Sources of srilanka (History)
Sources - History
Chronicles:the most important
chronicle is the great book Mahawamsa
Deepawamsa is older than Mahawamsa, which was written
in the 4th century AD.,
Mahawamsa was written in
the 5h century AD., by Mahanama Thera in Maha Vihara Sect the thero was an uncle of
king Dhatusena (455-473 AD)
however, Deepawamsa has not been
written in an organized manner and historians think there may be more than one
author and had been written from time to time this book gives the names of the
ten sons of king Panduwasudeva and names of
the nuns who had come with Nun Sangamiittha these details couldn't be found in Mahawamsa Deepawamsa says that
'Brazen Palace' and 'Ruwanvelisaeya' had been built by
King Dutugemunu and again says
in another place it had been constructed by King Saddhatissa
Ven. Mahanama Thero, when beginning to write Mahawamsa says that 'Seehalattakatha Mahawamsa was translated
into Pali language with
amendments the authors of Seehalattakatha produced it in Sinhala prose
Ven. Mahanama Thero in
translating this book says three ways of amendments have been introduced,:
1.
What in the length
and detail reproduced as a synopsis.
2.
What had been reduced
and summarized to minimum, he wrote in detail.
3.
Redundant expressions
had been completely eliminated.
The detail accounts in Mahawamsa through Vansatthapakasani (commentary to Mahawamsa) were further
elucidated (made clear) in the 8th century and coincidently the author happened to be a monk also by the
name of Mahanama the original
Sinhala version of Mahawamsa was used until the 10th century and thereafter
it had
disappeared from history historians believe the 80% of the details
given in Mahawamsa are true and
some details are little exaggerated.
Mahawamsa describes about ten paladins of King Dutugemunu always exaggerates to make stories more amusing which difficult to believe even such paladins ever existed, but archaeologists have found inscriptions with the names Of such paladins with details,
i.e. Nandimithra, Pussadeva, Velusumana and Gothaimbara.
so the battle between King Dutugamunu and King Elara
was a historically proved one (Refer inscriptions of Ceylon (IC) Vol l,
Paladins of
Dutthagamini xx-xxi
pp)
Dr. Wilhelm Geiger translated Mahawamsa along with its
second part into English in the year 1912 to learn more about our uninterrupted
history one could read so many other ancient books, such as Attha katha or commentaries
written to Buddhist 'Pitakas' (the Buddha's
doctrine) and medieval period writings i.e. Saddharmaratanawaliya, Buthsarana, Poojawaliya etc.
Foreign sources:
the oldest book available on Sri Lanka is the book authored by
Aristotle by the title Dimundo in the 4th century BC a book was written by Onacicritus, had said on trade
relations between India and Sri Lanka
The Greek envoy Megasthinis of Indian Emperor Chandraguptha had also
written on Sri Lanka in the 1 st century AD a Greek navigator had produced a book called 'Periples of Erithrian Sea' in which
it had been recorded that Sri Lanka was the ideal place for precious stones,
pearls and cotton
Pliny one of the great Roman historians says four envoys from
Ceylon visited Rome about year 45 AD. , during the reign of Emperor Claudius he
further says that a Roman ship was caught by the monsoon and had sailed to Hippuros in Ceylon This
may be Kudiramalie, which lies in
North-east coast
Pliny further mentions the Gulf of Mannar of pearls and gems and
the trade with China the map of Sri Lanka, which Ptolemy produced in 132 AD,
describes Anuradhapura as the metropolis of Sri Lanka the book written by
Cosmos in the 6th century AD says that Sri Lanka had been a trade centre, which had dealings
with the East and the West
Cosmos wrote during 545-550 AD.
he says as this island had been situated in a central point, the
ports frequented by ships from all parts of India, from Persia and Ethiopia
according to his writings China and other trading places received silk, aloes,
cloves, sandalwood and other commodities from this island
The Chinese monk Fa-hsein had been in Sri Lanka as a student at Abhayagiri Monastery for
two years from 412 AD.
he gives us vivid description about Anuradhapura, the ancient
capital of Sri Lanka according to his description there had been 5000 monks in Abhayagiri, 3000 monks in Mahavihra and 2000 monks
in Mihintale
Fa-hsein had inundated
our history with much useful details
according to all these foreign writers, it is evident that
settlement of forcing traders had a great impact on Sri Lanka another Chinese
monk Heuin Tseing had never come
to Sri Lanka, but being in India he seems to have given a vivid account of Sri
Lankan events it must also be stated that the Arabs too, have written many
books on Sri Lanka.
Iban Batuta (1344 AD) was
one of them and he remarked that he had visited Adam's peak Marco Polo, an
Italian traveller also visited
this island in 1293 AD, and wrote about the country most foreigners came here
for trade purposes
Ceylon is situated in the southernmost point of Asia continent and
almost near the equator where the monsoon effects changed the navigation
directions on the other hand Ceylon was located between two most important
empires at that time to the East, Chinese Empire and to the West Rome Empire
these geographical aspects imply that Sri Lanka was a 'port of call' for a
waiting the right wind arrived for the journey and collect food and water for
the rest of the voyage in the same time it gave great opportunity to engage in
foreign trades
Archaeological Resources:Salgahawatte excavationExcavations at Salgahawatte, the Inner Citadel
of Anuradhapura kingdom have revealed evidence of an ancient civilization
according to the findings these ancient people had engaged in the domestication
of horses and cattle and paddy (rice) cultivation this is about 300 years
before the arrival of Prince Vijaya in the 6th century BC excavation had been conducted under the supervision of Dr. Shiran Deraniyagala the depth of
the pit was 22 feet and it produced evidence of the use of iron, earthen and
ceramic ware
Dr. Deraniyagala said among the
items found were potsherds bearing Brahmi inscriptions teeth of horses, pebbles and fragments of gold jewellry there was also
evidence of brick walls, underground drains, wattle and daub structures and a
Guard Stone (a Muragala) the said findings
had been dated with the help of absolute dating techniques over 45 Carbon-14 or
radiocarbon dating tests had been conducted on the items unearthed the research
team comprises local experts and Prof. Kay Kohlmeyer with a group of research
students from the Berlin University
Inscriptions
most important Archaeological Resources are
Inscriptions, Ruins, Monuments, Coins and Artifacts cave inscriptions, rock
inscriptions, slab inscriptions and pillar inscriptions are found all over the
country these inscriptions can bring in contemporary history, which cannot be
changed as anyone may desire the oldest cave inscriptions are found in Mihintale and Vessagiriya in the 3 r
century BC.
they were written in Brahmi letters which had been used in India
also at that time when we isolate the hill country we had been able to find
Brahmi inscriptions all over the country within 200 years of Ven. Arahath Mahinda's
arrival.
Inscriptions come under the archaeological evidence for history
Cave inscriptions, Pillar inscriptions, Slab inscriptions, Rock
inscriptions and also gold and copper plate inscriptions had been found
belonging to the ancient periods we could categorize them as donatives, legal
and religious enactments.
From about 3 rd Century BC inscriptions are found mainly in caves under the
drip-ledge these caves with inscriptions are mostly natural caves
Mhintale, Ritigala, Dambulla and Situlpawwa are important
places where we find caves with inscriptions there are more than 1200 inscriptions
found belonging to this period in these inscriptions the shortest one contains
four letters and the longest contained 75 words From about, I st Century AD inscriptions are found mainly alongside shrines
Between 5 th and 7th centuries fewer inscriptions (No explanations)
8 th century — mainly on pillars, tablets and steps
Between 9th and 1 0th centuries — inscriptions are prolific
I I th century Chola invasion — Rajendra, the South Indian Chola emperor who
ruled Polonnaruwa, donated 5 ox and 35
cows to 'the Buddha' at Velgam Vehera this was revealed in an inscription that belong
to 1017 AD. 12th century — again inscriptions are prolific king Nissanka Malla (1 187-1196 AD)
had inscribed numerous inscriptions, nearly 70 numbers most of these
inscriptions speak of himself and his clan in a manner to brag of his position
It has been said inscriptions are one of the unchangeable evidence in history
the letters of these early inscriptions are similar to that of inscriptions in
India at the same period the letters of Emperor Asoka's inscriptions in India
and our inscriptions belong to 3rd Century BC to early I st century AD, and
they were written in Brahmi letters.
(The first person who read the Brahmi inscriptions was
Dr. James Princep)
in this same period
we could see the evolution of our letters these inscriptions could be found all
over the island, mostly the plain areas in the country which indicates that
early people had been scattered all over the country within 200 years after Buddhism
had been established these inscriptions say that the caves were donated to all
monks who come from all four directions of the island. (900 esoeo 0<00) more
than 50 inscriptions had written to say that the caves were donated to monks by
kings or members of the Royal families we could learn lots of things about
early society and their behavioral patterns through these inscriptions for
example we could say the women had a prominent place in the society because,
when the king and queen donated a cave there the queen's name was carved first
one donor was the Nagara Gutthika which means the Mayor, and another was the
architect of the city, titled Nagara vudika (506 geo) some of inscriptions had endorsed the
stories of our main chronicle Mahawamsa for example, archaeologists have found
inscriptions with the names of some paladins of King Dutugemunu, i.e. Nandimithra, Pussadewa, Velusumana and Gothaimbara. So the battle
between King Dutugemunu and King Elaara was a
historically proved one.
(Refer inscriptions ofCeylon Vol. l,
Paladins ofDutthagamini xx-xxi pp).
Arahath Mahinda's
arrival could be proved through Rajagalatenna rock inscription in Brahmi letters (Inscriptions ofCeylon Vol. 1 35 p)
'Ven. Itthiya and Mahinda Theros' Stupa '(tomb), who
arrived for the great fortune of this island' [Prof. S.Paranavithana — Commissioner
of Archaeology]
another rock inscription at Mihintale belongs to the
king Maha Dhatika Maha Naga (7-19
AD) it gives the information on maintenance of the monks who resided in the Chethiyagiri monastery the
villages, lands and paddy-fields including tanks are described in here and the
income on these properties were set aside to maintain the statues of Mahinda, Baddhasala, Itthiya, and Utthiya Theros.
Godawaya pillar inscription is very important because it
says about taxes to be gained from the harbor and when collecting taxes not to
take bribes
115 inscriptions were found in Polonnaruwa era and 70 of
them belong to the King Nissanka Malla some gold plates, copper plates and Ola leaf
inscriptions also found there are two famous gold plate inscriptions found up
to now one from Jaffna peninsula close to Vadamarachchi known as Vallipuram king Vasabha (67-111 AD) had
written this to assign a task to his minister who ruled Nagadipa the other gold
plate inscription was found in Jethavana project it contains a part of Pancha Vinshathi Sahasrika Pragna Paramitha suthra, this is a Mahayana suthra, and it confirmed
that the Jethavana sect followed Mahayanism two copper
plate inscriptions are well known, the first one from Jethavana Vihara complex
Vattaka Jathaka was written on
those plates which Mahayanists use as manthra for the fear of
fire the other famous copper plate inscription is king Vijayabahu I's Panakaduwa Sannasa
apart from those evidence the archaeological excavations helped a
lot to reveal our history local coins and foreign coins, mainly Roman, Greek
and Chinese coins are also well accepted numismatic evidence to study the
history the currency used in ancient Sri Lanka
Kahapana
Kahawanu
Hirangna
Nikkha
Akha
King Elara paid 15,000 Kahapana to repair a
Stupa which had been damaged by him accidently
King Dutugeminu presented 12,000 Kahapana to the chief
technician of Maha Seaya
King Dutugemunu paid 3,200,000 Hirangna to the staff
of Brazen Palace for its construction work
King Sena 3rd had donated 40,000 Kahapana to
Abhayagiri Temple
King Agbo I donated 26,000 gold coins to repair the Chethiya
Pabbatha Vihara King Perakumba Il paid 5,000 Nikkha to make a golden casket for
the Tooth Relic Again he paid 25,000 Silver Nikkha to make another casket
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