THE circumstances under which "The EPITOME OF THE HISTORY OF CEYLON," which was published in the Ceylon Almanac of 1833, was compiled, are explained in the following letter: To the Editor of the Ceylon Almanac. SIR,-In compliance with your request, I have the pleasure to send you a chronological table* of the kings of Ceylon, compiled from the native annals extant in this island. In the comparatively short period that this colony has been a British possession, several histories, besides minor historical notices, of Ceylon have already been published in English. The individuals to whom we are indebted for those works, unacquainted themselves with the native languages, and misguided by the persons from whom they derived their information, have concurred in representing that there were no authentic historical records to be found in Ceylon. CORDINER affords no information regarding them; and falls at once into an anachronism of 471 years, by applying the following remark to the Buddha worshipped in Ceylon: "Sir W. Jones, on taking the medium of four several dates, fixes the time of Buddha, or the ninth great incarnation of Vishnu, in the year 1014 before the birth of Christ." PERCIVAL asserts, that "the wild stories current among the natives throw no light whatever on the ancient history of the island: the earliest period at which we can look for any authentic information is the arrival of the Portuguese under Almeida, in 1505." BERTOLACCI, in his valuable statistical work, states, "we learn, from tradition, that Ceylon possessed in former times a larger population and a much higher state of cultivation than it now enjoys: although we have no data to fix, with any degree of certainty, the exact period of this prosperity, yet the fact is incontestable. The signs which have been left, and which we observe upon the island, lead us gradually back to the remotest antiquity." PHILALETHES, professedly writing "The History of Ceylon from the earliest period," which is prefixed to the last edition of KNOX's historical relation of the island, dates the commencement of the Wijayan dynasty in a. D. 106, instead of B. C. 543; and is then reduced to the necessity of adding, "Without attempting to clear a way, where so little light is afforded. through this labyrinth of chronological difficulties, I shall content myself with exhibiting the succession of the Cinghalese sovereigns, with the length of their reigns, as it appears in Valentyn.” DAVY appears to have been more accurately informed; but, dependent on the interpretations of the natives, who are always prone to dwell on the exaggerations and fictions which abound in all oriental literature, has been induced to form the opinion, that "the Singhalese possess no accurate record of events; are ignorant of genuine history; and are not sufficiently advanced to relish it. Instead of the one they have legendary tales, and instead of the other historical romances." To publish now, in the face of these hitherto undisputed authorities, a statement containing an uninterrupted historical record of nearly twenty four centuries, without the fullest evidence of its authenticity, or at least acknowledging the sources from which the data are obtained, would be to require the public to place a degree of faith in the accuracy of an unsupported document, which it would be most unreasonable in me to expect. I must therefore beg, if you use at all the paper I now send you, that it be inserted in the detailed form it has been prepared by me, together with this letter in explanation. The principal native historical record in Ceylon is the Maháwansé. It is composed in Páli verse. The prosody of Páli grammar prescribes not only the observance of certain rules which regulate syllabic quantity, but admits of an extensive * This table, divested of the narrative portion of the Epitome, will be found in the Appendix: the names being spelt as they are pronounced in Singhalese. B license of permutation and elision of letters, for the sake of euphony. As the inflexions of the nouns and verbs are almost exclusively in the ultimate syllable, and as all the words in each verse or sentence are connected, as if they composed one interminable word, it will readily be imagined what a variety of constructions each sentence may admit of, even in cases where the manuscript is free from clerical errors: but, from the circumstance of the process of transcription having been almost exclusively left to mere copyists, who had themselves no knowledge of the language, all Páli manuscripts in Ceylon are peculiarly liable to clerical and other more important iuaccuracies; many of which have been inadvertently adopted by subsequent authors of Singhalese works, materially altering the sense of the original. It is, I presume, to enable the reader to overcome these various difficulties, that the authors of Páli works of any note, usually compiled a commentary also, containing a literal rendering of the sense, as well as explanations of abstruse passag es. The study of the Páli language being confined, among the natives of Ceylon, almost entirely to the priesthood, and prosecuted solely for the purpose of qualifying them for ordination, their attention has been principally devoted to their voluminous religious works on Buddhism. I have never yet met with a native who had critically read through, and compared their several historical works, or who had, till lately, seen a commentary on the Mahawansé; although it was the general belief that such a commentary did still exist, or at least had been in existence at no remote period. By the kindness of Gállé, the provincial chief priest of Saffragam, I was enabled in 1827 to obtain a transcript of that commentary, from a copy kept in Mulgirigalla wihare, a temple built in the reign of Saidaitissa, about 130 years before the birth of Christ; and when brought with me to Kandy, I found that the work had not before been seen by the chief or any one of the priests, of either of the two establishments which regulate the national religion of this island. It had heretofore been the received opinion of the best informed priests, and other natives, that the Mahawansé was a national state record of recently-past events, compiled at short intervals by royal authority, up to the reign in which each addition may have been made; and that it had been preserved in the archives of the kingdom. The above-mentioned commentary has not only afforded valuable assistance in elucidating the early portion of the Maháwanse, but it has likewise refuted that tradition, by proving that Mahanáma, the writer of that commentary, was also the author of the Mahawansé, from the commencement of the work to the end of the reign of Mahá Sen, at least, comprising the history of Ceylon from B. c. 543 to A. D. 301. It was compiled from the annals in the vernacular language then extant, and was composed at Anuradhapura, under the auspices of his nephew Dásen Kellíya, between a. D. 459 and 477. It is still doubtful whether Mahanáma was not also the author of the subsequent portion, to his own times. As the commentary, however, extends only to a. D. 301, and the subsequent portion of the work is usually called the Sulu Wansé, I am disposed to infer that he only wrote the history to a. D. 301. From the period at which Mahanáma's work terminated, to the reign of Prákrama Bahu in a. D. 1266, the Sulu Wansé was composed, under the patronage of the last named sovereign, by Dharma Kirti, at Dambedeniya. I have not been able to ascertain by whom the portion of the history from A. D. 1267 to the reign of Prákrama Bahu of Kurunaigalla was written, but from that reign to A. D. 1758, the Mahá or rather Sulu Wansé was compiled by Tibbottuwewe, by the command of Kirti-Sree, partly, from the works brought to this island during his reign by the Siamese priests, (which had been procured by their predecessors during their former religious missions to Ceylon), and partly from the native histories, which had escaped the general destruction of literary records, in the reign of Rája Singha I. The other works from which the accompanying statement has been framed, and which have supplied many details not contained in the Mahawansé, are the following; which are written in Singhalese, and contain the history of the island, also from B. c. 543, to the period each work was written. The Pujáwalliya, composed by Mairupàda, in the reign of Prákrama Báhu, between A. D. 1266 and 1301. The Nikάyasangraha or Saisanáwatára, by Daiwarakhita Jaya-Báhu, in the reign of Bhuwanéka Báhu in a. d. 1347. The Rájaratnaikara, written at a more recent period (the exact date of which I have not been able to ascertain) by Abhayaraja of Walgampaye wihare. The Rájawallaya, which was compiled by different persons, at various periods, and has both furnished the materials to and borrowed from, the Mahawansé. Lastly, Willágedera Mudiyanse's account of his embassy to Siam in the last century. From these native annals I have prepared hastily, and I am aware very imperfectly, an Epitome of the History of Ceylon, containing its chronology, the prominent events recorded therein, and the lineage of the reigning families; and given, in somewhat greater detail, an account of the foundation of the towns, and of the construction of the many stupendous works, the remains of which still exist, to attest the authenticity of those annals. The materials, from which this statement is framed, were collected by me (assisted in the translation from the Páli by my native instructors) some years ago, when it was my intention to have arranged them for publication. Subsequent want of leisure, and the announcement of the proposal of publishing, in England, the translation of the greater part of the works noticed by me, have deterred me from prosecuting that project. By the last accounts received from home, the translation was in an advanced stage of publication. Its appearance in this country may, therefore, now be early looked for. In the mean time, the circulation of this abstract of the History of Ceylon may be the means of making the translation more sought for when it arrives; and, at the present moment, when improved means of communication are being established to Anuradhapura and to Trincomalie, traversing the parts of the island in which the ruins of the ancient towns, tanks, and other proofs of the former prosperity of Ceylon are chiefly scattered, this statement will perhaps be considered an appropriate addition to your Almanac for the ensuing year. Kandy, September 14th, 1832. I am, Sir, your faithful obedient servant, GEORGE TURNOUR. Ceylon Civil Service. A few private copies, as well of the "Epitome" as of the "Historical Inscriptions" which appeared in the local almanac of the ensuing year, were printed for me at the time those periodicals were in the press; the distribution of which, from various causes, was deferred for a considerable period of time. In this interval, the long expected edition of the Mahawanso, translated in this island and published in England, under the auspices of Sir A. Johnston, arrived in India, forming the first of three volumes of a publication, entitled "THE SACRED AND HISTORICAL BOOKS OF Ceylon." This laudable endeavour on the part of the late chief justice of this colony, to lay before the European literary world a correct translation of an Indian historical work-the most authentic and valuable perhaps ever yet brought to its notice-having, most unfortunately, failed, I have decided on proceeding with the translation commenced some years ago; the prosecution of which I had abandoned under the circumstances explained in the foregoing letter. In now recurring to this task, however, the object I have in view, is not solely to illustrate the local history (the importance of which it is by no means my intention to depreciate by this remark), but also to invite the attention of oriental scholars to the historical data contained in the ancient Páli Buddhistical records, as exhibited in the Maháwanso, contrasted with the results of their profound researches in the ancient Sanscrit Hindu records, as exhibited in their various publications and essays, commencing from the period when the great Sir William Jones first brought oriental literature under the scrutiny and analysis of European criticism. Before I enter upon this interesting question, in justice equally to Sir A. Johnston, and to the native literature of Ceylon, I have, on the one hand, to endeavour to account for one of the most extraordinary delusions, perhaps, ever practised on the literary world; and, on the other, to prevent these "SACRED AND HISTORICAL BOOKS OF CEYLON," as well as the "HISTORY of BUDDHISM," (also published under that right honorable gentleman's auspices) being recognized to be works of authority, or adduced to impugn the data which may hereafter be obtained from the Buddhistical records in the Páli or any other oriental language. The course pursued by Sir A. Johnston, both in collecting the originals, and procuring translations of "THE SACRED AND HISTORICAL WORKS OF CEYLON," is detailed in the following letter, which is embodied in the preface to these translations : GENTLEMEN, To the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Court of Directors. 19, Great Cumberland Place, 13th Nov. 1826. I have the honour, at the request of Mr. Upham, to enclse to you a letter from him soliciting the patronage of your honourable court to an English translation which he is about to publish of the three works called Mahavansi, the Rajavali, and the Rajaratnacari. The first is written in the Pali, and the other two in the Singhalese language, and they are all three explanatory of the origin, doctrines, and introduction into the island of Ceylon, of the Buddhist religion. The English translation was a short time ago given by me to Mr. Upham, upon his expressing a wish to publish some genuine account of a religion which, whatever may be the nature and tendency of its doctrines, deserves the cnsideration of the philosopher and the statesman, from the unlimited influence which it at present exercises over so many millions of the inhabitants of Asia. The circumstances under which I received the three works to which I have just alluded, afford such strong evidence of their authencity, and of the respect in which they are held by the Buddhists of Ceylon, that I shall take the liberty of stating them to you, that your honourable court may form some judgment as to the degree of encouragement which you may be justified in giving to Mr. Upham. After a very long residence on Ceylon as chief justice and the first member of his majesty's council on that island, and after a constant intercourse, both literally and official, for many years, with the natives of every cast and of every religious persuasion in the country, I felt it to be my duty to submit it, as my official opinion, to his majesty's government, that it was absolutely necessary, in order to secure for the natives of Ceylon a popular and a really efficient administration of justice, to compile, for their separate use, a special code of laws, which at the same time that it was founded upon the universally admitted, and therefore universally applicable, abstract principles of justice, should be scrupulously adapted to the local circumstances of the country, and to the peculiar religion, manners, usages, and feelings of the people. His majesty's government fully approved of my opinion and officially authorised me to take the necessary steps for framing such a code. Having publicly informed all the natives of the island of the wise and beneficial object which 'his majesty's government had in view, I called upon the most learned and the most celebrated of the priests of Buddha, both those who had been educated on Ceylon, and those who had been educated in the Burmese empire, to co-operate with me in carrying his majesty's gracious intention into effect; and to procure for me, as well from books as other sources, the most authentic information that could be obtained relative to the religion, usages, manners, and feelings of the people who professed the Buddhist religion on the island of Ceylon. The priests, after much consideration amongst themselves, and after frequent consultations with their followers in every part of the island, presented to me the copies which I now possess of the Maháwansi, Rájawali, Rájaratnácari, as containing, according to the judgment of the best informed of the Buddhist priests on Ceylon, the most genuine account which is extent of the origin of the Budhu religion, of its doctrines, of its introduction into Ceylon, and of the effects, moral and political, which those doctrines had from time to time produced upon the conduct of the native government, and upon the manners and usages of the native inhabitants of the country. And the priests themselves, as well as all the people of the country, from being aware of the object which I had in view, felt themselves directly interested in the authenticity of the information which I received; and as they all concurred in opinion with respect to the authenticity and value of the information which these works contain, I have no doubt whatever that the account which they give of the origin and doctrines of the Buddhist religion is that which is universally believed to be the true account by all the Buddhist inhabitants of Ceylon. The copies of these works which were presented to me by the priests, after having been, by my direction, compared with. all the best copies of the same works in the different temples of Buddha on Ceylon, were carefully revised and corrected by two of the ablest priests of Buddha on that island. An English translation of them was then made by my official translators, under the superintendence of the late native chief of the cinnamon department, who was himself the best native Páli and Singhalese scholar in the country; and that translation is now revising for Mr. Upham by the Rev. Mr. Fox, who resided on Ceylon for many years as a Wesleyan Missionary, and who is the best European Páli and Singhalese scholar at present in Europe. I have the honour to be, Gentlemen, |