Literature and education is not something distinctive
for professional artists or writers. In this regard, the well-read, king Parakramabahu II of Dambadeniya is the best affirmation,
who was bestowed the honorary title of "Kalikala
Sahitya Sarvagna Pandita". Inevitably, the term ‘panditha’ implies
that king Parakramabahu was well learned
while the term ‘sahithya’ bring in to light his inclination to literature. He succeeded his father Vijayabahu III to Dambadeniya
kingdom and was succeeded by his son Vijayabahu
IV. The reign of Parakramabahu II lasted
from 1234-1269AD. He is a king who was noted both to his determination to fight
the Magha invaders who had captured Polonnaruwa and to his devotion to
carryon processions in honor of the
Sarvagna Dathu. As the Mahavamsa
mentions, accompanied by great processions, the Buddha relics were brought to Jambudroni. The king’s high concern and
respect for the Buddha relics, prompted him to build a mansion near his palace
to house the relics so that he can worship them whenever needed. Once the king
arranged a splendor procession and he placed the tooth relic in his hand and in
the presence of the Sangha, performed a passive resistance. His yearning was to
defeat the Tamil invader Magha who
was occupied in destroying Buddha Sasana and after having overthrown the enemy,
to nourish the Loka Sasana. Therefore, his priority was given to the protection
of Buddha sasana which was followed by his resolution to put an end to the Magha rule.
Due to the king’s close bond with Buddha
Sasana at the time and his various measures in honor of the Buddha relics, the
people gathered around him whose orders were never gone against. Princes from
around the kingdom, who were attracted by his conduct, sent tributes to the
king. His humane rule is brought up by a line in the Mahavamsa which implies that, the king liberated the people who
should be subjected to death penalty, after keeping imprisoned and having disgraced
them severely. He further provided the prisoners with kind advices before
releasing them. The king always inflicted minimum punishments on the wrong doers.
For instance, according to the Mahavamsa,
king Parakramabahu II decreed a fine
of thousand for those who should be subjected to banishment.
As the Mahavamsa
mentions, in order to expel the Magha
king, he made an attempt to disgrace the Tamil giants who belongs to the enemy
and sent armored Sinhalese everywhere. Consequently, the giants of king Parakramabahu injured the opposing
Tamil giants. The army of the Magha king,
containing giants who were formally wounded by the army of the Sinhala king
made an attempt to escape the territory in fear of the immense power of Parakramabahu. The Mahavamsa mentions that owing to the power of the meritorious deeds
caused by the king, the army was led astray and was unable to find the correct
path leading to their withdrawal. They, by mistaking the west gate for the east
gate unknowingly made it towards the Kala
wewa and were confronted by the Sinhala army. The power of the native army
is brought in to light when the Mahavamsa
mentions that the Tamil army after giving up their possessions to the Sinhala
army said to have suicide without leaving any work to be done by the Sinhala
king. King Parakramabahu II by this call, started to prosper the
land.
Despite the defeat of the Magha army, king Parakramabahu was met with another invasion in the 11th
year of his reign. It was a king named Chandrabhanu
from Javaka rata, landed upon Sri
Lanka under the pretext of being Buddhists. They completely destroyed the
kingdom by oppressing the native people every here and there. This invasion of Chandrabhanu vandalized the land which
was formerly devastated by the Magha
king whereupon the king sent his nephew Weerabahu
to fight the enemy. Weerabahu was
able to chase the enemies and thus the entire land became cleared from enemies.
Thus, having acquired the freedom of the
kingdom, the king further undertook activities to benefit Buddha Sasana. Moreover,
he made processions to Devinuwara
Upulvan god. There he constructed a monastery which came to be called as Nandana as it pleased the public. Two
works in prose namely, 'Sikhavalanda
Vinisa' and 'Herana Sika Vinisa' was also composed by the king
and a number of other literary works aswell. Given all these, it is fair to
assume that Parakramabahu II of Dambadeniya was a king who nourished
the culture and Buddhism in Sri Lanka while maintaining its sovereignty.
Mrs. Karunarathne,
University of Peradeniya,
Sri Lanka
References.
Ariyasingha., A., Demala Withthiya saha Maha Satan,
Dayawansha Jayakodi press, Colombo,2002
Wimalajothi, Ven., (ed.), Mahavamsa, Buddhist cultural
center, Boralasgamuwa, 2003
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