‘White’ Nikulas gives some hints to prove that Helaya was a Buddhist lived in the times of the Buddha

හෙළයා බුද්ධකාලීන බෞද්ධයෙකු බව පෙන්වීමට 
සුදු නිකුලස් පොටක් පාදා දෙයි

 The Gōvinda Hela is a place possessed with ancient ruins, Mr. Nikulas explains that with the aid of archeological reports.  He discloses a place called “Buddhama - බුද්ධම” located in this area. Hence, this passes a clue on the fact that this place has connections with the Buddha. This clue drove my mind immediatly to the Maha Govinda Sutta in Sutta Pitaka. It was checked out whether the respective information can be taken from the Sutta. I realized well that there are some similarities between this Sutta and the ones analyzed before. So, I drove my mind for a deep analysis. With the presence of the chief, the god Sakra, the gods for four directions are gathered in the assembly of gods. Especially, Wessawana who is the leader for the northern region in Heladiva is presented there. Here, more concentration had been given for the concepts of gods. Hence, I strongly believe that Helaya has more connections with these Suttas.

 Hence, in order to investigate the reality of this, I got more supports from the inscriptions. That drove me to refer the books written by the researches of inscriptions. Thought I read many books, failed to find inscriptions related to “ Gōvinda Hela”. But accidently I was able to find two inscriptions related to this in the book titled “ Naathama Shilaalipi Gaweshana – Latest investigations on inscriptions” by Venerable Ellawala Medhalankara. I read them and decided to use them for my research and pas sing my gratitude to Venerable Ellawala Medhalankara for that.  The very first inscription found there is as follows.

" අචරිය විශාදෙව °ත ද දතහ ඣය
උපශික තිශය ලෙණෙ "
“ achariya vishadewa jhitha da dathaha jhaya
upashika thishaya lene”
This letter does not talk anything about a Brahman called Gōvinda. He became a Brahman only after transforming his identity to the Indian nationality. Instead, Helaya (Helayā) used the word “Achariya - අචරිය”. And also some people may have doubts whether the name Gōvinda does match with the name Vishadēwa. The matching of these two, of course, is not a problem to the scholars. If there is anyone who cannot understand this, then its advised him to listen to a Sthothras chanted at a place where God Vishnu is worshipped. Then he will understand this matter easily.
By this time, Āchāriya Maha Gōvinda or Vishadēwa had passed away and his son had been appointed to his position. Gauthama Buddha preached this doctrine to him. One special thing derived in this Sutta is that he had entered in to the Order i.e. he had become a Bhikku. This incident is supported by the next letter of Venerable Ellawala Medhalankara. That inscription is as follows.

" ශගශ ගතිම පුශ තෙරහ ශදිවිහරියන
බත දෙවහ ච බත කුටකෙ තිශහ ච
මහ සුදශනෙ "

“ shagasha gathima pusha theraha shadivihariyana
batha dewaha cha batha kutake thishaha cha
maha sudashane”

According to this inscription, we can assume that two sons of Āchāriya Vishadewa had entered in to the Order. The most Venerable Arahanth Pusha Thero who travelled with Buddha to different places in Heladiva is connected to this incident; this is significance in this. These two had been the pupils of the most Venerable Arahanth Pusha Thero and because of this the term “ Thera - ථෙර ” had not been added to the end of the name.  It was a great tradition maintained in Heladiva to show the honor and the gratitude to the master. Doesn’t this also prove that Maha Gōvinda Sutta was preached in Heladiva?

{The English translation of 'බුද්ධෝත්පත්තිය හෙළදිවයි' (Buddha was born in Heladiva) - Part – 17} 

Translated by Amal Meemanage (amalmeemanage@gmail.com)