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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [YOL. XIII. 



THE EPIC OF PARAKRAMA. 



By the Right Reverend R. S. Copleston, d.d., Lord Bishop of 

 Colombo, President. 



The Paper which I have the honour to read requires some 

 apology in this learned Society, as being concerned not with 

 research, but only with criticism ; yet the importance of the 

 passage of literature which is my subject may, I hope, justify 

 my attempt to place it before you in a popular light. For 

 the history of Parakrama is an important section of an 

 important book. 



Of the native works of literature which Ceylon has pro- 

 duced, the Mahdiuansa is, if I am not mistaken, by far 

 the most important. I venture to claim for it even the high 

 title of a classic. It consists, as is well known, of a history 

 of the kings and of the Buddhist Community of Ceylon 

 from the earliest days till the arrival of the English in 

 Kandy ; though the earliest portion, up to the third century 

 B.C., is mere legend, and the latest portion a mere brief 

 addition to complete the book. It is the work in parts of 

 authors contemporary with the events which they relate, 

 and in other parts of compilers who at intervals "wrote 

 it up to date " from public records or from tradition. It is 

 composed in Pali verse, and in one metre (with trifling 

 exceptions) throughout — that common metre of long trochaic 

 lines, in which all the principal Indian poetry is written. 



A work on this scale, and with this dignified purpose, 

 stands on the higher levels of literature ; — that is, if its 

 structure, its contents, and its style are at all worthy of 

 its pretensions. And as much as this may safely be said 

 of the Mahdwaiisa. As history, it covers a long period — 

 more than twenty centuries : is on the whole trustworthy ; 

 and narrates events of importance : as literature, it is boldly 

 planned and executed with fair consistency ; and its 

 narrative, while of very unequal merit, is at its best well 

 arranged, graphic, dignified, and even beautiful. The 



