Buddhism

Terms and concepts

History

People

Schools and sects

Texts

Temples

Culture

Buddhism by country

Timeline

List of topics

The Mahavamsa (Pali: “Great Chronicle”) is an important non-canonical Buddhist historical text compiled in Sri Lanka in the 6th century CE , in the Pali language.

The Mahavamsa covers the history of Buddhism from the time of the Buddha in the 6th century BCE to the reign of the King Mahasena (334-361). It was written in the by the monk Mahanama, brother of the Sri-Lankan King Dhatusena, and heavily relied on the Dipavamsa, written five centuries earlier.

See also

• Buddhist texts

External links

• Full text of the Mahavamsa (http://lakdiva.org/mahavamsa/chapters.html)