named as ‘Sadivihariya’ or ‘Saddi Viharika’. The
meaning of that term is ‘one who lives close by’.
Until the Thripitaka (three scriptures) was
documented during the ruling time of king
Valagamba, Dhamma had been preserved by
oral tradition. There were monks who had kept
a part of the Thripitaka in their memory. They
were named as ‘Bhanakavaru’. The monks, who
had memorized the scriptures that belong to
the doctrine, were called by the name of the
particular scripture. For example the monks who
had memorized the Deega Nikaya were called
Deega Bhanaka and those who had memorized
the Sanyuktha Nikaya were called Sanyuktha
Bhanaka.
Inviting the monks to stay in the temples during
the rainy season (Vas Visima) and holding
ceremonies for offering robes (Katina Uthsava)
were venerable customs among the people who
lived during those days. In an inscription in the
place called Helambagala in Kurunegala district
the term ‘Vasavasika’ appears. Its meaning is
‘Vassavasika’ or ‘stayed inside during the rainy
season’. In an inscription in Kothalakimbiyawa
in the same district the words ‘Vasavasika
Sahataka’ could be seen. That is how the two
terms ‘Vassavasika Sataka’ have been written in
Sinhala Prakrit language. Its meaning is ‘Katina
Cheewaraya - the woven robe’. It says that cousins
of a monk called ‘Uththiya’ offered a ‘Katina
Cheewaraya – the woven robe’. Both of these
inscriptions belong to a period of 2200 years ago.
4.3.2 Other Religions
There is evidence that Brahmin groups lived
in and around Anuradhapura city during the
time when Buddhism was rooted in the society
of this country. They were Hindu devotees.
Mahawamsatika, which described that there was
a type of buildings, mentioned in Mahawamsa,
in the name of Sottisala, points out that the
places where the Brahmins performed
Fig.4.4. A cross engraved on a
stone post in Anuradhapura.
This belongs to a time after
the Portuguese came to this
country.their religious activities too were called by that
name. And also, that book, which describes the
word ‘Sivikasala’, points out that it meant the
places where the ‘Shiva Lingas’ (phallus of god
Siva) were established. Those ‘Pooja’ performed
for the God Siva is well-known among the Hindu
devotees. As South India is located close to
Sri Lanka and there prevailed regular trade
relations between the two countries, ideas of the
Hindu religion were brought here. The oldest
inscriptions of this country mention about the
Tamil traders who came to Sri Lanka for trading.
They have been introduced as ‘Dameda’ in those
inscriptions. That is how the term ‘Dravida’ was
written in Sinhala Prakrit language. By the 7th
century A.D.Fig.4.5 This is an inscription, which belonged to the Arabs,
inscribed on a tombstone. This is a letter inscribed in Cufic
scripts.