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This
article is a part of a continuing series on the ‘Mahavamsa’,
the recorded chronicle of Sri Lankan history
The demise of King Kavan-Tissa
A big commotion arose in the city of Magama,when prince Gamini
fled.It became the topic of conversation everywhere.Some who were
angry over the fact that the prince insulted the king, named him,
“Dushtha Gamini”-( Dushtha- meaning wicked). King
Kavan-Tissa himself was deeply worried.Yet he consoled himself
thinking it was better for the prince to be in hiding. He always
had the fear that his son would want to fight the Tamils.However
a few ministers of Magama, knew the whereabouts of the prince.- King KavanTissa
completed the construction of the ‘Nugula Chetiya’
and had the pinnacle- laying ceremony. For this ceremony, it is
said that twenty-four thousand Buddhist monks were invited.The
king provided meals to all of them. At the end of the ceremony,
the king called the ten warriors and instructed them, thus “here
is every possibility, that after my death, my two sons would fight
over kingship and all that is accompanied with kingship. You must
promise me now, that none of you would assist either of them”.
They promised to do so.
-
 After
the lapse of a few days, King KavanTissa who ruled Ruhuna for
64 years, passed away. Being a far-sighted ruler, King KavanTissa
had trained his army to face King Elara. He had developed the
city of Magama, to the standard of Anuradhapura. Distant Digamadulla
was made one flourishing row of paddy-fields. His second son was
sent to Digamadulla.
- The moment
Prince Tissa heard of his father’s death, he rushed home.
He made all arrangements for the cremation and had a grand funeral
ceremony. He took care to keep Prince Gemunu, in the dark. Tissa
took the queen mother, the royal elephant Kandula and went to
Digamadulla. Magama was a kingdom without a king. This disturbed
the ministers. The ones who were loyal to Gemunu, sent word to
Kotmale. They were instructed to look for the prince and bring
him back home. They met the prince and gave him all the news.
- Prince Gemunu
felt extremely sad at the news of the death of his father. He
blamed the brother for not keeping him informed. He set out to
Magama immediately. The citizens led by the ministers gave him
a very warm welcome and discussed matters with him. The prince
organised his army, marched to Buttala and captured the city.
He sent a message to the brother asking him to send the queen
mother and the royal elephant immediately. Prince Tissa ignored
this request.
Prince Gemunu sent the second message. There was no response from
the brother. By this time, Prince Tissa too had organised an army
and he did not heed Gemunu’s request. The third message
too went. No reply came. Prince Gemunu kept silent for a while.
Then it came to a point that he could not tolerate things any
further. He marched to Digamadulla accompanied by his army.- Tissa who
heard about his brother’s advance, took his army and marched
forward to confront him. The two armies met at ‘Yudangana’.
Tissa was riding ‘Kandula’. The battle started. Things
were against Gemunu. His army was defeated. He took his minister
named Tissa and the mare, ‘ Dighathunika’ and took
flight. Prince Tissa pursued them. The great ‘Theras’
who observed this, created a mountain between the two brothers
so that they could not see each other. Realizing that it must
be the work of the ‘ Arahants’, Tissa retreated.
- Dutugemunu
fled to Kappakandara Oya and stopped near the Javamala ford. The
prince felt hungry and asked his minister Tissa, whether there
was anything to eat. The minister replied that there was some
rice in a bowl of gold and offered it to the prince. The prince
took the bowl into his hands and contemplated. “I shall
not partake of this food, without offering to the ‘sangha’.”
So he divided the food into four potions. First to the ‘sangha’,
second and third to his minister Tissa and the mare, respectively
and he took the fourth portion.
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