Thopasa is Thapassu. Isn’t it?

තොපශ යනු තපස්සු නොවේද?

The question of how the Buddhist names in Heladiva were changed in to a different direction should be handled with utmost care. We can assume that this change would have occurred when Tripitaka texts originally written in Hela language were translated in to Pali language (Pāli). The doubt over this arises with the incident of setting fire to texts written in Hela language and safe guarding the texts written in Pali (Pāli). Doesn’t this suggest that we were the victims of a serious transformation?

It is my attempt here to highlight an incident of that nature. The Pali phrase found in the Sixth Vagga in the Ekakanipaatha Ethadaggapāli in the Anguththra Nikaya is as follows.

" එතදග්ගං භික්ඛවේ මම සාවකානං උපසකානං පඨමං  සරණං ගච්ජාන්තානං යදිදං තපස්සභල්ලිකා  වාණිජා,"  

“Ethadaggan Bhikkawe  Mama Saawakaanan Pathaman Saranan Gajjaanthaanan Yadidan Thapassabhallikaa Vaanijaa”

The footnotes found here say that the word Thapussa (තපුස්ස) and also word Thapassu (තපස්සු) had been used there. What is evident here is that certain changes occur in translating the names in to Pali (Pāli) language. It can be proved with facts taken from the inscriptions that this merchant called Thapassu was the first lay disciple, Upāasaka, found refuge in the Buddha Sasana (1) (Sāsana) and he was a person in this Heladiva. According to Heladiva language his name was “Thopasha - තොපශ”. It has been taken as Thapussa (තපුස්ස) in to Pali (Pāli) language. Because of the lack of knowledge for the term in Hela language this has been taken as Thapussa (තපුස්ස).

7 " ගපති තොපශ ලෙණෙ ගොතම ශමනෙ පතිටපිතෙ."(බුදුසරණ 2008-03-21)

7 “Gapathi thopasha lene gothama shaman pathitapithe.” (Budusarana 2008-03-21)

“Thapassu, the chief of the house build (this) cave for (the use of) Gauthama Buddha”

This has been built for Buddha. But it does not mean that Buddha had come and accepted this, one may say. As there are more inscriptions related to this matter, these kinds of arguments can be defeated. The ones who believe in that Buddha had lived in India, due to the unawareness of the false views, may attempt to take this incident also as something happened in India. But this Helaya (Helayā) who was the very first lay disciple of the Buddha was a member of a noble clan and it is explained in the next inscription.

370. " ගපති තොපශ ශුමන කුලශ ලෙණෙ ශගශ දිනෙ අගත අනගත චතුදිශ ශගශ පශු විශරයෙ" (I.C)  

370. " Gapathi thopasha shumana kulasha lene shagasha dine agatha anagatha chathudisha shagasha pashu visharaye” (I.C)

Ones who interpret this give totally wrong interpretations for this. This clan is a sacrifice or a poojaa by Thapassu, the chief of the house and that is cultured by the mental strength and the purification taught by the Buddha Dhamma. There is evidence in the inscription discovered from the cave Dyānya (2) in the Vasaabu Mountain that the members in this generation had been engaged in training the mind and meditations. It is given as follows.

" ගපති තලනගර ශුමන කුලහ"

“ Gapathi thalanagara shumana kulaha”

According to this inscription the members of this family had been engaged in activities such as meditations. Above mentioned inscription is a result of a particular research. Hence, it can be proved positively that Thapassu mentioned in the Sutta was a Helaya (Helayā).

 1 - Śāsana (Sanskrit), (Pali: sāsana) is a term used by Buddhists and Shaivites to refer to their religion or non-religion. It has a range of possible translations, including teaching, practice, doctrine and Buddha Śãsana, which means "The teaching of the Buddha" (of which there have been several). Since in Buddhism there is no divine god the term is considered more accurate than the word "religion" as it denotes an adaptable philosophy and practice rather than a non-changing divine call from an all knowing god. Also, for many Buddhist outsiders the term religion implies faith; some might argue that faith is not a necessary feature of Buddhism, based in spirituality and logic, thus making śāsana all the more useful a term in definition. Sasana may also refer to the 5000 year dispensation of a particular Buddha. That is, we are living in the sasana of the Śakyamuni Buddha. (Source-Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

2 - The cave of trance.

{The English translation of 'බුද්ධෝත්පත්තිය හෙළදිවයි' (Buddha was born in  Heladiva) - Part – 5}

Translated by Amal Meemanage (amalmeemanage@gmail.com)