King Abhaya Naga - House of Lambakarna I | Anuradhapura - (236 - 244) - Sri Lankan History - Kings - Governors - Prisidents

King Abhaya Naga

House of Lambakarna I | Anuradhapura - (236 - 244)

King Voharika Tissa had a younger brother named Abhaya Naga. He secretly maintained an illicit relationship with the queen of the king. When this became known, Prince Abhaya Naga, frightened, fled with his attendants to a place called Bhallatittha. Bhallatittha must have been a seaport located in this island. However, its exact location has not yet been identified. It must have been an obscure port or landing place. While hiding there, he devised a cunning scheme to destroy King Voharika Tissa and to fulfill his own ambitions. Prince Abhaya Naga expressed his anger towards his uncle named Subhadeva, and, as if to demonstrate this, sent his own severed hands and feet to the king. Why Subhadeva would go to such a daring extent—cutting off his limbs—to assist in fulfilling Abhaya Naga’s intentions is puzzling. Perhaps he had been offended or hurt by King Voharika Tissa, and thus found an opportunity to take revenge. In any case, he appeared before King Voharika Tissa as both an enemy of Abhaya Naga and as one who had been wronged by him, and thereby gained the king’s trust and favor. Prince Abhaya Naga, through his supporters, demonstrated a kind of lowly servility, which the Mahavamsa describes metaphorically as “the simile of the dog.” The Mahavamsa Tika (commentary) explains this in detail. He showed this by piercing his own pet dog with an arrow; though the dog cried out in pain, it still wagged its tail and came toward him. He then said, “Just as this dog, though struck by me, still turns to me with affection, so may those who have the same attachment towards me come with me.” Having said so, he embarked on a ship and departed to the opposite shore. Meanwhile, Subhadeva pretended to act in the king’s interest but in secret began oppressing the people through unfair taxation and wrongful collections, causing discontent against the king. For this purpose, the treacherous queen of the king also secretly supported Subhadeva. Time passed. To learn the situation in the island, Prince Abhaya Naga sent a spy. This spy met Subhadeva. But they could not exchange words directly, since a conversation would have been overheard by the king. Therefore, Subhadeva took a kuntayudha (a spear), dug around the roots of a palm tree until they were loosened, struck it with his chest, and overturned it—thus symbolically indicating the situation to the spy, and warning him before sending him away. Through this gesture, in the form of a threat, Subhadeva thus conveyed his message to Prince Abhaya Naga. The spy understood the meaning well and, after crossing to the opposite shore, revealed all the information to Prince Abhaya Naga. Then, Abhaya Naga came to this country with a large army. The Mahavamsa states that this army consisted of Tamils (Damila). Therefore, it can be considered that Prince Abhaya Naga, for the first time, set a harmful precedent for future aspirants to the throne—seeking foreign military support for their personal ambitions. It is not clear from the text who exactly these troops from South India were. Nevertheless, Prince Abhaya Naga arrived with his army near the capital. King Voharika Tissa, however, did not take steps to fight. Instead, he fled to the Malaya region, taking with him the queen, who had been the cause of his ruin. Prince Abhaya Naga pursued him, and in the region of Malaya he killed the king and, taking the queen, returned to Anuradhapura, where he ascended the throne. Thus, as we saw earlier, Abhaya Naga obtained kingship through deceit and cunning, killing King Voharika Tissa and taking as his own queen the very woman who had betrayed her husband. The chronicles do not record many details of King Abhaya Naga’s reign. No inscriptions or other archaeological evidence belonging to his time have yet been found. The Pujavaliya refers to him as “Abhasen,” while the Rajarathnakaraya and the Nikaya Sangrahaya call him “Abhatis.” The Dipavamsa refers to him as “Abhaya.” According to the two primary chronicles, his notable act was bringing offerings worth two lakhs (200,000) to the monks. In addition, he constructed a stone wall around the sacred Sri Maha Bodhi. Another meritorious deed was building a pavilion in the courtyard of the Lova Maha Paya. However, driven by greed for the throne, stained by murder, and having destroyed the life of his own righteous brother—who was committed to nonviolence and justice—King Abhaya Naga ruled for eight years, as recorded in the Dipavamsa, Mahavamsa, and Pujavaliya.