Vamsa () is a

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 ...

word that means 'bamboo, family, lineage'. It also refers to a genre of ancient and medieval literature in Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. This genre focuses on genealogies. They resemble the conventional histories found in the European literature, but differ as they predominantly chronicle myths and may integrate spiritual doctrines such as rebirths. A can be focussed on a dynasty, family, individual such as a saint, line of teachers of a particular tradition, or a place particularly of pilgrimage. Some of these texts are titled with as a suffix.Vamsa: Buddhist Literature
Encyclopaedia BritannicavaMza
Monier Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (2008 revision), University of Koeln, Germany

Etymology

The word has ancient roots and refers to bamboo cane or sugar cane reed. According to Monier Monier-Williams, the term evolved to mean 'lineage', likely inspired by the periodic lengths of a cane, where one distinct segment follows the previous, grows, ends and is the basis of another. The word is found in the sense of "line of teachers", genealogy and family tree in the''

Shatapatha Brahmana The Shatapatha Brahmana (, , abbreviated to 'SB') is a commentary on the Yajurveda, Śukla Yajurveda. It is attributed to the Vedic sage Yajnavalkya. Described as the most complete, systematic, and important of the Brahmanas (commentaries on the ...

'', as well as in Sanskrit grammar text ''Ashtadhyayi'' by

Pāṇini (; , ) was a Sanskrit grammarian, logician, philologist, and revered scholar in ancient India during the mid-1st millennium BCE, dated variously by most scholars between the 6th–5th and 4th century BCE. The historical facts of his life ar ...

. A related genre of Indic literature is the ''Charita'', which focuses on individual hagiographies. appears in other Indic languages in derivative forms, such as ''bans''.

Buddhism

Buddhavaṃsa The ''Buddhavaṃsa'' (also known as the ''Chronicle of Buddhas'') is a hagiographical Buddhist text which describes the life of Gautama Buddha and of the twenty-four Buddhas who preceded him and prophesied his attainment of Buddhahood. It is ...

'', '' Dipavaṃsa'', and '' Mahāvaṃsa'' are examples of Buddhist . The ''Buddhavaṃsa'' chronicles the mythical lineage of 24 buddhas who preceded the actual human

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

as Siddhartha, and includes the Bodhisatta doctrines. The ''Dipavaṃsa'' and ''Mahāvaṃsa'' both are Theravada chronicles of the island 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, ...

presenting legends about the place from the birth of the Buddha to about the early medieval era. According to Geiger, the Mahavamsa is likely based on Dipavamsa, these chronicles are of doubtful reliability. The '' Dāthāvaṃsa'' is the chronicle of the Buddha's tooth relic until the 9th-century CE. The '' Thūpavaṃsa'' is the purported legendary chronicle of the great stupa in Sri Lanka, mostly ahistorical stories from the 1st millennium. The ''

Sāsanavaṃsa The or ''Thathanawin'' (, ) is a history of the Buddhism in Burma, Buddhist order in Burma, composed by the Burmese monk Paññāsāmi in 1861.Bischoff 1995Aung-Thwin 2005: 145 It is written in Pāli, Pali prose, and based on earlier documents ...

'' is Burmese text, written in 1861, with a mythical description of central India from the 1st millennium BCE and thereafter, about the diffusion of Buddhism and its monastic institutions outside India. The ''Sangītivaṃsa'' is a Thai text, composed in the 18th-century traces the Buddha lineage in India, Buddhism's purported migration from India and its history in Thailand, as well as the speculations of its decline.

Hinduism

The

Purana Puranas (Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature
(1995 Editio ...

genre of

Hindu literature Hindu texts or Hindu scriptures are manuscripts and voluminous historical literature which are related to any of the diverse traditions within Hinduism. Some of the major Hindu texts include the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Itihasa. Scholars ...

includes genealogies similar to the Buddhist texts. Each Purana describes the ''vaṃśa'' (lineage) and a ''vaṃśānucharita'' (accounts of kings and sages). The two most prominent royal lineages are called the ''

Suryavamsha The Solar dynasty or (; ), also called the Ikshvaku dynasty, is a legendary Indian dynasty said to have been founded by Ikshvaku. In Hindu literature, it ruled the Kosala Kingdom, with its capital at Ayodhya, and later at Shravasti. They w ...

'' and the ''

Chandravamsha The Lunar dynasty (IAST: Candravaṃśa) is a legendary principal house of the Kshatriyas varna, or warrior–ruling varna (Social Class) mentioned in the ancient Indian texts. This legendary dynasty was said to be descended from moon-related ...

'', the solar and the lunar lineages of kings, families, and communities. The '' Harivamsa'' is the legendary genealogy of Yadavas and story of the Hindu god

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

. It is found as an appendix to the ''

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

''. The Puranas mention lineages of various creatures like

daitya The daityas () are a race of asuras in Hindu mythology, descended from Kashyapa and his wife, Diti. Prominent members of this race include Hiranyaksha, Hiranyakashipu, and Mahabali, all of whom overran the earth, and required three of Vishnu's a ...

naga Naga or NAGA may refer to: Mythology * Nāga, a serpentine deity or race in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions ** Phaya Naga, mythical creatures believed to live in the Laotian stretch of the Mekong River ** Naga, another name for Bakunawa, an ...

s, as well as the descendants of

prajapati Prajapati (, ) is a Vedas, Vedic deity of Hinduism. He is later identified with Brahma, the creator god. Prajapati is a form of the creator-god Brahma, but the name is also the name of many different gods, in many Hindu scriptures, ranging f ...

s and

rishi In Indian religions, a ''rishi'' ( ) is an accomplished and enlightened person. They find mention in various Vedic texts. Rishis are believed to have composed hymns of the Vedas. The Post-Vedic tradition of Hinduism regards the rishis as "gre ...

s. Additionally there are two relatively newer royal s, vaṃsas, the Agnivamsha and the Nagavamsha.

Jainism

The literature of

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion whose three main pillars are nonviolence (), asceticism (), and a rejection of all simplistic and one-sided views of truth and reality (). Jainism traces its s ...

includes the ''Vamsa'' genre, such as its version of ''Harivamsa''.

Notes

References