Mahavamsa, the great chronicle

How many times have you come across the phrase “according to the Mahavamsa” when reading articles about historic places and historic incidents? Have you ever wondered what this book is and why it is so important? The Mahavamsa is also known as Mahavamsa or the great chronicle. Today, we are going to take a closer look at the Mahavamsa, the great chronicle.

The Mahavamsa is a historical poem written in the Pali language. It describes the kings of Sri Lanka. It covers the period from the arrival of King Vijaya of Kalinga (ancient Orissain India) in 543 BC to the reign of King Mahasena (334 - 361).

The first printed edition and English translation of the Mahavamsa was published in 1837 by George Turnour, a historian and officer of the Ceylon Civil Service.

A German translation of Mahavamsa was completed by Wilhelm Geiger in 1912. The Mahavamsa is not actually a religious text; it is an important Buddhist document because it covers the early history of religion in Sri Lanka.

Every chapter of the Mahavamsa ends with the statement that it is written for the “serene joy of the pious”. Buddhist monks of the Mahavihara maintained chronicles of Sri Lankan history, starting from the Third Century BC. These records were combined and compiled into a single document in the Fifth Century CE by the Buddhist monk Mahathera Mahanama.

There is evidence, according to Wilhelm Geiger, that there was another compilation prior to this, known as Mahavamsa Atthakatha, and that Mahathera Mahanama relied on this text. Another earlier document known as the Dipavamsa that survives today, is much simpler and contains less information than the Mahavamsa, and was probably compiled using the Mahavamsa Atthakatha as well.

A companion volume, the Chulavamsa (“lesser chronicle”), compiled by Sinhalese Buddhist monks, covers the period from the Fourth Century to the British takeover of Sri Lanka in 1815. Chulavamsa was compiled by a number of authors of different time periods.

The combined work, sometimes collectively referred to as the Mahavamsa, provides a continuous historical record of over two millennia, and could be considered as one of the world’s longest unbroken historical accounts.

The historical accuracy of the document, given the time when it was written, is considered to be astonishing, although the material prior to the death of Asoka is not trustworthy and mostly legend. However, that part of the Mahavamsa is one of the (rare) documents containing material relating to the Nagas and Yakkhas, the dwellers of Lanka prior to the legendary arrival of Vijaya.

As it often refers to the royal dynasties of India, the Mahavamsa is also valuable for historians who wish to date and relate contemporary royal periods in the Indian subcontinent.

The accounts given in the Mahavamsa are also thoroughly supported by the numerous stone inscriptions, mostly in Sinhalese, found in the Island.

Modern historians like Karthigesu Indrapala have also upheld the historical value of the Mahavamsa. If not for the Mahavamsa, the story behind the large stupas (shrines) in Anuradhapura, such as Ruwanweliseya, Jetavanaramaya, Abhayagiri, and the ancient engineering works would never have been known.

Besides being an important historical source, it is the most important epic poem in the Pali language. Its stories of battles and invasions, court intrigue, great constructions of stupas and water reservoirs, written in elegant verse suitable for memorisation, caught the imagination of the Buddhist world of the time. The engineering works of King Parakramabahu were the greatest hydraulic works in the world in those times.

Unlike many texts written in antiquity, it also discusses various aspects of the lives of ordinary people (see Chapter XXIII- XXVIII), how they joined the King’s army or farmed.

Thus the Mahavamsa was taken along the silk route to many Buddhist lands. Parts of it were translated and retold and absorbed into other languages. The Mahavamsa gave rise to many other Pali works of the chronicle genre (type), making Sri Lanka of that period probably the leading world centre in Pali literature.

Compiled by Janani Amarasekera