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Duruthu Poya marks the Buddha's first visit to Lanka

Kelaniya temple mural by Soleus Mendis, reputed Sri lankan artist, depicts the Buddha preaching to the Yakkhas of Mahiyangana during His first visit to the island.

Duruthu Poya which falls on Monday marks the Buddha's first visit to Sri Lanka over 25 centuries ago, nine months after His Enlightenment. On this occasion He visited Mahiyangana to restore peace among the warring Yakkha tribes, one of the legendary inhabitants of this island at the time.

According to the Mahavamsa, the Buddha arrived in the beautiful Mahanaga park on the right bank of the Mahaweli as the battle gongs were sounded and the battle drums beaten and the Yakkhas poised for combat. Noticing a stranger in yellow robes appearing in their midst, the Yakkhas it is said, fled to the nearby jungles.

Later however, a few of them returned and listened to the Buddha's discourse, having laid aside their battle axes and paying reverence to Him. Having preached His message of peace and restored calm among the Yakkhas, the Buddha returned to India from where He had come. So much for the Mahiyangana episode.

But the focus of the Duruthu festival is Kelaniya also hallowed ground where the annual Duruthu perahera is conducted by the Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihare to commemorate the Buddha's first visit.

The Buddha's third visit to Sri Lanka was to Kelaniya to preach to the Naga inhabitants there at the invitation extended by the Naga king, Maniakkhika to the Buddha when he had met Him earlier during the Buddha's second visit to our shores setting foot on the tiny island of Nagadipa to resolve a dispute over a gem set throne between two Naga kings, Mahodara and Chulodara. All this is according to the Pali chronicle.

Picturesque

Kelaniya has a very interesting history going back to more than 3000 years. The earliest mention of this historic city, known then as Kalyani, is made in Valmiki's great epic Ramayana where it is recorded that Vibhisana who ascended the throne of Lanka after his brother Ravana was slain by the Indian prince Rama made Kalayani his capital and built a magnificent city. This perhaps explains why Vibhisana was deified and a shrine consecrated to him built later within the Kelani Vihare.

The vihare stands on a small mound just by the southern bank of the Kelani river and contributes to the picturesqueness of this ancient city. It is believed that the first chetiya of the Kelani vihare was built by King Maniakkhika himself on the sacred spot where the Buddha seated on a gem studded throne preached the Dhamma enshrining the precious throne itself in the dagoba.

Renovations

It was only after the introduction of Buddhism to Sri Lanka during the reign of King Devanampiyatissa that Kelaniya emerged into historical prominence once again.

Successive rulers of Sri Lanka, notably Uttiya, Yatalatissa, Kelanitissa, Voharakatissa and Kanithatissa carried out renovation and improvements to the shrine. Thereafter the Polonnaruwa kings, notably king Nissanka Malla, Vijayabahu III and Parakramabahu II in that order became the benefactors.

It was really in the Kotte Period that the golden age of Kelaniya dawned. To Sinhala poets of this period Kelaniya became a source of inspiration as evident from the Selalihini and Hansa Sandesas wherein the picturesque city and its temple are captured in verse.

During the Portuguese occupation of the maritime provinces of the island the temple was plundered causing extensive destruction and the Dutch who followed persecuted Buddhists who came to worship there. Later King Kirithisiri Rajasinghe carried out renovations and brought the temple back to its former glory.

Kelaniya was declared a sacred city in 1952 and today the area around the temple has been well developed. Daily hundreds of pilgrims flock to this ancient shrine to pay homage to the Buddha more so on Poya days. Duruthu Poya is therefore of special significance.

Reproduced from the Observer of 13.1.1995

Buddha visits Mahiyangana

Sri Lanka's chronicles - the Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa record many events shedding light into historic events in the South Asian region. Written in the 5th century ACE by the Venerable Mahanama, the Mahavamsa helped Indian historians to identify Emperor Asoka and certain episodes of his life and times.

The Dipavamsa and the Mahavamsa narrate in detail the visit of Sakyamuni Buddha to the island nation - Lankadipa - in the ninth month after His Enlightenment 2619 years ago in the Indian Lunar month of Phussa, that is December-January period. Besides the two chronicles, the Samantapasadika too describes the visit in its historical section. Dr. E. W. Adikaram in his "Early History of Buddhism in Ceylon" says:

"The first (visit) occurred in the ninth month after the Enlightenment. In the centre of Lanka, in the delightful Mahanaga garden, the customary meeting place of the Yakkhas, there was a great gathering of the Yakkhas dwelling in the island."

The Yakkhas were not unfamiliar to the Buddha. "... a Yaksa named Citaraja was the object of a popular cult in ancient India as is seen from the Kurudhamma Jataka." (Ibid) At that time, the worship of Yaksha was extant in the country. A galaxy of names like Kalavela, Maheja, Vaisravana, Jutindhara, Vibhisana, Kalasodara and Yaksinis, Vadavamuti and Pacchimarajir: are mentioned.

Quoting the journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Ceylon Branch) 1929, Adikaram says:

"The conditions in pre-Buddhist Ceylon of the Yaksa cult appear to have been exactly similar to those in Northern India in the time of the Buddha."

At this time the Buddha had already preached the truth He discovered to the five fold wandering ascetics - Kondanna, Bhaddiya, Vappa, Mahanama and Assaji - who became the first five bhikkhus in the order of the bhikkhu sanga and spend the first vassana, the rainy season in Isipatana.

The message of the dhamma was reaching far and wide. Many men came to the Buddha to hear the words of peace and prosperity. Immediately after the vassana the Buddha had sixty Aryan disciples who within a short time comprehended the teachings admirably. The Buddha sent the sixty Arhats in many different directions in the sprawling sub-continent with the proclamation.

"Go ye bhikkhus teach the doctrine wholesome in the beginning, wholesome in the middle and wholesome in the end for the weal and happiness of both divine and human beings."

During the winter season, the Buddha having seen that he could bring happiness to the Jatilas, went to Urawela to show the path of deathlessness to the Jatilas, a set of ascetics wearing the hair long and matted.

The Mahavamsa explains that the Buddha in his wisdom and compassion foresaw that the Island of Lanka would be the repository of His teaching and the fair isle should be made free for peaceful and peace loving people. If the land where his doctrine should shine in glory, the Yakkhas should be subdued.

The Great Teacher unnoticed came to the midst of a large gathering of Yakkhas at their usual meeting place on the banks of the Mahaveli.

The concourse of the Yakkhas was large - that filled the ground the delightful Mahanaga garden, three yojanas long and a yojana wide.

The Buddha attracted the attention of the gathering with his miraculous psychic powers.

The Buddha applied the same method to tame the fearful Angulimala who was armed with a lethal weapon of destruction before preaching the doctrine of salvation.

The assembly of Yakkhas who were hitherto peerless, for the first time found a leader and took His commands and retreated to hill country leaving the delightful Mahanaga garden to become a sacred place of worship.

In Buddha's first visit, not only the Yakkhas enjoyed themselves hearing the words of the Buddha, many other communities of people, like the Nagas benefitted by his presence.

Naga Maniakkhika, a ruler of Kelaniya accepted the Buddhist way of life. So was the prince of devas, Maha Sumana - of the Samantakuta attained the first stage of the path to Nibbana.

In the Mahanaga garden, sanctified by the presence of the Buddha, stands today, the Mahiyangana dagaba which according to the Mahavamsa existed in the country long before the arrival of Arhat Mahinda.

Says Adikaram: "When the Buddha first visited, the Deva Maha Sumana of the Samantakuta mountain requested the Buddha to give him something to worship. The master took a handful of hairs from his head and gave it to the Deva. The latter enshrined it respectfully in a thupa which he built at the place where the master had sat."

Kelaniya, though sanctified by the Buddha in his third visit to Lanka, in recognition of Naga Manikkhika's meeting with the Buddha during Durutu poya season celebrate the event with a religious cultural pageant - the Durutu perahera in January.

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