Manual of Indian Buddhism c7.s5.2

c7.s5.2

The most detailed account of the spiritual conquests of Buddhism in the days of Aśoka is the story referring to the conversion of Ceylon². That conversion is ascribed to Mahendra, the son of Aśoka and the pupil of Tissa Moggaliputta. The Buddha, just before his final extinction, had predicted that 236 years later a man, Mahendra by name, would reveal the Faith in Ceylon. Immediately after the assembly at Pāṭaliputra, which was held in that year, Mahendra undertook the glorious task of converting the island. Accompanied by four brethren, one Śrāmaṇera and one laic, he departed from Pāṭaliputra, and travelled to Vedisagiri, where he converted his mother. During his stay in that place, he got a visit from his namesake, the god Indra, who — rather superfluously — exhorted him to preach the Law to the benighted inhabitants of Ceylon. Mahendra flew with his companions through the air, like the king of swans flying in the sky, and alighted on the mountain Missaka, now Mihintale. The king of the island, Devānāmpriya Tiṣya, happened to be a-hunting, and had a meeting with the apostle, who improved the occasion by preaching the Hatthipada Sutta, with the result that the king became a convert, along with his attendance of forty thousand men. After performing the same miracle as before, Mahendra with his companions appeared within the precincts of the palace where the princes, princesses &c. were assembled. All of them were soon converted. Meanwhile the crowd of people, anxious to hear the missionaries, had become so numerous that the preaching had to be carried on in the Nandana Park outside the town. The success was immense. At nightfall the King offered to the distinguished guests for a lodging the royal pavilion in the Meghavana Garden. The offer was accepted, and when Devānāmpriya Tiṣya came the next day to visit the monks, and heard that they were well pleased with their lodgings, he dedicated to the Congregation the Meghavana, which became the site of the Tissārāma or Mahāvihāra.