Misraka Parvata
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Misraka (मिश्रक पर्वत) is a mountain mentioned in Mahavansha. It has been identified with present Mihintale in Sri Lanka.
Origin
Variants
- Misraka Parvata मिश्रक पर्वत, लंका, (AS, p.746)
- Mihintale (मिहिंतले)
- Missaka (मिस्सक) / Missakamountain: Mahavansa Ch.13,Ch.14, Ch.17
- Missakapabbata
History
Mihintale is a mountain peak near Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka. It is believed by Sri Lankans to be the site of a meeting between the Buddhist monk Mahinda and King Devanampiyatissa which inaugurated the presence of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. It is now a pilgrimage site, and the site of several religious monuments and abandoned structures.
In Mahavansha
Mahavansa/Chapter 13 mentions....When the prince Asoka, while ruling over the realm of Avanti, that his father had bestowed on him, halted in the town of Vedisa, before he came to Ujjeni, and met there a lovely maiden named Devi, the daughter of a merchant, he made her his wife; and she was (afterwards) with child by him and bore in Ujjeni a beautiful boy, Mahinda, and when two years had passed (she bore) a daughter, Samghamitta. At that time she lived in the city of Vedisa. The thera who then- sojourned there, perceiving (that) the time (was come), thought thus: `In that great festival of consecration commanded by my father shall the great king Devanampiyatissa take part, and he shall know the splendour of the three things when he has heard it from the envoys. He shall climb the Missakamountain on the uposatha-day of the month Jettha. On that same day we will go to the beauteous isle of Lanka.'
The great Indra sought out the excellent thera Mahinda and said to him: `Set forth to convert Lanka; by the Sambuddha also hast thou been foretold (for this) and we will be those who aid thee there.'
The son of a daughter of Devi's sister, (a youth) named Bhanduka, who had heard the doctrine preached by the thera to Devi, and who had obtained the reward of one who shall return no more unto life remained with the thera.
...When he had stayed there a month the thera, on the uposatha-day of the month Jettha, with the four theras and Sumana, and the lay-disciple Bhanduka also, to the end that they might be known for human beings, rose up in the air (and departed) from that vihara; and he, the (thera) of wondrous powers, coming hither with his following alighted on the pleasant Missaka-mountain, on the Sila-peak on the open and fair Ambatthala.
मिश्रक पर्वत, लंका
मिश्रक पर्वत, लंका, (AS, p.746) महावंश 13,18-20. वर्तमान मिहिंतले की पहाड़ी से इसका अभिज्ञान किया गया है. [1]