Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c6.7

c6.7

Vijaya The Mahāvamsa in Chapters VI.—VIII. records the landing† of the first Aryan settlers in Ceylon under the leadership of Vijaya. These were the founders of the Sinhalese race, so called because Vijaya’s father sprang from, and was the slayer of, a lion (simha). The story is briefly as follows :—The King of Vaṅga, a principality of Magadha, had a beautiful daughter, of whom it had been prophesied that a lion would be her mate. To avoid this she was carefully guarded, but of course in vain. She escaped, and while passing through a wilderness, was carried off by the ‘lion,’ probably a chieftain of the ‘Lion-race.’ They had a son (Simhabāhu) and a daughter. The son, when he grew up became ashamed of and finally slew his father ; and marrying his sister established himself as a king in Lāḷa raṭa. Their eldest son was Vijaya, who, being expelled from the kingdom on account of his lawless behaviour, took ship with 700 followers and ultimately reached Ceylon. Landing here his followers went in search of food, but were one by one imprisoned by a Yakkhinī named Kuvēṇi (just as was done by Kirkē to the followers of Odysseus). Vijaya himself, provided with a charmed thread, alone was able to withstand Kuvēṇi’s sorcery and compel her to restore his imprisoned companions ; she further provided them with rice and a vast variety of other articles which she had obtained from the ships of mariners who had fallen a prey to her. Kuvēṇi enabled Vijaya to destroy the Yakkhas and their city, and herself bore him three children. But when his followers had settled in the land and wished him to assume the sovereignty, he repudiated Kuvēṇi as beneath him in rank, and sent to Madura to the Pāṇḍiyan king to ask for a royal virgin to be his consort,—a custom followed by most Sinhalese kings thereafter. Kuvēṇi returned to the Yakkhas and was destroyed by them for her treachery. It is mentioned that 1000 artisans were sent over in the Pāṇḍiyan Princess’s retinue. According to tradition mentioned by Valentyn these were goldsmiths, blacksmiths, brass-founders, carpenters and stone-cutters (evidently the five sections of the Kammālar, see below, Chap. III).