මහාවංශය (Great Chronicle of Ceylon) (500) - Page 14

Introduction

But that the author of the Dīp. simply invented the contents of his chronicle is a thing impossible to believe.

Thus it is our task to trace the sources from which he drew his material. This is made possible for us by the Mahāvaṃsa-Ṭīkā, i. e. the native commentary on our chronicle which, under the title Vaṃsatthappakāsinī Revealer of the Meaning of the Chronicle, was composed by an unknown author.

I will then here briefly sum up the principal results of my labours, referring, for confirmation in detail, to my earlier works.

1. In Ceylon there existed at the close of the fourth century A. D., that is, at the time in which the Dīpavaṃsa was composed, an older work, a sort of chronicle, of the history of the island from its legendary beginnings onwards. The work constituted part of the Aṭṭhakathā, i. e. the old commentary-literature on the canonical writings of the Buddhists which Buddhaghosa took as a basis for his illuminating works. It was, like the Aṭṭhakathā, composed in Old-Sinhalese prose, probably mingled with verse in the Pāli language.

2. This Aṭṭhakathā-Mahāvaṃsa Mahāvaṃsa Commentary existed, as did the Aṭṭhakathā generally, in different monasteries of the island, in various recensions which diverged only slightly from one another. Of particular importance for the further development of the tradition was the recension of the monks of the Mahāvihāra in Anurādhapura, upon which the author of the Mah. Ṭīkā drew for his material.

3. mark? The chronicle must originally have come down only to the arrival of Mahinda in Ceylon. But it was continued later and indeed, to all appearance, down to the reign of Mahāsena (beginning of the fourth century A. D.), with which reign the Dīpavaṃsa as well as the Mahāvaṃsa comes to an end.

4. Of this work the DĪPAVAṂSA presents the first clumsy redaction in Pāli verses. 1 The MAHĀVAṂSA is then a new treatment of the same thing, distinguished from the Dīp.

1 So far as language is concerned, the author’s sources have been indicated, for numerous verses, by FRANKE; and herein lies the merit of his work, although I cannot consent to his conclusions.