Information AboutMahavamsa |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT MAHAVAMSA | |
| buddhist texts | |
| history of sri lanka | |
| religion in sri lanka | |
| sri lankan literature | |
| chronicles | |
| SHOPPER'S DELIGHT | |
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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 BC to the reign of King Mahasena ( 334 – 361 ). The Mahavansha was written in the 6th Century CE by the Buddhist Monk Mahanama thero, brother of the Sri-Lankan King Dhatusena, and heavily relied on the Dipavansha , written five centuries earlier. A companion volume, the Choolavansha 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 . 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 . SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS |