King Asoka and Buddhism - Urban Dharma

5. the Mahābodhivaṃsa (10 th or 11 th century);6. the Thūpavaṃsa (13 th century); and7. the Dhātuvaṃsa (14 th century).Unfortunately, the inscriptional material of Sri Lanka is of novalue to our study.Among the Indian sources the most useful are the Aśokāvadāna(2 nd century A.C.), the Divyāvadāna (2 nd century A.C.),the Aśokasutra, and the Pillar and Rock Edicts of Aśoka; theaccount found in A-yü-wang-chuan, the Chinese version of theAśokāvadāna, is also important. The Sri Lankan source materialis the product of the Theravāda school while the Indian material,except the Aśokan inscriptions, is the product of otherBuddhist schools of the Northern tradition.The Sri Lankan Pali sources, the Dīpavaṃsa, Mahāvaṃsa,Samantapāsādikā and Vaṃsatthappakāsinī, have drawn heavilyupon a single source: the Sīhalaṭṭhakathā, the Sinhalese commentaries.These were available to the commentator Buddhaghosain the 5 th century, and also to the author of the Vanisatthappakdsini,in the 9 th century, but are no longer extant. Thederivative sources available to us sometimes differ from oneanother in minor details.The author of the Vaṃsatthappakāsinī states clearly thatthe Mahāvaṃsa is a Pali translation and a versification ofthe Sīhalaṭṭhakathāmahāvaṃsa, which was in Sinhalese prose,belonging to the Mahāvihāra of Anuradhapura. 1 The authorsof the commentaries to the Mahāvaṃsa and the Vinaya Piṭakaprovide more such information on certain matters, showingthat the author of the Mahāvaṃsa had not exhausted thematerial already available to him. G.P. Malalasekera therefore113