In publishing this article, Te Ao Hou does not show its support of the theory here advanced (see note at end of article), but wishes to show appreciation to Mr Bokala-mulla for his expressions of friendship. Greetings from Lanka (Ceylon) The caption may, perhaps, be puzzling to the reader of this article and some explanation appears necessary therefore at the outset. As two Colombo Plan students on a study tour in Rotorua, a colleague of mine and I were present at the reception accorded the Maori Affairs Parliamentary Committee at the Tamate Kapua Meeting House the other day. We were of course, not there on official invitation but at the personal invitation of a friend who took part in the concert at this grand function. My colleague and I were complete strangers at this colourful gathering and the only acquaintances were a couple of Maori Welfare Officers. After an eloquent welcome to the Parliamentary group, there came a thunderous roar of greetings from the distinguished guests, who spoke one after another. They made bold claims of their kinship bonds with their brethren in Rotorua in their utterances. There were greetings from Taranaki, Waitaki, Murupara and the distant corners of the South Island. But I wonder if anybody present could ever dream that the two strangers amidst them too had their kinship claims to the Maoris of New Zealand, just as much as any tribal member present. They did not for a moment think that we were so close to them in our blood and in the very origin of our race. We were lost to each other as a race for the last 3,000 years and it was most unfortunate that our cultural ties remained buried and obscure in the misty past. Let me crave your indulgence at this stage to enlighten you on our claims and bring you our greetings from Lanka — the land of the Lion Race.

Origin and Chronology It is generally accepted that the Maoris are the descendants of a race that came from Asia to the Pacific Islands and from there to New Zealand about 1,000 B.C. India being the cradle of civilisation in the East, there is strong evidence to prove that the Maoris came from India too. Maybe they took thousands of years to complete their so-called ‘Great Migration’. Indian history is written and recorded in rock edicts, in the Vedas and the Epics, and proved in India's recent archaeological excavations. Unfortunately, this has not been the case with the Maori. However, the legends and traditions, the arts and crafts, the beliefs and customs of the Maoris bear a very strong similarity to those of North India. In Lanka too, we have a recorded history of over 2,000 years and the ruined cities of Ceylon with their wealth of historical remains bear testimony to this assertion. A study of contemporary events that took place both in Maoridom and Lanka (Ceylon) will make our similarities very clear. Hawaiki refers to a far-off land in the west and the historians agree that the low-lying fields of Bengal with the mountainous terrain hinterland is the Hawaiki of the Maori. From about 1,000 to 500 B.C. the mainland of India was full of tribes and tribal strife. There were the Nagas, Yakkas, Arawas, Sooriyas or Sauris, Maullis, Mohanasa, Meena, Kuri and Mauriyas — the Maoris. Also in India there was a tribe called ‘Sinha’, or the Lions, in what was then known as Latarata. The popular place names like Karanasi, Ujjain, Bali, Rangagiri, Ava, Manupoori, Uri and Mandura, all correspond to some place names in Maoridom — viz., Taranaki, Urewera, Pari, Rangiriri, Hawaiki, Manapouri and Uri. About 1,000 B.C., a General called Chandragupta of the Mauriya dynasty founded the empire of Mauriya in India and