King Asoka and Buddhism - Urban Dharma

Dharmapradīpikā of the 13 th century, is suspected by some criticsto have been a Kalingan. The story of the princess Kalingarelated in the Dharmapradīpikā written in pure Sinhala isdescribed as Kālinga-eḷuwa (Kalinga-Sinhalese language). Thisevidence further supports the belief in the ties between theSinhala language and people and the Kalingan language andpeople, a belief that is current even today. 32In the 12 th century, King Nissankamalla of Kalinga originproclaimed at the capital of Polonnaruwa that the city ofSinhapura from which he hailed was identical with the cityof the same name in Kalinga from which Vijaya also arrived. 33He claimed to belong to the royal line of the Okkaka (Iksvaku)dynasty. 34 Magadha, which is associated with the Vijayalegend, was the area where the largest number of Buddhistadherents lived. This new doctrine later spread to other partsof India. The Sakyans, as seen from historical evidence, werea lineage society and their ancestry goes back to the Iksvakuline, or Okkaka, as it is called in Pali sources. The Kshatriyastatus of the clan, as Thapar says, is evident from the Iksvakuconnection. 35 Thus it is possible that by the third century B.C.the Kalinga and Magadha states were linked with Sri Lankaboth culturally and politically and that Sri Lanka, after theKalinga war, was naturally disposed to accept the Mauryanthrone.The Buddha Dhamma or Teaching of the Buddha wasAśoka’s special gift to Sri Lanka. In his own words, what SriLanka received from him was the “reverberation of religiousproclamation” (dharmaghoṣa) instead of the “reverberation ofthe war-drum” (bherighoṣa). 36 For this purpose he made use ofthe dhammadūtas, the messengers of the Dhamma, in the firstinstance, and later on the venerable Buddhist monks as real124