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THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. 



[Part III. 



Bri, partly from Singhalese works brought back to the 

 island from Siam (whither they had been carried at 

 former periods by priests chspatched upon missions), and 

 partly from native histories, which had escaped the 

 general destruction of such records in the reign of 

 Eaja Singha I., an apostate from Buddhism, who, about 

 the year a.d. 1590, during the period when the Por- 

 tuguese were in occupation of the low country, exter- 

 minated 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 14 th 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 Eecord of the highest authenticity, com- 

 prising the events of nearly twenty-four centuries.^ 



From the data furnished by these, and from corrobo- 

 rative sources^, Tmiiour, in addition to many elabo- 

 rate contributions drawn from the recesses of Pah 

 learning in elucidation of the chronology of India, was 



1 In 1833 Upliam published, under 

 the title of Tlie Sacred and Historical 

 Books of Ceylon, translations of what 

 professed to be authentic copies of 

 the 3Iahawanso, the Rajaratnacari, 

 and Rajavali; ^jrepaved for the use 

 of Sir Alexander Johnston when 

 Chief-Justice of the island. But 

 Tumour, in the introduction to his 

 masterly translation of the Maha- 

 wanso, has sho-^ai that Sir Alexander 

 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. 

 Tiu'nour says, in a private letter 

 which I have seen, that the early part 

 of Upham's volvmie " is not a trans- 

 lation 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. Diony- 

 sius Lambertus Pereira,whowas then 

 Interpretei'-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 accomit I 

 have occasionally cited them. 



^ Besides the Mahawanso, Raja- 

 ratnacari, and Rajavali, the other 

 native chronicles relied on by Tur- 

 nour in compiling his epitome were the 

 Rajavali, composed in the thirteenth 

 century, the Neekaasangraha, vsritten 

 A.D. 1347, and the Account of the 

 Embassr/ to Siam in the reign of Raja 

 Singha II., a.d. 1739—47, by Wilba- 



AGEDEKE MUDIANSE. 



