Funday Times

This article is part of a continuing series on the ‘Mahavamsa’, the recorded chronicle of Sri Lankan history

A foreign invasion
1. King Mitrasena too, was a righteous king. During his one year of rule, he patronized Buddhism. During his period there was an invasion from South India and the king tried to fight the enemy. The Sinhala army had no occasion to fight with a foreign enemy for over 400 years. As a result the royal army was not quite prepared. Consequently, the king was defeated.

2. King Mitrasena died at the hands of the enemy and the country fell under foreign rule once more. The Lambakarna line of kings, which was started by King Vasabha - thus came to an end. This happened in 429 AD. Next, a person named Pandu, came to the throne of Anuradhapura. He lived in constant fear as it had been prophesied, that a Sinhala prince would wage war at any moment.

3. The descendents of the Mayura clan - who had fled all over in fear of King Subha - were living in and around the city, at this time. They were people who belonged to one of the 18 castes, that came when the Sri Maha Bodhi was brought to Sri Lanka. Though they ruled the country at one time, their dynasty came to an end with King Yasalalaka-tissa. By this time they were living as ordinary citizens.

4. A prince named Dhatusena who belonged to the Mayura clan was living in a village named Nandi-Vapi. He had a son named Datha who lived in the village named 'Ambul-yagu'. Datha too had two sons of whom one was named Dhatusena, going by Datha's father's name. The other son was named Salatisbo. A maternal uncle of these princes had entered the order of monks.

5. This priest was the Chief Priest, Mahanama. Prince Dhatusena grew up with this priest. Now King Pandu, who lived in fear, was told by the soothsayers what his enemy would look like. These compared with the looks of Prince Dhatusena. King Pandu got his soldiers to kill anybody resembling this prince. He also announced that if this prince was hidden by anybody, he should produce the prince.

6. The people who heard this announcement got scared. They were frightened because, King Pandu after grabbing the throne was now getting Sinhala boys killed. The Tamil soldiers were ruthless. All the boys, around the age of about 12 years were killed. They harassed any villager whom they suspected. Rev. Mahanama who was in suspense about the future of Dhatusena, soon ordained him.

7. This young priest was very intelligent. He possessed an immense amount of patience too. One day, an elderly priest got angry with this young novice. He collected some garbage and threw it at the head of the young priest. The young priest was not shaken by this. Instead he showed compassion on the elderly monk. Observing this reaction of the novice, Rev. Mahanama thought, he will definitely be a good king one day.

8. This young prince, who lived in the 'Diksanda Pirivena', was sent to Gonisadi Vihara for higher studies. Before long, King Pandu got this news. Then dawned an unfortunate period for all the temples. The Tamil soldiers began to search all the Buddhist temples. As they had no faith in this religion, they least respected our monks. In fact, they went to the extent of harassing them. Tamil soldiers went on a rampage, destroying Buddhist temples.

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