MIHENTALE

The king he would a-hunting go with a hundred lords and ladies gay.

Once upon such escapade he Went to the Missaka mountain, eight miles out of Anuradhapura. There in a covert stood a stag a majestic sambur. To make it run he twanged his bow. The stag vanished in a trice, And all at once, upon a crag, stood Mahinda, son of Asoka, apostle of Sri Lanka. 

The king was  Devanampiyatissa and the century 3rd BC Gontly the arahat spoke to the king the Buddha word of‘universal compassion. And hunting forgotten, the king and his entourage, in time all his people, were converted. So runs the tale no fable. The hill was renamed for Mahinda. In that fair sylvan setting, you may see his rocky bed and pillow lying between   two precariously Perched  boulders up endless flights of steps reach perhaps the holy stupa Ambasthgle.