‘එකමත් එක කාලයක” Once upon a time, in our land where there are some gentle hills, is situated a small lake. Around the lake there were forests, and, in the forests, there were a lot of animals. There were elephants, deer, jackals, leopards, monkeys, and all sorts of birds. In the lake, there were many fish and tortoises that all seemed to be very happy because there was no animal that wanted to eat them.
It was always cool, and there was some rain. In the middle of this beautiful location, adjoining the lake, was a large rock. There were many caves in the rock. In one of these caves, a holy man lived who used to pray to the gods every day. On full moon days, people from the nearby village came to the rock and offered flowers to the gods and the holy man. “Aney hondai “ (අනේ හොඳයි) said the audience. It was good.
One day a farmer brought his daughter who was suffering from a fever, offered flowers, lit an oil lamp, and prayed to the gods and the holy man to cure her illness. After the offerings, the farmer’s daughter was cured. Soon after the farmer’s daughter was cured, he returned to the rock with the rest of his family, lit several oil lamps, and passed on good merit to the gods and the holy man. (Merry sounds of the rabanna. A happy tune was played on the hand drum by a young man in the audience).
It was the full moon day of Poson. Before sunrise people from the nearby villages brought milk rice and beautiful frangipani flowers and offered them to the holy man and the gods. The people also lit oil lamps and prayed that the gods would bring continued happiness and food for them and their families to eat. Everything was peaceful and the people were happy that they could thank the holy man and the gods for their good luck and the peace that they loved. While these good things were happening no one noticed that a little tortoise from the lake had got stuck between two rocks and could not get back to its mother who was weeping and calling for help. “අන්නෙය් “ “Anney”, cried the audience. Just as when the mother tortoise had given up all hope, a lovely white stork appeared in the sky and came and spoke to the mother tortoise and asked her why she was sad and crying. The mother tortoise explained the situation and showed the stork where her little baby had got stuck between the two rocks. The stork was full of compassion and calmed the mother tortoise and said that it would save the baby tortoise. The stork with its long beak easily prised the baby tortoise from the two rocks and returned it to the mother who was joyful. Both mother and baby returned to their part of the lake to join the rest of their family and friends. The stork was glad that once again everything was peaceful. (“Hondai! Hondai” cried the audience). Great! Great! The intoxicant was passed around.
There were many happy incidents like this and very soon the rock was called sen-kada-gala (the rock near the lake where there is calmness and peace).
On another day a basket weaver came near the rock to cut some grass stems and saw a jackal chasing after a small deer to kill it. As soon as the deer reached the rock the deer turned around and without fear chased after the jackal. It appeared that the holy man and the gods changed the situation and saved the life of the deer. (“Hondai! Hondai”, cried the audience). “Great! Great!”
The basket weaver told the story of the jackal and the small deer to King Vikramabahu who was ruling at that time. The king went to that place and thought that the place near the rock would make a good victorious place for him to build his capital city (raja dhaniya). He named his city Senkadagala Siriwardhana Maha Nuwara (meaning ‘great city of Senkadagala of growing resplendence’), generally shortened to ‘Maha Nuwara’.
Narrator’s note:
- Some people say that the king used the name ‘Senkada” to honour one of his queens. Some others say that the rock was named after the holy man whose name was ‘Senkanda”.
- Vikramabahu (1357–1374 AD) ruled from Gampola.
By Rudra De Zoysa – Gold Coast, Australia
