On the Chronicles of Ceylon

I. Chonological Position – 29
Devānaṁpiya Tissa who built a little pāsāda on eight pillars for
Mahinda, named Dīghasandasenāpati-pariveṇa after him. 45 The
connection of Mahānāma with this monastery does not, however,
enable us to fix the time of the author or the date of the work
ascribed to him.
Seeing that both the Mahāvaṁsa and the Dīpavaṁsa, as we now
have them, are concluded alike with an account of the reign of
Mahāsena, it may be presumed that the author of the first-named
chronicle and that of the concluding portion of the Dīpavaṁsa
flourished almost in the same age.
In the midst of uncertainty, the only traditional basis of chronology
is the fact that king Dhātusena (A.D. 460-78) evinced a keen interest
in the popularization of the Dīpavaṁsa. Dhātusena is the only king
of Ceylon after Mahāsena who finds an incidental mention in the
Mahāvaṁsa. We are told that king Mahāsena caused a monastery,
called Dhātusenapabbata, to be built in the west of Ceylon. 46 The
christening of this Buddhist foundation as Dhātusenapabbata in
Mahānāma’s time is palpably an instance of anachronism but this can
surely be construed as a fact, which brings us down to the reign of
Dhātusena, who caused the monastery originally built by Mahāsena
to be restored in his time and named after him. It is equally
important to note that the annual Mahinda festival was chosen by the
king as the fittest occasion for the edification of the chronicle of the
island of Ceylon.
45 Mahāvaṁsa, XV, 212f.; Cūḷavaṁsa, XXXVIII, 16.
46 Mahāvaṁsa, XXXVII, 42: pacchimāyaṁ Dhātusenapabbataṁ ca akārayi.