VALAGAM BA (103B.C & 89 - 76 B.C.)

            After Saddha Tissa, his four sons became king one after the other. Valagam Ba was the last of them. In those days, the very south of India was divided into three kingdoms. The one nearest to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) was called Pandya. The one north-east of Pandya was called Chola and the one north-west of Pandya was called cera or kerala. A few months after valagam Ba became king, a Brahmin, called Tissa, started a rebellion. Seven Tamil princes came to Ceylon from Pandya, took Anuradhapura and turned Valagam Ba, off the throne. They probably landed near Mantai and came along the Malvatu Oya. Five of them ruled over Ceylon, one after the other, and the last of them was put to death by Valagam Ba, who became king once more.

            While these five Tamil kings were ruling at Anuradhapura, Valagam Ba wandered about the jungle south of Anuradhapura and in the district of Malaya. It is said that he made a vow that if he became king once more, he would make vihares of all the caves in which he had taken shelter. So when he really did become king again, he got drip-lines cut to prevent the water from flowing into the caves when it rained. Of course that does not mean that every cave which has a dri-line was made into a vihare by Valagam Ba. For example, the Dambulla caves, which also have drip-lines, were given to the bhikkus by Saddha Tissa, the father of Valagam Ba.

            During the time the Tamil Kings were ruling in Ceylon,there was a famine which lasted for many years and a great many people died because they did not have enough food to est. the Buddhist bhikkus thought that it would be a good thing to write down the Buddhist scriptures because so many of those who knew the scriptures had already died. It wasdifficult sometimes to find more than one or two who knew what ought to be in the books. So, some time after, the Buddhist Pali scriptures, called the Tripitaka, and the explanations, called Atthakatha or Commentaries, were written down.

            Now that the bhikkus had begun writing down their religious works, they also began writing down what was happening in the country. They wrote down what people told them about past kings and what had happened in their reigns, too. That is how we know something about Devanampiya Tissa and Mahinda, and Dutugamunu and his brother Saddha Tissa.

            Valagam Ba did a great a great deal for Buddhism. He built the Abhayagiri Vihare, which is in the north of Anuradhapura. It became a very famous place and was as important as the Mahavihare. The Abhayagiri dagoba was later made bigger by Gajaba (A.D. 114-136) to a height of about 450 feet. It is one of the largest dagobas in Ceylon.           

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