NO. 43.— 1892.] ETHNOLOGY OF CEYLON. 



269. 



This marriage was not possible if the king of Kalinga was 

 not of the same race as the king of Vanga. In the Vishnu 

 Purdna (book IV., chapter XXIII., p. 444) it is said that Bali's 

 wife, by Dirghatamas, had five sons, Anga, Banga, Kalinga, 

 Sahona, and Pundra ; and their descendants and the five 

 countries they inhabited were known by the same names. 



This , shows that Kalinga as well as Vanga was colonised 

 by an Aryan race. And also, by the way, that polyandry 

 was not unknown to the ancient Aryas. According to the 

 Mahdwansa Vijaya arrived in Ceylon in the year 543 B.C. 

 This is disputed by some modern writers, but it is not 

 necessary to enter into that question now. He need not 

 have been necessarily a Buddhist. His religion may have 

 been Vaidic, or, as it is now erroneously termed, Hinduism. 

 He and his followers worshipped the gods of the Aryas as 

 taught in the Vedas. The Brahmans were purohitas, even 

 of the later kings of Ceylon whp professed Buddhism, but 

 at the same time worshipped the Aryan gods, as the Sinhalese 

 do no^ . 



Vijaya lived with Kuveni, a native of Lanka, purely, I 

 believe, for political reasons, till she gave birth to two 

 children, Jivahatha and Disala. Vijaya's followers requested 

 him to assume the office of king, but he, on account of his 

 not having a queen consort of equal rank to himself, was 

 indifferent at the time to his inauguration. The chiefs 

 being desirous of the installation of the prince, sent to 

 southern Madura a deputation with gems and other presents. 

 They obtained an audience of king Pandava, and delivering 

 their presents, announced their mission. "The son of Sinha- 

 bahu named Vijaya, has conquered Lanka, to admit of his 

 installation bestow thy daughter on us." King Pandava 

 having consulted his ministers, decided that he should send 

 his own daughter to Vijaya, and for the retinue of that king 

 no less than seven hundred daughters of his nobility, with 

 eighteen officers of State, together with seventy-five menial 

 servants. Pandava despatched these maidens, bestowing 

 presents on them. 



It would indeed be as strange for an x\ryan prince and 

 the ministers of an Aryan race to solicit in marriage a 

 princess of the Dravidian race, as for the powerful king of 

 Madura, if he were a Dravidian, to send his daughter to be 

 wedded to an adventurer of another race, in a country reputed 

 to be inhabited by Yakko, or cannibals. Careful research 

 will show that the southern extremity of the peninsula of 

 India was at this time colonised by the Aryas, the same 

 enterprising race to which Vijaya belonged. 



M. Kunte, B.A., in his "Vicissitudes of Aryan Civilisation 

 in India," writes as follows : — 



