together with Mâhinda and several others, are reported in the Mahâvaṁśa to have gone abroad to propagate the Bauddha religion, and as several caverns are found in the vicinity of a place called Ariṭṭâpatti (the village of Ariṭṭa), it might be presumed that this place was the first settlement of the Singhalese apostle Ariṭṭa of the 3rd century B.C. Whatever might have been the origin of Buddhism in other parts of the Dekkan, it was in all probability introduced into the Pâ–ḍya territory from Ceylon, mostly after the 18th year of the reign of Aśôka. It is also likely that even in earlier times Buddhist influence was left in the Pâṇḍya country, as its people appear to have had frequent communication and even marriage connection with the early colonisers of Ceylon in the 5th century B.C.