Post No. 12,697
Date uploaded in London – – – 10 November , 2023
Contact – swami_48@yahoo.com
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It is amazing to read that Brahmins ruled Sri Lanka for 50 years in the very early stage of its history. They ruled Sri Lanka 2400 years ago, before Devanampiya Tissa introduced Buddhism in the country. C S Navaratnam in his book A Short History of Hindusim in Ceylon (1964) has beautifully summarised it.
My reading of seven other 100 year old books available in London British Library and SOAS (University of London ) library shows that Brahmins lived there from Northern Jaffna to Southern Galle; and they were not just temple priests but they held high positions in government. They were living in Lanka even during Tamil Elara rule ; Sri Lankan Cleopatra , notorious Anula , married a palace Brahmin as well. She murdered her husband and married a lot of men like Elizabeth Taylor and Henry VIII.
Many people now have a wrong notion that only Jaffna area bought Brahmin priests from India and they were the only Brahmins. But Buddhists themselves can’t avoid mentioning Brahmins in all their books from earlier period. Devanampiya Tissa and other early kings gave Brahmins first place like Asoka who in all his inscriptions mentioned Brahmins first. Asokan inscriptions are worded as ‘Brahmana Sramana’ giving priority to Brahmins. Buddha himself praised Brahmins in a whole chapter in Dhammapada and in two other slokas say that even murders by Brahmins and throwing out kings are justified.
Sri Lankan Brahmins were authors as well. They wrote astrology books and created Panchangas (almanacs) for Hindus. Even Sri Lankan kings followed all that is said in Hindu scriptures and when they died, they were cremated with Vedic mantras.
In another book, the Arya chakravartis are shown having Brahminical origin. A lot of research is required to collect all Brahmin references in Mahavamsa, Choola vamsa, Rajavali, Inscriptions, Pali and Sinhalese books.
It is also interesting to see that Sri Lankan authors were so influenced by Kalidasa, who lived in the first century BCE. Following Kalidasa’s Raghu VAMSA, they wrote Maha VAMSA and Chula VAMSA. Following Megha Sandesa, they wrote several Sandesa (Messenger Poems) kavyas. A comparative study would bring out more truths.
Please see the attachments from C S Navaratnam’s book below,
to be continued………………………………………..
tags– Brahmin rule, in Sri Lanka, Ceylon, Brahmin Kings of Sri Lanka, C S Navaratnam
Tamil and Vedas 
