Is Wessawana a ruler in Siwhela?

වෙස්සවණ  සිව්හෙළයේ එක් පාලකයෙක්ද?

Along with the disclose of the enlightenment of Gauthama Bosath (Bōsath) as an incident which occurred in Heladiva, it would greatly help to identify the changes done in translating Suttas in to Pali language (Pāli). Then it can be proved with solid facts that the incidents which were claimed as incidents happened in India had genuinely had happened not in India but in this Helabima.

There had been a ruling system of four-direction in Heladiva under one great king. The Suttas such as Ātānātiya and Mahāsamaya depict that it could have been the symbol of Siwhela (1). Though it’s claimed that these Suttas had been disclosed in India, when the content of them are closely analyzed, it shows more relationship with Heladiva than with India. This suggests that some changes had been added to this somewhere.

The rulers of four directions had been explained as great god kings and it is not necessary to be surprised over that. The Suttas record that Dhatharātta, Virullaha, Viroopakkha and Wessavana were four rulers in the time of the Buddha. A ruling system of this nature had been practiced in Heladiva, the Vargapoornikā provides an evidence for that. ( Ya.Go.A.Tho. Page 08).

The four ruling regions, according to that, are as follows.

1                     Northern  region       Mohishuna Manthaka                                 මොහිශුන මණ්ඨක           

2                     Southern  region      Waaikuja Manthaka                      වායිකුජ මණ්ඨක

3                     Eastern  region          Shyraakashila Manthaka            ශෛරාකශිල මණ්ඨක

4                     Western region        Heerasaala Manthaka                 හීරසාල මණ්ඨක

Here, the word Vāikuja "වායිකුජ" shows some similar meanings with the word Vaikoontha " වෛකූන්ඨ". The four ruling regions too are similar to the ones disclosed in the Sutta. There are no any mismatching among them. And also the Yaksha and Nāga tribes had lived in the kingdom of Heladiva in Buddha’s time. According to the Sutta, the ruler in the northern region was the ruler of the Yakkha clan, King Wessawana.

The Madya Mandala or the central point in the northern region in the ancient Heladiva was Anuradhapura. The historical facts related to the most ancient places such as Wessagiriya and Wessavanaya in Anuradhapura are still discovered. But, in order to ruin its ancientness, the author of Mahavamsa (Mahāvamsa) had attempted to describe its origin as of the reign of King Dewanapathissa. But based on the numerous historical evidences cannot be accepted as true and genuine.

The inscriptions found at Wessagiriya say that it was a very ancient historical place and comprised with many caves. What we see as Wessagiriya today would have been totally different to Wessagiriya in the past. Most of the caves found in Wessagiriya were destroyed by the British and used them for the constructions of roads.  It was only honorable Don Marthinu De Silva Wickramasinghe who saved them to the present level. If not for him a place called Wessagiriya would not be saved for us. Because of this destructive mechanism we have lost many inscriptions of Wessagiriya. Hence we can assume that the evidence which were available here to prove that this is the kingdom of Wessawana also would have been destroyed.

According to the Sutta, the reason for using the name “Wesssawana වෙස්සවණ”
for the king Wessawana is as follows.

“කුවේරස්ස ඛෝ පන මාරිස මහාරජස්ස විසාණා නාම රාජධානි, තස්මා කුවේරෝ මහාරාජා වෙස්සවාණෝති පවුච්චති "(දීඝ නිකය, 523 පිට) “Kuwerassa Khō pana mārisa mahārajassa  visānā nāma rājadhani, thasmā kuwero mahārā wessananōthi pauchchathi.” (Deeganikaya, Page 523). The Sutta discloses that following the name of this city Visānā, he had got the name Wessawana. Sometimes the city Anuradapura may have known as Visānā and there is a high probability for that. It can be noticed that even Mihinthalaya had been coming under this city Visānā. It is mentioned in a inscription found there and it goes as follows.

1                  පරුමක වෙශමණ පුත බරණිය ලෙණෙ දෙවහ ච චතිදිශ ශගශ (I.C.P. 2)

9                  parumaka weshamana putha baraniya lene dewaha cha chathudisha shagasha (I.C.P. 2)

(The cave of Barani and Dewa, the sons of chief Weshamuni, is for Sangas from all four directions)

The word “වෙශමණ Weshamana” found here is a word in Hela language. It is “වෙස්සවණ Wessawana” in Pali language (Pāli). According to Professor Paranavithana it is “වෛශ්‍රවණ Waishrawana ” in Sanskrit language. “වෙසමුනි  Wesamuni ” is considered as a word taken again in to Sinhala language. (I.C.P. 2)

Doesn’t this then suggest that Wessawana found in the Sutta is a Helaya (Helayā)? The Suttas have explained about him as the king for the northern region, as the chief of the Yakshas and also as Kuwēra. This is explained in Ātānātiya Sutta as follows.

"ඉතෝ සා උත්තරා දිසා ඉති නං
ආචික්ඛිතී ජනෝ යං දිසං අභිපාලේති
මහාරාජා යසස්සිසෝ ජක්ඛානං ආධිපති
කුවේරෝ ඉති නාමසෝ රමති නච්චගීතේහි
යක්ඛේහි පුරක්ඛතෝ."  (දීගනිකාය, 530 පිට)

“itho sa uththara disa ithi nan

aachikkhithi jano yan disan abhipalethi

mahaaraajaa yasassiso yakkhanan aadhipathi

kuwero ithi naamaso ramathi nachchageethehi

yakkhehi purakkhatho (Deeganikaya, Page 530) 

(Kuwera, this great king is possessed with glory, reigns a certain region? It is to the north from this place, the people say. This chief of the clan of Yakshas is known as Kuwera, he is preceded by the Yakshas and lives happily enjoying dancing and songs.)  

The comments made by the people too are taken in to Suttas. Something similar to this can be seen in the Maha Samaya Sutta as well. But there we do not get more details as it is here.

“උත්තර[ච දිසං රාජා කුවෙරෝ තං
පසාසති යක්ඛානං ආධිපති මහාරාජා යසස්සිසෝ”

(දීගනිකාය, 543 පිට)

“uttharancha disan raajaa kuwero than

pasaasathi yakkhanan aadhipathi mahaaraajaa yasassiso”

(Diganikaya, Page 543)

 

This does tally with the information mentioned in the previous one. And also in Dammapadha Pāli and in the story of Prince Āyuwaddhana it say that King Wessawana is the chief for the region of north. (Dammapadha Viwaranaya, Page 225). Even here, his kingship of the clan of Yakksha is mentioned. According to the Sutta, King Wessawana had many sons. That is confirmed by the statement “පුත්තාපි තස්ස බහවෝ puththaapi thassa bahavo ".  And also the Sutta says that his sons and their groups had their faith and gratitude for Buddha.  

" තේ  චාපි බුද්ධං දිස්වාන බුද්ධං
ආදිච්චබන්ධු නං,
දුරතෝච නමස්සන්ති මහන්තං
වීතසාරදං ,
නමෝ තේ පුරිසාජ්[[ නමෝ තේ
පුරිසුත්තම " (දීගනිකාය, 522 පිට)

“ the chaapi buddhan disvaana buddhan

aadichchbandhu nan

durachocha namassanthi mahanthan

veethasaaradan

namo the purisaanna  namo the

purisuththma “(Diganikaya, Page 522)

According to the details in the Sutta, the sons of the king pay their due respect to Buddha at the very moment they see the Buddha at the distance. The inscriptions are the evidence to prove that these children had respected Buddha and his disciples, the Sangas. It gets further confirmed by their act of offering the caves for Sangas for their use. 

10                 පරුමක වෙශමණ පුත පරුමක බරණිය ලෙණෙ ශගිකෙ (සන්තානා කන්ද)

2                     parumaka weshamana putha parumaka baraniya lene shagisha (Santhaanaa Peak)

31           පරුමක වෙශමන පුත පරුමක බරණියච
පරුමක දේවශ ලෙණෙ ශගිකෙ (බරණගල)

31              parumaka weshamana putha parumaka baraniyacha

                   parumaka dewasha lene shagike (Baranagala)

පරුමක වෙශමණ පුත පරුමක බරණිය ච
පරුමක අවිරද  පුත පරුමක දෙවහ ලෙණෙ  

අගත අනගත චතුදිශ ශගශ

(නිවන් මග , 51 පිට )

parumaka weshamana putha parumaka barani cha

parumaka avirada putha parumaka dewaha lene

    agatha anagatha chathudisha shagasha

(niwanmaga , Page 51)

2. පරුමක ශතහ ලෙණෙ ශගිකෙ ශගිකෙ (සන්තානා කන්ද)

2.            parumaka shathaha lene shagike (Santhaanaa Peak)

3.            පරුමක ශතනශත °තය ලෙණෙ ශගිකෙ  

3.            parumaka shathanashatha jhithaya lene shagike (Santhaanaa Peak)

All these inscriptions depict the fact that caves had been offered for Sanga by the sons and the grand sons of the King Wesamuni who reigned in the time of the Buddha. Ātānātiya Sutta is enriched with relevant resources required to  understand the reality, by keeping away the concept of gods, within the Sutta itself. These resources are the palaces, the ponds, the birds and the mountains. Let me highlight a abstract from the Sutta.

"තත්ථ නිච්චඵලා රුක්ඛා නානාදිගණායුතා
මයුර කො[ඛාභිරුතා  කොකිලාදිහි වග්ගුහි "

(දීගනිකාය, 523 පිට)

“thaththa nichchapalaa rukkhaa naanaadiganaayuthaa

mayura koyakhaabhirutha kookilaadihi wagguhi”

(Diganikaya, 523)

“Here, the surrounding is filled with the trees bearing fruits. Birds of many types also roam here. The sweet calls of the peacocks and grackles can be heard. This place is filled with the sweet songs of the satisfied Koel birds.”

Don’t these incidents disclose the natural beauty in Heladiva? It matches well even to this date. If someone does not feel so, it is a shame him to be called as a Helaya (Helayā)?

The Buddha and King Kuwera or Wessawana had lived very closely. That can be explained well in Atuwa(Atuwā) i.e. the commentaries. The Atuwa (Atuwā) called Sumangala Vilāsiniya depicts that story as follows.

" වෙස්සවණෝති කි[චාපි චත්තාරෝ
මහාරාජානෝ ආගතා, වෙස්සවණෝ
පන ද සබලස්ස විස්සාසිකෝ කථාපවත්තනේ
ව්‍යත්තෝ සුසික්ඛිතෝ " (සුමංගල විලාසිනිය,701)

“ wessavanothi kinchaapi chaththaaro

mahaaraajaano aagathaa,wessavano

pana da sabalassa vissaasiko kathaapawaththane

wayththo susikkhitho” (Sumangala Vilaasiniya,701)

According to the Atthakatha (Atthakathā) i.e. the commentary, the great King Wessawana had been a friend of the Buddha and also a talented speaker. King Wessawana had associated with the Buddha very closely, he had improved his knowledge and was lucky enough to experience the supramandane fruitions of Nibbana (Nibbāna), the commentary reveals. (Sumangala Vilāsiniya,231). Lots of facts are given to prove that King Wessawana had been with Buddha very closely in many significant occasions.  The commentators were not interested in disclosing him as a Helaya (Helayā) at all.

If King Wessawana is a Helaya (Helayā), who can stop his sons being Helayas (Helayās)?  According to the inscriptions, the leaders of the Yaksha clan such as Shāthaagira, Hemawatha, Poornatha and Awrudda had been the leaders in Heladiva. Hence, the persons disclosed by the Sutta had been a group who were engaged in the administrational activities in Heladiva.

The inscriptions found at the Peak Santhana in the north central region reports that this place had been used as a center for administration of Shaathaagira. The Dandanaayaka (2) looked after the administration at this place under Shaathaagira and he was a son of Sumana. This is mentioned in an inscription found there and it is given below.

"   උතුර  පොර ගිරිය දඩි පරුමක
      භගර වඩහ"  ( සන්තාන කන්ද) 

“uthura pora giriya parumaka bhagara wadaha”

(Santaanaa peak)

This says that the Dhandanaayaka of the mountain in the northern administration is a chief called Baghara Waddha. Another inscription found here says that he is a son of Sumana. That inscription is as follows.

41.          පරුමක ශුමන පුත පරුමක භගරහ ලෙණෙ  

අගත අනගත චතුදිශ ශගශ

 “parumaka sumana putha parumaka bagharaha

lene Agatha anagatha chathudisha shagasaha”

The great ruler of Heladiva that time was King Panitha. His treasurer was Parumaka Sumana. His son Baghara was the Dhandanaayaka for the northern administrative region.

Shaataagira was a son of Wessagira. That is confirmed by the inscriptions. The inscription is for an offering of caves by the daughter of Shaathaagira. This inscription is as follows.

"පරුමක වෙශමණ පුත පරුමක ශතශ
Cèත පරුමකලු ප්‍රශය ළෙණෙ ශගිකෙ "

“ parumaka weshamana putha parumaka shathasha

jhitha parumakalu prashaya lene shagike”

Hence, Shaathaagira is explained as a son of King Wessagira. The Sutta discloses that they had lived with utmost respect for the Buddha. Their act of offering the caves for the Sangas itself is a sound proof for their interest in Buddha Dhamma. The offerings done by Saathaagira and his family members help to identify their sound faith. That is confirmed by the following inscriptions.

"පරුමක ශතහ ලෙණෙ ශගිකෙ "
" පරුමක ශතශ COය ලෙණෙ ශගිකෙ "
" පරුමක ශතනශත  Cèතය ලෙණෙ ශගිකෙ "
"පරුමක ශතනශත Cèත පරුමකලු  පුශය ලෙණෙ ශගිකෙ "  (බුදුසරණ, 2008-03-21)

“ parumaka shathaha lene shagike”

“ parumaka shathashajha lene shagike”

“parumaka shathanashatha jhithaya lene shagike”

“ parumaka shathanashatha jhitha parumakalu pushaya lene shagike “ (Buddhusarana, 2008-03-21)

According to this, it is positively confirmed and also can be presented as a proof, that the family members such as Shaathaagira, the queen, the daughter and Nashatha had offered caves for the use of Sangas individually. Not only that, it is a very special incident where the daughter of Saathaagira had offered a cave for Buddha himself. That inscription is as follows.

"පරුමක ශත නශත Cèත පරුමක
 මිත COය පරුමකලු පුශය ලෙණෙ
 අපිරිමිතලොකද තුශෙ අගත අනගත පශු
 පරිබොගශ වශතන ශිත ශුකයෙ (සන්තානා කන්ද)

“ parumaka shatha nashatha jhithaya parumaka

mitha jaya parumakalu pushaya lene

aparimithalokada thushe Agatha anagatha pashu

paribogasha washathana shitha shukaye” ( Santhaanaa Peak)

What is described here is the unshakeable faith that children, grand sons and daughters of King Wessawana had over the Buddha. This reveals proofs for both sides which were taken out of our heritage. First one is the possession of the Wessawana dynasty. The other one is the possession of the Gauthama Buddha over the Heladiva. Both these possessions get firmly confirmed.

Poornaka, the General of the Yaksha clan described in the Sutta too is a Helaya (Helayā) in Heladiva. He was a brother of King Panitha. They were the Buddhist people who offered caves those days for the stability of the Buddha Sāsana.   

"පරුමක වියග පුත පරුමක පුණ
පුත වියග ලෙණෙ ශගිකෙ "

“parumaka viyaga putha parumaka puna

putha viyaga lene shagike”

Hence, most of the people in the Yaksha clan mentioned in the Ātānātiya Sutta can be compared with the inscriptions and identified as the Helayōs lived in Heladiva. The ones who are intelligent can understand this reality.

  1 - Siwhela – ‘Siw’ is for four and ‘hela’ is for Helaya or Heladeepa.

  2 - An administrative officer.

{The English translation of 'බුද්ධෝත්පත්තිය හෙළදිවයි' (Buddha was born in Heladiva) - Part – 13}

Translated by Amal Meemanage (amalmeemanage@gmail.com)