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

Hindu influence

By Halaliye Karunathilake
Edited and translated by Kamala Silva
Illustrated by Saman Kalubowila

King Kashyapa 1 made Sigiriya his capital. As a result, for a period of about eight years, Anuradhapura was not the capital city. But Mugalan, who came to the throne next, made Anuradhapura the capital once more. From that time till 1017, no ruler wanted to change the capital. The invaders however, did not like Anuradhapura. They broke down and destroyed the temples there and plundered all the wealth. They ruined the city, abandoned it and made Polonnaruwa, the next capital. They named it Jayanathapura.

It became a part of the Chola empire. These foreigners were not Buddhists. They were Hindus. One aim of King Raja Raja was to conquer countries and spread Hinduism. In Sri Lanka too, the Cholas tried to achieve this ambition. By this time, there were people who had been followers of Hinduism for generations. One thing they lacked badly was administrative powers. Some of them were wealthy and held high office under the king.

Hinduism in Sri Lanka, has a longer history than Buddhism. During the period before King Devanampiyatissa, Hinduism flourished here. King Pandukabhaya, who made Anuradhapura the capital city, was also a follower of Hinduism. The kings, who were engaged in the struggle for power to ascend the throne, brought in Tamil soldiers. Some of them never went back. They settled down here. There were a lot of people who descended from these Tamil soldiers. They set up villages here.

Almost all of them were Hindus. They built Hindu devales and for some of these the Sinhala kings too helped. Many kings had been in the practice of getting Hindu religious ceremonies like Yaga, performed. With all this, they were not as powerful as the Buddhists. But with the spread of Chola power, Hindus became very powerful and the Buddhists were cornered. The Chola rulers made the devale the most important centre. The high place the temple occupied, all these years, was taken by the Hindu religious centres. Buddhist temples were neglected.

They started building new devales, even on temple grounds. With this came Hindu influence, on our art and architecture. The 'Shiva Devale' of Polonnaruwa is one of them. Most of the gods and goddesses respected in Hinduism, influenced Sri Lankans. They also started worshipping gods like Vishnu. Shiva, Ganesh and Murugan and goddesses like Luxhmi, Durga and Pattini. It did not take long for the belief in these gods to spread here.

The Buddhists embraced the worship of these gods. They publicly performed poojas for these gods. The Hindu priests who were Brahmins, did not follow the simple life style of the Buddhist priests. They were used to enjoying the luxuries of life. Moreover, they believed in the caste system. They led household lives, got married and had children, who also became Brahmin priests. They learnt from the Vedas and the Vedantas.

Hinduism is in the Sanskrit language and Sanskrit spread in Sri Lanka. Due to all this influence of Hinduism, very soon, the power of the Sinhala people decreased in Pihiti Rata. It came under Chola rule. The Cholas oppressed the Sinhala people and collected taxes. The poor became poorer and the Cholas on the other hand did all they could to stabilize their power. They even erected a fortress.

This fort was built in a place called 'Rakpankata' in Polonnaruwa. From here, they wanted to spread their influence not only in Malaya Rata and Maya Rata but also in Ruhuna. The Sinhala people in Pihiti Rata who could not tolerate Chola oppression, left their villages and fled to the Ruhuna. The people in Ruhuna were sad to hear of the suffering they underwent. They began to hate the Cholas.