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Mime in Love (c. 1912) Autochrome photographs by Alfonse Van Besten

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Tamalinda – A Princely Pilgrim

The 10th to 15th century C.E. marked a period of increasingly intensive religious movement in the Indian Ocean World. The island of Sri Lanka quickly grew in importance as the religious centre of Theravada Buddhism, leading to numerous pilgrims flocking towards the island. Buddhist activities ranged in import and participation with pilgrims travelling to study with the Sihala Sangha and/or visit relics, such as the famed Buddha’s tooth relic hosted in Anuradhapura and later Polonnaruva. Visitors from across South and Southeast Asia flocked to these sites as pilgrims, merchants, nobility, and religious scholars. 

One such pilgrim is Tamalinda, identified by George Coedes as the son of Jayavarman VII, king of the Khmer Empire in Cambodia. Though not much is known about Tamalinda, through epigraphic remains it is indicated that he was a native of the Khmer Empire who became ordained as a monk in Sri Lanka. Sometime at the end of the 12th century C.E., Tamalinda travelled to Burma with three other monks who were well versed in Tripitaka, or the Theravada discourses of the Buddha. The nationalities of these monks were quite diverse, drawing from Tamralipti and Kanchipura on the east coast of India and a native Sinhalese from Sri Lanka. On their return to Burma, Tamalinda along with the others formed a Sinhala sect and established a stronghold for Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia.

Tamalinda is a wonderful representation of the individuality of these Buddhist pilgrims and how the movement of Buddhist thought and ritual occurred. Many Southeast Asian Kings and nobility during this period would send their sons or daughters to Sri Lanka to receive spiritual education, reinforce diplomatic relationships, or solidify alliances through betrothal. Along with the movement of people, it is believed that Tamalinda greatly contributed to the shift from Mahayana to Theravada practice in the Khmer Empire. This can be seen in the movement to wooden architecture and ritual artifacts, as the new religion substituted wood for stone as a more convenient and expedient resource.

Although many of these organic temples and statues no longer remain, we can see how Buddhist statues like these would have been contemporary to Tamalinda and representative of the diplomacy that noble Buddhist rulers and monks engaged in. This ethnographic wooden Buddha statue from the 14th to 15th century is seen to parallel the artistry from the 13th century motifs seen on the walls of the temple of Angkor Thom. The end of the hereditary priestdom of Mahayana Buddhism in the Khmer Empire facilitated a greater participation in pilgrimage and ritual by the laity, thus making wooden temples and statuary a more ubiquitous and affordable commodity.

Image Source: https://www.cambodiamuseum.info/en_collection/wooden_object/adorned_buddha.html

Bibliography:

Goonatilake, H. (2003). Sri Lanka -Cambodia Relations with Special Reference to the Period 14th-20th Centuries. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka, 48: 191-211.

Manukulasooriya, R. D. D. S. (1979). Transport in Sri Lanka in Ancient and Medieval Times. Journal of the Sri Lanka Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 24: 49-85.

Nissan, E. (1988). Polity and Pilgrimage Centres in Sri Lanka. Man, New Series, 23(2): 253-257.

Rathnayaka, U. N. K. (2018). The Introduction and Improvement of the Sihala Sangha. The International Journal of Humanities & Social Studies, 6(11): 266-269.