The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c28.15

c28.15

Historical traditions of India and Ceylon when read together seem to carry the evidence for the existence of the Church in Malabar back to the third century. We learn from the Ceylonese chronicle, the *Mahāvaṁśa* (ch. xxxvi), composed about the beginning of the sixth century, that in the reign of king Gothakābhaya or Meghavarṇābhaya, whom Geiger places in A. D. 302–15, a learned Tamil heretic overcame an orthodox Buddhist theologian in controversy and gained the favour of the king, who placed his son under his tuition. The *Mahāvaṁśa* represents the victor in the disputation as being a monk named Sanghamitra, 'versed in the teachings concerning the exorcism of spirits and so forth'. Mr. K. G. Seshar Aiyar interprets this statement as meaning really that the successful controversialist was a Hindu, and identifies him with the famous Śaiva saint Māṇikka (or Māṇi)