Mahāvaṃsa
Mahāvaṃsa | |
---|---|
Type | Post-canonical text; Pāli literature |
History of Sri Lanka | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chronicles | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
Periods | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
By Topic | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
Mahāvaṃsa (Sinhala: මහාවංශ (Mahāvansha), Pali: මහාවංස (Mahāvaṃsa)) is the meticulously kept historical chronicle of Sri Lanka until the period of Mahasena of Anuradhapura. It was written in the style of an epic poem written in the Pali language.[1] It relates the history of Sri Lanka from its legendary beginnings up to the reign of Mahasena of Anuradhapura covering the period between the arrival of Prince Vijaya from India in 543 BCE to his reign and later updated by different writers. It was first composed by a Buddhist monk at the Mahavihara temple in Anuradhapura in the 5th or 6th century CE.[2]
The Mahavamsa first came to the attention of Western researchers around 1809 CE, when Sir Alexander Johnston, Chief Justice of the British Ceylon, sent manuscripts of it and other Sri Lankan chronicles to Europe for translation and publication.[3] Eugène Burnouf produced a Romanized transliteration and translation into Latin in 1826, but these garnered relatively little attention.[4]: 86 Working from Johnston's manuscripts, Edward Upham published an English translation in 1833, but it was marked by several errors in translation and interpretation, among them suggesting that the Buddha was born in Sri Lanka and built a monastery atop Adam's Peak.[4]: 86 The first printed edition and widely read English translation was published in 1837 by George Turnour, a historian and officer of the Ceylon Civil Service who translated 38 chapters.[4]: 86 Mudaliyar L. C. Wijesinghe completed the remaining 62 chapters and reviewed Turnour's work, publishing in 1889.[5] A German translation of Mahavamsa was completed by Wilhelm Geiger in 1912. This was then translated into English by Mabel Haynes Bode, and revised by Geiger.[6]
In 2023, the Mahavamsa was listed an item of documentary heritage on the UNESCO’s Memory of the World International Register.[7][8]
Compilation
The Buddhist monks of the
Authorship of the Mahavamsa is attributed to an otherwise unknown monk called Mahānāma by the Mahavamsa-tika. Mahānāma is described as residing in a monastery belonging to general
Contents
The contents of the Mahavamsa can be broadly divided into four categories:[11]
- The Buddha's Visits to Sri Lanka: This material recounts three legendary visits by the Buddha to the island of Sri Lanka. These stories describe the Buddha subduing or driving away the Yakkhas (Yakshas) and Nagas that were inhabiting the island and delivering a prophecy that Sri Lanka will become an important Buddhist center. These visits are not mentioned in the Pali Canonor other early sources.
- Chronicles of Kings of Sri Lanka: This material consists of genealogies and lineages of Sri Lankan kings, sometimes with stories about their succession or notable incidents in their reigns. This material may have been derived from earlier royal chronicles and king lists that were recorded orally in vernacular languages, and are a significant source of material about the history of Sri Lanka and nearby Indian kingdoms.
- History of the Buddhist Sangha: This section of the Mahavamsa deals with the mission sent by Emperor Pali canonin writing. This is a significant source of material about the development of the early Buddhist community and includes the names of missionaries dispatched to various regions of South and Southeast Asia, some of which have been confirmed by inscriptions and other archaeological evidence.
- Chronicles of Sri Lanka: This material begins with the immigration of
While much of the contents of the Mahavamsa is derived from expansions of the material found in the Dipavamsa, several passages specifically dealing with the
Further compilations
A companion volume, the
The combined work sometimes referred to collectively as the Mahavamsa, provides a continuous historical record of over two millennia, and is considered one of the world's longest unbroken historical accounts.
Historical and literary significance
Historiographical sources are rare in much of South Asia. As a result of the Mahavamsa, comparatively more is known about the history of the island of Ceylon and neighboring regions than that of most of the subcontinent. Its contents have aided in the identification and corroboration of archaeological sites and inscriptions associated with early Buddhism, the empire of Ashoka, and even the Tamil kingdoms of southern India.[11]
The Mahamvasa covers the early history of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, beginning with the time of
Besides being an important historical source, the Mahavamsa is the most important epic poem in the Pali language. Its stories of battles and invasions, court intrigue, and great constructions of stupas and water reservoirs, written in elegant verse suitable for memorization, caught the imagination of the Buddhist world of the time. Unlike many texts written in antiquity, it also discusses various aspects of the lives of ordinary people, and how they joined the King's army or farmed. Thus the Mahavamsa was taken along the Silk Road to many Buddhist lands.[18] Parts of it were translated, retold, and absorbed into other languages. An extended version of the Mahavamsa, which gives many more details, has also been found in Southeast Asia.[19][11] The Mahavamsa gave rise to many other Pali chronicles, making Sri Lanka of that period probably the world's leading center in Pali literature.
Political significance
The Mahavamsa has, especially in modern Sri Lanka, acquired significance as a document with a political message.[20] The Sinhalese majority often use Mahavamsa as proof of their claim that Sri Lanka is a Sinhalese nation since historical time.
The British historian Jane Russell[21] has recounted how a process of "Mahavamsa bashing" began in the 1930s, from within the Tamil Nationalist movement. The Mahavamsa, being a history of the Sinhala Buddhists, presented itself to the Tamil Nationalists and the Sinhala Nationalists as the hegemonic epic of the Sinhala people. This view was attacked by G. G. Ponnambalam, a representative of the Nationalist Tamils in the 1930s. He claimed that most of the Sinhala kings, including Vijaya, Kasyapa, and Parakramabahu, were Tamils. Ponnambalam's 1939 speech in Nawalapitiya, attacking the claim that Sri Lanka is a Sinhalese, Buddhist nation was seen as an act against the notion of creating a Sinhalese-Buddhist only nation. The Sinhala majority responded with a mob riot, which engulfed Nawalapitiya, Passara, Maskeliya, and even in Tamil Jaffna.[21]: 148 [22]
Historical accuracy
Early Western scholars like Otto Franke dismissed the possibility that the Mahavamsa contained reliable historical content, but subsequent evidence from inscriptions and archaeological finds have confirmed that there is a factual basis for many of the stories recorded in the Mahavamsa, including Ashoka's missionary work and the kings associated with founding various monasteries and stupas.[4] The contents of the Mahavamsa beginning from the King Devanampiyatissa is considered mostly historically, apart from some bias by the writers.[23]
Geiger's Sinhala student G. C. Mendis was more openly skeptical about certain portions of the text, specifically citing the story of the Sinhala ancestor
The story of the Buddha's three visits to Sri Lanka is not recorded in any source outside of the Mahavamsa tradition.
The historical accuracy of Mahinda converting the Sri Lankan king to Buddhism is also debated. Hermann Oldenberg, a German scholar of Indology who has published studies on the Buddha and translated many Pali texts, considers this story a "pure invention". V. A. Smith (Author of Ashoka and Early History of India) also refers to this story as "a tissue of absurdities". V. A. Smith and Professor Hermann came to this conclusion due to Ashoka not mentioning the handing over of his son, Mahinda, to the temple to become a Buddhist missionary and Mahinda's role in converting the Sri Lankan king to Buddhism, in his 13th-year Rock Edicts, particularly Rock-Edict XIII.[23] Sources outside of Sri Lanka and the Mahavamsa tradition do not mention Mahinda as Ashoka's son.[4] There is also an inconsistency with the year in which Ashoka sent Buddhist missionaries to Sri Lanka. According to the Mahavamsa, the missionaries arrived in 255 BCE, but according to Edict 13, it was five years earlier in 260 BCE.[23]
Related works
The Mahavamsa is believed to have originated from an earlier chronicle known as the
A subsequent work sometimes known as
In 1935, Buddhist monk Yagirala Pannananda published
A commentary on the Mahavamsa, known as the Mahavamsa-tika, is believed to have been composed before the first additions composing the
Extended
In Southeast Asia, a Pali work referred to as the "Extended Mahavamsa" includes not only the text of the Sri Lankan Mahavamsa, but also elements of the
See also
References
- ISBN 978-81-224-1198-0.
- ^ Gananath Obeyesekere, “Buddhism, ethnicity and Identity: A problem of Buddhist History,” in “Journal of Buddhist Ethics”, 10, (2003): 46 https://blogs.dickinson.edu/buddhistethics/files/2010/04/Obeyesekere.pdf
- ISBN 0415544424.
- ^ ISBN 0801423953.
- ^ "The Mahavansa. Part II / translated from the original Pali into English for the Government of Ceylon by L.C. Wijesinha, mudaliyar". nla.gov.au. National Library of Australia. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
- ^ Mahavamsa. Ceylon Government. 1912.
- ^ "Mahavamsa, the Great Chronicle of Sri Lanka (covering the period 6th century BCE to 1815 CE)". UNESCO. 2023.
- ^ "'Mahavamsa': Great Chronicle of Sri Lanka added to UNESCO Memory of the World Register". Ada Derana. 27 June 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
- ^ Manjula, H.A.K.L., ed. (22 March 2022). "Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya". Lankapradeepa. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
- ^ Oldenberg 1879.
- ^ ISBN 81-215-0778-2.
- ISBN 9788126135608.
- Paranavitanaand Nicholas, A concise history of Ceylon (Ceylon University Press) 1961
- ^ K. Indrapala, Evolution of an Ethnicity, 2005
- ISBN 978-0-7007-1681-4.
- ^ Senewiratne, Brian (4 February 2012). "Independence Day: A Day For Action, Not Mourning". Colombo Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 July 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
- ISBN 978-0-8166-2255-9..
- ^ "Mahavamsa, the great chronicle". Sunday Observer. 29 June 2008. Archived from the original on 2 February 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
- ^ a b Dr. Hema Goonatilake, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka. 2003
- ^ H. Bechert, "The beginnings of Buddhist Historiography in Ceylon, Mahawamsa and Political Thinking", Ceylon Studies Seminar, Series 2, 1974
- ^ a b Communal politics under the Donoughmore Constitution, 1931–1947, Tissara Publishers, Colombo 1982
- ^ Hindu Organ, June 1, 1939 issue (Newspaper archived at the Jaffna University Library)
- ^ a b c Wilhelm Geiger (1912). Mahavamsa: Great Chronicle of Ceylon. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. 16-20.
- ^ Murphey 1957.
- ^ E.J. Thomas. (1913). BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES. Available: http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/busc/busc03.htm. Last accessed 26 03 10.
- ^ a b Thomas R. Trautmann. “Consanguineous Marriage in Pali Literature.” Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 93, no. 2, 1973, pp. 158–180. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/598890. Accessed 14 May 2020.
- ^ von Hinüber 1997.
Bibliography
- Tripathi, Sridhara (2008). Encyclopaedia of Pali Literature. Vol. 1.
- ISBN 978-81-206-1823-7.
- Oldenberg, Hermann (1879). Dipavamsa. Asian Educational Services. ISBN 978-81-206-0217-5.
- ISBN 81-215-0778-2.
- Murphey, Rhodes (February 1957). "The Ruin of Ancient Ceylon". The Journal of Asian Studies. 16 (2). Association for Asian Studies: 181–200. S2CID 162729027.
- JSTOR 26798885.
- Matthews, Bruce (1979). "The Problem of Communalism in Contemporary Burma and Sri Lanka". International Journal. 34 (3): 430–456. JSTOR 40201791.
- MacLaughlin, Raul. "Ancient Contacts: The Roman Emperor and the Sinhalese King". Classics Ireland.
- Shtrathern, Alan (2014). "Vijaya and Romulus: Interpreting the Origin myths of Sri Lanka and Rome". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 24 (1): 51–73. JSTOR 43307281.
- Blackburn, M. (2015). "Buddhist Connections in the Indian Ocean: Changes in Monastic Mobility, 1000-1500". Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient. 58 (3): 237–266. .
Editions and translations
- Geiger, Wilhelm; Bode, Mabel Haynes (transl.); Frowde, H. (ed.): The Mahavamsa or, the great chronicle of Ceylon, London: Pali Text Society 1912.
- Guruge, Ananda W.P.: Mahavamsa. Calcutta: M. P. Birla Foundation 1990 (Classics of the East).
- Guruge, Ananda W. P. Mahavamsa: The Great Chronicle of Sri Lanka, A New Annotated Translation with Prolegomena, ANCL Colombo 1989
- Ruwan Rajapakse, Concise Mahavamsa, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2001
- DHS Abayaratna (ed.) The Sinhalese Maháwansa ... an easy Sinhalese literal translation of the ... "Mahawansa" versified in the Pali language by ancient scholars such as Mahanama Mahasthavira [with an appendix on more recent history] 1922
- Sumangala, H.; Silva Batuwantudawa, Don Andris de: The Mahawansha from first to thirty-sixth Chapter. Revised and edited, under Orders of the Ceylon Government by H. Sumangala, High Priest of Adam's Peak, and Don Andris de Silva Batuwantudawa, Pandit. Colombo 1883.
- Turnour, George (C.C.S.): The Mahawanso in Roman Characters with the Translation Subjoined, and an Introductory Essay on Pali Buddhistical Literature. Vol. I containing the first thirty eight Chapters. Cotto 1837.
- Early translation of a Sinhalese version of the text
- Upham, Edward (ed.): The Mahavansi, the Raja-ratnacari, and the Raja-vali : forming the sacred and historical books of Ceylon; also, a collection of tracts illustrative of the doctrines and literature of Buddhism: translated from the Singhalese. London : Parbury, Allen, and Co. 1833; vol. 1, vol. 2, vol. 3
External links
- Geiger/Bode Translation of the Mahavamsa
- The Mahavamsa: The Great Chronicle of Sri Lanka
- "Concise Mahavamsa" on-line version of: Ruwan Rajapakse, P.E. (2003). Concise Mahavamsa: History of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Maplewood, NJ : Ruwan Rajapakse. ISBN 0-9728657-0-5.
- History of Sri Lanka
- Original Pali Text in Devanagari (अन्य > महावंस > पथमपरिच्छेद to तिसट्ठिम परिच्छेद )