Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History Part 67

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP OF ANCIENT INDIA.]]

[Footnote 3: BURNOUF conjectures that the point from which Wijayo set sail for Ceylon was the G.o.davery, where the name of Bandar-maha-lanka (the Port of the Great Lanka), still commemorates the event.--_Journ.

Asiat._ vol. xviii. p. 134. DE COUTO, recording the Singhalese tradition as collected by the Portuguese, he landed at Preature (Pereatorre), between Trincomalie and Jaffna-patam, and that the first city founded by him was Mantotte.--_Decade_ v. l. 1. c. 5.]

[Footnote 4: See a note at the end of this chapter, on the landing of Wijayo in Ceylon, as described in the _Mahawanso_.]

[Sidenote: B.C. 543.]

The people whom he mastered with so much facility are described in the sacred books as _Yakkhos_ or "demons,"[1] and _Nagas_[2], or "snakes;"

designations which the Buddhist historians are supposed to have employed in order to mark their contempt for the uncivilised aborigines[3], in the same manner that the aborigines in the Dekkan were denominated goblins and demons by the Hindus[4], from the fact that, like the Yakkhos of Ceylon, they too were demon wors.h.i.+ppers. The Nagas, another section of the same superst.i.tion, wors.h.i.+pped the cobra de capello as an emblem of the destroying power. These appear to have chiefly inhabited the northern and western coasts of Ceylon, and the Yakkhos the interior[5]; and, notwithstanding their alleged barbarism, both had organised some form of government, however rude.[6] The Yakkhos had a capital which they called Lankapura, and the Nagas a king, the possession of whose "throne of gems"[7] was disputed by the rival sovereign of a neighbouring kingdom. So numerous were the followers of this gloomy idolatry of that time in Ceylon, that they gave the name of Nagadipo[8], _the_ _Island of Serpents_, to the portion of the country which they held, in the same manner that Rhodes and Cyprus severally acquired the ancient designation of _Ophiusa_, from the fact of their being the residence of the Ophites, who introduced serpent-wors.h.i.+p into Greece.[9]

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. vii.; FA HIAN, _Fo[)e]-kou[)e]-ki_, ch.

x.x.xvii.]

[Footnote 2: _Rajavali_, p. 169.]

[Footnote 3: REINAUD, Introd. to _Abouldfeda_, vol. i. sec. iii. p.

ccxvi. See also CLOUGH'S _Singhalese Dictionary_, vol. ii. p. 2.]

[Footnote 4: MOUNTSTUART ELPHINSTONE'S, _History of India_, b. iv. ch.

xi. p. 216.]

[Footnote 5: The first descent of Gotama Buddha in Ceylon was amongst the Yakkhos at Bintenne; in his second visit he converted the "_Naga_ King of Kalany," near Colombo, _Mahawanso_, ch. i. p. 5.]

[Footnote 6: FABER, _Origin of Idolatry_, b. ii ch. vii. p. 440.]

[Footnote 7: _Mahawanso_, ch. i.]

[Footnote 8: TURNOUR was unable to determine the position on the modern map of the ancient territory of Nagadipo.--Introd. p. x.x.xiv. CASIE CHITTY, in a paper in the _Journal of the Ceylon Asiatic Society_, 1848, p. 71, endeavours to identify it with Jaffna, The _Rajaratnacari_ places it at the present Kalany, on the river of that name near Colombo (vol.

ii. p. 22). The _Mahawanso_ in many pa.s.sages alludes to the existence of Naga kingdoms on the continent of India, showing that at that time serpent-wors.h.i.+p had not been entirely extinguished by Brahmanism in the Dekkan, and affording an additional ground for conjecture that the first inhabitants of Ceylon were a colony from the opposite coast of Calinga.]

[Footnote 9: BRYANT'S _a.n.a.lysis of Mythology_, chapter on Ophiolatria, vol. i p. 480, "Euboea means _Oub-aia_, and signifies the serpent island." (_Ib_.)

But STRABO affords us a still more striking ill.u.s.tration of the _Mahawanso_, in calling the serpent wors.h.i.+ppers of Ceylon "Serpents,"

since he states that in Phrygia and on the h.e.l.lespont the people who were styled [Greek: ophiogeneis], or the Serpent races, actually retained a physical affinity with the snakes with whom they were popularly identified, [Greek: "entautha mytheuousi tous Ophiogeneis syngenneian tina echein pros tous oseis."]--STRABO, lib. xiii. c. 588.

PLINY alludes to the same fable (lib. vii.). And OVID, from the incident of Cadmus' having sown the dragon's teeth (that is, implanted Ophiolatria in Greece), calls the Athenians _Serpentigenae_.]

But whatever were the peculiarities of religion which distinguished the aborigines from their conquerors, the attention of Wijayo was not diverted from his projects of colonisation by any anxiety to make converts to his own religious belief. The earliest cares of himself and his followers were directed to implant civilisation, and two centuries were permitted to elapse before the first effort was made to supersede the popular wors.h.i.+p by the inculcation of a more intellectual faith.

NOTE.

DESCRIPTION IN THE MAHAWANSO OF THE LANDING OF WIJAYO.

The landing of Wijayo in Ceylon is related in the 7th chapter of the _Mahawanso_, and Mr. TURNOUR has noticed the strong similarity between this story and Homer's account of the landing of Ulysses in the island of Circe. The resemblance is so striking that it is difficult to conceive that the Singhalese historian of the 5th century was entirely ignorant of the works of the Father of Poetry. Wijayo and his followers, having made good their landing, are met by a "devo" (a divine spirit), who blesses them and ties a sacred thread as a charm on the arm of each.

One of the band presently discovers the princess in the person of a devotee, seated near a tank, and she being a magician (Yakkhini) imprisons him and eventually the rest of his companions in a cave. The _Mahawanso_ then proceeds: "all these persons not returning, Wijayo, becoming alarmed, equipping himself with the five weapons of war, proceeded after them, and examined the delightful pond: he could perceive no footsteps but those leading down into it, and there he saw the princess. It occurred to him his retinue must surely have been seized by her, and he exclaimed, 'Pray, why dost not thou produce my attendants?' 'Prince,' she replied, 'from attendants what pleasure canst thou derive? drink and bathe ere thou departest.' Seizing her by the hair with his left hand, whilst with his right he raised his sword, he exclaimed, 'Slave, deliver my followers or die.' The Yakkhini terrified, implored for her life; 'Spare me, prince, and on thee will I bestow sovereignty, my love, and my service.' In order that he might not again be involved in difficulty he forced her to swear[1], and when he again demanded the liberation of his attendants she brought them forth, and declaring 'these men must be famis.h.i.+ng,' she distributed to them rice and other articles procured from the wrecked s.h.i.+ps of mariners, who had fallen a prey to her. A feast follows, and Wijayo and the princess retire to pa.s.s the night in an apartment which she causes to spring up at the foot of a tree, curtained as with a wall and fragrant with incense." It is impossible not to be struck with a curious resemblance between this description and that in the 10th book of the Odyssey, where Eurylochus, after landing, returns to Ulysses to recount the fate of his companions, who, having wandered towards the palace of Circe, had been imprisoned after undergoing transformation into swine. Ulysses hastens to their relief, and having been provided by Mercury with antidotes, which enabled him to resist the poisons of the sorceress, whom he discovers in her retreat, the story proceeds:--

[Greek:

os phat ego d aor oxu eryssamenos para merou Kirkeepeixa hoste ktameuai meneainon. k. t. l.]

[Footnote 1: [Greek:

Ei me moi tlaies ge, thea, megan horkon h.o.m.ossai Meti moi autps pema kakon bouleus.e.m.e.n allo.]--_Odys_. x. l. 343.]

"She spake, I, drawing from beside my thigh The faulchion keen, with death denouncing looks, Rush'd on her,--she, with a shrill scream of fear, Ran under my raised arm, seized fast my knees, And in winged accents plaintive thus began:-- 'Who, whence thy city, and thy birth declare,-- Amazed I see thee with that potion drenched, Yet unenchanted: never man before Once pa.s.sed it through his lips and lived the same.

* * * * Sheath again Thy sword, and let us on my bed recline, Mutual embrace, that we may trust henceforth Each other without jealousy or fear.'

The G.o.ddess spake, to whom I thus replied: 'Oh Circe, canst thou bid me meek become, And gentle, who beneath thy roof detain'st My fellow-voyagers. * * *

No, trust me, never will I share thy bed, Till first, oh G.o.ddess, thou consent to swear That dread, all-binding oath, that other harm Against myself, thou wilt imagine none.'

I spake, she, swearing as I bade, renounced All evil purpose, and her solemn oath Concluded, I ascended next her bed."[1]

[Footnote 1: COWPER's _Odyssey_, B. x, p. 392.]

The story of Wijayo's interview with Kuweni is told in nearly the same terms as it appeared in the _Mahawanso_ in the _Rajavali_, p. 172.

Another cla.s.sical coincidence is curious: we are strongly reminded of Homer's description of the Syrens by the following pa.s.sage, relative to the female _Rakshasis_, or demons, by whom Ceylon was originally inhabited, which is given in the memoirs of HIOUEN-THSANG, the Chinese traveller in the 7th century, as extracted by him from the Buddhist Chronicles. "Elles epiaient constamment les marchands qui abordaient dans l'isle, et se changeant en femmes d'une grande beaute elles venaient au-devant d'eux avec des fleurs odorantes et au son des instruments de musique, leur adressaient des paroles bienveillantes et les attiraient dans la ville de fer. Alors elles leur offraient un joyeux festin et se livraient au plaisir avec eux: puis elles les enfermaient dans un prison de fer et les mangeaient l'un apres l'autre."[1]

[Footnote 1: HIOUEN-THSANG, _Mem. des Peler. Boudd_. 1. xi. p. 131.]

CHAP. III

THE CONQUEST OF CEYLON BY WIJAYO, B.C. 543, AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF BUDDHISM, B.C. 307.

[Sidenote: B.C. 543.]

The sacred historians of Ceylon affect to believe in the a.s.sertion of some mysterious connection between the landing of Wijayo, and the conversion of Ceylon to Buddhism, one hundred and fifty years afterwards; and imply that the first event was but a pre-ordained precursor of the second.[1] The Singhalese narrative, however, admits that Wijayo was but a "lawless adventurer," who being expelled from his own country, was refused a settlement on the coast of India before he attempted Ceylon, which had previously attracted the attention of other adventurers. This story is in no way inconsistent with that told by the Chinese Buddhists, who visited the island in the fifth and seventh centuries. FA HIAN states, that even before the advent of Buddha, Ceylon was the resort of merchants, who repaired there to exchange their commodities for gems, which the "demons" and "serpents," who never appeared in person, deposited on the sh.o.r.e, with a specified value attached to each, and in lieu of them the strangers subst.i.tuted certain indicated articles, and took their departure.[2]

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. vii.]

[Footnote 2: FA HIAN, _Fo[)e]-Kou[)e]-ki_, ch. x.x.xviii. See a notice of this story of FA HIAN, as it applies to the still existing habits of the Veddahs, Vol. I. Pt III. ch. vii.]

[Sidenote: B.C. 543.]

HIOUEN-THSANG, at a later period, disposes of the fables of Wijayo's descent from a lion[1], and of his divine mission to Ceylon, by intimating, that, according to certain authorities, he was the son of a merchant (meaning a sea-faring trader), who, having appeased the enmity of the Yakkhos, succeeded by his discretion in eventually making himself their king.[2]

[Footnote 1: The legend of Wijayo's descent from a lion, probably originated from his father being the son of an outlaw named "Singha."]

[Footnote 2: "Suivant certains auteurs, Sengkia-lo (Wijayo) serait le nom du fils d'un marchand, qui, par sa prudence, ayant echappe a la fureur homicide des Lo-tsa" (demons) "reussit ensuite a se faire Roi."--HIOUEN THSANG, _Voyages &c_. l. iv. p. 198.]

Whatever may have been his first intentions, his subsequent policy was rather that of an agriculturist than an apostle. Finding the country rich and fertile, he invited merchants to bring their families, and take possession of it.[1] He dispersed his followers to form settlements over the island, and having given to his kingdom his patrimonial name of Sihala[2], he addressed himself to render his dominions "habitable for men."[3] He treated the subjugated race of Yakkhos with a despotic disdain, referable less to pride of caste than to contempt for the rude habits of the native tribes. He repudiated the Yakkho princess whom he had married, because her unequal rank rendered her unfit to remain the consort of a king[4]; and though she had borne him children, he drove her out before his second marriage with the daughter of an Indian sovereign, on the ground that the latter would be too timid to bear the presence of a being so inferior.[5]