Mahinda's Mission: How Buddhism Reached Sri Lanka in 247 BC

Mahinda’s mission is the traditional story of how Buddhism reached Sri Lanka in the 3rd century BC, usually dated to 247 BC. Mahinda, a monk and son of the Indian emperor Ashoka, is said to have met King Devanampiya Tissa on the hill of Mihintale and converted him and his court. The event is regarded in Sri Lanka as the founding moment of the island’s Buddhist civilisation.

Background

In the mid-3rd century BC the Mauryan emperor Ashoka ruled most of the Indian subcontinent and actively promoted Buddhism. According to the Theravada tradition, after the Third Buddhist Council at Pataliputra the elder Moggaliputta Tissa sent missionaries to nine regions, and Mahinda was chosen for Lanka.

The chronicles say Mahinda was born to Ashoka and a merchant’s daughter, Devi, at Vidisha in central India. He was ordained at about 20 under Moggaliputta Tissa, together with his sister Sanghamitta, who became a nun.

In Sri Lanka, Devanampiya Tissa had recently become king at Anuradhapura, the island’s capital. He had friendly relations with Ashoka and, according to the chronicles, had sent envoys with gifts to the Mauryan court and received royal regalia and a message urging him to take refuge in the Buddha.

The meeting at Mihintale

Mahinda travelled with four monks, named in the Mahavamsa as Itthiya, Uttiya, Sambala and Bhaddasala, the novice Sumana and a lay follower, Bhanduka. The chronicles say they arrived through the air on the Missaka hill, about 12 km east of Anuradhapura, now known as Mihintale.

That day, at the full moon of the month of Jettha, the king was out hunting deer. Mahinda called him by name. To test whether the king could understand the teaching, he asked a series of riddles about a mango tree, its neighbours and its relatives. Pleased with the king’s answers, he preached the Culahatthipadopama Sutta, the “Shorter Discourse on the Simile of the Elephant’s Footprint”. The king and his 40,000 followers, the chronicles say, took refuge in the Buddha.

Founding Buddhism on the island

Mahinda was invited to Anuradhapura, where he preached to the royal women and to crowds of townspeople. The king gave the Mahamegha park to the monks, and there the Mahavihara, the “Great Monastery”, was founded. It became the centre of Theravada Buddhism for many centuries.

The king’s sister-in-law, Queen Anula, and many women wished to be ordained, but only a nun could ordain them. Sanghamitta was therefore invited from India. She brought a cutting of the Bodhi tree under which the Buddha had attained enlightenment, planted at Anuradhapura as the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi, and established the order of nuns.

The Thuparama, the island’s first stupa, was built to hold a relic said to be the Buddha’s right collarbone. Mahinda is also credited with bringing the commentaries on the scriptures, which were later translated into Sinhala. According to the Mahavamsa, he died in the eighth year of King Uttiya’s reign, at about 60 years of age.

History and legend

The story is recorded in the Dipavamsa (4th century AD) and the Mahavamsa (5th or 6th century AD), written many centuries after the events. Miraculous elements, such as the monks flying through the air, are clearly legendary. Buddhism may also have reached the island earlier through traders and travellers from India.

Nevertheless, the core of the account fits the evidence. Early Brahmi inscriptions in Sri Lanka, from about the 3rd century BC onwards, record gifts of rock shelters to Buddhist monks, and the close ties between Ashoka and Devanampiya Tissa are consistent with Ashoka’s known missions abroad.

Mihintale as a pilgrimage site

Mihintale became one of the holiest places in Sri Lanka. A long stone stairway of more than 1,800 steps, built in later centuries, leads up the hill through terraces of monastic buildings. Near the summit, the small Ambasthala dagoba is traditionally said to mark the spot where Mahinda and the king met.

Other places on the hill are linked with the story by tradition. They include the rock on which Mahinda is said to have landed, known as Aradhana Gala, and a natural rock shelter called Mahinda’s Bed, where he is believed to have meditated. Ruins of hospitals, refectories and stupas show that a large monastery flourished there for many centuries.

Timeline

• c. 268 BC: Ashoka becomes Mauryan emperor (date approximate).
• c. 250 BC: Third Buddhist Council at Pataliputra, according to Theravada tradition.
• c. 247 BC: Devanampiya Tissa begins his reign at Anuradhapura; Mahinda arrives at Mihintale (traditional dating).
• Soon after: The Mahavihara is founded in the Mahamegha park at Anuradhapura.
• Following years: Sanghamitta arrives with the Bodhi tree sapling and founds the order of nuns.
• c. 207 BC: Death of Devanampiya Tissa (approximate).
• AD 4th–6th centuries: The Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa record the story.

Why it matters

Mahinda’s mission turned Sri Lanka into the main home of Theravada Buddhism, a role it still holds. From the island, monks and scriptures later spread the tradition to Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. Every year at the Poson full moon, usually in June, thousands of pilgrims climb the steps of Mihintale to commemorate his arrival.