Mahavamsa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Mahavansha, also Mahawansha, (Pāli: "great chronicle") is a historical record written in the Pāli language, of the Buddhist kings as well as Dravidian kings of Sri Lanka. It covers the period from the coming of King Vijaya in 543 BCE to the reign of King Mahasena (334 – 361).
The Mahavansha was written in the 6th century CE by the Buddhist monk Mahanama, brother of the Sri-Lankan King Dhatusena, and heavily relied on the Dipavamsa, written five centuries earlier.
A companion volume, the Culavamsa or Choolavansha ("lesser chronicle"), compiled by Sinhala Buddhist monks, covers the period from the 4th century to the British takeover of Sri Lanka in 1815. The combined work, sometimes collectively referred to as the "Mahavansha", provides a continuous historical record of over two millennia.
While not considered a canonical religious text, the Mahavansha is an important Buddhist document of the early history of religion in Sri Lanka, beginning near the time of the founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama. As it often refers to the royal dynasties of India, the Mahavansha is also valuable to historians who wish to date and relate contemporary royal dynasties in the Indian subcontinent. It is very important in dating the consecration of the Maurya emperor Asoka, which is related to the synchronicity with the Seleucids and Alexander the Great.
The first printed edition and English translation of the Mahavansha was published in 1837 by George Turnour, an historian and officer of the Ceylon Civil Service. A German translation of Mahavansha was completed by Wilhelm Geiger in 1912. This was then translated into English by Mabel Haynes Bode, and the English translation was revised by Geiger. The revised English translation is now available on the World wide web.
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[edit] Bibliography
[edit] Editions and Translations
- 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.
- Sumangala, H.; Silva Batuwantudawa, Don Andris de: The Mahawansa 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.
- Geiger, Wilhelm; Bode, Mabel Haynes (transl.); Frowde, H. (ed.): The Mahavamsa or, The great chronicle of Ceylon / translated into English by Wilhelm Geiger ... assisted by Mabel Haynes Bode...under the patronage of the government of Ceylon. London : Pali Text Society 1912 (Pali Text Society, London. Translation series ; no. 3).
- Guruge, Ananda W.P.: Mahavamsa. Calcutta: M. P. Birla Foundation 1990 (Classics of the East).
Possibly an early edition (of parts?):
- 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 (3 vol.).
[edit] See also
[edit] 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.
- Online-Pali-Text on tipitaka.org.
