona had obtained permission from Vasabha and built a huge stupa in\npresent day Kasimottai. This shows the region was under Vasabha, said\nMedhananda. Otherwise why ask for permission. \nAn Inscription at Eravur   showed\nthat Pajinikara area was also administered  \nin Vasabha\u2019s time by minister Asigira. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda has\nfound inscriptions which  seem to\nindicate that the ancient Eastern province did have an international perspective.\nThe inscription at Kandegama kande len vihara, Tamankaduwa  spoke of Supparaka\u201d. Supparaka port, located\nclose to present day Bombay, was an important  port in the international trade route  of the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medhananda also observed that there were  many inscriptions with  the word \u2018bharatha\u2019 . \u2018Bharatha\u2019 is found in\ninscriptions from Mulgirigala len vihara, Puttalam and  Vanni Hatpattuwa.   Another \ninscription said bharatha gothra Shavita\u2019s son Rakshita\u201d. India is now thinking\nof changing its name from India to Bharat adds this writer, Kamalika Pieris<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was also information on the local  social structure. Henangala inscription  speaks of five   villages, \nGiritissa gama,  Karajinitissa\ngama,  Vilagama, Kasyapa nagara, Malagama,  and Nokapika gama.  In  Ganekanda vihara inscription there is a\nreference to Gokani grama which must mean Trincomalee, said Medhananda . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nimala vana Senasuna inscription  speaks of the paddy fields in Mayalisara,\nPaharakara, Lagamasara, and Dohatana. It also mentions the irrigation  channel Kana DIgana yala\u201d. Girikumbara\nvihara  lists Mahagala ketha,  Seethakala ketha, Kakalaha ketha,  Hakala ketha, Maha raja ela,   Abalaketha ela, Marachiya ela.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buddanehela \nRaja Maha Vihara gives names of  gardens,\nAsunbada watte, Bowatte,  Pardevi nama\nwatte,  Endihi nama watte,     Nanadalisatha nama watte, Nenanile watte. Girikumbara\nvihara, Ampara lists names of wewa, Maragama wewa, Abalaketha wewa, Maradagama\nwewa,  Baramanaka wewa, Marachiya wewa.  Galkiriyagama kande vihara, Vavuniya refers\nto Pahata wewa, Manikara wewa and Naga wewa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inscriptions\nfound by Medhananda, provided   interesting information on temples and\nSangha. Ganekanda vihara Kurunegala speaks of a donation to Sudamma chetiya. It\nis rarely that stupa get names, except for Ruvanveli, observed Medhananda . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

.An inscription from Mullikulam malai referred\nto    \u2018stupa, vihara, and cave\u2019  in a single inscription. Danurdhara had\nbuilt a stupa and vihara and had donated them to the Sangha together with a\ncave,\u201d said the inscription. Medhananda\nsays this is the first time he has seen these three structures mentioned in a\nsingle inscription. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inscriptions have provided useful information\non the Sangha. Lahugala\nwewa rock inscription refers to Galaturumula parapura. An inscription found in\nAmpara spoke of a <\/strong>diga\nmajjima banaka\u2019, a bhanaka who had studied the Diga Nikaya and Majjima Nikaya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Piyangalle vihara, Eravur inscription said\nthat Piyangalle was not only for Maha Vihara but also for Pansakulika,\nAbhayagiri and Dakkina vihara monks. Halbe Raja Maha Vihara  pillar inscription had a  complicated set of instructions as to who\ncould enter  the temple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buddanehela Raja Maha Vihara pillar\ninscription said that all trees, paddy fields and so on within the boundary,\nshould be shared in turn by the monks living in Sagiriya and Nagiriya. The\ninscription also showed how this was to be managed.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inscriptions\nspoke of donations to temples.   Gal len\nvihara, Giribawa, Kurunegala  inscription\nhad a simultaneous  donation  of a cave, pittaniyak, kumburak, and  part of an amuna.  In Kongala inscription  the donation was kahavanu. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Ganekanda\nvihara\/ Mandalaramaya, Kurunegala one \ncave has been donated by  the\nhead  and deputy head of a trading  concern (velenda samagamak) . Nimala vana\nSenasuna inscription said a cave was donated by the cloth weavers society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At   Padikemgala \nall donations were by monks. Medhananda\nthought this most unusual.  In the Magul\nMaha vihara, Kirinda inscription donations were from village leaders,      upasika, doctor,  householders, elite and Sangha,  but \nnone  by royalty,   observed Medhananda .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cave\ndonations   showed \nthe many official designations and occupations in the island.  Karandahela inscription spoke of  a \nswami,  an acharya and a  kumbalkara. Inscription at \nHabutagala vihara  said one donor was\na  \u2018potter\u2019. This shows that   a potter was not considered  to be a person of inferior rank, argued\nMedhananda . Malayadi kanda vihara  inscription speaks of a  donation by a government nurse.  In another inscription , the donor was an\nintelligence or secret service officer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From  a feminist perspective, cave  inscriptions \nindicated the  status of\nwomen.  Medhananda had found Inscriptions  which said \nCave of Chitra daughter of chief minister Utara\u201d, donation of      Sachini, daughter of educationist Shata\u201d\nand  Cave of  female devotee Yasashini. An inscription  saying , \u2018Selabe, daughter of Paravata Kala\nconstructed this flight of steps,\u2019 was found at Bandara vava on Ampara \u2013Mahaoya\n.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inscriptions\nfound by Medhananda yielded valuable information on  commerce and finance in Ruhuna. Himidurawa\ninscription  speaks of a cave  donated by an accountant ( ganaka) named Tisha. Other inscriptions\nsaid cave of Vahali, chief accountant and daughter of Asha\u201d  and \ncave of   accountant Suriya. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tonigala  and Punnyadi\/Kalladi  inscriptions \nwent further. One inscription, dated to Anuradhapura period, spoke of a\nmarket town called Kalahumanika . Kalahumanika  \nhad a bank  where a minister\ncalled Pahejasiva  had deposited grain. A\nsecond inscription indicated that there were two large\ntrading towns, Tambavita and  Tubavatiya  in Seruwila having banks which did international\ntransactions.(sic) A third inscription  spoke of \nyet another trading town called Kadavita. There\nwas a banking centre there called Manarama. It states that king Mahasen had\ndeposited the paddy from a field owned by him in Seruwila area, to a bank\nthere  and the interest was to go to the\ntemple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inscriptions  also yielded information on ownership and use\nof money. Samangala forest hermitage had an inscription which refers to the\nownership of a forest. Ganekanda\nvihara, Kurunegala inscription said  that\na king gave one lakh for the labour \nneeded to build a wall to obtain water for Tarapa gama. This is probably\nan amuna, said Medhananda . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/em> Kondawattawana inscription, Gal Oya, dated to\n10th century ,spoke of  the taxes on\npaddy fields and the law regarding it. Another\ninscription  spoke of a tax called  Patta.Nelumpath\ninscription, Kumana    said a water tax\ncalled Mahanakaraka had to be paid to this vihara. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Udayagiri Raja Maha Vihara, Ampara\nyielded  an inscription   which\nsaid that in the time of Udaya I, the Senapathi Udaya and Abhaya  exempted the lands owned by the vihara from\nthe Veletti tax. This was the first time we hear of Veletti tax. May be a  grain tax, said Medhananda .  ( continued) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS Revised . 27.6.20 The inscriptions found by Medhananda have helped to confirm known historical facts and also advance our knowledge of the Sinhala Buddhist civilization of ancient and medieval Sri Lanka.     The inscriptions Medhananda   found refer to a wide range of Sinhala kings. This indicates the extent of Medhananda\u2018s explorations. Here is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103351\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}