In prior to the arrival of the conceptual Indian king called Vijaya to Helabima in the ancient times, the people of Deva tribe[1] lived in this Helabima, the people of Yakkha tribe lived in Yakkha Hela, the people of Naaga tribe lived in Naga Hela and the people of Kumbanda tribe lived in Kumbanda Hela, all these were the people lived in this land with peace and harmony. All the people mentioned here, who are from different tribes are not extraordinary, miraculous demons or ghosts. They are not Vaddhas[2] either. Especially, the people who lived in Deva Hela in the ancient times were real human beings who possessed with the knowledge of science, knowledge of technologies, intelligences and advanced knowledge of irrigational properties. The Prince Siddhartha Gautama Bosath who later attended in to The Enlightenment in Janbudveepa too was the son of queen Mayadevi and King Suddhodana who was known as a regional king in Deva Hela. Those days Helabima in Deva Hela was popular as Kimbulwathpura. In the ancient times, a city situated on the southern region of river Mahaveli, now it is called Dimbulagala, was the reign of the royal family of the Sakyan Clan.
Also the great kings such as Wesamuni, Wiroodha, Viroopakkha and Datharaadtha found in the Aataanaataa Sutta & in the Tripitaka literature as Chaththaro Maharaja, also known as the Four Guardian Deities who are respected and worshipped by our people even today had reigned in Yakkha and Naaga Hela in this Helabima itself. And also the great kings found in Tripitaka texts, Mahavamsa & Deepavamsa such as King Kosol, King Bimbisara, King Ajaasaththa, King Suddhodana, King Amithodhana, King Dethodhana, King Supprabuddha, King Mahasena, Princes Abhaya Raaja, King Aalawaka, King Hemawatha, King Saathagiri, King Saman, kings of the Naaga tribe such as King Choolodara, King Mahodara, King Muchalinda, King Maniakkitha and all the names of the Counts found in Tripitaka such as Count Sudhatta, Visaka, Nanda Maatha, Chiththa Gruhapathi were our own great grand fathers who were born and passed away in this Heladiva. They are our own relations.
The names and the places where these people lived are taken from & mentioned in the historical Tripitaka texts written in Helabima and also in the historical chronicles such as Deepavamsa & Mahavamsa which were written in this Heladeepa. All the well developed, cultured cities & villages such as city of Rajagaha, city of Savath, city of Kosaba, city of Kimbulwath, the great city of Vishala, the city of Baranas which were found in the time that Gautama Buddha lived are mentioned only in the Tripitaka literature. They are the Tripitaka texts written in Helabima.
All the texts recorded as Tripitaka were initially written in this Helabima, at a place called “Alu Lena”. The names of the persons, kings & the Counts or of the cities & villages mentioned in Tripitaka texts, Deepavamsa or Mahavamsa were not found in any text, book or paper written either in the same period or in a period closer to that in India – Maha Baratha – and it is certain that it will never ever be seen or heard in any form in the future as well. If any well known person of this nature had lived those days in that country, Indians had all the possibilities in taking those names in to their own texts written in India even before they were mentioned in the texts written in a foreign land. Even to this date, texts written in India in Buddha’s time or in the period closer to that time, such as Puraana texts,[3]Vedic texts[4] and Ramayana[5]are still available in India. Any name of a person or of a village mentioned in Tripitaka cannot be seen in any book, any text or any paper written in India. All these names of the people, the cities or the places stated in Tripitaka in the very ancient time like 2000 years ago, are the information related to the cities, villages and of the people lived in this Helabima. Even before these things, information, the Dhamma were recorded in Tripitaka, a very long period of four hundred years or more, our Sinhala Bhikkus were able to take them from one generation to the other based on an unbroken oral tradition.
If someone claims that Gautama Buddha preached his sacred Buddha Dhamma in India, it should be proved by providing evidence of a group of Bhikkus lived in India in the said period or a group who studied this information by heart and taken them from one generation another. But it was not even heard that a history of this nature was maintained in India and any Bhikku or any person at least knew a Dhamma of this nature. It has to be mentioned here specially that no any record can be found related to any Bhikku or any person who has experienced the fruitions in the supermundane path (Maga Pala or Marga) in the far off areas of river Kaveri, i.e. in North India, in prior to the period of Ashoka in Barath Desha. Even Ashoka the Great could see a Bhikku only after the Kalinga war in southern Indian regions of river Kaveri. But, of course, by the time of Ashoka, the great Bhikkus who learnt Dhamma in Helabima and gained fruitions in the supermundane path could be seen in South India, on this side of the banks of river Kaveri.
The historical story of this Helabima where all the supermandane Buddhas were born and attended to The Enlightenment is based on the absolute truth, driven by their general education, knowledge or the understanding, any ordinary historian, scientist, archeologist or any ordinary member in the clergy are not in a position even to guess and think of its greatness. It is sublime and so profound. All the Buddhas lived in this world, all the Buddhas to come in the future, all the Arahants, not only all Pachceka Buddhas[6]but all the Chakravarti Kings[7] as well are born and live in this Heladeepa, the noblest land of the world. What is heard and discovered about the history of this Helabima by the world is so little. The great glory of the history of this Helabima that the world could not discover yet, what is lost in time, is marvelous and that cannot be limited to some words and to some papers in a text. It dates back to the period of Deepankara Buddha.
What is written in ‘Tripitaka texts’ is the real history of Helabima related to one particular period in the ancient times. Even to this date, the real and genuine recorded history which we can be claimed as something of our own is found in the collection of Tripitaka texts. It is mentioned here with much confidence that all the details found in more than seventeen thousand and sixteen Sutta Dhamma & five hundred fifty Jathaka Stories which were written on ola leaf books in this country in the very past as 2000 years ago are the recorded evidence which are hundred percent related to our own history in this Helabima . None of these books or letters was written in India or in Barath Desha. Hence, it is certain that no any country in the world is possessed with a heritage like of ours which is based on genuine, significant and confirmed facts. No any man on earth is capable enough to betray our history to some other country, suppress & throw away it considering that our history is simply as of a history of some other country. Our history was written by our great grand fathers in the past, scholars and Nobel ones who knew profound Dhamma well and had experienced the fruitions of the supermundane path, Maga Pala.
If you have any doubt over that truths which are disclosed again in this manner, which are declared with authentication, I would like to kindly invite you to answer some questions that I raise upon with regards to this matter, you can deeply think about them, analyze them thoroughly and without being biased you can find the answers, you yourself then can question the credibility of this statement. It is necessary for you to think as a Hela person. You should not be shameful and cheap enough to suppress our own history.
1. In what country that the Buddha Dhamma preached in Maghadi language by Gautama Buddha was recorded into Tripitaka Canon and Jathaka Stories in the ancient time like 2100 years ago? – It is this Helabima .
2. What was that country that Hela Letters, the alphabet, were used to write this Tripitaka Canon and Jathaka texts nearly 2100 years ago? – Those are the ancient Hela Letters which were used in Helabima.
3. What is that country which had a generation of Bhikkus, an Order, who had continuously taken down the Buddha Dhamma for a long period like 450 years which was preached in Maghadi language by means of lines – Pela Dhamma – and followed an unbroken oral tradition? It was done by the generation of Hela Bhikkus lived in Helabima.
4. From where did the Buddhist monks come and participate in the event of forming the writing of Buddha’s teachings which happened to be at Alu-Lena[8] in Helabima in 76 BC?[9] Do you know that all these Bhikkus participate in that Dhamma Sangayana[10] came there from different parts in Helabima?
5. The aim of sacred Buddha Dhamma is to help the people to realize Nibbana. In the present context Bhuddha Dhamma has turned in to ‘Buddhism’ which is a ritual & a belief. Out of these two, where will what is written in Tripitaka stand out? What is mentioned in Tripitaka is the sacred Patichchasamuppadha Dhamma, but not mere beliefs and rituals.
6. The Tripitaka says that there had been thousands of Arahants in the Aaramas & Viharas in Janbudveepa where Gautama Buddha was born. Why is it not stated in any historical book or a document that there had been one Arahant in any place in the northern region of the river kaveri in India? It was purely because there had been none of these Nobel ones who had experienced the fruitions in the supermundane path.
It was only by our own Bhikkus in Helabima , especially the Bhikkus lived in the Deva Hela, who formed the sacred Buddha Dhamma in to lines, the Dhamma what was originally preached to the world by Gautama Buddha in pure Maghadi language and taken them through an unbroken oral tradition from one generation to another, the teacher-pupil tradition, for a period of four hundred twenty five years, from 543 BC to 76 BC. The Bhikkus who participated in that Dhamma Sangayana held in Alu-Lena came there from areas such as Tissamaharama, Sithulpawwa, Haburugala, Budugala, the city of Kusinara, Kudimbigala, Rajagala, Deegawapi and also the Aaranya Senasanas[11] in the eastern and Sabaragamu regions in Ruhuna[12]. Bhikkus came from Enderagala in Dambulla, Pidurangala, and Rangirigala and also from some other parts in the island. It is not mentioned in Mahavamsa or Deepavamsa, or in this case in any text or book, that any one from India, Baratha Desha had participated in this. That is only because of the fact that any one in India did not have any knowledge, any understanding over Gautama Buddha and the Tripitaka which contained the teachings of Buddha. It has to be mentioned preciously here that Prince Mihindu had come to the city of Rajagaha (Ampara) in Deva Hela, had learnt Sinhala language, Maghadi language & Buddha Dhamma from a Buddhist academy, entered in to the Order and attended in to the fruitions in the supermundane path.
From the ancient times to this date, the sacred Buddha Dhamma preached by Buddha for forty five years in Deva Hela and in certain places in Naaga Hela as well, were arranged in forms of lines, recited and taken them down as an unbroken inherited oral custom in this Helabima.
The historical place known as Rajagala in Ampara today was the capital city of the kingdom of Magadha. In the past it can be seen that Maghadi language and ancient Hela language had been used in the kingdom of Magadha. In the universities and in academies, the intellectuals used the pure Maghadi language to learn art and science and the spoken language of the ordinary citizens was Hela language. Even to this date what is similar to Hela language is Maghadi language. In this era the base and the route language for all the languages used in India was Sanskrit language. The Tamil language used in the South India too was originated from a different source and was different to these Sanskrit languages.
Even after the Parinibbana of Gautama Buddha, the members of the most learnt Bhikkus who lived in our Helabima, especially in the Deva Hela, silently worked towards the protection of sacred Buddha Dhamma. They considered Dhamma same as their own life, studied it by heart and took it from one generation to another, though they got no any patronage from the rulers.
Though Tripitaka Dhamma was written on texts at a place called Alu-Lena in Deva Hela in 76 BC, it is difficult to think that King Walagambha had given his support for the same. This writing down of Tripitaka had been initiated by the members of this same Hela Bhikkus who had been taken down these sacred teachings of Buddha from generation to generation. In the ancient time i.e. 280 years before the reign of King Ashoka, if this sacred Buddha Dhamma was well established in India, all these sublime concepts of Dhamma could have been thoroughly inculcated in to thinking of the people in Indian. Other than the knowledge in the Vedic religious concepts, concepts of Jainism, religions based on the concepts of gods such as Shiva, the Indian people knew nothing, understood nothing about the sacred Buddha Dhamma.
During his reign, Ashoka the Great, attempted to create a particular religion in India by means of adding the code of Pancha Seela and certain virtual teachings & customs found in Buddha Dharma in to the religious concept prevailed in India such as Hinduism, Shiva, Vedic and Jainism and to recreate a righteous society in which all can live in peace and harmony. He wanted to create a kingdom of righteousness. This is how Buddhism was originated in India. Buddha Dhamma and the religion are two different things.
Buddha Dhamma is not a belief. It does not go hand in hand with the politics either. The Noble Silence is the key characteristic in Buddha Dhamma. Because of this, Buddha Dhamma will be protected, Dhamma will be safe guarded only by a group of Buddha disciples who are interested in the association of the forests, trees and roots, lonely & abandoned places and practice the principles of Dhamma and attempting the extinction of Keles[13].During the reign of Ashoka and also during the periods of most powerful empires in India such as empire of Kushan and empire of Guptha, Buddhism was well spread out in India.
But the Buddha Dhamma was not spread out in a manner then it would help the people to attend in to Nibbana. It should be mentioned that even in the period of the Guptha Dynasty in India, the supermandane Buddha Dhamma was in use in Helabima in Lanka in regions such as Rajagala, Ampara, Sithulpawwa, Deegawapiya, Maligawila and also the regions such as Rathnapura and Kegalle in the Sabaragamuwa province. The best example for the existence of this particular Buddha Dhamma is the story of Arahant Maliyadeva in the Kegalle region.
Something should be written here about the Pali language and the term called Pali. Buddha Dhamma originally preached in Maghadi language by Gautama Buddha & Buddha’s disciples was written in Sinhala letters in Heladeepa and arranged the Dhamma in the form of lines for the comfort and the need of maintaining an oral system. As it was arranged in this form of lines, as it was easy to arrange these lines and study them by heart, this Buddha Dhamma which was originally preached in Maghadi language, later, was popular by the names such as Pela[14] or Pela Dhamma. The basis for the Pela Dhamma was ancient grammar and language methodologies in Sinhala language. Those are not the modified language methodologies in Hela language what is used by us now, but they are the grammars & the language methodologies of the ancient Hela language which were used in this Heladiva even prior to the period of Arahant Mahinada. Later, this same Maghadi language was used as Pali language in Anuradhapura in the period of Anuradhapura and also as a writing language for writing different books in the period of Polonnaruwa. In prior to the period of writing of Tripitaka there wasn’t a language called Pali in the world. But later, things related to Buddhism and certain historical things related to history of Heladiva were written using the language called Pali (Maghadi). The writing of this language called Pali was started in Lanka. It was developed and used in writing texts and letters in Lanka. Later, in between the third & the eighth centuries, Indian scholars too came to the city of Rajagaha (today its Rajagala in Ampara) learnt Pali language & Hela language and many other things in Buddha Dhamma. Later, it started to translate many things related to this Pela Dhamma in to Indian languages such as Sanskrit.
Because of this, by the time of 5th century scholars in Pali language could be seen in areas such as Ajantha, Wellora, Nagarjunkonda, Mathura and Gandhara in India. Buddhism was taught in Pali language in the universities and in academies. The Chinese travelers such as Hung Sang and Fa-Hien[15] claim that when the time they came to India and Lanka, there had been Pali scholars in Lanka as well as India. According to this, Pali language had never ever been an applied language used by the comma man, but it was a language created in Lanka purely to use in the writing of Buddha Dhamma. The verses used in Pali are the verses of Maghadi. In Lanka, Sinhala letters were used in writing Pali words and in other countries respective letters of those countries were used for the same. Later, even English letters were used to write the Pali language. In all these cases what had happened is nothing but writing the Maghadi, Maghadi verses which were originated in Helabima .
The pure Maghadi language is the common, base language for all other languages. Even Hela language was originated from the pure Maghadi language. All the Buddhas preach their supermandane Dhamma only in pure Maghadi language. It is because Maghadi language is not an applied language which is subjected to change the meanings and interpretations from time to time, is not subjected to the transformation and evolvement. Maghadi words and verses used earlier are still valid. All the applied languages are subjected to evolve, transform and change over the usage over the time. The Sinhala language, what is known to us today, used in the most recent past like 1900-1950 is not using in the country any more. Today it had faced many changers. But, Maghadi is a language which will not be changed in this manner. Gautama Buddha preached his Dhamma by using the same Maghadi verses which were used by the Kashapa Buddha 7000 years ago. What we read today is also the same Maghadi verses. They will not be changed in use. On the other hand four-fold interpretations based on Artha, Dharma, Nirukthi and Patibhana can be given only for pure Maghadi verses, the sacred verses preached by Buddha. Other than the pure Maghadi verses, no any other words in any applied language are capable enough to provide meanings and Dhammas of this nature along with the diversity in Dharma, the diversity in Nirukthi or the diversity in Patisanbhida. Hence, Maghadi language can be considered as very sacred language which is different to all other languages.
If someone wishes to understand the Buddha Dhamma preached in Maghadi verses by the Buddhas in a way to realize Nibbana, it is necessary to understand its diversity by Artha, Darma, Nirukthi and Patisambhida as well. Today interpretations to Maghadi verses are purely given based on Padaparama[16] status and that will not help to analyze the supermandane Dhamma and to attend in to Nibbana. For more than thousand years, these Maghadi verses were taken simply as Pali language, interpreted and used them purely on Padaparama status. And also it had failed to analyze the Maghadi verses based on the diversity of Artha, Darma,Nirukthi & Patisambhida and presented this knowledge in a way which would help to attend to Nibbana. In understanding Nibbana, it is a must to be realized Maghadi verses in the broader spectrum of Artha, Darma, Nirukthi and Patisanbhida, nothing else matters with this regards. It is only to someone who had gained the ultimate knowledge of Dhamma, who had experienced the fruitions in the supermundane path, would realize that Maghadi language is amazing, a very peculiar expressionary objective medium as it analysis the Dhamma based on Artha, Darma, Nirukthi and Patisanbhida. It is not possible for an ordinary person to understand the meanings of this Dhamma.
Next Chapter ….
[1]Tribe – This word is used in connection to the tribes or ancient tribal communities lived in this Helabima. It should not be used in the same way that it is used on premature, uncultured communities, the aborigine communities found in the world who have restricted their lives to the wild.
[2] Veddas or Veddahs (Sinhala වැද්දා)are an indigenous people of Sri Lanka, an island in the Indian Ocean. They, amongst other self-identified native communities such as Coast Veddas and Anuradhapura Veddas, are accorded indigenous status. From as early as 18,000 BCE, a genetic continuum is shown with present-day Veddas. (Source – Wikipedia).
[3] Puraana texts are the mythological texts.
[4] The Vedas (Sanskritवेदाःvéda, “knowledge”) are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism. (Read more in Appendix).
[5] The Ramayana (Sanskrit: रामायण) is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu Canon (smṛti), considered to be itihāsa. (Read more in Appendix).
[6] A Pratyekabuddha (Sanskrit: प्रत्येकबुद्ध) or Paccekabuddha (Pāli: पच्चेकबुद्ध), literally “a lone Buddha”, “a Buddha on their own” or “a private Buddha”, is one of three types of enlightened beings according to some schools of Buddhism. (Read more in Appendix).
[8] Alu-Lena – Lena is the cave or the crypt.
[9] Some scholars in the island hold the view that the writing of the Tripitaka, Theravāda Pāli Canon, was performed at this cave temple and not at the cave temple called Aluvihare in Matale area. (Read more in Appendix).
[11] Aaranya Senasanas – Monasteries situated in the jungle which are surrounded with utmost serene beauty in the wild which would help for the monks to live blissfully and develop their spiritual practices.
[12] In the past the island was divided into 3 provinces. Officials titled “Eaepa, Maapa & Senevirath” (all king’s closest relations) ruled over “Ruhunu (southern Kingdom), Maya (western part) & Pihiti (Rest of the Island).
[13]Impurities, unwholesome acts.
[14]Pela[14] or Pela Dhamma – The lines of Dhamma or Dhamma written as lines.
[15]Fa-Hien or Faxian (337- c. 424 CE) was a Chinese Buddhist monk who travelled by foot all the way from China to India, visiting many sacred Buddhist sites in what are now Xinjiang, China, Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka and between 399 and 412 to acquire Buddhist scriptures. (Read more in Appendix).
[16]Padaparama person – ‘one for whom the words are the utmost attainment’. Whoever, though having learned much, speaking much, knowing many things by heart, and discoursing much, has not penetrated the truth.
