CHAP. I.] THE MAHAWANSO. 315 



amongst the books procured for him by the high 

 priest of SafFragam, was one which proved to be 

 this neglected commentary on the mystic and other- 

 wise 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 B.C. 543 to 

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

 from Wijayo to Maha Sen, with whom the Singhalese 

 consider the " Great Dynasty " to end. The author 

 of this portion was Mahanamo, 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. 2 



The sovereigns who succeeded Maha Sen are dis- 

 tinguished as the " Sulu-wanse," or " lower race." 

 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 A. D. 1266. The narrative 

 was continued, under subsequent sovereigns, down to 

 the year A.D. 1758, 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 Sanskrit name of 

 Lanka, occupies a prominent place in 

 the mythical poems of the Hindus, 

 and its conquest by Rama is the 



the King Megavahana, who, accord- 

 ing to the chronology of Troyer, 

 reigned A.D. 24, made an expedition 

 to Ceylon for the purpose of extend- 

 ing Buddhism, and visited Adam's 

 Peak, where he had an interview 

 with the native sovereign. Raja- 



'7V -. T> i. .:; ~i ni nc\ TL 



theme of the Ramayana, one of the | Tarangini, Book iii. si. 71 79. Ib. 

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



Raja-Taranflini also, an historical ! 2 Mahawanso, ch. i. The early 

 chronicle which may be regarded as j Arabian travellers in Ceylon mention 

 the Mahawanso of Kashmir, very the official historiographers employed 

 early accounts of Ceylon are con- by order of the kings. See Vol. I. 

 tained, and the historian records that ' Pt. in. ch. viii. p. 387, note. 



