Funday Times

This article is part of a continuing series on the ‘Mahavamsa’, the recorded chronicle of Sri Lankan history
The origin of the spirit ‘Mahasona’
At the ceremony at Gothaimbara’s residence, there was a big commotion. The best of friends had become enemies. They were all involved in a big fight.

Though some attempted to stop it, it was of no avail. Warrior Nandimitra who observed everything in silence, roared aloud asking everybody to stop fighting. Everyone was stunned. They stopped the fight.

Nandimitra then went to Gothaimbara and Jayasena and told them, “If you want to fight, this is not the place for it. I’ll arrange a place with the king’s permission and keep you informed of the details”. Then he asked Jayasena’s friends to take him away. They did so. The ceremony came to an end. Nandimitra went back.

Nandimitra met King Dutugemunu and reported everything that happened. The king gave permission for an unarmed fight. A date and a place was also decided upon and they were kept informed.

When they were free of the influence of liquor, they realized the gravity of what was to come. Both of them got further training in fighting. Meanwhile, Nandimitra got the men to decorate the place where the fight was going to be and arranged seats for the supporters of both sides.

Warrior Suranimala was appointed as the judge. The appointed day dawned. Crowds gathered, well ahead of the fixed time. Gothaimbara too arrived early. Jayasena then followed, accompanied by his friends. A bell was rung to announce the starting time. The two contestants were standing in the centre – both frothing and fuming. They bowed to the crowd gathered there and got back.

Both of them almost ran to each other, with clenched fists. Each was trying to put the other down. They were equally matched and neither would give in. Warrior Suranimala then came up and parted them for a while. In a moment, the struggle started again. Jayasena pounced upon Gothaimbara.

Gothaimbara avoided the blow and returned blows to Jayasena. Jayasena was also clever enough to dodge them. As the fight dragged on, the onlookers were getting bored. Jayasena jumped up and pounced on Gothaimbara, giving him a big blow.

Gothaimbara dodged it and took his turn to jump up in the air and pounce upon Jayasena. Jayasena dodged but he was slightly hit. This made him act ferociously. He gave a deadly blow to Gothaimbara, who with difficulty, managed to dodge it. Jayasena was more than shocked to see his attack fail. Gothaimbara made use of this opportunity. He jumped into the air. No one noticed what he did with his left leg. They could only see Jayasena’s head, right up. The fight ended and the crowd dispersed.

When Gothaimbara left the battle ground, accompanied by his friends, Jayasena’s friends too got together. They took the headless corpse of Jayasena to the closest cemetery. They kept a bear’s head in place of the head and covered Jayasena’s corpse with a bear-skin.

This corpse was kept standing, leaning on a tree and tied to it. In the evening, a villager who went past the place shouted in fear, thinking it to be a strange creature. He ran away. He was later discovered unconscious.

A devil-dancer was brought to the scene and a ‘thovil’ had to be performed to bring him back to normality. When he gained consciousness, he related all that had happened. The odd creature he saw at the cemetery was a ‘spirit’ and he was named Mahasona. Our chronicles do not mention this. It is purely a legend.

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