BUDDHISM IN SOUTH INDIA

SRI Lanka’s Hindu king Devanampiyatissa (246 BCE), who ruled from Anuradhapura in the north-central province of Sri Lanka was on a hunting mission and chasing after a spotted deer. And suddenly, he heard a voice: Someone calling him by his first name. No one in his kingdom would dare to utter his name. Shocked, he stopped his chase and turned towards the direction from where the voice was heard.

There was Mahinda Thera, son of Emperor Asoka. He urged the king not to kill. With this advice began the spread of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. On Saturday, June 30, Sri Lankan Buddhists marked this event with religious ceremonies throughout the country. But there was not much celebration in the north and the east. It was not because of the war. But there aren’t many Buddhists in these areas, especially in the north.

The north is pre-dominantly Tamil Hindu. Many people in the north see Buddhism as the religion of the ‘Sinhala’ Army, which they respect least but fear most. The Buddhism, which Mahinda Thera preached, spoke of non-violence and social egalitarianism. The appeal of this reformist religion was so overwhelming that it spread like wildfire. For centuries, it was the main religion of Tamils in India’s Tamil Nadu and in Sri Lanka.

It was unfortunate that very little attempt is made by authorities to highlight this historic fact. On the contrary, text books recommended for children in their tender ages contain stories that plant seeds of ethnic hatred in their hearts. In one lesson, the young Sinhala prince Dutugemunu was asked by his mother why he was huddling under a blanket. The prince replied in a typical devil-and-the–deep-blue-sea manner, “How can I straighten my limbs, when on the one hand, we are surrounded by the dumb sea and on the other, by the ‘para’ Tamils”. The decent transliteration of the word ‘para’ means ‘foreign’. But the word is also being used to denote something derogatory or low. I am not an etymologist, but I believe the word in its derogatory sense refers to the ‘Pariah’ caste of south India. Ironically, many people belonging to this caste later converted to Buddhism.

When I asked about this lesson, a teacher of a Methodist church-run school was apologetic and told me, “We skip it.” Dutugemunu was not a racist. Neither was the Chola king Elara, a Tamil, whom he defeated and killed in battle.

If only we have presented history in the right context, Sri Lanka would have been a peaceful country. It is still not too late. For a start, let’s teach our children that there were Tamil Buddhists in this country. Some ultranationalists are quick to grab artifacts found in the north and say that the discoveries were proof enough to show that Buddhism was once prevalent in every part of the country. Their conclusion, however, was that there were Sinhalese in the north, practising Buddhism. They failed to acknowledge that Tamils in the north were once Buddhists.

A reading of the great Tamil epic, Manimekalai, by the 2nd century Tamilnadu poet, Sathanar, would expose one to the influence of Buddhism among Tamils in Tamil Nadu and northern Sri Lanka.

Manimekala was about to marry a prince, who was infatuated with her. But the death of her father, Kovalan, hero of another Tamil epic, Silappathikaram, made her contemplate on the impermanency of life. Caught between the love of a prince and her passion to become a nun, Manimekala was in a state of confusion. She was rescued by a goddess and taken to Nagadipa, an island off Jaffna. It was here that she walked into a site hallowed by the visit of the Buddha. The legend has it that Buddha visited Nagadipa to settle a dispute between two princes over a gem-set throne. Manimekala was exposed to the teachings of the Buddha. She was handed a sacred bowl which Buddhist monks and nuns carry. She departed Nagadipa and reached Kaveripatnam, Madurai where she donned the robe of a Buddhist nun, and began her spiritual mission. With the begging bowl in her hand, she served the poor and the marginalised.

Not many Sri Lankan Buddhists today know who Manimekala is. Neither do they know that Tamil Nadu Dalits who have embraced Buddhism – and continue to embrace it — are hurt when they learn that the Sinhalese, most of whom profess Buddhism, are portrayed as the oppressors of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

The universality of the philosophy preached by Gautama Buddha has unfortunately been replaced by communality. There is little effort to take Buddhism to Tamils in the north and east. With some Buddhist monks themselves backing the government’s war effort, what success the efforts to promote the Buddha’s philosophy of non-violence will meet is anybody’s guess.

The message with which the Mahinda Thera wooed the king to ‘ahimsa’ is lost in the jungles of bigotry. The Buddha’s teachings tell us to abhor greed, but our politicians, in their greed for power, refuse to devolve power to the Tamils in a meaningful way. Buddhism also emphasises the virtues of detachment because it identifies attachment as the main factor that leads to sorrow. But our attachment to concepts such as race, language and ethnicity has become a barrier to a peaceful solution to the Sri Lankan crisis.

Silappadikaram is one of the five epics of ancient Tamil Literature. The poet prince Ilango Adigal, is credited with this work. He is reputed to be the brother of Senguttuvan from Chera. As a literary work, it is held in high regard by the Tamils. The nature of the book is narrative and has a moralistic undertone. It contains three chapters and a total of 5270 lines of poetry. The epic revolves around Kannagi, who having lost her husband to a miscarriage of justice at the court of the Pandya king, wreaks her revenge on his kingdom.

Silappatikaram has been dated to likely belong to the beginning of Christian era, although the author might have built upon a pre-existing folklore to spin this tale. The story involves the three Tamil kingdoms of the ancient era, the Chola, the Pandya and the Chera. Silappatikaram has many references to historical events and personalities, although it has not been accepted as a reliable source of history by many historians because of the inclusion of many exaggerated events and achievements to the ancient Tamil kings. Regarded as one of the great achievements of Tamil genius, the Silappatikaram is a poetic rendition with details of Tamil culture; its varied religions; its town plans and city types; the mingling of Greek, Arab, and Tamil peoples; and the arts of dance and music. Silappatikaram is the first Indian epic written about the life of an ordinary countryman, written by a Jain Chera country Prince who had become an Ascetic, and in simple and understandable language. It was written in times when the only existing complex literary epics were composed and written in praise of religions and kings, by ordinary poets.

The story evolves in terms of Three, at least of the following

• Three Kingdoms -Chola, Pandiya, Chera
• Three Religions - Saivaism, Buddhism, Jainism
• Three Heroines - Kannagi, Madhavi, Manimekalai
• Three Ways of life - Married (karpiyal) (Kannagi), Unmarried (kalaviyal) (Madhavi), Ascetic (thurau) (Manimekalai)
• Three Episodes - Puhar, Madurai, Vanchi
• Three Walks and Types of Land - Seashore (Poompugar), Fertile (Madurai), Mountain (Vanchi)

Silappatikaram contains three chapters:

• Puhark kandam (புகார்க் காண்டம் – Puhar chapter), which deals with the events in the Chola city of Puhar, where Kannagi and Kovalan start their married life and Kovalan leaves his wife for the courtesan Madavi. This contains 10 sub divisions
• Maduraik kandam (மதுரைக் காண்டம் – Madurai chapter) , is situated in Madurai in the Pandya kingdom where Kovalan loses his life, incorrectly blamed for the theft of the queen's anklet. This contains 7 sub divisions
• Vanchik kandam (வஞ்சிக் காண்டம் – Vanchi chapter), is situated in the Chera country where Kannagi ascends to the heavens. This contains 13 sub divisions

Each of these chapters are made of several sub chapters called kaathais. Kaathais are narrative sections of the chapters.

At the end of the Sangam epoch (second – third centuries CE), the Tamil country was in political confusion. The older order of the three Tamil dynasties was replaced by the invasion of the Kalabhras. These new kings and others encouraged Buddhism and Jainism. Ilango Adigal, the author of Silappatikaram, probably lived in this period and was one of the vast number of Jain and Buddhist authors in Tamil poetry. These authors, perhaps influenced by their monastic faiths, wrote books based on moralistic values to illustrate the futility of secular pleasures. These poets freely borrowed from Sanskrit literature, which had numerous books of didactic nature, as well as narrative plays by Bhāsa and Kalidasa. These authors went beyond the nature of Sangam poems, which contain descriptions of human emotions and feelings in an abstract fashion, and employed fictional characters in a well conceived narrative incorporating personal and social ramifications. Tamil epics were thus invented by these poets.

The author of Silappatikaram was Ilango Adigal (lit. Prince- Ascetic). He is reputed to be the brother of Chera king Senguttuvan, although there is no evidence in the Sangam poetries that the famous king had a brother. There are also claims that Ilango Adigal was a contemporary of Sattanar, the author of Manimekalai. The prologues of each of these books tell us that each were read out to the author of the other [Silappatikaram, pathigam 90]. From comparative studies between Silappatikaram and certain Sanskrit Buddhist and Jain works such as Nyayaprakasa, the date of Silappatikaram has been determined to be around the fifth and the sixth centuries CE.

The story of Silappatikaram is set during the first few centuries of CE and narrates the events in the three Tamil kingdoms: Chera , Chola, and Pandya. It also mentions the Sinhala king Gajabahu and the Chera Senguttuvan. It confirms that the northern kingdoms of Chedi, Uttarakosala, and Vajra were known to the Tamil people of the time. The epic also vividly describes the Tamil society of the period, its cities, the people's religious and folk traditions and their gods.

In the pathigam, the prologue to the book, Ilango Adigal gives the reader the gist of the book with the précis of the story. He also lays the objectives of the book:

அரசியல் பிழைத்தோருக்கு அறங்கூற்றாவதும், (Truth will punish the irresponsible erring king)

உரைசால் பத்தினியை உயர்ந்தோர் ஏத்தலும், (A woman with great morals will be praised by intellects)

ஊழ்வினை உறுத்து வந்தூட்டும் என்பதூம், (one has to pay for his acts)(past and present acts of one will certainly yield their results on him)

நாட்டுதும் யாம் ஓர் பாட்டுடைச் செய்யுள் Kovalan - Son of a wealthy merchant in Puha

• Kannagi - Wife of Kovalan Masattuvan - A wealthy grain merchant and the father of Kovalan
• Madhavi - A beautiful courtesan dancer
• Vasavadaththai - Madavi's female friend
• Kosigan - Madavi's messenger to Kovalan
• Madalan - A Brahmin visitor to Madurai from Puhar
• Kavunthi Adigal - A woman ascetic
• Neduncheliyan - Pandya king
• Kopperundevi - Pandya Queen

Manimekalai written by the Tamil Buddhist poet Seethalai Saathanaris the continuation of Silappatikaram. This epic poem describes how Manimekalai, the beautiful daughter of Kovalan and Madhavi, followers of Jainism, converts to Buddhism.

Folk art and music in Silappatikaram

The Silappatikaram, apart from being the first known epic poem in Tamil, is also important for its literary innovations. It introduces the intermingling of poetry with prose, a form not seen in previous Tamil works. It features an unusual praise of the Sun, the Moon, the river Kaveri and the city of Poompuhar at its beginning, the contemporary tradition being to praise a deity. It is also considered to be a predecessor of the Nigandu lexicographic tradition.

There have been multiple movies based on the story of Silappathikaram and the most famous is the portrayal of Kannagi by actress Kannamba in the 1942 movie 'Kannagi'. P.U.Chinnappa played the lead as Kovalan. The movie faithfully follows the story of Silappathikaram and was a hit when it was released. The movie poompugaar, penned by 'Kalaignar' M. Karunanidhi is also based on Silapathikaram. There are multiple dance dramas as well by some of the great exponents of Bharatanatyam in Tamil as most of the verses of Silappathikaram can be set to music.