On the Chronicles of Ceylon

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I. Chonological Position – 31 must have an important bearing on the question of the date of its composition. The date of composition of Mahānāma’s chronicle thus arrived at from internal evidence gives rise to an important question whether Mahānāma’s work was concluded with the reign of Mahāsena or if it included the whole of the Chapter 37 which now occurs partly in the Mahāvaṁsa proper and partly in the Cūḷavaṁsa. To assume that Mahānāma’s work had ended as in Geiger’s edition is to admit that it ended abruptly without its usual reflective verses. It is true that the text of Mahānāma’s work as in Geiger’s edition was precisely before the author of the Vaṁsatthappakāsini. If the later composer Dhammakitti continued the chronicle in his own way, there is apparently no reason why he should have extended the Chapter 37 instead of beginning with a new chapter. The date suggested in Mahānāma’s work itself leads us to think that it was concluded with an account of the reign of Dhātusena. In other words Mahānāma’s chronicle consisted not of 37 chapters but of 38. (B) Cūḷavaṁsa: The Thera Dhammakitti is traditionally known as the author of the first portion of the Cūḷavaṁsa [17] representing a continuation of the Mahāvaṁsa proper. According to Sinhalese tradition, Dhammakitti was a Burmese monk who came to Ceylon during the reign of king Parakkamabāhu II in the thirteenth century A.D. 50 Geiger notices a turning point in the chronicle of the later kings of Ceylon immediately after the description of the reign of 50 Cūḷavaṁsa, edited by Geiger, Introduction, p. iii
I. Chonological Position – 32 Parakkamabāhu I. Thus the first supplement to Mahānāma’s great work may be taken to have comprised forty-three chapters (XXXVII-LXXIX). In the Cūḷavaṁsa itself we have no mention of any Burmese Thera known by the name of Dhammakitti and connected with the reign of Parakkamabāhu I. We have, on the other hand, the mention in it (LXXVI, 32) of a Ceylonese Thera, called Dhammakitti, who was deputed by Parakkamabāhu I as one of the envoys to the then king of Rāmañña, Lower Burma. The Cūḷavaṁsa (LXXXIV, 11) eloquently speaks of the great qualities of a leading Colian Thera known by the same name who came across to Ceylon on an invitation from king Parakkamabāhu II to effect a thorough reform of the Sangha. It is difficult to say if he was the author of the first supplement. The consensus of opinion, however, is in favour of regarding him as the monk who wrote the account in the Mahāvaṁsa from the reign of Mahāsena to that of Parakkamabāhu II. 51 The second portion of the Cūḷavaṁsa may be taken to comprise eleven chapters (LXXX-XC). It presents a chronicle of kings from the reign of Vijayabāhu II to that of Parakkamabāhu IV (circa A.D. 1300). 52 The identity of the author of this supplement is still unknown. It would seem possible that this was the composition of the erudite Colian Mahāthera, a master of different languages, who came to Ceylon on an invitation from king Parakkamabāhu IV (A.D. 1325-1347 ?). 51 J.R.A.S., 1896, pp. 202ff. 52 Geiger, Cūḷavaṁsa, Introduction, p. iv.
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On the Chronicles of Ceylon

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