Relations between Ceylon and Burma in the 11th Century A.D.

Author(s): Mon Bokay

Source: Artibus Asiae. Supplementum, Vol. 23, Essays Offered to G. H. Luce by His Colleagues
and Friends in Honour of His Seventy-Fifth Birthday. Volume 1: Papers on Asian History,
Religion, Languages, Literature, Music Folklore, and Anthropology (1966), pp. 93-95
Published by: Artibus Asiae Publishers
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 MON BOKAY

RELATIONS BETWEEN CEYLON AND BURMA

IN THE iith CENTURY A.D.

e Burmeseregard Sri Lanka (Ceylon) as Dhammadipa,

XY/W the island of Dhamma. The present
form of our TheravadaBuddhistCanon was completedat the greatmonasteriesof Ceylon;
it was introduced into our country at an early date; and we have positive evidence that at the
beginning of the i zth centuryif not before, the entire Three Baskets (Pitaka) of Sutta, Vinaya
and Abbidhamma were known at Pagan.
Relations between the two countries were particularlycordial during the reign of King
Anuruddhaof Burma(c. I044-77). The King of Ceylon,Vijayabdhu,receivedsubstantial help
from Anuruddha in his struggle against the Colas, whose invasions of the island had done
such great damageto the Buddhist religion. The old Burmesechroniclesmention Anuruddha's
friendly relations with Ceylon in a general way, and there are more detailed accounts in the
Ceylon chronicles such as Cfilavadzsa, and Nikaya-sanigrava.
Pzij/val~ya,RaJaval4ya As CGilavat/sa
says:
The king (Vijayabdhu)sent to the king in the Ramaffiiacountry (Burma) numbers of people and
much costly treasure. Then arrived in the harbour many ships laden with various stuffs, camphor,
sandalwood and other goods. By all kinds of valuable gifts he inclined the soldiers to him and with
large forces at his command he took up his abode in Tambalagdma.1
By 105 8 he had freed Rohanraof
the Cola invaders,and it was at that time that he assumed
the tide of VT/ayabdhu.In I075 he entered Anuradhapura.Having brought the whole island
under his sway, he wished to light again the lamp of Dhamma. During the troublous times the
sanghahad sufferedgreatly, and it was found impossible to obtain apafia-vagga-gana (chapterof
five ordained monks) to perform the ordination (upasamnpada-kamma). Cfilavatsacontinues:
As the number of the bhikkhus was not sufficientto make the chapterfull for the (holding of the)
ceremony of admission into the Order and other acts, the Ruler of Men who had at heartthe contin-
uance of the Order, sent to his friend, the Prince Anuruddhain the Ramaifhacountry messengers
with gifts and had fetched thence bhikkhus who had thoroughly studied the three Pitaka, who
were a fount of moral disciplineand other virtues, (and) acknowledgedas theras.After distinguishing
them by costly gifts the King had ceremonies of world-renunciation and of admission into the
Orderrepeatedlyperformedby them, and the three Pitakastogether with the commentaryfrequently
recited, and saw to it that the Order of the Victor which had declined in Lankaagain shone bright-
ly 2

The same events are describedas-follows in the Nikaya-saggrava,

composed by the Safgha-
Dhamma-kitti
raj-af in the reignof VirabdhuII of Ceylon(I 372-I4I0):
After them the Maharajanamed Mahalu Vijayabdhubecame king over Sri Lanka, and destroying
great numbers of Tamils, who for 86 years had overrun the villages, the towns and the cities of the
11 Cilavazsa, Chap. 58, v. 8-Io. Translated by W. Geiger (i928).
2 Ibid., Chap. 6o v. 4-8.

93

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 Island, brought Sri Lanikaunder one umbrella. He commenced the ordination of priests for the
propagation of religion, and seeing to his chagrin that there could not be found for convocation
even five priests who rightly observed the precepts, he sent to foreign parts lacs of pearls and gems
and got from Aramana (Ramafifia)twenty pious elderly priests and books, and having secured
ordination for thousands of priests in Lanikahe disseminatedthe religion. 3
Epigraphic evidence to support these statementsis not lacking. Not far from the famous
Latdmandcpayaat Polonnaruva,near VihdraNo. IO, was found a Tamil inscription set up by
the Velaikkardforces who were the guardiansof the Tooth Relic at Polonnaruvaduring the
iith andi ath centuries.The inscriptionis believed to have been engravedin the izth century,
after the death of VijayabdhuI, but at a time when these events were still a living memory in
Ceylon.
The pertinent passage in the inscription reads as follows:

TEXT
(6)
Sri-Larhkd-dvipattu Sfirya-varf'attuIkshvdku[vi]
n vali-vandaaneka-satru-vijayam
(7) panni Anur[d]-
(8)
dhapurampukku Buddha-?asanath rakshikkavendi sa-
rhgha-niyagattaltiru-mudi-iidi Arumana-ttilni-
(9)
(iO) prum safigattdraialaippittumiinru nikdya
(i i) ttu safigha-suddhi pannuvittu mun~ru Tulabhdram

TRANSLATION
(The glorious king Safighabodhivarmanalias ChakravartinSri Vijayabdhudeva),who appeared
in the lineage of Ikshvdku of the Solar race in the prosperous island of Lanika,who, having
conquered many enemies, entered the city of Anurddhapura,and wore the beautiful crown at
the request of the safighafor protecting the Order (i.e. the religion) of the Buddha, who in-
viting monks from Arumana(i.e. Ramanifa)caused the purificationof the safighaof the three
fraternitiesand gave three Tuldbhdrasto the three fraternities . 4

* * * *

Thus literaryand epigraphicevidence supplementeach other to give positive information

about the relationsbetween the two countries during the reigns of VijayabahuI of Ceylon and
Anuruddha of Burma. Having obtained the TheravadaCanon from Ceylon, Burma regarded
the island as Dhammadipa.When the light of Dhamma dimmed for some time on the island in
the i ith century Burma helped in turn to make it shine as before. It is a good example of
reciprocalaid between two countries in the promotion of Buddhasisand.
Ciramtitthdtulokasmim,Sammdsambuddhassasdsanah.

3 Nikaya-sahgrava.Translated by C. M. Fernando (i908).

4 S. Paranavitana,in Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XVIIII (I925-26).

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 *'-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~4-

,5 r~~~~~~~~

p _i f

Upper portion of Velaikkara inscription from Polonnaruva

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