Panduvasudeva had 10 sons and a daughter.The eldest son was Abhaya. The daughter was Citta. She was called Ummadacitta because she drove men insane by her good looks. The soothsayers predicted that Citta's son will kill his nine uncles (except Abhaya) to become the king of Lanka. Therefore, King Abhaya kept Citta in seclusion in a chamber build on a pillar. However, in spite of all the precautions taken to keep Citta from seeing men, she had a love affair with a first cousin and was pregnant. The royal family then decided to give Chitta in marriage to her lover but to kill the off spring if it happened to be a boy. The story as narrated by the author of Mahavamsa about Chittas son Pandukabhaya is another fairy tale embellished by many such popular stories involving non-humans helping Citta's son to survive and fight and kill all his nine paternal uncles and gain the throne of Lanka. The detailed stories belong in the realm of folklore and are omitted in this write up.
According to Mahavamasa author, Pandukabhaya established the village boundaries over the whole island of Lanka ten years after his consecration. Pandukabhaya had two non-human associates Kalavela and Cittaraja who were visible in bodily form. He also had devils (yakkas) and non-humans (bhutas) as his close friends. Pandukabhaya ruled for 70 years in Lanka living in Anuradhapura that he made the capital city of Lanka. Pandukabhaya was succeeded by his son Mutasiva and he reigned for 60 years in Anuradhapura. Mutasiva had ten sons and two daughters. The second son Devanampiyatissa became king after Mutasiva's death.
Analysis:
The prophesy of the soothsayers that Citta's son would kill all his uncles and their various attempts to kill him in his childhood are similar to the biblical narrative of infanticide by Herod the Great. While attempting to find out who borrowed these yarns from whom at what point in time could be a futile effort, it is prudent to discard these attempts to connect the dots of Sri Lankan history with no substantial supporting evidence, as they are at least 800 years separated from the time they are supposed to have occurred from the time they were written by the author of the Great Chronicle. However, the great pains taken by the Mahavamsa author to narrate the lineage of the early rulers by these stories apparently show that successive waves of warriors and their kinsmen arrived and settled in the northern part of Lanka during the pre-historic times of Sri Lanka. The non-humans referred to as yakshas (devils), as shown earlier could be the tribal people who the warriors brought along with them for colonizing the newly found land of Lanka. The names of the humans as well as the devils mentioned in these stories clearly indicate a south Indian (Pandyan) connection Sri Lanka had during the time of colonization of Lanka by the Indian people.
The prophesy of the soothsayers that Citta's son would kill all his uncles and their various attempts to kill him in his childhood are similar to the biblical narrative of infanticide by Herod the Great. While attempting to find out who borrowed these yarns from whom at what point in time could be a futile effort, it is prudent to discard these attempts to connect the dots of Sri Lankan history with no substantial supporting evidence, as they are at least 800 years separated from the time they are supposed to have occurred from the time they were written by the author of the Great Chronicle. However, the great pains taken by the Mahavamsa author to narrate the lineage of the early rulers by these stories apparently show that successive waves of warriors and their kinsmen arrived and settled in the northern part of Lanka during the pre-historic times of Sri Lanka. The non-humans referred to as yakshas (devils), as shown earlier could be the tribal people who the warriors brought along with them for colonizing the newly found land of Lanka. The names of the humans as well as the devils mentioned in these stories clearly indicate a south Indian (Pandyan) connection Sri Lanka had during the time of colonization of Lanka by the Indian people.
No comments:
Post a Comment