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Prince Vijaya ((シンハラ語:විජය කුමරු)) was a legendary king of Sri Lanka, mentioned in the Pali chronicles, including ''Mahavamsa''. He is the first recorded King of Sri Lanka. His reign is traditionally dated to 543–505 BCE. According to the legends, he and several hundred of his followers came to Lanka after being expelled from an Indian kingdom. In Lanka, they displaced the island's original inhabitants (Yakkhas), established a kingdom and became ancestors of the modern Sinhalese people. == Sources and variations of the legend == Broadly, there are four distinct versions of the legend that explains the origin of Sinhalese people. In all the versions, a prince comes to the island of Lanka, and establishes a community that gives rise to the Sinhalese race. The ''Mahavamsa'' and ''Dipavamsa'' name the prince as Vijaya, while the other two legends have different names for the prince.〔 ; ''Mahavamsa'' version : In this version, Vijaya's grandmother is a princess, whose ancestry is traced to the Vanga and Kalinga kingdoms (present-day Bengal and Odisha). She bears two children with Sinha ("lion"), who keeps them in captivity in a forest. After the princess and her two children escape from the captivity, her son Sinhabahu kills Sinha. Prince Vijaya is the son of the lion-killer Sinhabahu, who is the founder of a new kingdom called Sinhapura. Vijaya becomes the prince-regent of Sinhapura, but is exiled with 700 of his followers to Lanka, because of his evil deeds. The ''Mahavamsa'' version of the legend contains a contradiction: it states that during an earlier visit to Lanka, the Buddha expelled all the Yakkhas (Yakshas) of Lanka to another island called Giridipa. However, it later states that Vijaya encountered Yakkhas when he landed in Lanka, and a Yakkhini (female Yakkha) named Kuveni became his queen. Kuveni helps Vijaya destroy the Yakkha city of Sirisavatthu, and has two children with him. However, Vijaya has to marry a Kshatriya princess to be a legitimate ruler. Therefore, he marries the daughter of a Pandu king, who also sends other women as brides for Vijaya's followers. Kuveni and her two children leave for the Yakkha city of Lankapura, where she is killed by the Yakkhas for betraying them. Vijaya dies without an heir. Panduvasudeva, the son of his twin brother Sumitta, arrives from India, and takes charge of Vijaya's kingdom. The community established by Vijaya gives rise to the Sinhalese race.〔〔 ; ''Dipavamsa'' version : This version predates the ''Mahavamsa'' version. It is similar to the ''Mahavamsa'' version, but doesn't mention Kuveni (and other Yakkhas) or the South Indian princess.〔 ; Hiuen Tsang's account : In Hiuen Tsang's account, the princess abducted by the Sinha (the lion) comes from South India. There is no mention of Vanga, Kalinga or Lala. She and her two children escape from Sinha's captivity to their native kingdom in South India. Her son Chih-sse-tseu ("lion-catcher" i.e. Sinhabahu) later kills his father Sinha. He is given a reward, but also expelled and put on a ship, for the act of parricide. He lands on Ratnadeepa (Lanka, the "island of gems"), and settles there. He starts attacking naval merchants, who come to the island looking for gems. He captures the children of these merchants, and spares their lives, thus creating a community. Chih-sse-tseu himself has children (although their mother is not named), and his descendants divide people into classes, giving rise to the caste system. They also wage wars, expanding their territory. The community estbaished by Chih-sse-tseu gives rise to the Sinhalese race. There is no mention of Yakkhas in this version.〔 ;''Valahassa Jataka'' version : This Jataka version is depicted in the Ajanta cave paintings of India (''Simhala Avadana'' in Cave XVII). In this version, the prince who comes to the island is a merchant prince named Sinhala, who is the son of Sinha ("lion"). He and his 500 followers sail for the Ratnadeepa island, where they hope to find gems in the Sirisavatthu city. They get shipwrecked, but are saved by the Yakkhinis, who prey on the shipwrecked merchants. The Yakkhinis pretend to be the widows of the merchants who earlier visited the island. Sinhala marries the chief Yakkhini, but then discovers their true identity. He and 250 of his men escape from the island on a magical flying horse (''Valahassa''). The chief Yakkhini follows them to his paternal kingdom, and presents herself to his father Simha, as a woman wronged by the prince. Simha gives her shelter, but she devours him and the rest of his family, except the prince. She then returns to Ratnadeepa, where she devours the remaining 250 of Sinhala's followers. Sinhala succeeds his father as the king, and leads a military expedition to Ratnadeepa. He defeats the Yakkhinis, and establishes the kingdom of the Sinhalese. The ''Mahavamsa'' version, the most detailed of the above-mentioned versions, is described below. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Prince Vijaya」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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