{"id":128399,"date":"2014-07-27T11:00:11","date_gmt":"2014-07-27T05:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=128399"},"modified":"2014-08-27T05:28:04","modified_gmt":"2014-08-26T23:58:04","slug":"lord-buddha-comes-to-nagadipa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/lord-buddha-comes-to-nagadipa\/","title":{"rendered":"Lord Buddha Comes To Nagadipa"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Darshanie Ratnawalli<\/span><\/a> –<\/b><\/p>\n

\"<\/a>

Darshanie Ratnawalli<\/p><\/div>\n

A picturesque Sinhalese belief, almost certainly sired by the Hela-havula<\/i> movement has it that the term \u2018Sihala\u2019<\/i> has no relation to lion killing as that 10th<\/sup> century AD authority, Dampiya Atuva Gatapadaya<\/i> claims[i]<\/a>, but is derived from the \u2018Siv Hela\u2019<\/i> or the quartet of Hela<\/i> tribes; Yaksa<\/i>, Deva<\/i>, Naga<\/i> and Raksa<\/i>. It has no validity as a serious theory. A cursory examination into the antecedents of Yaksas<\/i>, Nagas<\/i>, Devas<\/i> and Raksas<\/i> would reveal them to be long-standing VIP citizens of the Indo-Aryan myth pool whose special clearance status; \u2018fantasy-non human\u2019 entitles them to unrestricted and simultaneous residence privileges in multiple States. However, the Siv-Hela<\/i> theory works beautifully as allegory if it is bent to mean that the ancient Sinhalese, like all peoples in the morning of the civilized world, whose capacity for fantasy was yet un-dimmed, existed in an enriched plane of reality with the Yaksas<\/i>, Nagas<\/i>, Devas<\/i> and Raksas<\/i>; which quartet by reason of their habitation within the Hela<\/i> life-world and their internalization by the Helas<\/i> can be called Siv-Hela<\/i>. Only, this bent version, emphasizing the Hela<\/i> world\u2019s orbit within the Indo-Aryan cultural universe won\u2019t really assuage the indigenist yearnings of a Hela-havulist<\/i>.<\/p>\n

This cannot be helped Watson. There was a Yaksha<\/i> called Chittaraja who was current among certain north Indian IA speaking peoples in the pre-Christian centuries. We know this because he makes a guest appearance in the Kuru Dhamma J<\/i>\u0101taka<\/i>[ii]<\/a> (read<\/a>). The king of Kurus<\/i> bearing the name Dhananjaya, which is a well-known epithet of Arjuna, the third Pandava<\/i> (p143, Vogel: 1926[iii]<\/b><\/a>– <\/i><\/b>full text<\/i><\/b><\/a>)<\/i><\/b>, does something with the Yaksha<\/i> Chittaraja at the Kattika<\/i> Feast held every third year. Following the tradition of Kuru <\/i>kings, he dresses up like a god and standing in the presence of Chittaraja, shoots multi colored arrows decked with flowers to the four points of the compass. Meanwhile, in another part of the Indo-Aryan myth pool made solid by Mahavansa<\/i> narrative, king Pandukabhaya of Lanka and the Yaksha<\/i> Chittaraja sit on seats of equal height and enjoy erotic sports on special festival days (Paranavitana: 1929[iv]<\/b><\/a>– <\/b>read<\/b><\/a>). In the Lankan story, the Yaksha<\/i> Chittaraja is cast with a Lankan pedigree. Before his Yaksha<\/i> birth, he was human, a trusted servant of Pandukabhaya\u2019s father. The other thing Dhananjaya and Pandukabhaya share apart from Chittaraja is the name Pandu<\/i>. \u00a0Dhananjaya\/Arjuna is a Pandu<\/i> prince whose father is Pandu<\/i> Raja<\/i>[v]<\/a>. \u00a0Pandukabhaya\u2019s maternal grandfather is Panduvasudeva while his great grandfather is Pandu, a Sakya<\/i>[vi]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Suppose Watson that you are doing a documentary on the habitats of various creatures of the IA myth pool for a pre-Christian Discovery channel. This week\u2019s program is on horse faced Yakshas<\/i>. Your voiceover would go; – \u201cIn a marvelous and delightful forest in the Himalayas<\/i> overflowing with all manner of wildlife, dwells the Bodisattva<\/i> born as a Ku\u1e47\u0101la<\/i> bird, who is escorted, nay carried about, everywhere by three thousand and five hundred hen birds. This forest is haunted by horse faced Yakshas<\/i> (Ku\u1e47\u0101la-J\u0101taka [vii]<\/a>– read<\/a>). A lone female of this species (equus yaksha<\/i>) named Assamukhi lives in a vast forest in Benares at the foot of a mountain. The story of her food habits, love life and maternity is told in the P<\/i>\u0101da-kusala-m<\/i>\u0101nava j<\/i>\u0101taka<\/i> (read<\/a>). Assamukhi is immortalized in the early Buddhist sculptures of Bhaja, Sanci, Bodh Gaya and Pataliputra, wherein she appears sometimes in scenes depicting the P<\/i>\u0101da-kusala-m<\/i>\u0101nava j<\/i>\u0101taka<\/i>, at times alone. In a later Hindu stele art from Rajastan, she appears among the peaks of the mythical hill Govardhana (Paranavitana:1929<\/i><\/b><\/a>). In Pandukabhaya\u2019s Lanka, Assamukhi is called Vadavamukhi (mare-faced). Lankan chronicles (Mahavansa based on the earlier Sihalattakatha mahavansa) inform us that Pandukabhaya has installed her within the royal precincts (ibid<\/i><\/b><\/a>). Nice for her to have a bit of a court life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now Watson, you know that in ancient Lanka, the Jaffna peninsula was called Naga-dipa<\/i>[viii]<\/a>. Consider an analogy, you wouldn\u2019t think that cows were essential to a storyline about a cowboy would you? This was the case in those few Nagadipa<\/i> featuring stories current in north India in the pre-Christian centuries. In these, namely Akkita j<\/i>\u0101taka<\/i> (read<\/a>), Sussondi j<\/i>\u0101taka<\/i> (read<\/a>) and Valahassa j<\/i>\u0101taka<\/i> (read<\/a>), no Nagas<\/i> make an appearance, although the theatre of action is Nagadipa<\/i> or its neighborhood. In the Sussondi j<\/i>\u0101taka<\/i>, the only story actually set in Nagadipa<\/i>, Suparnas<\/i> or Garudas<\/i>, the traditional enemies of the Nagas<\/i> are the residents (see also p32, <\/i><\/b>Vogel:1926<\/i><\/b><\/a> ). If you are a Naga<\/i> aficionado you can come away from the Nagadipa<\/i> based j<\/i>\u0101taka <\/i>stories unfulfilled. It\u2019s to the Lankan chronicles you have to turn to assuage your longing to see Nagas<\/i> in Nagadipa<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy should I long for Nagas<\/i>?\u201d you demand indignantly Watson. If you were an ancient Buddhist, you would. The Nagas<\/i> are an integral part of Buddhism. They are canonical. They were part of the Buddha\u2019s world and discourse. The Nagasamyutta<\/i>[ix]<\/a> meaning \u201ctexts on Nagas<\/i> grouped together\u201d sits triumphantly in the Khandhavagga<\/i> of the Samyutta Nikaya<\/i> (p37, Oscar von Hinuber, \u201cA Handbook of Pali Literature\u201d<\/i>– read page<\/a>). In both the canonical schools of Buddhism, the Pali texts of the Theravadins<\/i> and the Sanskrit texts of Northern Buddhists, the Nagas<\/i> figure prominently in the Buddha\u2019s life. When he was born in the Lumbini Sal<\/i> garden, two Naga<\/i> kings Nanda and Upananda bathed him. This is recounted in the Lalitavistaraya<\/a>, a Sanskrit text of northern Buddhism, a version of which was available in China in 308 AD. Hiuen Tsiang (AD 629-45[x]<\/a>)<\/b>, the Chinese pilgrim recounts how he saw on his visit to the Lumbini garden \u201ca stupa built by King Asoka on the spot where the two dragons bathed the body of the prince\u201d and \u201ctwo fountains of pure water\u201d where the two dragons appeared from the earth (p95, <\/i><\/b>Vogel:1926<\/i><\/b><\/a>).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no use being impatient Watson, saying it\u2019s not to Lumbini but to Nagadipa<\/i> you want to go. We can\u2019t go direct. We have to cut from Nairanjana<\/i> to Nagadipa<\/i>. Now we are near the river Nairanjana<\/i> (the river of the Nagas<\/i>, see p97, <\/b>Vogel:1926<\/i><\/b><\/a> ). It\u2019s the glorious day when the ascetic Siddhartha attains Buddhahood. Sujata, the daughter of the village headman of Senani, Uruvela has just offered Siddhartha milk rice in a golden bowl. Siddhartha goes to the river Nairanjana<\/i>, washes himself and sits down to eat the milk rice on the sand bank. Then according to the Lalitavistara, the daughter of the Naga<\/i> king of Nairanjana<\/i> offers him a jeweled throne to sit on. After he has eaten the rice he casts the bowl into the river. According to the Theravada<\/i> tradition given in the Nidanakatha <\/i>(p187-188,<\/b> read<\/a>), the commentarial introduction to the J<\/i>\u0101taka <\/i>book, the bowl floats upstream, sinks into a whirlpool and goes to the palace of the Naga<\/i> king Kala. It strikes against the bowls from which three previous Buddhas have eaten and makes a sound. The Naga<\/i> Kala hearing this sound exclaims; \u201cyesterday a Buddha arose, now today another has arisen\u201d and stands praising the Buddha in many hundred stanzas. The northern Buddhist tradition has it that the bowl when it was cast into the river was seized by the Naga<\/i> king Sagara of Nairanjana<\/i> and there was a tussle between him and Indra for it (p97, <\/i><\/b>Vogel: 1926<\/i><\/b><\/a>). But we will leave that for the moment and go back to Siddhartha seated on this jeweled throne eating milk rice.<\/p>\n

Fix on this jeweled throne as if you are making a film Watson, caress it with your camera because this jeweled throne enables you to go to Nagadipa<\/i>. It\u2019s a film technique Watson to use a common object to move from one scene to another. When you pull back from the jeweled throne, you are no longer in Nairanjana<\/i>, India you are in Nagadipa<\/i>, Lanka five years later. Even though the person seated on the throne is Siddhartha, he is a Buddha now. Mahodara\u2019s ocean dwelling Nagas<\/i>, Chulodara\u2019s mountain dwelling Nagas<\/i> and Maniakkhika, the Naga<\/i> king of the Kalyani river are before Him in attitudes of devotion (p119, <\/b>Vogel:1926<\/i><\/b><\/a>). These are the Nagas<\/i> you yearned for in Nagadipa<\/i> Watson. Enjoy them.<\/p>\n

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@ <\/i>http:\/\/ratnawalli.com<\/i><\/a> \/\u00a0 and rathnawalli@gmail.com<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[i]<\/a> p39, Dharmadasa K.N.O<\/b> 1992 \u201c\u201cThe People of the Lion\u201d: Ethnic Identity, Ideology and Historical Revisionism in Contemporary Sri Lanka<\/i>\u201d, Ethnic Studies Report, Vol. X, No. 1, Jan 1992. (Full text<\/a>)<\/p>\n

[ii]<\/a> No. 276, Kurudhamma-j\u0101taka, The J\u0101taka, Vol. II, tr. by W.H.D. Rouse, [1895], at sacred-texts.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[iii] 1972, 1926, English, Book, Illustrated edition: \u201cIndian serpent-lore; or, The n\u0101gas in Hindu legend and art<\/i>\u201d-<\/b>(full text<\/a>) by Vogel, J. Philippe (Jean Philippe), 1871-1951<\/p>\n

[iv]<\/a> S. Paranavitana, Journal, R. A. S (Ceylon) Vol. XXXI, No. 82, 1929, \u201cPre-Buddhist Religious Beliefs in Ceylon\u201d<\/i> \u2013 <\/b>full text<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[v] The five sons of King Pandu, Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva appear in the Buddhist Pali sources too. Here\u2019s a story snippet from the Ku\u1e47\u0101la-J\u0101taka<\/a>; \u201cThen Ajjuna, Nakula, Bh\u012bmasena, Yudhi\u1e6d\u1e6dhila, Sahadeva, of the family of king P\u0101\u1e47\u1e0du, these five sons of king P\u0101\u1e47\u1e0du, I say, after receiving instruction in arts at Takkasil\u0101 from a world-famed teacher, travelling about with the idea of mastering local customs, arrived at Benares, and hearing a commotion in the city and learning in answer to their inquiry what it was all about, they came and stood all five of them in a row, in appearance like so many golden statues. Ka\u1e47h\u0101 on seeing them fell in love with all five, as they stood before her, and threw a wreathed coil of flowers on the head of all the five and said, “Dear mother, I choose these five men.” The queen told this to the king. The king, because he had given her the choice, did not say, “You cannot do this,” but was greatly vexed. On asking however what was their origin and whose sons they were, when he learned that they were sons of king P\u0101\u1e47\u1e0du, he paid them great honour and gave them his daughter to wife, and by the force of her passion she won the affection of these five princes in her seven-storied palace.\u201d<\/i> \u00a0<\/b>Arjuna, appears as Dhananjaya in the Vidura J\u0101taka (Read<\/a>) too. From Vogel: 1926<\/a>, p143: \u201cIn the hero of the story (who is the future Buddha) we recognize a personage from the Mahabharata: Vidura, the half-brother of Pandu and Dhritar<\/i><\/b>\u0101<\/i><\/b>shtra and consequently an uncle of the P<\/i><\/b>\u0101<\/i><\/b>ndavas and Dh<\/i><\/b>\u0101<\/i><\/b>rtar<\/i><\/b>\u0101<\/i><\/b>shtras. In the Great Epic he figures as the wise man whose prudent councils, too often disregarded, cannot prevent the fall of the Kaurava race. In the J<\/i><\/b>\u0101<\/i><\/b>taka he is the minister of the Kauravya king Dhana<\/i><\/b>\u1e49<\/i><\/b>jaya (a well-known epithet of Arjuna, the third P<\/i><\/b>\u0101<\/i><\/b>ndava) who resides at Indraprastha (P<\/i><\/b>\u0101<\/i><\/b>li Indapatta).\u201d<\/i><\/b> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[vi] In the Mahavamsa<\/i> universe, Panduvasudeva\u2019s mother is a princess of the Madra country (Pali Maddas) in the upper Indus valley. In the Mahabharata<\/i> universe, king Pandu<\/i> is married to Madri, a princess of the Madra country. In the Mahavamsa<\/i> universe, Panduvasudeva marries the daughter of the Sakya Pandu, the son of the Sakya Amitodana, the brother of the Sakya Suddodana, the father of Gotama Buddha. Also see Asko Parpola, \u201cPandaih and Sita On the Historical Background on the Sanskrit Epics\u201d- <\/i><\/b>(Full text<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[vii] No. 536, Ku\u1e47\u0101la-j\u0101taka, The Jataka, Vol. V, tr. by H.T. Francis, [1905], at sacred-texts.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[viii]<\/a> \u201cSubsequent references to Nagadipa<\/i> in the Mahavamsa<\/i> and other Pali writings, coupled with certain archaeological and epigraphically discoveries, have conclusively established that Nagadipa<\/i> of the Mahavamsa<\/i> is the present Jaffna Peninsula.\u201d-(p180, \u201cThe Arya Kingdom in North Ceylon<\/i>\u201d, S. Paranavitana, JRAS Ceylon- Vol. VII, Part 2- New Series, 1961<\/b>–Full text<\/a>)<\/p>\n

[ix]<\/a> Nagasamyutta<\/i> (read in Pali<\/a> or English<\/a>) deal with the metaphysical aspects of the Nagas<\/i>. There are four types of Nagas<\/i>; egg -born [a\u00f5\u00f3aja<\/i>], womb-born [jal\u00e0buja<\/i>], moisture-born [sa\u00fcsedaja<\/i>], and spontaneously-born [opap\u00e0tika<\/i>]. How a human can be born as a Naga<\/i> of either type, how a Naga<\/i> of either type can give up his Naga<\/i> body, etc. \u00a0Adjacent Samyuttas<\/i> (index<\/a>) of the Khandhavagga<\/i>; Supa\u00f5\u00f5a Sa\u00fcyutta<\/a> (texts on Suparnas<\/i>), Gandhabbak\u00e0ya Sa\u00fcyutta<\/a> (texts on musician gods) and Val\u00e0haka Sa\u00fcyutta<\/a> (texts on cloud gods) deal with similar metaphysical aspects of those respective beings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[x] For the contribution of Hiuen Tsiang to Naga<\/i> lore read Vogel:1926<\/i><\/b><\/a> , p94<\/i><\/b>, <\/i><\/b>etc.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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