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210
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[AUGUST, 1911.
their people frequented it in the 5th century B. C. Is it too much then to expect that Bude dhism was at least kuown, if not adopted, by the people of the Pandya country as the new faith appears to have been carried into Ceylon by Vijaya and his followers ?
The person, who is expressly credited in the Maháva nia with having irftroduced Buddhism in Ceylon, is Tissa, the second son of Mûtistva. On account of his piety he appears to have been known by the name of Dêvânâmpiya Tissa, just as his contemporary Asoka was known in the north. At the request of Tissa, his maternal uncle Maha-Arita, one of the greatest statesmen of the day, as the book puts it, went on & mission to the court of the Maurya emperor for fetching a branch of the Bôdhi tree and the sister (thérl) Saúghamitta, both of which objects he successfully performed in the 18th year of the reign of Asoka. As Tissa had previously promised to allow Aritta to become a Buddhist monk, the latter assumed the yellow robes soon after his return from Patalipatra. For a clear account of the interesting events connected with the arrival of Sanghamittâ in Ceylon by way of the sea, reference may be made to the Mahárama. The mysterious way in which Mâhinda is said to hare arrived in the island is incredible, and it is not unlikely that he accompanied his sister. If Asoka and Tissa stand forth prominently as the royal propagators of Gautama's creed, Mahinda and Aritta were the chief priests with whose aid they scem to have effected much to spread the faith in the south, The hills dedicated to Mahinda and Aritta in Ceylon bear ample testimony to the exalted position held by the two saints. Sûra Tissa (247-237 B.C.), one of the brothers of Devånampiya Tissa, is said to have built superb vihdras at many places, of which one called Laikavihara was at the foot of the Aritta mountains. Not satisfied with the preaching in Ceylon, the two saints are expressly stated to have gone abroad to make fresh converts. We may, with advantage, quote the passage under reference. It runs thus "The five principal theras who had accompanied Mahinda from Jambadtpa, as well as those of whom Aritta was the principal, and in like manner the thousands of sanctifii priests, all natives of Lauka and inclusive of Sanghamitta, the twelve thérís. who came from Jambudipa, and the many thousands of pious priestesses, all natives of Laika, all these profoundly learned and infinitely wire personages having spread abroad the light of the Vinaya and other branches of faith, in due course of nature, at subsequent periods, snbmitted to the lot of mortality."
There is nothing to doabt the statement here quoted. The first country that the missionaries from Ceylon could have visited is the Pandya territory with which, as we have al. ready pointed out, the Singhalese were well acquainted and even connected by marriago tios. We shall now see if there is anything in the Pandya country to bear tertitony to our view.
Since the discovery of a cavern with Brâhmi inscriptions at Maragaltalai in the Tinnevelly district by Mr. Chadwick, I have discovered several similar ones with lithic records of the 3rd century B.O., all in the Maduri district. Four of these are at a place called Aritti patti in the Molůr tâluka, one on the Anaimalai hills near the insignificant village of Narasingam which may be characterised as an ancient Jaina settlement ; one on the hill at Tirapparaugun. ram, behind the village chůvadi, opposite the railway station ; another at Alagarmalai and still another at Ammaņâmalai, which last I was misled to believe to be Kongar-Paļiyang alam where I learnt there was a Buddhist cavern and which was accordingly termed by me as such. Kongar-Puliyangulam was subsequently found to contain another similar monument, and this proves that my information was not incorrect.
More of these caverns were found, one at Méttappatti by Rai Bahadur V. Venkayya, another at Varichchiyur by Mr. Vibert and a third at Kilavalava by Mr. Venkoba Rao. These monuments are the oldest that the Pandya country contains, or, for the matter of that, the oldest in Southern India. For a complete description of these caverns reference
• Mahinda is said to have flown through the air from the dominions of the Maurya emperor to Ceylon.
• They are notiood in the Annual Reports of the Assistant Arohwological Superintendent for 1906-7, 1907-8 And 1908-9, under "Earliegt Lithio Monuments of the Tamil Country."
