Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c10.s4: IV. Vihāra Grants

Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c10.s4

Language: English

c10.s4.2 — 4 parts

IV. Vihāra Grants

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As examples of vihāra sannas or charters recording endowment, so frequently referred to above, I quote two, the first one of quite typical character registering Royal dedications; the second, dedications by the chief men of a village, decided upon in a common assembly, and subsequently sanctioned by the Palace.

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I. Degaldoruva (A.D. 1786). “When His Great Majesty King Kirti Śrī Rāja Simha, Degal- . . .

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was reigning with equity and justice in the city Sirivaḍḍhanapura, which is styled doruva Seṅkaḍagala Nuvara, and having won the affection of his subjects, His Majesty caused sannasa new temples, dāgabas, and images to be made, and others to be repaired: and when he was by such deeds promulgating the Buddhist religion, his brother, who was also great in royal birth, having heard that there was a small cave in a rock at Amuṇugama, in Dumbara, and having supplied from the royal stores crow-bars, hammers, pickaxes, &c., caused the cave to be enlarged to a length of twelve cubits, and a breadth of eight cubits, and a height of three cubits, and the floor of the front court or hall to be levelled, whereon twelve pillars were set and stone steps were placed leading to the court from the stone at the entrance sandun-kaḍa-gala, and when the work had thus far been carried on, His Highness Asthana, the younger brother of the King Kirti Śrī, at whose feet virtuous men performed services, as bees gather themselves around flowers, caused stone walls to be put up, and doors and windows to be set with keys and bars, and an image of Buddha of twelve cubits in length to be made in a reclining posture, and six other images in a sitting posture to be placed at the head and feet of the image, and also caused twenty-four Buddha’s images to be depicted on the ceiling and on the walls within and without, and other workmanship and paintings to be made thereon and upon the stone pillars, the roof of the front court to be put up with beams and rafters and covered with tiles, and on the cross-walls thereof a representation of hell and heaven, near which he also caused a dāgaba of nine cubits in height to be erected, and a bō-tree to be planted, and a pohoya-ge and as well as a priest’s residence to be constructed, enclosing the temple on all the four directions with ditches and embankments, and he also caused jak, mango, cocoanut, and plantain trees to be planted;

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and having furnished the temple with curtains, cloths for ceiling, umbrellas, flags, tom-toms, trumpets, and silver priests’-dishes, kettas, spitting pots, betel stands, and lamps, His Majesty, on the seventeenth day of Bak of the increasing moon, in the year of Śaka 1693 (A.D. 1771), ordered the festival Nētra Pinkama to be performed, and His Majesty also furnished all the necessaries thereto, and having granted much riches as clothes, money, &c.. to the artificers, the painters, and stone cutters, His Majesty received merit and was filled with ecstasy, and for the purpose of carrying on the offerings of rice, flowers, &c., and for the necessaries for five ordained and unordained priests in the said temple to reside therein and perform the rites, and also for the necessaries of the chief priest who presides over and causes the ceremonies to be performed therein, His Majesty having received much instruction and exhortation in the Buddhist faith and full explanation of the books Dighanikāya, Upāsaka-Jana-Alaṅkāraya, Milindapraśnaya, and Mahāvaṃsa from the High Priest Moratoṭa Dhammakanda, who had a thorough knowledge of Buddhism, granted to him, his pupils, sub-pupils, in succession, to be held by them for ever, the following property: . . . and His Majesty enjoined that none shall take forcibly any of the above lands.

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His Majesty Śrī Rājādhi Rāja, who surpassed all other kings in dignity and possessed a virtue that attracts all as bees to flowers, sitting on a golden throne in the Audience Hall under a pearl canopy in the city of Seṅkaḍapura, surrounded like Śakra by all his ministers, on Thursday, the seventh day of the increasing moon of the month of Vesak, in the year of Śaka 1708 (A.D. 1786), called Parabave, granted to the said temple the lands above-mentioned, written on a copper Sannasa to be possessed uninterruptedly as long as Buddhism lasts. Any one who shall take for his own use even a blade of grass, fuel, flower, or fruit which belongs to Buddha shall be born as a pretaya” (Lawrie’s Gazetteer, p. 138).

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II. Damunumēya Vihāra (A.D. 1635). “The chief men of the village Damunumēya, in Mēgoḍatihe Haṅguraṅketa in Hēvāheta, having built a vihāra, and not having time to Damunumëya sannasa get images made at the time they wished to hold a festival there, proceeded to the vihāra at Mādanvala, borrowed therefrom three images and secured the attendance of its priest, Mādanvala Unnānse, to officiate at Damunumëya Vihāra. At the close of the religious ceremonies that same evening the Upāsakas took part in the observance of aṭasil On the next morning a Pattra Pinkama was held, followed by a consultation among all present that for the benefit of the vihāra and the good of their own souls an offering of lands should be made. It was resolved by the assembly that Bolagedara Haḷuvadana Rālahāmi should offer two peḷas sowing extent, Mudiyanse of Naranmëya three peḷas, Madurave Rāla two peḷas. When Haḷuvadana Rālahāmi brought this resolution to the notice of the Mahāvāsala (the Palace), permission was given to carry it out, and accordingly, on Saturday, the full moon day of the month of June, in the year of Śaka 1557, the said offering was made, and the lands were dedicated as vihāra property. The merits of this offering are due to the illustrious Mahāvāsala, to the ministers and high officials, and all the people of the land. Those who shall help to settle any dispute that may arise regarding these lands shall be blessed, and shall enjoy happiness among the gods, and finally, having beheld Maitri Buddha, shall attain Nirvāṇa. But those who shall take unlawful possession of any of these lands, or enjoy the fruits thereof, shall be damned and suffer the torments of hell” (Lawrie’s Gazetteer, p. 324). A very similar sannasa is that of the Ovala or Kehelvala Vihāra, which was built by villagers, who dedicated small bits of land. III. Ovala, A.D. 1790: “Under the constellation Uturusala, . . . in the year of Śaka 1712, . . . the following lands are dedicated by the charitable devotees of the village Kehelvala: Ovala Meḍḍuma, Duraya and Neḳat Duraya the lower bed of Siyambalëva, the coconut tree by the border of the field standing on Gedaravatte, the coconut tree near the maḍuva, the betel vine and the jak tree above the house, the jak tree (named) valimiriya-kosgaha; Deldeṇiye Rāla dedicated Varapota deṇiya . . . Piṭiye Kirāla Āraccila dedicated one coconut tree in Geṭakohovatte, and the coconut tree (named) geṭakosgaha-mula-polgaha (lit., the coconut tree in the corner by the gnarled jak tree) . . . and Pallegë Āraccila the coconut tree on the border of Ovala Neḳat Duraya’s garden” (Lawrie’s Gazetteer, p. 663). The two last give us delightful pictures of the village elders impatient to get their vihāra finished, and dedicating small parcels of land and single coconut trees.