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| Sunday, 11 May 2003 |
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A quick fix Sel lipi by Gotabhaya Swasthi Shree! Thus says his sacred Majesty, the gracious Great King, glorious Chakravarthi, King of the Kings of Maya, Pihiti and Ruhuna, Mahoora of the Vaniiala-aeththo and ruler of all lands from Yapapatuna to Sampanthota: It has come to the notice of the Maha Wasala that the people of this country are getting more and more addicted to various narcotic substances. Gone are the days when a simple chew of betel would suffice to transport the imbiber to the realm of Soma. Nowadays, not even the beverage the Yonakas call al-arak satisfies (although it is now obtained more easily than water). Addicts will be satisfied by nothing less than the distillate of the opium flower, abhin. It seems that most of the abhin comes to these shores from the Golden Crescent of Gandhaara and the Golden Triangle of Aramaanya, Laosaya and Siamaya. Apparently, while the Talibaana kalliya and their allies, the dreaded Alkhaida kalliya, held sway over Gandhaara, the flow of abhin slowed down to a trickle. Now, with the warrior hordes of Amerikaawa guarding the passes of the Hindu Kushana mountains, the trickle has changed once more into a torrent, like unto the cascades of Dunhindha itself. This Dhammadweepa has become an entrepot for the death-inducing opiate. Abhin is brought into the country from Dhambadhiva and is sent again by ship and by dhandumonara to the Yonaka lands and beyond. It goes to Dhambadhiva from the Golden Crescent, through the Kushana passes, through Takshasila, through the country of Sindhu and on to Rameshwarama on the bridge that Hanuma made between Dhambadhiva and this resplendent isle. The merchants who transport these drugs include many of the denizens of Dhambadhiva and also those of the Sindhu country. Many of them use the preethi-yanthras, magical contraceptive devices, which they fill with the narcotic and then swallow. It is possible that the skin of these preethi-yanthras may burst open within 15 thirtieth parts of the day, causing the persons transporting them within their guts to be transported instantaneously to the Kingdom of Yamaraja. Nevertheless, such is the profit that can be made from even a small amount of the substance that the transporters risk instant death willingly. It appears that there are now a lakh of abhin addicts in this sublime realm. Each addict spends about 500 kahapanas a day on the dreadful opiate, or 18,000 kotis of kahapanas each year in total for all the addicts of the land. This amount is greater than all the wealth brought into the country every year, be it by the goods sent out from this land or by the women of this country who slave in the countries of the Yonakas. So what is to be done? The Maha Wasala is of opinion that there is no remedy for the situation. The murakaara hewayas strive unceasingly to rid this resplendent isle of the abhin menace, but to no avail. The merchants of death are caught by them, but for each one caught, yet another one springs up, like the myriads of the Asura armies. Therefore it is decreed that, henceforth, all farmers in the areas now growing spices should also grow the abhin flower. The substance can be grown and distilled for sending abroad. This will save kotis of kahapanas now spent on bringing this substance into the country and will also earn for us more than all the wealth at present brought into this country, as aforesaid. Our ramya land will be counted among the wealthiest countries in the world, even though it may not be among the healthiest. Swasthi Shree! This rock edict is made on this day of Ravi of the month of Vesak of the year of the Saka Era 1930. |
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