Page 261 - Proceedings book

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Conclusion

Tension sometimes led friction. Privileges in irrigation rights enjoyed by monasteries
was probably a cause of friction between monastic and royal officials, particularly in

times of drought. There is at least one recorded instance of monks complaining to the
king of a violation of their irrigation rights by state officials and, in this case, the king

gave his verdict in favor of the monks. Rights that monasteries came to enjoy to

freedom from intervention by state officials probably caused many complications.
There are two recorded instances of major confrontation. Since state officials could

not enter monastic estates to apprehend offenders, men wanted by the law sought
refuge in monastic lands. In one instance, the king's high officials violated monastic

privileges in apprehending offenders who had sought refuge in a monastery and

executing them. The monks walked out of the capital in protest and the citizens of
Anuradhapura revolted in support of the monks, forcing the king to beg for

forgiveness from the monks. In the second instance it was the chief queen who was
accused by monks of violating their privileges. Though the king at the time was one

of the most militarily powerful rulers in history of the island, he was constrained to
punish his own queen by expelling her from the city.

Of course, this does not mean that the sangha always had the upper hand. Particularly
when monks tried their hand at such risky business as king-making, the results were

often disastrous. It was such an attempt which brought about a massive reversal of
their fortunes in the form of the confiscation of the wealth of the major monasteries in

the twelfth century. The material we have examined would help to clarify the special

context and conditions in which the term symbiosis could be used to characterize the
relationship between the sangha and the king. Symbiosis did not mean total harmony.

It was a generally accommodating and interdependent type of relationship which,
nevertheless, incorporated within its ambit a considerable share of competition,

friction and antagonism.

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