Embrace of Buddhism by Emperor Asoka and Introduction of Buddhism in Sri Lanka
Emperor Asoka had been involved in the bloodiest conquest war prolonged into many years and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of human lives, during the 8th year of his reign between years of BCE (273 to 232). Emperor felt very remorse about the way the cruel Kalinga war was conducted over the years and could not relieve himself of that remorse for some time, and in search of peace of mind, and gradually adopts Lord Buddha’s preaching as of way of peaceful life, this thinking was further strengthened by meeting and marring Devi a knowledgeful lady of Lord Buddha’s teachings a daughter of a famous merchant of East India. These all happened (250 to 300) years after Lord Buddha attained Nirvana. Thus, the Kalinga Royal couple decides to reconcile the war-affected Kalinga through the Love and compassion of Lord Buddha’s preaching and not by any means conquering by force anymore.
Royal Couple of the Mauryan dynasty of India (Kalinga) decided to
induct people to embrace Buddhism outside Kalinga as well and foresaw the need for
very trustful and knowledgeable monks to be sent as missionaries to foreign
soil outside his rule. In order to fulfill that meticulous requirement,
Buddhism devoted Royal couple took a very bold decision to ordain their
children when they attained the mature age of 20, under carefully selected
monks principled by Buddha’s teachings. A Righteous Decision by a
Righteous Leadership. As
such elder Daughter Ayapali and the younger son Mahendra became Arahant Sangamithha and Arahant
Mahinda respectively following proper ordination. King Asoka is the first Monarch to adopt Lord
Buddha’s principles (Dharma) of the way of life as a religion.
Introduction
of Buddhism in Sri Lanka
Many
so-called Buddhists of Sri Lanka or rather thinktank of Sri Lanka has wrongly
interpreted the above embrace of Buddhism by Emperor Asoka and later inducting
others to embrace the teachings of Buddha in by conquering manner, in contrast
to what actually did by the Royal couple of Kalinga.
During
BCE 3rd Century, Lanka had been ruled by Mukta Sivan’s son Deva
Nambi Theesan, these names are very accustomed to Saivism ritual beliefs and the Tamil
language. The Name Mukta Sivan reflects
that he will attain Siva Moksha on his demise through his good deeds to the
community. In the modern world Deva, Nambi, and Theesan are very common names among
Tamils, and in the rarity of combination as well. There are some Saiva temples still in
existence around the Royal Park believed to be founded by Mukta Sivan when he
was ruling Anuradhapura, modernly known as Maha-meghavana Park.
In
order to fulfill his father’s wish Arahant Mahinda, arrived in
Lanka along with six other monks not by any means of force but by mutual understanding,
with Deva -Nambi–Theesan and his father Mukta Sivan, and the mission could have
included the language knowledge that was spoken locally within the Island at
that time. Emperor Asoka who had meticulously planned the Righteous pilgrimage of
spreading the Buddha Dharma, wouldn’t have missed the convincible conversation
language an inevitable component for the successful mission of spreading the
Lord Buddha’s Dharma life, to-wards South of India and beyond and anywhere
else.
During BCE 3rd century languages
in use in Lanka has been Tamil and Sanskrit as witnessed by the existence of
Pancha-Easwara Temples even before the so-called “Vijaya Arrival period” which
has been acknowledged by eminent historians of Sri Lanka and by the fact that
the listed ancient living languages are Tamil, Greek, Hebrew, Sanskrit,
and Chinese.
These languages have been spoken for thousands of years and still have millions
of speakers today, although they have also undergone changes over time. Many historians of Sri Lanka also acknowledge
that the Sinhala Language emerged as a spoken form 3 centuries later after the Arahant
Mahinda ensemble arrived in Lanka. (Even in the 4th and 5th centuries A.D., what was to
eventually become the Sinhala language had not evolved to the point where it
was suitable for the compilation of important treatises like the Dipavamsa,
Mahawamsa, etc.)
Therefore, the important point stressed
here is Arahant Mahinda’s ensemble traveling through South India to Sri Lanka
could have been well equipped with knowledge of Tamil and Sanskrit in order to
relate the Lord Buddha’s Righteous Path in Pali Language.
It
wouldn’t have been much difficult for the son of the Emperor of the Maurya
Empire to pass the Chola Empire that had been extended up to South East Asia
and reach the tip of South India to accomplish reaching Lanka. Another point
stressed here is though Emperor Asoka victoriously fought the Kalinga war to
retain/expand the
Maurya Empire never
conquered Chola Empire, both coexisted as separate entities. This very much
facilitated Arahant Mahinda’s spreading of Buddhism born by Asoka Dynasty in
South India.
Arahant Mahinda’s ensemble reach Mihinthalai Mountain in the outskirts
of Anuradhapura through the river banks of Lanka and met Deva Nambi Theesan then King of Lanka, as rendezvous,
of Arahant
Mahinda’s ensemble, addressed the
purpose of his mission to Lanka and over the days the conversation in
convincible language followed – convincible language had been Tamil –
Sanskrit – Pali – resulted in Arahant Mahinda was able to make Saiva Deva Nambi Theesan and his Saiva
subjects (Tamils), to embrace the Lord
Buddha’s Preaching in 246 B.C.
It is a sacred belief of the Majority of
Buddhists in Lanka all this introduction of Buddhism to Lanka took place on a
Poson Full Moon Day at Mihinthalai Mountain,
where thousands of
devotees gather to pay homage to Mahinda and his mission. Other important Buddhist sites in Anuradhapura as well attract many
pilgrims and visitors during Poson. Poson Full Moon Day is a day of joy and gratitude for Sri Lankan
Buddhists, who honor the legacy of Mahinda and his contribution to the spread
of Buddhism in their country and beyond.
When the Sinhala
Language was made to attain writeable form, Mahanama, a Buddhist monk, the younger son of
King Dhathusena, along with other monks observing two groups of people in the
5th century A.D. – Saivist, speaking Tamil and the converts (Buddhists) inducted
to speak the new language (Sinhala), and as dissented Tamil speaking converts
of Buddhism travel through extinction, concocted the story in Pali of Vijaya and his 700 followers (Bengalis), about
1000 years after their alleged landing, with an ulterior motive of projecting
the Buddhists as a separate ethnic group, the Sinhalese, which could have been
for the fear of South Indian intrusion ; (the contradicting
fact here is there is no scientific
evidence of Indians originating in India who spoke Sinhalese to date)since then,
unfortunately, Saivism and Tamil names were conivingly converted to Sinhala, for the project to be successful, and hence Lord Buddha’s Sacred preaching that was introduced by Arahant
Mahinda deviated from its path to righteous a greater decree.
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