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The Mahavamsa, also Mahawamsa, (Pāli: "great chronicle") is a historical record, written in the Pāli language, of the Buddhist kings of Sri Lanka. It covers the period from the coming of King Vijaya in 543 BC to the reign of King Mahasena (334 – 361). Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The term Buddha is a word in ancient Indian languages including Pāli and Sanskrit which means one who has awakened. It is derived from the verbal root budh, meaning to awaken or to be enlightened, and to comprehend. It is written in devanagari script as Hindi: and pronounced as... The cultural elements of Buddhism vary by region and include: Buddhist cuisine Buddhist art Buddharupa Art and architecture of Japan Greco-Buddhism Tibetan Buddhist sacred art Buddhist music Buddhist chant Shomyo Categories: Buddhism-related stubs ... The history of Buddhism spans from the 6th century BCE to the present, starting with the birth of the Buddha Siddharta Gautama. ... Contents: Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z The following is a List of Buddhist topics: A Abhidharma Ahimsa Ajahn Ajahn Chah Ajanta Aksobhya Alexandra David-Néel... Buddhist beliefs and practices vary according to region. ... The percentage of Buddhist population of each country was taken from the US State Departments International Religious Freedom Report 2004 [1]. Other sources used were CIA Factbook [2] and adherents. ... There are many divisions and subdivisions of the schools of Buddhism. ... -1... Several Buddhist terms and concepts lack direct translations into English that cover the breadth of the original term. ... There are a great variety of Buddhist texts. ... // Before Common Era Trad. ... Generally a chronicle (Latin chronica) is historical account of facts and events in chronological order. ... For the town and district in Rajasthan, see Pali, Rajasthan For the Ganapati temple of pali and place in Maharastra, see Ballaleshwar Pali Pāli (Devanagari पालि) is a Middle Indo-Aryan dialect or prakrit. ... A replica of an ancient statue found among the ruins of a temple at Sarnath Buddhism is a philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, a prince of the Shakyas, whose lifetime is traditionally given as 566 to 486 BCE. It had subsequently been accepted by... A monarch (see sovereign) is a type of ruler or head of state. ... Centuries: 7th century BC - 6th century BC - 5th century BC Decades: 590s BC - 580s BC - 570s BC - 560s BC - 550s BC - 540s BC - 530s BC - 520s BC - 510s BC - 500s BC - 490s BC Events and Trends 548 BC -- Croesus, Lydian king, defeated by Cyrus. ... For the novel by Thomas M. Disch see 334 (novel). ... Events Emperor Ai succeeds Emperor Mu as emperor of China. ...

The Mahavamsa was written in the 6th century CE by the Buddhist monk Mahanama, brother of the Sri-Lankan King Dhatusena, and heavily relied on the Dipavamsa, written five centuries earlier. This Buddhist stela from China, Northern Wei period, was built in the early 6th century. ... A Roman Catholic monk A monk is a person who practices monasticism, adopting a strict religious and ascetic lifestyle, usually in community with others following the same path. ...

A companion volume, the Culavamsa or Chulavamsa ("lesser chronicle"), compiled by Sinhala Buddhist monks, covers the period from the 4th century to the British takeover of Sri Lanka in 1815. The combined work, sometimes collectively referred to as the "Mahavamsa", provides a continuous historical record covering over two millennia. {{language |name=Sinhala |nativename=සිංහල |region=[[Sri Lanka] |speakers=13 million |familycolor=Indo-European |fam2=Indo-Iranian |fam3=Indo-Aryan |fam4=Sinhalese-Maldivian |nation=Sri Lanka |iso1=si|iso2=sin|iso3=sin |notice=Indic}} Sinhala (also Sinhalese, formerly Singhalese) is the language spoken by the Sinhalese, the largest ethnic group of... As a means of recording the passage of time, the 4th century was that century which lasted from 301 to 400. ... The Battle of New Orleans 1815 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

While it is not considered a canonical religious text, the Mahavamsa is an important Buddhist document giving the early history of the religion in Sri Lanka, beginning near the time of the founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama. As it often refers to the royal dynasties of India, the Mahavamsa is also a valuable text for historians who wish to date and relate contemporary royal dynasties in the Indian subcontinent. Standing Buddha, ancient region of Gandhara, northern Pakistan, 1st century CE. Gautama Buddha was a South Asian spiritual leader who lived between approximately 563 BCE and 483 BCE. Born Siddhartha Gautama in Sanskrit, a name meaning descendant of Gotama whose aims are achieved/who is efficacious in achieving aims, he... Composite satellite image of the Indian subcontinent Map of South Asia. ...

A German translation of the Mahavamsa was completed by Wilhelm Geiger in 1912. This was subsequently translated into English by Mabel Haynes Bode, and the English translation was revised by Geiger. The revised English translation is now available on the Web. 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday. ...

See also

• History of Sri Lanka
• Buddhist texts
• Bodhi Vamsa

The History of Sri Lanka is usually taken to begin in the 6th century BCE, when the Sinhalese people migrated into the island from India. ... There are a great variety of Buddhist texts. ...

External links

• Geiger/Bode Translation of the Mahavamsa