The name of a river and of the district
near its mouth in Ceylon. The Buddha visited the Kalyāni country in the eighth
year after the Enlightenment, in company with five hundred monks, on the second
day after the full-moon of Vesākha and, seated on the spot where the
Kalyāni-Cetiya was later built, he preached to the Nāgas and their king
Maniakkhika, at whose invitation he had come (Sp.i.89; Mhv.i.63, 75ff;
Dpv.ii.42, 53; J. ii.128).
Once a king reigned in Kalyānī named Kalyani-Tissa,
who had a daughter Vihāramahādevī. According to the legends connected
with her, Kalyānī was at one time much further from the sea than it is now. The
sea swallowed up several leagues of land (Mhv.Xxii.12ff). King Yatthāla-Tissa
built a five-storied pāsāda in the town, which was later restored by
Parakkamabāhu II (Cv.lxxxv.64).
The Kalyāni district formed the fighting
base of several campaigns. E.g., Cv.lxi.35, 39; lxxii.151.

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