Place · Buddhist conversion hill · Sri Lanka
Mihintale
The hill 13 kilometres east of Anuradhapura where tradition places the first encounter between King Devanampiya Tissa of Sri Lanka and Ashoka's son (or missionary emissary) Mahinda in 247 BCE — the moment at which Mauryan missionary policy became a receiving kingdom's conversion event. The Mahavamsa chronicle narrates Mahinda testing the king's intelligence with a riddle about the mango tree. The site preserves the Ambasthala stupa marking the first meeting, Mahinda's cave, and the Kantaka Chetiya stupa (2nd c. BCE). Mihintale is the originary ground of Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhism and is still the departing point for the annual Poson Poya full-moon pilgrimage each June.
- Function
- Religious institution & practice
- Tradition
- Mahavamsa
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 8.355, 80.515
Connections (2)
- Teaching lineageMahinda
The Mahāvamsa has Mahinda meet Devānampiya Tissa on the hill at Mihintale about 247 BCE and test his intelligence with a riddle before teaching him. Whether or not it happened that way, the island dates its own history from it, and Poson full moon is a national holiday for it.
- TransmissionPātaliputra
Mahinda's mission from Pātaliputra to Mihintale is where Mauryan policy becomes another country's founding story. Ashoka's thirteenth edict names Tambapanni among the places his dhamma reached; the Mahāvamsa turns that into a named prince, a named king and a dated meeting on a hill. Poson full moon, the anniversary of that meeting, is a public holiday in Sri Lanka and fills the hill at Mihintale, which is a considerable afterlife for one Mauryan embassy.
On these journeys
Sources
Mihintale — Mahavamsa account
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