With kings like this who need presidents?

With kings like this who need presidents?

King Wasaba  (121-171 AD ) who led a rebellion against Subaraaja ( Suba, made famous by Saimon Nawagaththegama’s stage drama Suba saha Yasa) made his uncle’s wife, Metta  his chief queen after killing Suba in the final  battle , and ruled Srilanka for 44 years , one of the longest reigns in the history of Srilanka. Incidentally his uncle was the army commander of king suba and he also fell in the same battle.

When he was looking for a suitable bride for his son Wankanasika Thissa , so named probably because of a crooked nose, like Gota Abhaya, he found the daughter of the king Suba  being brought up by a bricklayer,  to whom  her father has given the custody of the  girl before he went to war. Vanka nasika thissa married the princess and became the king but his reign was very short, only 3 years.

When the princess became the Queen she wanted to build a temple at certain place to fulfill a promise to a monk she made when she was being brought up by the bricklayer , but she couldn’t save enough money until her husband died. So when her son Gajabahu is crowned she has sufficient money and buys a piece of land from maha vihara, the foremost temple in Anuradhapura those days , for 100000 golds. And then the king Gajaba buys another land for 100000 golds and donates it to the temple so that the priests dwelling  there, have a sufficient   income to sustain..

Those days, unlike now, king’s will, was the law of the land. And king could do anything he wanted, but this short description, taken from mahawamsa , shows how sensitive the kings and royal family to property rights etcetera.  And this is taking place  long before magna carta , little more than 1000 years before.