මහාවංශය (Great Chronicle of Ceylon)

Tinnevelli district at the southern extremity of India, where the river Tāmraparṇī flows into the sea. 1 But, at the same time, if Tambapaṇṇi should be understood to mean Ceylon the authenticity of Dīp. and Mah. is not affected in the ESSENTIAL points.

Let us look at the positive contents of the tradition. We are certain of: (1) the name Mahinda as the apostle of Ceylon. Nor is that disputed by V. A. SMITH. Here the Ceylonese narrative finds gratifying support from Hiuen-thsang 2 who mentions Mahendra by name expressly as the man by whom the true doctrine was spread abroad in the kingdom of Siṃhala Ceylon. It is certain: (2) that this Mahendra was a near relative of king Asoka. The Chinese pilgrims call him the younger brother 3 of this latter, the Ceylon Chronicles call him his son. Here we have two conflicting reports, and it would be simply arbitrary to prefer the statement of the Chinese pilgrims to the Ceylonese tradition.

But at what result do we arrive if we put together these established facts and the mention of Ceylon in the earlier Asoka Inscriptions? Simply and solely that which is self-evident, namely, that before Mahinda relations existed between continental India and Ceylon and efforts were made to transplant the Buddhist doctrine to Ceylon.

But with Mahinda this process comes to a successful end. We can understand therefore that all the interest became concentrated in his person, and that tradition wrought together in dramatic fashion that which was a thing of slow continuous development. I consider that this would always and in all circumstances have been the critical judgment on the

1 Imp. Gazetteer of India, s. v. Cf. on this subject HULTSZCH, J.R.A.S. 1910, p. 1310, n. 4.
2 ST. JULIEN, Mémoires sur les contrées occidentales, par Hiouen-thsang, ii, p. 140; BEAL, Si-yu-ki, Buddhist Records of the Western World, transl. from the Chinese of Hiuen-thsang, ii, pp. 246–247; T. WATTERS, On Yuan Chwang, ii. 93, 230, 234.
3 Besides Hiuen-thsang we have mention by Fâ-hian (see LEGGE, A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms by Fâ-hien, p. 77) of a younger brother of Asoka, who became a monk, without, however, mention of his name or allusion to the mission to Ceylon.