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The Bodhi-Vamsa, or Mahabodhivamsa, is a prose poem in elaborate Sanskritized Pali that recounts the story of the Bodhi tree of Bodh Gaya and Anuradhapura. [1] It is attributed to a monk called Upatissa who lived during the reign of Mahinda IV of Sri Lanka, and believed to have been composed in the 10th Century AD. [2] [1] It is written in the kavya style. [1]
The Mahabodhivamsa is composed primarily in prose, but includes verses at the end of each chapter, many of them originating from the Mahavamsa. [3] Like the Mahavamsa, the Mahabodhivamsa begins by recounting the recognition of Gautama Buddha by Dipankara Buddha and then proceeds to recount the life of Gautama Buddha and an account of the first three Buddhist Councils. [3] It then describes the mission of Mahinda to bring Buddhism to Sri Lankain the 3rd century BCE, and the transplantation of the Bodhi tree and the creation of the bodhipuja ceremony that celebrates it. [3] It consists of twelve chapters, and ends with a list of locations where saplings from the Bodhi tree were planted. [4] This list matches those included in the Samantapasadika of Buddhaghosa and the Mahavamsa. [4]
According to its introduction, the Mahabodhivamsa is an adaptation of a previously existing work in Sinhalese on the same subject. [1] The Mahabodhivamsa quotes verses from the Mahavamsa , but draws a great deal of its material from other sources and has occasionally preserved details of the older tradition not found in any other sources known, such as a variant form of the Kalingabodhi Jataka. [2] [1] The inclusion of quotations from the Mahavamsa and other Pali texts suggests that rather than simply translating an earlier Sinhala text, its author may have substantially expanded and supplemented the text. [5]
The style of the Mahabodhivamsa shows a strong Sanskrit influence, using the Sanskrit meanings of some Pali words and incorporating Sanskrit terms and compounds. [5] G.P. Malalasekera describes its composition as marking the beginning of an era of Sanskritized Pali composition that continued for several centuries in Sri Lanka. [5]
The dating of the Mahabodhivamsa is based on the a Sinhalese commentary written in the late 12th Century. [1] This is also the source of its attribution to Upatissa, who is otherwise unknown but described as composing the Pali text at the request of a monk called Dāthānāga, identified by 19th Century scholars with a monk by the same name mentioned in the Culavamsa and other sources as being appointed by Mahinda IV to teach the Abhidhamma. [5] [4]
Sinhalese people are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group native to the island of Sri Lanka. They were historically known as Hela people. They constitute about 75% of the Sri Lankan population and number greater than 16.2 million. The Sinhalese identity is based on language, cultural heritage and nationality. The Sinhalese people speak Sinhala, an insular Indo-Aryan language, and are predominantly Theravada Buddhists, although a minority of Sinhalese follow branches of Christianity and other religions. Since 1815, they were broadly divided into two respective groups: The 'Up-country Sinhalese' in the central mountainous regions, and the 'Low-country Sinhalese' in the coastal regions; although both groups speak the same language, they are distinguished as they observe different cultural customs.
The Bodhi Tree, also called the Bodhi Fig Tree or Bo Tree, was a large and ancient sacred fig tree located in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India. Siddhartha Gautama, the spiritual teacher who became known as the Buddha, is said to have attained enlightenment or Bodhi circa 500 BCE under it. In religious iconography, the Bodhi Tree is recognizable by its heart-shaped leaves, which are usually prominently displayed.
Buddhaghosa was a 5th-century Indian Theravada Buddhist commentator, translator and philosopher. He worked in the Great Monastery (Mahāvihāra) at Anurādhapura, Sri Lanka and saw himself as being part of the Vibhajjavāda school and in the lineage of the Sinhalese Mahāvihāra.
The Mahavamsa is the meticulously kept historical chronicle of Sri Lanka written in the style of an epic poem written in the Pali language. 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 composed by a Buddhist monk at the Mahavihara temple in Anuradhapura about the 5th century A.D. In 2021, a petition was made to declare the original leaf book a UNESCO heritage.
Arahat Mahinda was a Buddhist monk depicted in Buddhist sources as bringing Buddhism to Sri Lanka. He was the first-born son of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka from his wife Devi and the elder brother of Sanghamitra.
Theravada Buddhism is the largest and official religion of Sri Lanka, practiced by 70.2 percent of the population as of 2012.
Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi is a sacred bo tree in the Mahamewna Gardens, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. It is the southern branch from the historical Sri Maha Bodhi at Buddha Gaya in India under which Buddha attained Enlightenment. It was planted in 288 BC, and is the oldest living human-planted tree in the world with a known planting date.
Pali literature is concerned mainly with Theravada Buddhism, of which Pali is the traditional language. The earliest and most important Pali literature constitutes the Pāli Canon, the authoritative scriptures of Theravada school.
The Sāsana Vaṃsa or Thathanawin is a history of the Buddhist order in Burma, composed by the Burmese monk Paññāsāmi in 1861. It is written in Pali prose, and based on earlier documents in Pali and Burmese, still extant, but which had not been edited at the end of the nineteenth century.
Tissa, later Devanampiya Tissa was one of the earliest kings of Sri Lanka based at the ancient capital of Anuradhapura from 247 BC to 207 BC. His reign was notable for the arrival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka under the aegis of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka. The primary source for his reign is the Mahavamsa, which in turn is based on the more ancient Dipavamsa.
The Dīpavaṃsa is the oldest historical record of Sri Lanka. The chronicle is believed to be compiled from Atthakatha and other sources around the 3rd to 4th century CE. Together with the Mahavamsa, it is the source of many accounts of ancient history of Sri Lanka and India. Its importance resides not only as a source of history and legend, but also as an important early work in Buddhist and Pali literature.
Upatissa is a Sinhala name and may refer to:
The Kingdom of Tambapaṇṇī was the first Sinhalese kingdom in Sri Lanka. Its administrative centre was based at Tambapaṇṇī. It existed between 543 BC and 437 BC. The Kingdom was founded by Prince Vijaya and his followers.
The Anuradhapura period was a period in the history of Sri Lanka of the Anuradhapura Kingdom from 377 BC to 1017 AD. The period begins when Pandukabhaya, King of Upatissa Nuwara moved the administration to Anuradhapura, becoming the kingdom's first monarch. Anuradhapura is heralded as an ancient cosmopolitan citadel with diverse populations.
The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school.
Dāṭhavaṃsa is a Pali chronicle attributed to Dhammakitti Thero. It is sometimes titled in English as "The History of the Tooth Relic" and contains histories and popular traditions associated with the Relic of the tooth of the Buddha. This relic is currently enshrined at the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, Sri Lanka.
The Sinhalese monarchy has its origins in the settlement of North Indian Indo-Aryan immigrants to the island of Sri Lanka. The Landing of Vijay as described in the traditional chronicles of the island, the Dipavamsa, Mahavamsa and Culavamsa, and later chronicles, recount the date of the establishment of the first Sinhala Kingdom in 543 BC when Prince Vijaya, an Indian Prince, and 700 of his followers landed on the island of Sri Lanka and established the Kingdom of Tambapanni. In Sinhalese mythology, Prince Vijaya and followers are told to be the progenitors of the Sinhalese people. However according to the story in the Divyavadana, the immigrants were probably not led by a scion of a royal house in India, as told in the romantic legend, but rather may have been groups of adventurous and pioneering merchants exploring new lands.
The Pre-Anuradhapura period of Sri Lankan history begins with the gradual onset of historical records in the final centuries of the prehistoric period and ending in 437 BC. According to the Mahavamsa, the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka are the Yakshas and northern Naga tribes. Sinhalese history traditionally starts in 543 BC at the arrival of Prince Vijaya, a semi-legendary king who was banished from the Indian subcontinent with his 700 followers, and is recorded in the Mahavamsa chronicle. This period was succeeded by the Anuradhapura period.
Vaṃsa, alternatively spelled as vamsa or vamsha, is a Sanskrit word that means 'family, lineage'. It also refers to a genre of ancient and medieval literature in Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. This genre focuses on genealogies. They resemble the conventional histories found in the European literature, but differ as they predominantly chronicle myths and may integrate spiritual doctrines such as rebirths. A vaṃsa can be focussed on a dynasty, family, individual such as a saint, line of teachers of a particular tradition, or a place particularly of pilgrimage. Some of these texts are titled with vaṃsa as a suffix.
The Thūpavaṃsa is a Sri Lankan historical chronicle and religious text recorded in the Pali language. Its composition is attributed to a Buddhist monk known as Vācissara, the putative author of several Pali and Sinhala commentaries and handbooks. It was likely composed in the second half of the 13th Century.
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