Mahinda was the son of King
Aśoka, the greatest of all Buddhist rulers. After the Third
Council, held in
Patna, missionary monks were sent to the different regions of India and beyond. Mahinda was selected to lead a group of monks to the island of
Sri Lanka. Tradition says he flew to the Island, although evidence shows that he did missionary work in south India before going to Sri Lanka in about 246 BCE. After his arrival, he met and converted the
king and his court and gradually the whole country became Buddhist. Mahinda died in 202 BCE and after his
cremation his ashes were enshrined in several
stūpas erected around the Island. Mahinda’s arrival in Sri Lanka is celebrated with much enthusiasm in that country on the full moon of June-July.