the books which were procured for him by the high priest of Saffragan, was one which proved to be this neglected commentary on the mystic and otherwise unintelligible Mahawanso; and by the assistance of this precious document he undertook, with confidence, a translation into English of the long lost chronicle, and thus vindicated the claim of Ceylon to the possession of an authentic and unrivalled record of its national history. The title "Mahawanso," which means literally the "Genealogy of the Great," properly belongs only to the first section of the work, extending from 543 B.C. to 301 A.D.1, and containing the history of the early kings, from Wijayo to Mahasen, with whom the Singhalese consider the "Great Dynasty" to end. The author of this portion was Mahanamo, uncle of the king Dhaatu Sena, in whose reign it was compiled, between the years 459 and 477 A.D., from annals in the vernacular language then existing at Anarajapoora.2 The sovereigns who succeeded Mahasen are distinguished as the "Sulu-wanse," the "lower race," and the story of their line occupies the continuation of this extraordinary chronicle, the second portion of which was written by order of the illustrious king Prakrama Bahu, about the year 1266 A.D., and the narrative was carried on, under subsequent sovereigns, down to the year 1758 A.D., the latest chapters having been compiled by command of the King of Kandy, Kirti 1 Although the Mahawanso must be regarded as containing the earliest historical notices of Ceylon, the island, under its Sanscrit name of Lanka, occupies a prominent place in the mythical poems of the Hindus, and its conquest by Rama is the theme of the Ramayana, one of the oldest epics in existence. In the Raja-Taringini also, an historical chronicle which may be regarded as the Mahawanso of Kashmir, very early accounts of Ceylon are con tained, and the historian records that the King Megavahana, who, according to the chronology of Troyer, reigned 24 A.D., made an expedition to Ceylon for the purpose of extending Buddhism, and visited Adam's Peak, where he had an interview with the native sovereign. - RajaTaringini, Book iii. sl. 71–79. lb. vol. ii. p. 364. 2 Mahawanso, c. i. The early Arabian travellers in Ceylon mention the official historiographers employed by order of the kings. See Vol. I. P. I. ch. viii., p. 387, note. Sri, partly from Singhalese works brought back to the island from Siam (whither they had been carried at former periods by priests despatched upon missions), and partly from native histories, which had escaped the general destruction of such records in the reign of Raja Singha I., an apostate from Buddhism, who, about the year 1590 A.D., during the period when the Portuguese were in occupation of the low country, exterminated the priests of Buddha, and transferred the care of the shrine on Adam's Peak to Hindu Fakirs. But the Mahawanso, although the most authentic, and probably the most ancient, is by no means the only existing Singhalese chronicle. Between the 14th and 18th centuries several historians recorded passing events; and as these corroborate and supplement the narrative of the greater work, they present an uninterrupted Historical Record of the highest authenticity, comprising the events of nearly twenty-four centuries.1 From the data furnished by these, and from corroborative sources 2, Turnour, in addition to many elaborate contributions drawn from the recesses of Pali learning in elucidation of the chronology of India, was 1 In 1833 Upham published, under the title of The Sacred and Historical Books of Ceylon, translations of what professed to be authentic copies of the Mahawanso, the Rajaratnacari and Rajavali; prepared for the use of Sir Alexander Johnston when Chief-Justice of the island. But Turnour, in the introduction to his masterly translation of the Mahawanso, has shown that Sir A. J. had been imposed upon, and that the alleged transcripts supplied to him are imperfect as regards the original text and unfaithful as translations. Of the Mahawanso in particular, Mr. Turnour says, in a private letter which I have seen, that the early part of Upham's volume "is not a translation but a compendium of several works, and the subsequent portions a mutilated abridgment." The Raja vali, which is the most valuable of these volumes, was translated for Sir Alexander Johnston by Mr. Dionysius Lambertus Pereira, who was then Interpreter-Moodliar to the Cutchery at Matura. These English versions, though discredited as independent authorities, are not without value in so far as they afford corroborative support to the genuine text of the Mahawanso, and on this account I have occasionally cited them. 2 Besides the Mahawanso, Rajaratnacari, and Rajavali, the other native chronicles relied on by Turnour in compiling his epitome were the Pujavali, composed in the thirteenth century, the Neekaaysangraha,written A.D. 1347, and the Account of the Embassy to Siam in the reign of Raja Singha II., A.D. 1739-47, by WILBAAGEDERE MUDIANSE. enabled to prepare an Epitome of the History of Ceylon, in which he has exhibited the succession and genealogy of one hundred and sixty-five kings, who filled the throne during 2341 years, extending from the invasion of the island from Bengal, by Wijayo, in the year 543 B.C. to its conquest by the British in 1798. In this work, after infinite labour, he has succeeded in condensing the events of each reign, commemorating the founders of the chief cities, and noting the erection of the great temples and Buddhist monuments, and the construction of some of those gigantic reservoirs and works for irrigation, which, though in ruins, arrest the traveller in astonishment at their stupendous dimensions. He thus effectually demonstrated the misconceptions of those who previously believed the literature of Ceylon to be destitute of historic materials.1 Besides evidence of a less definite character, there is one remarkable coincidence which affords grounds for confidence in the faithfulness of the purely historic portion of the Singhalese chronicles; due allowance being made for that exaggeration of style which is apparently inseparable from oriental recital. The circumstance alluded to is the mention in the Mahawanso of the Chandragupta, so often alluded to by the Sanscrit writers, who, as Sir William Jones was the first to discover, is identical with Sandracottus or Sandracoptus, the King of the Prasii, to whose court, on the banks of the Ganges, Megasthenes was accredited as an ambassador from Seleucus Nicator, about 323 years B.C. Along with a multitude of facts relating to Ceylon, the Mahawanso contains a chronologically connected history By the help of TURNOUR's trans- | lation of the Mahawanso and the versions of the Rajaratnacari and Rajavali, published by Upham, two authors have since expanded the Epitome of the former into something like a connected narrative, and those who wish to pursue the investigation of the early story of the island, will find facilities in the History of Ceylon, published by KNIGHTON in 1845, and in the first volume of Ceylon and its Dependencies, by PRIDHAM, London, 1849. To facilitate reference I have appended a Chronological List of Singhalese Sovereigns, compiled from the historical epitome of Turnour. See Note B. at the end of this chapter. of Buddhism in India from 590 B.C. to 307 B.C., a period signalized in classical story by the Indian expedition of Alexander the Great, and by the Embassy of Megasthenes to Palibothra, -events which in their results form the great link connecting the histories of the West and East, but which have been omitted or perverted in the scanty and perplexed annals of the Hindus, because they tended to the exaltation of Buddhism, a religion loathed by the Brahmins. The Prasii, or people of Maghada, occupy a prominent place in the history of Ceylon, inasmuch as Gotama Buddha, the great founder of the faith of its people, was a prince of that country, and Mahindo, who finally established the Buddhist religion amongst them, was the great-grandson of Chandagutto, a prince whose name thus recorded in the Mahawanso1 (notwithstanding a chronological discrepancy of about sixty years), may with little difficulty be identified with the Chandragupta" of the Hindu Purana, and the "Sandracottus" of Megasthenes. 66 This is one out of the many coincidences which demonstrate the authenticity of the ancient annals of Ceylon; and from sources so venerable, and materials so abundant, I propose to select a few of the leading events, sufficient to illustrate the origin, and explain the influence of institutions and customs which exist at the present day in Ceylon, and which, from time immemorial, have characterised the inhabitants of the island. NOTE (A.) ANCIENT MAP OF CEYLON. So far as I am aware, no map has ever been produced, exhibiting the comparative geography of Ceylon, and placing its modern names in juxtaposition with their Sanscrit and Pali 1 Mahawanso, ch. v. p. 21. See also WILSON'S Notes to the Vishru Purána, p. 468. |