Funday Times

King Devanampiyatissa's friend Emperor Asoka
King Devanampiya Tissa, was not aware that Asoka had embraced Buddhism, when his envoy landed there. The religious and the cultural aspects of our society underwent change as a result of the influence of King Asoka. Hence, King Asoka occupies an important place in our history too. With the expansion of his kingdom, he became Emperor Asoka. He belonged to the Maurya clan of kings, founded by Chandragupta - Maurya.

King Chandragupta succeeded in defeating Dhana-Nanda, the last of the Nanda kings. In the task of empire building, Chandragupta was assisted by the Brahmin Chanakya. His empire spread as far as the River Narmada on one side and the Himalayan range and the Hindukush mountains on the other. The land of Punjab and Kabul were at this time under Greek rule. The Greeks were led by Megasthenes.

When the Greek armies were defeated, they retreated. As a result of Greeks and Indians living together, there was an exchange of ideas. Indians learnt the art of sculpture and mathematics from the Greeks and the Greeks, in turn, learnt the Indian arts. The Greeks entered in to an alliance with Chandragupta and handed back whatever provinces they had conquered. When Chandragupta was ruling from Pataliputra, Megasthenes, the Greek envoy, was a member of his court in 305 BC. Chandragupta divided his empire into three parts and appointed viceroys to rule from the cities of Thakshila, Ujjaini and Thosali.

It is recorded that Chandragupta lived as a 'Jaina mendicant' in the last days of his life. When he passed away in 292 BC, he was succeeded by his son Bindusara. He too continued friendly relations with the Greeks. He is supposed to have had relations with Syria and an envoy of the king of Syria has occupied a place in his court.

King Bindusara is supposed to have had 101 sons and Asoka is just one of them.When the father was ruling from the capital city, Asoka was the ruler of Ujjaini. When Bindusara died in 273BC, his eldest son Sumana has succeeded him. But Asoka is said to have killed all his brothers to gain the kingdom. The four years of his rule, before his consecration , may stand as evidence for the period of unrest in the empire. Asoka was consecrated in 269 BC. Once he ascended the throne, he too began to expand his empire. The boundaries of his empire were, Gandhasa in the N.W., Kamarupa in the east, the Arabian Sea in the west and the River Krishna in the south.

In the 8th year of his consecration - in 261 BC, Asoka invaded Kalinga. The army of the ruler of Kalinga was equally powerful and a severe battle followed. Asoka became victorious. Thousands died on the battlefield. Some more thousands were imprisoned. Asoka was greatly moved by the damage done. He sought the help of the Brahmins to console himself. He gave them alms daily. On seeing the conduct of these Brahmins, Asoka got disgusted.

Once, when Asoka was looking out from his balcony, he noticed a young samanera (a novice monk), walking along the road. He was taken up by the disciplined nature of this young priest. He invited him into the palace and requested him to occupy a suitable seat. The young priest sat on the throne. Taken aback by his behaviour, the king asked him who he was. "Oh! Great king! As a layman, I was the son of King Sumana", said he. "That can't be. He had no son", said the king. "You are correct, but by the time my father was killed my mother was expecting me. She was pregnant then", said the priest.

Asoka then understood the connection and inquired where he grew up. "Oh! King, when you killed my father, my mother fled to the forest in fear. There she gave birth to me, under a banyon tree. The people of the Chandala clan, who lived in the forest, cared for us. As I was born under a banyon tree, I was named 'Nigrodha'", continued the priest. Asoka patiently listened to all this. The young prince then got up from the throne and said, "King, I sat on the throne because if I remained a layman, I should have been the rightful claimant. But, now that I am a priest, it does not belong to me. I'm now a son of the Buddha". The king offered alms to the priest and the priest preached the Dhamma to him. Being quite consoled, the king asked him where he was proceeding to. The young priest said he was on his way to see his mother.

When the 'Perahera' was high fun for the villagers
The 'Perahera' is a common activity in our country. It is a procession where people, neatly line up and walk single file from one point to another to participate in some activity, generally a religious function. Often they carry flags or some decorative material. Right in front a couple of drummers would march beating their drums. The sound of makes everyone know that a 'perahera' is on the way and they gather by the roadside to watch it. The drummers are followed by dancers, who are clad in their costumes and march forward while performing.

In the early days, the 'perahera' had been much more elaborate than what we see now. It was also a form of entertainment for the villagers, particularly for the girls. Author Martin Wickramasinghe relates how when one village held a Pirith chanting ceremony at the temple, it was customary for the people of the adjoining village to come in procession with dancers and drummers to offer a 'Tree of Coins'.

The 'perahera' is advertised through hand-written posters giving the date and time at which the procession would start, pasted on the coconut palms on either side of the road, and also proclaimed to the beat of the herald's drum ('anda beraya').

Getting ready for the 'perahera' is an elaborate affair. "The girls of the village, both rich and poor, had sufficient time to buy and sew for themselves new jackets and clothes for the occasion, while those who belonged to frugal families washed and pressed their old clothes and jackets. Girls too poor to possess any jewellery would persuade a parent or brother to visit some relatives in a distant village in order to borrow hairpins, earrings and necklaces of gold or gilt beads so that they might be in readiness to display to the full their clothes, their ornaments and their beauty on the Perahera day".

The path taken by the procession would be made ready thus: "On either side of the high road strewn with white sand and bordered with strings of tender yellow coconut-leaflets ('gokkola') strung on poles struck into the ground at intervals, gathered the people: little boys and girls, young women and youths, old men and women, and servants stood waiting there. Every youth in the village would be out on the road, dressed with an elegance equal to any girl's, his hair oiled and combed till it gleamed. Some would take their stance near a group of pretty girls and enjoy a view of that beauty till the Perahera passed. Others would not stand still in one place, but like connoisseurs at a picture gallery, walked along the road, viewing the beauties on either hand".

And now on to how the procession proceeded: "The 'Soldier' masked and dressed in a tattered coat and pair of trousers, was a herald of the approaching procession. As they saw him, the people gathered at the roadside would stop their talk and open to the fullest the doors of those sense perceptions, which had hitherto only stood ajar. Following him came the procession, slowly unfolding and flowing like a stream of spectacular diversions to please the mind and sight of the beholders. The actual procession began with the 'Surveyor' and his 'apprentice' who followed the 'Soldier'. The 'Surveyor' who wore European dress and a pair of coloured spectacles over his whitened face provided the onlookers with amusement. The men who sat in a decorated cart playing the 'rabana' and disguised as women may have drawn laughter from the women in the audience, but not from the men. A little boy who wore only a strip of cloth and was liberally daubed with soot sat grimacing on a tree fastened to a cart. Nobody could agree whether he was supposed to represent a Veddah or a monkey, for the argument stemmed from the fact that it wore no tail. Bullock carts served for floats which paraded spectacles such as a devil dancing ceremony, a hotel or tea boutique and a battleship. 'Riders' who supported tissue paper and bamboo effigies of horses at waist level excited the laughter of both men and women. The feats and somersaults of the tumblers fascinated everyone but the sight of a 'murderer' dangling from the gallows fixed on a cart, horrified the women and children".

Then would come a parade of mostly old women in white, bearing paper-flags and slips of areca-blossom. The stilt-walkers, who stalked on legs two fathoms high prompted the boys to try their luck the next day trying to perform the same, by tying two stumps of kaduru-wood not more than two feet long, on to their legs.

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