The horoscope of King Rajasinghe 1

One gets into a quandary as to where the wonder lies. Is it in the wonder of the horoscope cum "Life and Death" details of this mighty king or in the quest of them by two females, Thilaka Randeni and Chathumaduri Randeni, mother and daughter pair, denizens of the suburbs of Colombo. Of course they cannot be branded the pioneers of this quest nor the ultimate researchers.

Human curiosity about myriad things around us, surrealistic or not, is such that many a mind would have churned around the topic and many would in future.

The magic of the personality of this monarch, son of king Mayadunne who challenged successfully the world's super power of the 16th and 17th centuries to preserve Lanka's sovereignty still hovers around us and holds us in its bewitching grip. The quest comes as no surprise even as late as the early 21st century. It would not be irrelevant to include briefly a botched attempt of mine too in this direction lf indulged in such a search in the late 20th Century.

While in the Education Ministry, I was once assigned an additional vocation of administering a bilingual Teachers' College wrapped in the cold mists of the upcountry. The background period was the turbulent eve of the 20th Century where the slightest issue was awaiting to bloat into inter-communal strife.

There is a saying that the tortoise when about to be thrown into water exclaimed, Annawe, implying joy. Likewise I enjoyed a respite from the musty files of Isuru Paya and enjoyed a weekly ride up and down at state expense along the Colombo Hatton road, curving up an astounding mesh of gorges, ravines, coves and mountains while the gorgeous Kelani kept company all along.

That was enough recompense for the sword of Damocles hanging above me as I took over the piloting of a majorly non-Sinhala training body steeped in the plantations, a successful piloting that suffered no mishaps. Anyway not a word of thanks about it all from those who entrusted me with the task. On my journeys up and down I once stopped at a temple on the way having heard that the great king Rajasinghe's horoscope is preserved in its attics. I have been a fan of his, since a girl of 10. But the chief prelate in the temple disappointed me.

Impermanence

"Certainly that revered horoscope was here but the great flood washed away everything worthwhile hidden in the attic."

So, that was that articulating the cardinal principle of our faith ie, the impermanence of all things. Life is too short to mourn over a single disappointment. Many paraded later, too many to count. The century itself changed, even the millennia and the writer in course of time got exposed to fleetingly new social groups. It was in this fleeting and transient voyage that she came across a mother and daughter duo, who on their own had been engaged in this quest for years. Any special reason that motivated them? No, they say, in a disarming way, an Alokaya, a "light" led us. That Aloka alibi has to be taken with a pinch of salt when one views the stack of books on this hero, they have collected penned by various writers, some scholarly, some not so, yet powered and inspired by the mighty royalty who sacrificed his royal bed cum luxuries for the marshes around Kelani and Diyawanna to annihilate his adversary and save Mother Lanka.

To come back to the collection by the mother-daughter duo, here is the passage on the King's birth found in the mesh of their collection (the original summarised and translated into English for the reader's benefit.)

"Tikiri Rajuru Bandara Asthana was born on a Thursday five hours after midnight in the month of Esala, in the rising half of the moon Pura atawak in the year of Shali Vahana shaka 1454."

Common Era

To obtain the parallel of the Shaka Varsha, in Common Era terms one has to add 79 years to it giving the year as 1533. Date and month 17 and 7.

By the way, what is Shaka era? Shaka probably stands for year or Samvatsa and Shaka calendar itself, is the foremost Hindu Indian civil calendar used alongside the Gregorian calendar. During a certain period of our history when the Gregorian calendar born of Western civilisation was still not in vogue the Shaka calendar was in vogue here too.

Hence the birth year of Tikiri Kumaru itself is given according to the Hindu calendar. Another extraordinary matter about the documentation of the warrior king's life is that he is the only king to have his death given in detail in a chronicle. "King Rajasinghe who brought the beautiful island under one canopy breathed his last on Thursday, 7th day of the Lunar month under the asterism "hata", year shaka varsha 1514. (summarised extract from Alakeshvara Yuddhaya edited by Prof. A. Suraweera).

Thus his illustrious life spans from 1533 ACE to 1593 (adding 79 to Shaka Varsha) period when the Iberian races were bulldozing their way into the East meeting formidable foes only in places as the Mulleriyawa fields of Lanka still extant. And following is the horoscope, charted by a mother (a writer too) and her daughter, though owning academic certificates opts to "free-lance" in historical research. The daughter says, "Money is not that important for me. The pleasure I derive from indulging in what I like is enough." How many can own to that mood?Anyway here are some further details in their possession laboriously collected and sieved of a King who spangled on Lanka's monarchy line due to his sheer love of the country and the indefatigable bravery invested in preserving its sovereignty.