Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c12.1090

v1.c12.1090

Kalyāṇī.—The name of a river and of the district near its mouth in Ceylon. The Buddha visited the Kalyāṇī country in the eighth year after the Enlightenment, in company with five hundred monks, on the second day after the full-moon of Vesākha and, seated on the spot where the Kalyāṇī-cetiya was later built, he preached to the Nāgas and their king Maṇiakkhika, at whose invitation he had come.¹ Once a king reigned in Kalyāṇī named Kalyāṇī-Tissa, who had a daughter Vihāramahādevī (q.v.). According to the legends connected with her, Kalyāṇī was at one time much further from the sea than it is now. The sea swallowed up several leagues of land.² King Yaṭṭhāla-Tissa built a five-storied pāsāda in the town, which was later restored by Parakkamabāhu II.³