The Colas c10.14

c10.14

According to the *Mahāvaṁsa*, the island of Ceylon began to fall under powerful Cōḷa influences very early in its history. The relations between the Damiḷas and the natives of the island form one of the main strands in the narrative of this valuable chronicle, and the synchronisms furnished by it are among the more important sources of our knowledge of Tamil history and chronology. Though on several occasions the chronicle speaks only of Damiḷas in general, still the distinction between the Pāṇḍya and Cōḷa divisions of the Tamil country is well known and clearly observed in the *Mahāvaṁsa*. Towards the middle of the second century B.C., a Damiḷa of noble descent, Eḷāra by name, came to Ceylon from the Cōḷa country (Cōḷaraṭṭha), overpowered Asela who was then ruling in the island, and himself reigned as king for forty-four years, 'with even justice towards friend and foe on occasions of disputes at law.'³² Many stories are told in illustration of the justice of his rule, and among them is that of the king sentencing his only son to death for having unwittingly caused the death of a young calf by driving the wheel of his chariot over its neck. Though not a follower of the Buddha's creed, this king lived on friendly terms with the Buddhist *bhikkus*³³ of his realm, and his rule, so long as it lasted, was in every way acceptable to his subjects. His rule was confined to the northernmost section of the island and the Mahāgaṅga, now Mahawaeliganga, was its southern limit.³⁴ Then began a war between Eḷāra and Duṭṭhagāmaṇi, so called because he was wroth with his father who stood in the way of his fighting the Damiḷas; the object of Duṭṭhagāmaṇi in undertaking this war was twofold: to restore the political unity of Ceylon and to bring glory to the doctrine of the Buddha by driving out the Damiḷas addicted to false beliefs. The details of the campaign that followed are very clearly recorded in the *Mahāvaṁsa*;³⁵ success attended the arms of Duṭṭhagāmaṇi, and his conquered foe was pursued up to the vicinity of Anurādhapura, and Eḷāra met his death in a heroic combat with Duṭṭhagāmaṇi beneath the walls of that city. Then Duṭṭhagāmaṇi marched into the city, 'and when he had summoned the people from a yōjana around, he celebrated the funeral rites of king Eḷāra. On the spot where his body had fallen, he burned it with the catafalque, and there did he build a monument and ordain worship.' And even in the days of Mahānāman, the author of this part of the *Mahāvaṁsa*, in the sixth century A.D., the princes of Lanka, when they drew near to that place, were wont to silence their music, because of this worship. Of these transactions that loom so large in the early history of Ceylon, there is no trace in Tamil literature ³⁶ apart from the legend of the prince and the calf which is placed in the reign of Manu. We therefore lack all means of judging the extent to which the fortunes of the Cōḷa monarchs of the mainland were involved in the establishment and the overthrow of Eḷāra's power in Ceylon.