The ancient 'Kaurava
Pavilion' at Anuradhapura
by Raaj de Silva
Although
much is known about the Kaurava clans who migrated to
Sri Lanka during the Gampola and Kotte
periods, the Kauravas of ancient Sri Lanka remain
relatively unknown. However certain Inscriptions found in and around
Anuradhapura, dates their arrival to a much earlier period. The inscriptions
have been taken from the book 'Inscriptions of Ceylon' by Paranavithana
(1970), and this article has been compiled by Raj de Silva.
Plate
XI #94 - Inscriptions of Ceylon, Paranavithana
Sri
Lanka's pre Christian Brahmi inscriptions are a good
source for researching this period and they shed much light on this aspect. An
important inscription in this regard is the comparatively long inscription in
Anuradhapura known as the 'Tamil householders' terrace inscription
. This inscription is inscribed on the vertical rock face of a terrace
to the north west of the ancient Abhayagiriya Dágöba and the inscription reads:
1. Ilubarathi Dameda Samane karite Dameda
Gahapatikana pásáde
2. Sagasa ásane
3. Nasatasa ásane
4. Ka _ _ _ Tisaha ásane
5. _ _ _ ásane
6. Kubira Sujathaha
7. Návika Káravaha ásane
( The blanks indicate characters which are too worn to be deciphered)
It
translates as:
1.
The pavilion of the Dameda householders, caused to be
made by the Dameda Samana Ila Baratha
2. The seat of Sagasa
3. The seat of Nasata
4. The seat of Ká _ _ _ Tissa
5. The seat of _ _ _
6. of Kuruvira Sujátha
7. The seat of Kárava, the mariner
This
terrace appears to have been the floor of an assembly hall where council
meetings were held by a group of Kauravas during the
Anuradhapura period. The terrace floor is of different levels and the
inscription engraved in parts below each level of the terrace indicates the
seating order. Kárava the mariner had occupied the
highest seat. His name is evidently a very early local derivation from Kaurava. The name on line 5 is totally lost and line 4
which is only partly legible as Ka _ _ _ may also
have been Kárava. Kubira Sujátha on line 6 can easily be identified as Kuruvira which is a name used by the Kauravas
to date.
On
line 1 the inscription also mentions Ila Barata and according to the Mahabarata,
Barata was the ancient royal family of India from
which the Kauravas and the Pandavas
originated. Arjuna a hero of the Mahabharata is also
known as Bharata and Barathakulasuriya
is a Karáva family name. It is suggested by Paranavithana that the personages who met at this pavilion
had belonged to an ancient trade guild engaged in international maritime trade.
They appear to have belonged to a distinct clan.
Dameda in ancient time may
not have conveyed the same meaning as it does today. Although
Sinhala / Tamil identities as distinct races did not prevail in ancient Sri
Lanka, those arriving from the Kurumandala region of
India appear to have been called Dameda, Damila etc. In later times even Kalinga
Kings are some times referred to as Damilas.
There
are dozens of pre Christian Brahmi inscriptions
scattered in many parts of Sri Lanka where donors of caves have described
themselves as being from the 'Barata clan'. A few
such examples are:
1.
"Barata Tisaha lene sagasa" (The cave of Barata Tissa is gifted to the Sangha)
2. "Barata Sagarakitasa
lene" ( The cave of Barata Sagarakitasa - Brave
seafarer ? )
3. "Gahapati Barata
Utara..........." ( Householder Baratha from the north ? )
Names
such as Tissa and titles such as Gahapathi
in all such inscriptions suggest that the Baratas in
the first mentioned inscription also belonged to the same clan. In addition,
inscription # 270 from Polonnaruwa, the second
inscription listed above, has the symbol of a ship engraved on it, possibly
indicating that the donor was a mariner as much as Kárava
of our pavilion inscription. The ship symbol was the brand mark used by the Karávas of the southern province for branding their cattle .
Another
Barata inscription, inscription # 368 from Periyapuliyankulam carries the ship symbol as well as the
fish symbol while some others carry only the fish symbol .
The fish symbol is also found in all contemporary inscriptions of the Kataragama Kshatriyas found at Kottademuhela
in the Hambantota district and Bowategala
in the Ampara district . The
fish symbol is also found on King Nissankamalla's
stone lion and many of his other inscriptions and on most of the extant Karáva flags. The fish symbol was also used on ancient Sri
Lankan coins, sometimes with the royal parasol and at other times with the very
words Barata . It is undoubtedly an ancient Sri Lankan royal dynastic
emblem.
Names
such as Barata Jotiya in
inscription # 1073 have been interpreted by Paraavithana
to mean Lord Jotiya and Saddhamangala
Karunaratne has interpreted Barata
in Barata Tisa as an honorific title
.
As
such it appears that scions from the royal house of Barata
from whom the Kauravas descend were prominent in
ancient Sri Lanka as mariners, merchants, princes and patrons of Buddhism.
The
Kaurava Barata connection
of Sri Lankan royalty had continued up to the Kotte
period as well. We find Parakramabahu VI of Kotte (AD 1411 - 1466) describing himself as " descended from King Bharatha"
in his Padákada sannasa.
Therefore this site should properly be called the 'Kaurava pavilion' rather than be referred to by the
lackluster name ' Tamil householders' terrace'.
This
Article was contributed by Raj de Silva of the Kshastriya
Maha Sabha.