Mahavamsa
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The Mahavamsa, also Mahawamsa, (Pāli: "great chronicle") is a historical record, written in the Pāli language, of the Buddhist 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 Mahavamsa was written in the 6th century CE by the Buddhist monk Mahanama, brother of the Sri-Lankan King Dhatusena, and heavily relied on the Dipavamsa, written five centuries earlier.
A companion volume, the Culavamsa or Chulavamsa ("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 "Mahavamsa", provides a continuous historical record covering over two millenia.
While it is not considered a canonical religious text, the Mahavamsa is an important Buddhist document giving the early history of the 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 Mahavamsa is also a valuable text for historians who wish to date and relate contemporary royal dynasties in the Indian subcontinent.
A German translation of the Mahavamsa was completed by Wilhelm Geiger in 1912. This was subsequently translated into English by Mabel Haynes Bode, and the English translation was revised by Geiger. The revised English translation is now available on the Web.
