The ''Bodhi-Vamsa'', or Mahabodhivamsa, is a prose poem in elaborate

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

ized

Pali Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Can ...

that recounts the story of the Bodhi tree of

Bodh Gaya Bodh Gayā is a religious site and place of pilgrimage associated with the Mahabodhi Temple complex, situated in the Gaya district in the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Bihar. It is famous for being the place where Gautam ...

and

Anuradhapura Anuradhapura (, ; , ) is a major city located in the north central plain of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of North Central Province, Sri Lanka, North Central Province and the capital of Anuradhapura District. The city lies north of the cur ...

. It is attributed to a monk called Upatissa who lived during the reign of Mahinda IV of

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, and believed to have been composed in the 10th Century AD. It is written in the kavya style.

The ''Mahabodhivamsa'' is composed primarily in prose, but includes verses at the end of each chapter, many of them originating from the Mahavamsa. Like the ''Mahavamsa'', the ''Mahabodhivamsa'' begins by recounting the recognition of

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...

Dipankara Buddha Dipankara (Pali: ''Dīpaṅkara''; Sanskrit: ', "Lamp bearer") or Dipankara Buddha is one of the Buddhas of the past. He is said to have lived on Earth four asankheyyas and one hundred thousand kalpas ago. According to Buddhists, Dipankara was ...

and then proceeds to recount the life of Gautama Buddha and an account of the first three

Buddhist Councils Since the Mahaparinirvana of the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, Buddhist monastic communities, the "''sangha''", have periodically convened for doctrinal and disciplinary reasons and to revise and correct the contents of the Buddhist ...

. It then describes the mission of Mahinda to bring Buddhism to Sri Lankain the 3rd century BCE, and the transplantation of the Bodhi tree and the creation of the '' bodhipuja'' ceremony that celebrates it. It consists of twelve chapters, and ends with a list of locations where saplings from the Bodhi tree were planted.JAYAWARDHANA, SOMAPALA. “A SURVEY OF LITERATURE ON THE SACRED BODHI TREE AT ANURADHAPURA.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka, vol. 35, 1990, pp. 23–52. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23731154. This list matches those included in the ''

Samantapasadika Samantapāsādikā refers to a collection of Pali commentaries on the Theravada Tipitaka Vinaya. It was a translation of Sinhala commentaries into Pali by Buddhaghosa Buddhaghosa was a 5th-century Sinhalese Theravādin Buddhist commentator ...

'' of

Buddhaghosa Buddhaghosa was a 5th-century Sinhalese Theravādin Buddhist commentator, translator, and philosopher. He worked in the great monastery (''mahāvihāra'') at Anurādhapura, Sri Lanka and saw himself as being part of the Vibhajyavāda schoo ...

and the ''Mahavamsa''. According to its introduction, the ''Mahabodhivamsa'' is an adaptation of a previously existing work in Sinhalese on the same subject. The ''Mahabodhivamsa'' quotes verses from the '' Mahavamsa'', but draws a great deal of its material from other sources and has occasionally preserved details of the older tradition not found in any other sources known, such as a variant form of the Kalingabodhi Jataka. The inclusion of quotations from the ''Mahavamsa'' and other Pali texts suggests that rather than simply translating an earlier Sinhala text, its author may have substantially expanded and supplemented the text. The style of the ''Mahabodhivamsa'' shows a strong Sanskrit influence, using the Sanskrit meanings of some Pali words and incorporating Sanskrit terms and compounds. G.P. Malalasekera describes its composition as marking the beginning of an era of Sanskritized Pali composition that continued for several centuries in Sri Lanka.

History and Authorship

The dating of the ''Mahabodhivamsa'' is based on the a Sinhalese commentary written in the late 12th Century. This is also the source of its attribution to Upatissa, who is otherwise unknown but described as composing the Pali text at the request of a monk called Dāthānāga, identified by 19th Century scholars with a monk by the same name mentioned in the Culavamsa and other sources as being appointed by Mahinda IV to teach the

Abhidhamma The Theravada Abhidhamma tradition, also known as the Abhidhamma Method, refers to a scholastic systematization of the Theravāda school's understanding of the highest Buddhist teachings ( Abhidhamma). These teachings are traditionally believed ...

References

{{Sri Lankan chronicles Sri Lankan Buddhist texts 10th-century history books Pali Buddhist texts Sri Lankan chronicles Buddhist poetry

Contents

History and Authorship

See also

References