Cetiyapabbata untranslated

Cetiyapabbata, Cetiyagiri. The later name of the Missaka mountain given on account of its many shrines. Devānampiyatissa built a vihāra there – the second vihāra in Ceylon – for Mahinda and those ordained under him (Mhv.xvi.12-17). The relics, obtained by Sumana Sāmaṇera from Asoka and from Sakka, were deposited there until they were needed. According to the Mahā Vaṁsa (Mhv.xxii.23ff) this fact was the occasion for the name. One of the eight saplings of the Sacred Bodhi-tree at Anurādhapura was planted in the ārāma on Cetiyagiri (Mhv.xix.62). Mahinda spent the last years of his life on Cetiyagiri and died there, and there his relics were enshrined (Mhv.xx.32, 45). Near the mountain was the village of Dvāramaṇḍala (Mhv.xxiii.23). Kuṭakaṇṇatissa built an uposatha-hall on the mountain and planted a Bodhi-tree, while Bhātikābhaya supplied food daily to one thousand monks dwelling there (Mhv.xxxiv.30f, 64), and Lañjakatissa had the vihāra paved at a cost of one hundred thousand (Mhv.xxxiii.25). Mahā Dāṭhika Mahā Nāga made four gateways and a road round the mountain, and held the Giribhaṇḍapūjā with great pomp and ceremony; it is said that in order that the people might approach the mountain with clean feet he spread carpets right up to it from the Kadamba River (Mhv.xxxiv.75ff). Kanirajānutissa had sixty monks of Cetiyapabbata put to death as traitors by flinging them into the cave called Kanira (Mhv.xxxv.11). Vasabha provided four thousand lamps to be lighted on Cetiyagiri (Mhv.xxxv.80), while Jeṭṭhatissa gave to the vihāra the income derived from the Kāḷamattika Tank (Mhv.xxxvi.130; see also Dpv.xv.69; xvii.90; xix.13, and Vin-a.i.82ff).

In the time of Kakusandha, Cetiyagiri was known as Devakūṭa, that of Koṇāgamana as Suvaṇṇakūṭa, and in that of Kassapa as Subhakūṭa (Vin-a.i.86f). The Dhammarucikas once occupied the Ambatthalavihāra on Cetiyapabbata, it having been given to them by Dhātusena (Cv.xxxviii.75). Aggabodhi supplied a permanent supply of water for the bathing-tank called Nāgasoṇḍi, on the top of Cetiyagiri (Cv.xlii.28; see Cv.Trs.i.68, n.8), while Aggabodhi III. gave to the vihāra the village of Ambillapadara (Cv.xliv.122). Aggabodhi V. restored the ruined buildings of Cetiyapabbata at a cost of one hundred and twenty thousand pieces (Cv.xlviii.7), while the queen of Udaya I, built there the Kanthaka cetiya, and her husband decorated the mountain with brightly coloured flags and streamers (Cv.xlix.23, 27). Sena I, gave to the monastery the income from the Kāṇavāpi (Cv.l.72), and Sena II. Provided a hospital for the use of the monks there (Cv.li.73). Kassapa VI. built the Hadayuṇhapariveṇa and gifted it to the Dhammarucikas (Cv.lii.18). Parakkamabāhu I. restored all the old buildings which had been destroyed and built sixty-four Thūpas (Cv.lxxviii.108).

The Commentaries relate several anecdotes connected with Cetiyapabbata. Maliyadeva Thera recited there the Chachakkasutta, and sixty listening bhikkhus became Arahants (MN­a.ii.1064). Lomasanāga Thera lived in the Padhānaghara in the Piyaṅguguhā there and overcame the cold he felt by meditating on the Lokantarikaniraya (MN­a.i.65). Cetiyapabbata was the residence of Kāḷa Buddharakkhita, and King Saddhātissa spent some time there (MN­a.i.469f. See also Vsm.20, 64; Dhsa.194, 200; AN­a.i.44). At the time that Faxian came to Ceylon there were two thousand monks in Cetiyagiri, including a monk of great fame, called Dharmagupta (Giles: p.72).