Sri Lanka is 'an old country, a very old country' wrote the English historian Hennessy. Several thousands of years ago, as legend has it, a bridge was built between the Indian mainland and this Island. Over it came hordes of Indians intending to rescue the beautiful Sita wife of King Rama, from the hands of the local king Ravana. Ravana too is credited with having been a traveler. Legend has it that he went by air in his airship called the 'Giant Peacock' (Dandu Monara).
The legend is alive today with the national airliner `Srilanican airways' using the peacock as its symbol. The truth behind such legends which interests us now is that Sri Lanka had always been a destination for foreigners. We know the saying that 'history repeats itself'. Times are different because 'time and tide wait for no man', yet what happens now also happened then. People travelled for various reasons.
When they found the destination country interesting, many decided to make it their home. People who travel to foreign countries or visit us from abroad are not always of the same race or creed. So when they settle down they propagate what they hold dearest being their race and their creed. They bring along with them their civilization, their culture, their knowledge and their skills. When such people begin 'rubbing shoulders' or associating
as well. It was also the school of learning for people and provided natural temples for their worship. The principal religions of early people were closely associated with animism. Life and death was one and unending. The theory of rebirth was strongly rooted in their minds. This belief was surely inculcated by the exuberance and the profusion of the vegetation. When something died, another thing or several other things sprouted immediately and filled the void. In fact the succession was so spontaneous and rapid that the very word void or emptiness seemed inappropriate.
As time went on social structures took on more definite forms. Language and communication as well as beliefs became better defined. As contact with India became more intense, many of the Indian eligious and social ideas penetrated into local society. Among them was the caste system.
Brahmanism became the preponderant religious system, while the lower castes had recourse to their own protecting divinities. With the passage of time the relationship between the monarchy and predominant religion became more and more stabilized. The two forces that most influenced the minds of all the inhabitants were political and religious in nature. Gradually their respective zones of influence became demarcated.
The king ruled while the role of the priest was to act as his counselor and tender advice to him. Thus the governing and advisory role became complementary functions. What the country needed at this stage was a superior unifying power to bind all existing social and religious structures under one umbrella. This force had necessarily to be non-political. This lacuna was filled by Buddhism.
