Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c31.2126

v2.c31.2126

Towards the latter part of Goṭhābhaya's reign, a dispute arose between the Mahāvihāra and Abhayagiri on matters of doctrine, and sixty monks of Abhayagiri, who had adopted the Vetulyavāda, were banished. They obtained the assistance of a Coḷa monk, named Saṅghamitta, and at a solemn assembly of the monks concerned, at Thūpārāma, Saṅghamitta expounded his heretical doctrine, refuting the opposition of the Mahāvihāra monks, and succeeded in winning over the king, who was present, in spite of the efforts of his uncle, Goṭhābhaya Thera, to bring him round to the orthodox party. Saṅghamitta became tutor to the king's sons, and when one of these, Mahāsena, became king, he prompted him to destroy the Mahāvihāra. A royal decree was issued forbidding the giving of alms to the Mahāvihāra. The monks thereupon left the monastery, and for nine years it remained deserted. Many of the buildings were destroyed, and various possessions belonging to the Mahāvihāra were removed to Abhayagiri; but the people, led by the king's minister and friend, Meghavaṇṇābhaya, revolted against the impious deeds of Mahāsena and his admirers, Saṅghamitta and Soṇa, and the king was forced to yield. Saṅghamitta and Soṇa were slain by one of the queens, and the king, with the help of Meghavaṇṇābhaya, rebuilt several pariveṇas and restored some of the possessions which had been removed. But Mahāsena's allegiance to the Mahāvihāra teaching was not lasting; acting on the advice of a monk named Tissa, he built the Jetavana-vihāra in the grounds of the Mahāvihāra, against the wish of the monks there; the latter left again for nine months as a sign of protest against the king's attempts to remove the boundary of the vihāra. This attempt, however, he was forced to abandon.¹²