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Mahāvaṃsa (Sinhala: මහාවංශ, Pali: මහාවංස is the meticulously kept historical chronicle of Sri Lanka until the period of Mahasena of Anuradhapura. It was 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 first composed by a Buddhist monk at the Mahavihara temple in Anuradhapura in the 5th or 6th century CE.
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Sucharitha Gamlath (10 March 1934 – 30 March 2013) was a veteran professor of Sinhala, and a bright student of the Peradeniya University. After that he functioned as the dean of the Sinhala Language Faculty of the Jaffna University. He has also served in the University of Ruhuna and Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka. And he was a well-known scholastic in linguistics and critiques who has authored a number of books on language, literature, arts and politics.
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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.
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.
Mahavamsa Part III is the title of a Sinhala language continuation of the Mahavamsa published in 1935 by Yagirala Pannananda, a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk. Written at the request of a Sinhala village leader but without official approval or support from the government, it describes the history of Sri Lanka from 1889 until 1935.
References
- 1 2 Kemper, Steven (1992). The Presence of the Past: Chronicles, Politics, and Culture in Sinhala Life (1st ed.). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. pp. 95–104. ISBN 0801423953.
- ↑ The Work of Kings, H. L. Seneviratne
- ↑ Colors of the Robe: Religion, Identity, and Difference, Ananda Abeysekara