Funday Times

This article is part of a continuing series on the ‘Mahavamsa’, the recorded chronicle of Sri Lankan history.
The march to Vijithapura

1. After gaining victory in a number of battles, the king decided to set camp, on the banks of the river. On the other side of the river was an enemy camp. Soldiers of both armies were in the habit of taking their morning exercises. King Dutugemunu too, joined the soldiers. There is an interesting episode coming down from legend, to which the chronicles do not refer. According to this legend, just as the king starts his morning exercises, a piper from the enemy camp just opposite, starts jeering at the king and playing his pipe to annoy the king. When this mockery was repeated daily, the king was very annoyed.

2. The king had a clever archer named Manapathirana. Believing in the tales carried by other men about this archer, the king had dismissed him from service, some time ago. This archer was leading a quiet life in a village named Vendaru. The king got to know about this. One fine day, when the Tamil piper began to play his pipe to annoy the king, the king said, “If only Manapathirana was here, that Tamil piper dare not insult me like this”.

3. A minister who heard this, asked the king whether he is to go and get Manapathirana. The king at once gave permission; and the archer was brought before the king. The king enrolled him in the king’s service once again. When the king told him about the enemy piper, Manapathirana said, “O’ King. If only you permit me, I’ll shoot an arrow and see that he is silenced for ever”. The king gave the permission.

4. As usual, the following day, when the king started the piper’s morning exercises, this man began to play his pipe. Manapathirana shot an arrow, which went through the pipe and pierced his mouth. The man was about to fall on his back. Manapathirana then shot another arrow direct to his knee, which made him fall down, as if bowing to the king. He died there. Highly taken up with the archer’s precision at shooting, the king made him the chief of his village. None of our chronicles mention this and so it is pure legend.

5. The Sinhala army was successful in defeating a number of clever Tamil commanders. So the king was able to capture all the places held by the enemy. This process took a long time and a lot of human lives were lost in battle. The religious leaders were against this policy of the king and started blaming him, for killing people mercilessly.

6. When the king heard about this criticism leveled against him, he announced thus, “I so not fight for my personal glory. This struggle is to re-establish Buddhism in this country”. This proclamation silenced everybody. The king got organized for his next battle. His next target was Vijithapura – which was the biggest fortress of the Tamils. There were a number of great warriors defending this fortress.

7. When the camps on the banks of the river were attacked, whoever survived, joined the numbers at Vijithapura. King Dutugemunu was aware of the strength of the enemy and did not want to fight aimlessly. He camped close to Vijithapura. The king applied all the strategies he had mastered. Meanwhile he wanted to test the strength of his warriors. He got the elephant Kandula, intoxicated and infuriated him by the beat of drums and the blowing of horns. Kandula ran berserk.

8. The warrior Nandimitra who noticed the violent nature of the elephant, went towards the animal and caught him by his tusks. He gradually made the elephant sit on the ground. Seeing Kandula tamed, soldiers cheered and praised Nandimitra for his bravery and strength. The king was highly pleased.

By Halaliye Karunathilaka
Edited and translated by Kamala Silva
Illustrated by
Saman Kalubowila

Note
We apologise that in some copies of last week’s Funday Times, paragraphs 7 and 8 of the ‘Our History’ article was missing. These paragraphs are reproduced today on page 14.

Back to Mirror Magazine