Ponniyin Selvan is being very successfully screened in India these days. The story of the movie is about the Chola empire in India. A Sri Lankan actor also acts in this film. His character in the film is Vth Mahinda.
The V th Mahinda became famous in Sri Lanka after Mahinda Rajapaksa became president. One of the main themes of the campaign launched by the Rajapaksas for the 2010 presidential election was that Mahinda Rajapaksa would be referred in Sri Lankan history as the VI th Mahinda. But those who carried this campaign did not know who was the V Mahinda.
Who is this Vth Mahinda…?
Vth. Mahinda was the brother of King Sena the Vth. He became king at an unfortunate time. In Mahawanshaya it is mentioned that he ruled, defying royal doctrine. Mahavanshaya also mentioned that because of this, the people of the country defaulted on tax payments.
Due to non payment of taxes, entire kingdom was in a mess. The king’s servants , kings army were not paid wages. The army rebelled against the king saying that if they were not paid for them to eat they would not allow king to eat. Food production collapsed completely.
The countrymen went to the extreme of poverty. Fear of famine and riots broke out in many parts of the country. King got scared and ran away to Ruhuna. During this time, Chola traders from India were coming to Sri Lanka. A horse trader who saw the situation and informed the king about the condition of Sri Lanka.
Chola king thought this is the ideal time to capture Lanka and immediately sent an army to Lanka. The army went straight to Ruhuna. Chola Army sent a message to King Mahinda, who was hiding in Ruhuna, thinking that he would be troubled by the kingdom’s army and countrymen.
The message was that , Chola King is willing to sign an agreement to help the king protect his kingship. King Mahinda swallowed the rope. He came out of his hiding.
The Chola army robbed the king’s wealth and took the king like a prisoner to their country. The Cholas ruled Sri Lanka by plundering it. King Mahinda died as a prisoner in Chola country.
Gotabaya became the President as the VIIth, Mahinda after Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was the VIth, Mahinda. As the Vth Mahinda Gotabaya faced the same fate . During the reign of Mahinda the Vth , there was a severe famine. There was a severe economic crisis during Gotabaya’s time. King Mahinda the Vth was unable to control the public uprising caused by the famine.
The army did not carry out his orders. Even Gotabaya could not suppress the struggle. Like Mahinda the Vth , Gotabhaya also sought help from India to escape to India. The Chola king helped Mahinda VI th with refuge status in India and the Chola king to invade Ceylon.
Modi’s government in India did not protect Gotabaya because they did not want to face the wrath of the people who supported the Sri Lankan struggle. If India’s Prime Minister Modi wanted, Gotabhaya could have been protected by India and ruled Sri Lanka, keeping Gotabaya as a puppet. But Modi took the side of the people of Sri Lanka.
Modi was not like the Emperor of Chola. Sabaskaran Alirajah has produced the movie of the Chola emperor. He was born in the Chola Empire of the North, what Prabhakaran had dreamed, and then moved to London and started the business called Leica Mobile. But film actor Seeman, who is a follower of Prabhakaran in Tamil Nadu, says that he is making a film about Prabhakaran’s Chola Empire. However, had Prabhakaran’s Chola Empire dream realised, the politics of Sri Lanka’s VI Mahinda Rajapaksa and VIIth Mahinda Gotabhaya would have ended in 2009.
By Upul Joseph Fernando