Lambakaṇṇā untranslated

Lambakaṇṇā, Lambakaṇṇas. A gotta, mentioned in the Chronicles as being among the inhabitants of Ceylon. The Lambakaṇṇas had, probably, certain duties to perform in connection with the consecration of a king. This was perhaps the reason why Parakkamabāhu I. gave them a prominent place in the ceremonies held in honour of the Tooth Relic (Cv.lxxiv.213); see also below, in the text.

We find that Iḷanāga, when he went to take his ceremonial bath in Tissavāpi, was enraged on finding that the Lambakaṇṇā were not there. As a punishment, he ordered them to work at the remaking of a road along the bank of the tank, leading to the Mahā Thūpa, and set caṇḍālas to supervise them. Full of anger, the Lambakaṇṇas rose in revolt and seized the throne. Three years later the king returned from exile, and, having defeated the Lambakaṇṇas, made them drag his chariot in triumphal procession. When he proposed to behead them his mother intervened, and he contented himself with having their noses and toes cut off (Mhv.xxxv.18ff).

The Lambakaṇṇas were evidently a powerful clan, and several members of the clan ruled as kings of Ceylon – e.g., Vasabha, Saṅghatissa, Saṅghabodhi and Goṭhābhaya, the last three of whom came from Mahiyaṅgaṇa and seized the throne from Vijayakumāra (Mhv.xxxvi.58ff). Between the reign of Kittisirimegha and the Coḷiyan conquest in 1017 CE. i.e., between the third and the eleventh centuries out of thirty-six kings who occupied the throne of Ceylon the majority belonged to either the Moriyā or the Lambakaṇṇā. A clan of Lambakaṇṇas lived also in South India in the twelfth century. When Laṅkāpura, acting under the orders of Parakkamabāhu I., crowned Vīrapaṇḍu as king of Paṇḍu, three Lambakaṇṇa chiefs were asked to carry out “the duties of the Lambakaṇṇas” (Lambakaṇṇadhuraṁ) (Cv.lxxvii.27f).

The name may have had a totemistic origin, but according to some Sinhalese Chronicles (e.g., the Saddharmaratnākara and the Pārakumbāsirita) the Lambakaṇṇas of Ceylon were a branch of the Moriyas. They claimed descent from Sumitta – a prince of the Moriyan clan, who formed one of the escort that brought the Bodhi-tree from India – and Sumanā, a princess of the same race, who was at one time a nun, ordained under Saṅghamittā. According to these Chronicles most of the kings of Ceylon down to the time of Parakkamabāhu VI. were scions of this clan. In Ceylon, the Lambakaṇṇas had settlements in Rohaṇa. See, e.g., AN­a.i.262.