The elusive alms bowl of the Buddha
One of the most intriguing relics of the Buddha is his alms bowl – that was by his side as he trudged far and wide barefoot on the dusky plains and mountains and jungles of ancient India.
The Enlightened One may have utilised several bowls over a preaching life of 45 years; one of these, at least, keeps appearing sporadically in the history of our island.
It must be noted there are two bowl legends. One runs like a motif through the Mahavamsa chronicle of Lanka, appearing and disappearing till the 14th Century, while another trail can be picked up in hilly northern India (see box). This second bowl is exhibited in the Kabul National Museum amidst kukris and Persian carpets.
Vidyajyothi Raja de Silva, former Archaeological Commissioner, tells us that the stone bowl, according to legend, was borne hither by the Sumana Samanera who was in the retinue of the Thera Mahinda who brought Buddhism to Lanka.
It was kept at Mihintale, then at the royal palace of King Devanampiyatissa (247-207), whereon it was to be part of the royal symbols.
King Valagambahu (29-17 BC), had to leave the bowl relic behind when he fled from the Tamil invaders and the latter spirited away the sacred relic.
Mr. de Silva says the bowl was back by the time of Upatissa I (362-409), son of the physician King Buddhadasa, for the Mahavamsa records a ritual to placate weather gods following a drought: the bowl was placed on the folded hands of a golden Buddha statue filled with water. The Gangarohana Sutta was chanted and the rains came promptly.
In the Middle Ages, the bowl relic was in danger because of the heretic Vikkramabahu II (1116-1137) so the forest monks secreted it to Ruhuna. There it grew to be the symbol of sovereignty with the Sacred Tooth Relic, and ‘the battle of the relics’ had Parakramabahu from Polonnaruwa and dowager queen Sugala from Ruhuna engage in spirited skirmishes.
Finally Parakramabahu’s men seized the relic and brought it to a new temple – the magnificent Vatadage in Polonnaruwa with its classic stone pillars and carving. After the KalingaMagha and Chandrabhanu invasions, the Raja Rata civilization crumbled; in the next ephemeral hill kingdom of Dambadeniya, Vijayabahu III had the relic, earlier hidden in Kotmale by monks, brought to Beligala in Kegalle and installed in state.
The scholar king Parakramabahu II had both relics brought to Sirivaddhana. The poetmonarch lacked no prowess in the battlefield and defeated Tamil invaders come to ravage the Maya kingdom, protecting both relics.
The last mention of the relic appears in the 14th Century during the reign of Parakramabahu IV (1302- 1332) of Haththigiri-pura (modern day Kurunegala). The Mahavamsa has it that a temple was built in the palace courtyard where both relics were placed on an asana with daily poojas with music and dancing and decorations of flowers, incense and rows of lamps.
After this the Buddha’s alms bowl relic receives no mention in the chronicles. It seems to vanish off the pages completely.