Chap. I.] THE MAHAWANSO. 315 



the books wliicli were procured for liim by tlie high 

 priest of SafTragam, was one which proved to be 

 this neglected commentary on the mystic and other- 

 wise unintelligible Mahaivanso ; and by the assistance 

 of this precious document he undertook, with confidence, 

 a translation into Enghsh 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 hterally the 

 " Genealogy of the Great" properly belongs only to 

 the first section of the work, extending from B.C. 543 to 

 A.D. 301 ^, and containing the history of the early kings, 

 from Wijayo to Malia Sen, with whom the Singhalese 

 consider the " Great Dynasty " to end. The author 

 of this portion was Mahaiiamo, uncle of the king 

 Dhatu Sena, in whose reign it was compiled, between 

 the years a.d. 459 and 477, from annals in the vernacular 

 language then existing at Anarajapoora.^ 



The sovereigns who succeeded Maha Sen are distin- 

 guished as the " Sulu-wanse," the "lower race," and 

 the story of their hue occupies the continuation of this 

 extraordinary chronicle, the second portion of which 

 Avas written by order of the illustrious king Prakrama 

 Balm, about the year a.d. 1266, and the narrative 

 was carried on, under subsequent sovereigns, down to 

 the year a.d. 1758, the latest chapters having been 

 compiled by command of the King of Kandy, Kirti- 



^ Although the Mahawanso must 

 be regarded as containing the earliest 

 historical notices of Ceylon, the 

 island, under its Sanski-it 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 



the King Meg.avahana, who, accord- 

 ing to the chronology of Troyer, 

 reigned a.d. 24, made an expedition 

 to Ceylon for the pm'pose of extend- 

 ing Buddhism, and visited Adam's 

 Peak, where he had an interview 

 with the native sovereign. — Raja- 

 Tar angini, Book iii. si. 71 — 79. lb. 



oldest epics in existence. In the vol. ii. p. 364. 



Raja-Taranf/ini also, an historical '^ 3Iaha%vanso, eh. i. The early 



chronicle which may be regarded as 

 the Mahaivanso of Kashmir, very 

 early accounts of Ceylon are con- 

 tained, and the historian records that 



Arabian travellers in Ceylon mention 

 the official historiographers employed 

 by order of the kings. See Vol. I. 

 Pt. III. ch, viii. p. 387, note. 



