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MAY, 1888.]
repeated suppression of Buddhism, and culminating in the dispersion of its monks and the complete destruction of its ancient literature.
After one of these catastrophes king Dhatusena, A.D. 459 to 477, inaugurated a restoration of the old religion by convening a council, after the example of Asôka, to settle anew the text of the canonical books. He also caused the Dipavamsa to be publicly read on the site of Mahinda's funeral pyre," in order to stimulate the religious zeal of his people.
Towards the middle of the sixth century, the books of the heretical Vaitulyas were publicly burnt for the third time. And then a long barren period succeeds down to the middle of the 9th century, which is only broken by the appearance of the Lankavistariyaye, a Sinhalese work which Sir Emerson Tennent attributes to the 7th century, and by the despatch of a Brahman priest, in A D. 746, by the king of Ceylon, on an embassy to the emperor of China, bearing, together with other royal presents, a copy of the great Prajña-sutra.5
BUDDHIST LITERATURE OF CEYLON.
The poet-king Mutwale-Sena, A.D. 838 to 858, explained the Sútra-pitaka in public,"" according to the legend of the Upham Mahávansa. The Rajaratnákari, however, from the traditions of a different school, states that this king, under the influence of a heterodox monk from India, was turned away from the orthodox creed, and "rejected and laid aside the precepts taught by the books and sermons of Baddha, and adopted the maxims of other systems of religion."""
His successor, Kasyapa IV. or MadisênSena, A.D. 858 to 891, did his best to counteract this evil. He "encouraged the priests of Buddha to re-establish their religion and to oppose the false religion throughout all his dominions, caused the coasts of the island to be diligently watched to prevent the approach of Buddha's enemies, and reigned as a good king; but, notwithstanding all this precaution, it was only like enclosing a field of corn after driving oxen into the same to eat it up, for a
61 Upham, I. 241; II. 75: Turnour, 256.
6 Turnour, 257.
es Upham, I. 242: II. 61, 65, 77.
Tennent's Ceylon, I. 494.
es ibid. I. 621, note 2.
es ibid. p. 249.
es Upham, II. 251.
67 Upham, II. 81, 82. "Upham, I. 253.
125
number of unbelievers were already in the island." 1168
1169
The end was not far off now. The Mahávaisa states that at the close of this period the "religion" "was overthrown by the Mala. bars during the term of eighty-six years.' The Rajaratnákari' similarly states that during the nineteen reigns which preceded that of Mahalu-Vijayabahu, in A.D. 1071, "the Malabars kept up a continual war with the Ceylonese, and had filled by this time every city and village in the whole island," and that these Malabars, "as far as they did prevail, abolished the laws and religion of Budha."""1 So also the Rájávali" states that they "vanquished Ceylon and subverted the religion of Budha."
Soon afterwards, in the reign of Udaya II., A.D. 926 to 937, the open wickedness of this immoral sect attracted the attention of the king, who, after an examination of their books, "shut them all together in a house, with their books, and, setting fire to the same, burnt the whole to ashes."""
In the latter half of the 10th century the rich and learned king Kasyapa VI., A.D. 954 to 964, caused the Abhidharma-pitaka to be engraved on golden plates and adorned it with precious stones."*
Period IV.
From the 11th to the 13th century A.D.: king Mahalu-Vijayabahu, A.D. 1071 to 1126, vanquished these Malabars, and "united the three kingdoms of Ceylon under the same banner; "75 and he then set about the restoration of Buddhism. At this time" there were not five monks left" in Ceylon, or, as the Rájávali more emphatically says, "the Malabars had completely extirpated the priests of Buddha, so that a yellow robe was no more to be found."""
He therefore sent large presents to the king of Aramana," on the coast of Coromandel, and obtained from him a mission of twenty or twenty-nine monks, to confer ordina
10 Upham, II. 85. "Upham, II. 251. "Upham, I. 248.
15 Upham, I. 252; II. 85, 252.
1 Upham, II. 252.
"Upham, I. 253; II. 85, 86, 252: Davy's Ceylon.
301.
"Upham, II. 84.
13 Upham, II. 83.
