සුලුගල විස්තරය-Sulugala Wistharaya

The Sulugala story . The main subject of this poem is the adventures of the Sulugala upaasaka ,which are given in the 96th story of the Saddhmalankaaraya ,and the reader found a brief notice .It further tell us that Gothabhaya reigned in the 852nd year of Buddhism in Ceylon A.D . 545 ,and formed a capital at Talawathupitiya near the mountain Navaragala ,which was known as Chandrakanthi pura .While reigning there he built the Vanagutta vihara for Maliyadeva thera .Chandrakaanthi would be sandakan in Sinhalese vernacular ,but site had not hitherto been identified .The arrival of the thera from Miga-araama of Savathnuwara ,the poorwa-araamaya of Sravasti,is related and we are told that he brought with him a golden image of Buddha and a golden kotha or finial for a temple or daagaba .He concealed these in the sand of the Sirimal ganga ,on his arrival ,and the spot was afterwards known as the Valigoda-pitiya ,or place of the sand heap.By the help of Sakra and Vishvakarma ,stone pillars were fetched from Mihinthale ,and a temple called Maliyadeva -paya was constructed with them at the city of chandravathi .Twelve other temples were constructed round about it ,and villages ,includingVattarama,were dedicated to it by the king .The temples names are Pul,Vipul,Dakshina ,Paschima ,isipathana ,Purva aramaya ,Jetavana ,Sanmukha :the villages named are Vattrama ,kehelwathugoda ,Valagama ,Bamunugama ,Naarandeniya ,,Uruladeniya ,paanaka ,Kubukgama,Pohorambe ,Ambuwangala ,valigodapitiya ,Panaleeya ,Godigamuwa.These villages were dedicated at B.E 1091 or A.D.548 ,which would thus be the third year of the king’s reign.From this point the poem takes up the subject of the Saddhamaalankaara legend,and containts nothing further of historical interest .The authorship is given in verse in a colophon.The author was Matiyaganne Veda-duraya.Duraya,pupil-sonof Panditha Mallika,of Othara Beligama ,of Beligama Korale ,which is in the four Korales .He wrote it at Saka 1712 .A.D 1790 , in t he reign of Sri Rahjadhi Rajasinha of Senkadagala .

The Historical records seem partly reliable .The villages named are mostly known by now ,by their ancient temples .The Sanmukha temple is an early name of the Ashoka Vihare,or Alu-Vihare ,at which the Buddhist Canon was compiled in Ceylon:I found the name inscribed in early Ashoka letters on one of the caves there .According to the date given in two eras,the reigning king should be Salamevan or his son,and there is possibly a confusion by the witer with Siri Mekavana Aba of the inscriptions,who is apparently the Gotahabhaya of the Mahavansha .But both kings may have been called Gotahbhaya .As I have only one copy to refer to ,I cannot say whether Chandrakanthi is a mistake for Chandrawathi, or whether the city bore both names .

පුන්සඳ මඬල සේ අහසින් වැඩලා ................. රන් රුව සිරිමලයා ගංගා වැඩලා............... ලං කර ගන්ඩ් පැන් ගෙන සැනසීල..............රන් කොත් කරඬුව එතන තබාලා