On the Chronicles of Ceylon

I. Chonological Position – 42
Vinaya Commentary called Samantapāsādikā, a Ṭīkā on the
Aṅguttara Commentary (Manorathapūraṇī), a Ṭīkā on the Candravyākaraṇa
called the Candrapañcikā, a Pāṇinian treatise on Sanskrit
grammar by Candragomin, and a Vinaya compendium known by the
name of the Vinayasaṅgraha. He is praised as one of the most
erudite scholars who was well-versed in the Tarkaśāstra (systems of
logic) and a master of the doctrine of the Buddha. He was appointed
to the coveted office of a Rājaguru (Royal Preceptor) by the
reigning king Parakkamabāhu, evidently through the influence of
his queen Līlāvatī the chronicle was written at the instance of
Parakkama, then the commander-in-chief of Ceylon, who placed
Līlāvatī on the vacant throne of the island. 78 Parakkamabāhu, the
husband of Līlāvatī III, was no other than king Parakkamabāhu I
(A.D. 1197-1200). Geiger rightly opines that the Pali Dāṭhāvaṁsa
must have been written shortly after Līlāvatī was raised to the
throne in A.D. 1211. 79
Going by Dhammakitti’s own statement, we cannot but admit that
his metrical history of the Buddha’s tooth-relic was based on an
older work in Sinhalese. When this older work was written and by
whom is still a matter of speculation. That the Sinhalese original too,
was a metrical composition, may be easily inferred from the
following description which occurs in Chapter I, verse 10:
Sadesabhāsāya kavīhi Sīhale katam pi vaṁsaṁ Jinadantadhātuyā.
78 Dāṭhāvaṁsa, I, 4-10.
79 Geiger, Dīpavaṁsa and Mahāvaṁsa, p. 79.