Exploring the First Visit of the Buddha to Lanka Dipa - Mahiyangana Rajamaha Vihara in Uwa Province. скачать в хорошем качестве

Exploring the First Visit of the Buddha to Lanka Dipa - Mahiyangana Rajamaha Vihara in Uwa Province.

The Buddha's first visit to Lanka Dipa is believed to have occurred where Mahiyangana (Binthanna) Rajamahavihara is today in the Province of Uwa Binthanna. This Vihara is regarded as one of the sixteen main Buddhist sites (Solosmaha Sthana) in Sri Lanka. Mahiyangana is a town situated close to the Mahavali River. The Buddha visited Mahiyangana on a Duruthu Poya (full moon, Dec - Jan) day nine months after his Buddhahood to restore peace between the two clans belonging to Yakkha and Naga. The people who lived in Sri Lanka when the Buddha visited Lanka Dipa in the 6th BCE (Mahavansa, 2004) were called Siew Helas. The Siew (four) Hela (mountain) People of Lanka comprised four clans or races: Yakkha, Raksha, Naga, and Deva. They were present when the Buddha landed in Lanka Dipa in the 6th century BCE (Mahavansa). Mahavansa mentions that “when the Enlightened One arrived in Kelaniya in the 6 th BCE., he preached to Yakka, Asura, Gujaga and Naga people, who were widely spread in the country.” Prof. Somadeva (2022) has recorded many Hela Gammanas (villages) with names related to ‘Hela’ suffixed to their landscape names in his archaeological excavations conducted in the Runa province. ‘Kotadamu Hela’; Govinda Hela, were some of the names. Many inscriptions have been unearthed in Sri Lanka related to the names of these clans, Yakkha, Naga, Deva and Raksha, in archaeological excavations (Somadeva, Yakshi). Dipa is an island or part of the country between two rivers (Somadeva, 2015); (Geiger,1912). Hela is a word used to name the upper mountain range in Sinhala. The term ‘hela’ is also an abbreviated variant of the word ‘Sinhala’ in traditional usage, being at the same time the name for traditional Sinhala poetry. Sri Lanka was called Siew Hela, which had four territories where these four groups of people lived, and farming took place on these mountainous landscapes until people got accustomed to and habituated near the valleys (Somadeva, 2022) The translators of Mahavansa have taken literal meaning when describing the names of the four Siew Hela Clans. Yakkhas are described as “demons”, Nagas as “snakes”, and Devas are described as “gods”. However, in reality, these are ordinary human beings. The interpreters describe Yakkha, Deva, Raksha and Naga communities in Sri Lanka as non- human beings. This reference to nonhuman characters was examined and reviewed as they are misleading content with translation errors from other languages (Parker, 1909). The obscured history of the first known Queen, Quweni of Lanka, presents her as a nonhuman being. It may invariably downgrade a culture accepted for more than 2500 years. This disparity results from the wrong interpretations created by the foreigners who translated Mahavansa into English from the original Mahavansa in the 18th century and later translated into Sinhala. It kept reproducing new copies similarly, reprinting continuously for many years. Historical sources, including the ancient chronicle Mahavamsa, record that the Buddha visited Mahiyangana (Binthanna) in the ninth month after his enlightenment, marking his first visit to Lanka Dipa. According to the Mahavamsa, Sri Lanka was inhabited by Yakkhas at the time. It is said that the Buddha subdued the Yakkhas there and discoursed on Dhamma with them. Many of them attained the stage of stream-entry by listening to the Buddha's discourse. They were then directed to an island named Giri Dipa, a splendid place for agriculture and cultivation. This group would have been involved in spreading Buddhism in that territory. Archaeological experts like Shiran Daraniyagala and Raj Somadeva agree that the Balangoda Homo sapiens, who lived in the country thirty-seven thousand years ago, have a close biological relationship with the locals of Sri Lanka. They believe that the Yakkha Clan evolved from these early inhabitants. When Prince Vijaya arrived from Dambadiva to Lanka Dipa in the 6th century BCE, the island was inhabited and ruled by the Yakkha clan. He married the Yakkha Princess Kuweni, the ruler of that territory. Epics like the Mahabharata and the Ramayana also explicitly note that the Yakkha clan inhabited Lanka at that time. The Sinhala word “Yak” means iron metal. Their discovery of the use of metals like iron and copper and the availability of deposits of the metal ores led to early industrialisation and The trade-in of valuable products and other commodities was a creation of the Yakkhas. The Buddha's first discourse, which he delivered to the Sinhalese local people in Old Sinhala, was named "Siri Desuma" and had been preserved by Ven. Elamaldeniye Soratha Nayaka Thero. This script was translated by Most Ven. Ananda Mithriya Thero with Prof, Malalasekara and Historian Arisen Ahubudhu. It can be heard in the following video link:    • Siri Desuma