Everything about The Mahavamsa totally explained
The
Mahavamsa, ("Great
Chronicle") is a historical poem written in the
Pali language, of the
kings of
Sri Lanka. It covers the period from the coming of
King Vijaya of
Kalinga (ancient
Orissa) in
543 BCE to the reign of
King Mahasena (
334 –
361).
The first printed edition and English translation of the
Mahawamsa was published in 1837 by
George Turnour, an historian and officer of the
Ceylon Civil Service. A
German translation of
Mahawamsa was completed by Wilhelm Geiger in
1912. This was then translated into the
English by Mabel Haynes Bode, and the English translation was revised by Geiger. The revised English translation is now available on the internet.
Buddhism
While not considered a canonical religious text, the
Mahawamsa is an important Buddhist document. It covers the early history of religion in Sri Lanka, beginning with the time of the founder of Buddhism,
Siddhattha Gotama. It also briefly recounts the history of Buddhism in India, from the date of the Buddha's passing away to the various Buddhist councils where the
Dhamma was reviewed. Every chapter of the Mahawamsa ends by stating that it's written for the "serene joy of the pious". It is in some sense a compilation of the good deeds of the Kings who were the patrons of the
Mahavihara (temple) in
Anuradhapura. However, the Mahawamsa, written by a great master of the Pali language and a historian of the first rank, turns out to be much more than a text for the "serene joy of the pious".
Historical Aspects
Buddhist monks of the
Mahavihara maintained
chronicles of Sri Lankan history, starting from the 3rd century BC. These
annals were combined and compiled into a single document in the
5th 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
Mahawamsa Atthakatha, and that Mahathera Mahanama relied on this text. Another earlier document known as
Dipavamsa that survives today, is much simpler and contains less information than the
Mahawamsa, and was probably compiled using the
Mahawamsa Atthakatha as well.
A companion volume, the
Culavamsa ("lesser chronicle"), compiled by
Sinhala Buddhist monks, covers the period from the
4th century to the
British takeover of Sri Lanka in
1815.
Culavamsa was compiled by number of authors of different time periods. The combined work, sometimes collectively referred to as the
Mahawamsa, provides a continuous historical record of over two millennia, and can be considered 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 isn't trustworthy and mostly legend. However, that part of the Mahawamsa 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
Mahawamsa is also valuable for 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.
Thus it was the Mahawamsa account of the Empire of
Asoka that lead to important Indian excavations in
Sanchi and other locations, confirming the account. The accounts given in the Mahawamsa are also amply supported by the numerous Stone inscriptions, mostly in Sinhala, found in the Island. . Modern historians like Karthigesu Indrapala have also upheld the historical value of the Mahawamsa. It is in this sense that the Mahawamsa differs from the
Mahabharata,
Ramayana and other epics which have no direct historiographic value. If not for the
Mahawamsa, the story behind the large
stupas (shrines) in
Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka such as
Ruwanwelisaya,
Jetavanaramaya, Abhayagiri, and the ancient engineering works would never have been known.
The Greatest Epic Poem (Kavya) written in Pali
Besides being an important historical source, it's 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 memorization, caught the imagination of the Buddhist world of the time. The Ruvanwelisaya was the tallest edifice in the world in that age. 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 Mahawamsa was taken along the
silk route to many Buddhist lands. Parts of it were translated and retold and absorbed into other languages. An extended version of the Mahawamsa, which gives many more details, has also been found in Cambodia. The Mahawamsa gave rise to many other Pali works of the chronicle
genre, making Sri Lanka of that period probably the leading world center in Pali literature.
Political Significance
The Mahawamsa has, especially in modern Sri Lanka, acquired a significance as a document with a political message . The British historian Jane Russell has recounted how a process of "Mahawamsa Bashing" began in the 1930s, especially from within the Tamil Nationalist movement. The Mahawamsa, 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 was attacked by G. G. Ponnambalam, the leader of the Nationalist Tamils in the 1930s. He claimed that most of the Sinhala kings, including Vijaya, Kasyapa, Parakramabahu etc., were Tamils. An inflammatory speech attacking the Sinhalese and the Mahawamsa by G. G. Ponnambalam in 1939, in Navalapitiya lead to the first Sinhala-Tamil riots engulfing Navalapitiya, Passara, Maskeliya and even
Jaffna, . The riots were rapidly put down by the British colonial government and didn't lead to the terrible magnitude of the post-independence conflicts.
Various writers have called into question the morality of the account given in the Mahawamsa, where Dutugamunu regrets his actions in killing the Chola king Elara and his troops. The Mahawamsa equates the killing of the invaders as being on par with the killing of "sinners and wild beasts", and the King's sorrow and regret are assuaged. This is considered by some critics as an ethical error. However, Buddhism does recognize a hierarchy of sinful actions. Thus the killing of an Arahant (a Saint) is more sinful than the killing of a less worthy being. Buddhists would assert that killing an elephant is a bigger sin (bad karma) than killing an ant. Thus the Mahawamsa is true to the Buddhist ethics of its time. The important thing to note is that Dutugamunu regretted his act, and this was also true of King Asoka who became a pacifist after a series of bloody military campaigns.
An eminent historian who has come to the defence of the Mahawamsa is Karthigesu Indrapala . He has argued that the popular presentation of the Mahawamsa as a work of Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism is incorrect, and that the Mahavansa writer was singularly fair in his presentation.
Bibliography
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 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.
- 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).
Ruwan Rajapakse, Concise Mahavamsa, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2001
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.).Further Information
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