On the Chronicles of Ceylon

6
Chapter I. Chronological Position
[1] It is not unreasonably claimed that so far as the Buddhist world is
concerned, the Theras of Ceylon stand unrivalled in the field of
Chronicles narrating not only the political history of their island but
also the ecclesiastical history of their faith. If the Dīpavaṁsa is the
oldest known Pali chronicle produced in Ceylon, the
Sāsanavaṁsadīpa by Thera Vimalasāra is certainly the latest one
(1929). In between the two we have first of all general introductions
to the Sumaṅgalavilāsinī and a few other commentaries written by
Buddhaghosa, the pioneer Pali commentator, and after that the
general introduction to the Samantapāsādikā, the Mahāvaṁsa by
Mahānāma in its two recensions, the Mahābodhivaṁsa, the
Dīpavaṁsaṭṭhakathā, the Vaṁsatthappakāsini, the Dāṭhāvaṁsa, the
Thūpavaṁsa, the Cetiyavaṁsaṭṭhakathā, the
Nalāṭadhātuvaṁsa, and the Saddhammasaṅgaha, all written in Pali,
and, above all, the Cūḷavaṁsa representing the continuation of the
Mahāvaṁsa through its later supplements. In the list one must
include also such Sinhalese writings as the Pūjāvalī, the
Nikāyasaṅgraha, the Dhātuvaṁsa, the Rājāvalī, the Rājaratnākara
and Vuttamālā. Although we have a masterly dissertation on the
chronological position of these works from the pen of Geiger, it is
necessary to reconsider it before dealing with their literary position.