Talk:Dutte Gamini

This article is heavily the Tamil POV
We need some contribution from people who know the Sinhala history to redress the imbalance that is currently in the article. At present it only contains the Tamil POV. Passages such as


 * He could never alter his distaste for his Tamil Hindu ancestors and the Tamil people of his country . He continued his evil deeds against the Tamils massacring them in huge numbers 

need to be countered with the 'other side'.

Parthi (Venu62) 06:38, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

This article appears to be plagiarised verbatim from the British colonial Civil Servant, scholar and historian Humphrey William Codrington's "A Short History of Lanka".

The occasional insertions by Parthi betray his political agenda.

This article needs to be seen in the context of a concerted campaign by a section of the Tamil minority to rewrite Sri Lanka’s history to justify a claim to 40% of the land mass for a 12% minority.

I have quoted the author Parthi’s insertions below and afterwards the unmodified text from Codrington..

Parthi inserts

1. “…Kakavanna who still considered himself and all the people of the island as of Tamil origin irrespective of their tongue, refused to disturb the peace and prosperity of Ellaalan's land.” …..There is no mention in the Mahavamsa of Kakavanna considering himself as of “Tamil origin”.

2. “…After his father left for Tamil Nadu, Duttha Gamani …..” Nor is there any record of him “leaving for Tamil Nadu”.

3. “…He was said to have lamented over his inherited kingdom which was then only a few square kilometres on the southern coast .”

Kakavanna’s kingdom in the south was the Magama Kingdom which was certainly larger than a few square kilometers. In fact he controlled the southern half the country at least from Kelaniya to Dondra.

4. “…..He could never alter his distaste for his Tamil Hindu ancestors and the Tamil people of his country. He continued his evil deeds against the Tamils massacring them in huge numbers. This made even Sinhala people of his time now began acknowledging his title the bad or the evil .”

No mention of a Genocidal tendency either only one of contrition after slaying the just Elara. In fact he erected the Buddhist Dakkina Stupa to honour him in memory.

The full text relating to this episode from Codrington’s Brief History of Lanka reads as follows.

“……..Tissa is said in the Pujavaliya to have built the Kelani Dagaba: he, his son Gothabhaya, and his grandson Kakavanna Tissa (KavanTissa, `Crow-colour Tissa') succeeded to the government of the principality or kingdom of Magama; the last named ruler's wife was the daughter of Tissa, king of Kelaniya. The queen of this king Tissa had carried on an intrigue with her brother-inlaw, who on being detected fled and corresponded with her by a messenger disguised as a priest. The man attached himself to the attendants of the chief priest who was visiting the palace, and catching the eye of the queen dropped his master's letter. Unfortunately the palm-leaf missive made & noise in falling; the correspondence was detected, and the king in his fury slew not only the messenger but the chief priest, whose complicity he suspected. Thereupon the sea, which. according to the Rajavaliya was then about seven gaus (some fifteen miles) from Kelaniya, overwhelmed the land, submerging many towns and villages. To put an end to this the king placed his daughter Devi in a golden vessel and launched it into the sea: she was carried southwards and east ashore near a temple (vihara), when she became the queen consort of Kakavanna Tissa under the name of Vihara Devi. Their sons were Gamani Abhaya, the future hero, and Tissa. Gamani Abhaya at an early age showed signs of an adventurous disposition, and in particular resented the confined limits of his father's kingdom, which was bounded by the Mahaweliganga, on the other bank of which the Tamils ruled. The young prince surrounded himself with a chosen band of companions, finally asked permission of his father to fight the Tamils, and, being refused, fled in anger to the hills, thus earning by his conduct the surname of `Duttha,' `bad'. On the death of his father, Duttha Gamani (Dutu Gemunu), as we must now call him, succeeded to the kingdom, though not withoutj an armed struggle with his brother, with whom he was finally reconciled. Duttha Gamani was now free to open his campaign against Elara. Advancing through the hills on his famous state elephant Kandula (Kadol), he commenced operations at Mahiyangana, and gradually fought his way down the Mahaweliganga river. The Tamils at last threw themselves into Vijitapura, the siege. of which took four months. This town usually is identified with the place now called by this name near Kalavewa: but, as it was garrisoned by those Tamils `who had escaped the slaughter along the bank of the river,' it seems more probable that it was in the neighbourhood of the later Polonnaruwa, a suburb of which in the twelfth century still went by the name of Vijita. This place undoubtedly is better situated than Kalavewa for the next operation, the reduction of Girilaka, if this be Giritale. Duttha Gamani then advanced to the Kasa mountain or Kahagala, fifteen miles south-west of Anuradhapura, where he fortified himself and awaited the onset of Elara In the battle which ensued Elara fled towards the capital; but he was pursued by Duttha Gamani and slain by him in single combat close to the southern gate of the city. His body was burnt with royal honours, and such was the respect in which he was held that succeeding kings of Lanka silenced their musical instruments when passing his tomb in procession. The so-called Elala Sohona or Tomb of Elala at Anuradhapura does not mark his burial-place, but is the Dakkhina Thupa or Southern Dagaba. Duttha Gamani (second or first century B.C.), having disposed of reinforcements which arrived from India under nephew, was now sole monarch of Lanka, and kept the feast of his coronation. On the seventh day thereafter he celebrated an aquatic festival at Tisa-vewa. At its conclusion he found, that he was unable to take up his spear, into which a relic had been inserted, from the ground, and, considering this a miracle, began the building of the Mirisveti Dagaba on that spot, in penance for his failure to share with the priesthood a ripe chilly-pod (miris). He also constructed the Brazen Palace, so called from its tiles being of brass: this also is attributed to Devanampiya Tissa. His chief work of piety, however, was the great Ruwanweli Dagaba or Maha Thupa, erected upon the site where Buddha had stayed on his third visit to Lanka. The huge mass was still unfinished and lacking the spire when Duttha Gamani fell sick. His younger brother, Saddha Tissa, having covered the dagaba with white cloth and crowned it with' a spire of bamboo, the king was brought out and died, his eyes fixed on his masterpiece. He had reigned twenty-four years. Duttha Gamani, as seen by later generations, too well acquainted with Dravidian conquerors, became the heroic figure of Sinhala history, the expeller of the foreigner and the restorer of the national religion…….”

Parthi’s article is another example of the attempt to discredit non-partisan histories of Sri Lanka and India. This kind of misinformation also contests the irrefutable ancient Buddhist and Sinhala archaeological remains scattered throughout the disputed areas.

1. Codrington’s “Brief History of Lanka”    http://lakdiva.org/codrington/ 2. Tamil History from a Tamil POV. http://www.tamilnation.org/heritage/index.htm —Preceding unsigned comment added by username (talk • contribs)

I had nothing to do with the edits in this article
You should see the http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dutte_Gamini&action=history before make claims against me. My only contribution to this article was to add the tag.

By the way sign your comments. Leaving anonymous comments is a sign of cowardise.

Parthi (Venu62) 23:00, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

My Apologies
Senthilkumaras was the original contributor and you had just challenged him. Looks like I shot the messenger. I have since educated myself on how the Wikipedia works.

Dingiri Bandara. e-mail: Dingiri_Bandara@yahoo.co.in (So there you go. You have my name now. I have incorrectly called you a liar and you have incorrectly called me a coward so I guess we are quits. By the way "cowardice" is spelt with a "c" and not an "s".

Glad that you guys sorted that out ...
.. so let's get down to the editing. I'm not very familiar with Sinhalese history, but I see the same POV problems in the Elaalan article. Can we come up with a list of things to change? The more obvious adjectives and vague statements will be corrected easily, so what we need is a list of facts and cites. Kingsleyj 23:54, 20 May 2006 (UTC)