The Mahavamsa

The Mahavamsa ("Great Chronicle" )(5th century CE) is an epic poem written in the Pali language of the ancient Kings of Sri Lanka. It relates the history of Sri Lanka from its legendary beginnings up to the reign of Mahasena of Anuradhapura (A.D. 302) covering the period between the arrival of Prince Vijaya from India in 543 BCE to his reign (277-304 CE). It was composed by a Buddhist bhikku at the Mahavihara temple in Anuradhapura about the sixth century A.D.

The Mahavamsa is a famous historical treatise in Buddhism, written by Mahanama in Pali language. It deserves a special notice on aacount of its being so highly important for the religious history of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) . The literary questions connected with Mahavamsa & the development of the historical tradition in Sri Lanka have been thoroughly discussed in this text. However, the great importance of Mahavamsa as an historical work, which helped to settle the conflicting & confusing dates of Indian history, is so well established that a dissertation on the subject would seem superfluous. The specific feature of this edition is that it contains original Pali text with revised English translation. Besides, the work is also appendices. Hope, this new edition of its kind will duly help the young researches as well as readers of pali and buddhism to understand the real importance of this old historical text.

Dominick LaCapra calls for a new view of intellectual history--one that will revitalize the importance of reading and interpreting significant texts. In ten essays, he reformulates the problem of the relation between the "great" texts of the Western tradition and their contexts. Seeking to refine "context" into a concept useful to historical research, LaCapra urges intellectual historians to learn from lessons and developments in contemporary literary criticism and philosophy, fields that have undertaken a radical reassessment of the reading of texts.

This volume seeks to answer the question of how the Buddhist monks in today's Sri Lanka—given Buddhism's traditionally nonviolent philosophy—are able to participate in the fierce political violence of the Sinhalese against the Tamils.