1$36.] Notes on the Buddhas from Ceylonese authorities. 829 



Prince Siddharta, the son of king Suddhodana, by one of hia 

 queens Maya, was born at Kapilawasta or Kumbiilwatpura, a town of 

 Central India* ; at 1 6 years of age he was married to the princess 

 Yasodara (called also Subhaddakachchana), and when 29 years of 

 age his wife brought him a son (who was called Rahul a, and after- 

 wards became a priest). On the same day that his son was born, 

 Siddharta forsook his family and country, and commenced a life of 

 penance and meditation, which he continued for six years in the forest 

 of Oorawelle ; during this period existing solely by charity, and feed- 

 ing on wild fruits. He fasted for 49 days, and after a severe struggle 

 having finally overcome Marya and his attendant host of demonsf, 

 became a Buddha by the name of Gautama. 



Gautama Buddha proceeded to commence his ministry, and first 

 expounded his doctrines at the grove called Isipatana in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the city of Baranas. In the ninth month after he became 

 Buddha, Gautama arrived at the town of MahawelligamJ the capital 

 of the Yakshas in Ceylon, and which then covered a space twelve miles 

 in length and eight in breadth on the banks of the Mahawelliganga. 

 The majority of the Yakshas appear to have been converted, and to 

 have driven those who adhered to their ancient superstitions into an 

 island called Yakgiri. Tradition places this island to the south-east 

 of Ceylon, and the legends which are preserved (on that coast) of 

 sunken cities, may refer to some territory, of which the Bass rocks are 

 all that now remain. 



A portion of the hair of the Buddha was enclosed in a golden cas- 

 ket, over which a Dagoba was built at Myungana§ in Mahawelligam, 

 and this relic is said to have prevented the return of the Yakshas || 

 (devils) whom Buddha had expelled : i. e. the worship he had super- 

 ceded. 



* Madhya-desia. 



T It might be translated overcame death and deadly sin ; for (mara) and 

 (mara) signifies death, destroying, lust ; also a name of Kama, god of love. 

 Clough's Cingalese Dictionary. 



X Where Myungana now stands in Beentinne. 



§ Myungana is still a sacred place of pilgrimage near the village of Been- 

 tinne ; the DAgoba originally built by the chief of the converted Yakshas, was 

 afterwards enriched by the addition of the Griwa (neck bone) relic, and enlarged 

 to the height of twelve cubits ; it was increased by the king Chula Bhya to 

 thirty cubits, and Dutugaimund, between 164 B. C. and 140, raised it to the 

 height of ninety cubits. 



|| The superstitious of the Yakshas had again become general in the time of 

 Pandukabhya (100 years after Buddha), and continued to prevail until B. C. 

 307. 



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