Thūpavaṃsa

The Thupavamsa follows the structure of the Mahavamsa and other Pali chronicles- it begins with the story of past Buddhas, describes the life of Buddha Shakyamuni, Ashoka's missions, and the arrival of various Buddha relics and a sapling of the Bodhi tree in Sri Lanka. It was composed in Sanskritized Pali typical of the era in Sri Lanka. The second half of the book is devoted to describing the reign of King Dutugamunu, focusing on his construction of the Mahathupa ('Great Stupa') at Anuradhapura. The relics enshrined in the stupa are traced back to the division of relics recorded in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta. == Origins and Related Works ==

The Thupavamsa overlaps significantly with the Mahabodhivamsa, and portions of it are included in the extended (or Kambodian) Mahavamsa. The Sinhala version seems to be an expansion of the Pali chronicle, but the situation is complicated by the fact that both existent versions seem to have relied on earlier, Sinhala language sources in addition to the Mahavamsa and its commentary. Some 19th Century scholars suggested that the Sinhala Thupavamsa was actually the earlier work and the Sinhala source of the Pali version, but this possibility is now discounted by scholars. The Sinhala version identifies its author as Sakala Kala Widya Chakrawarthi Parakrama Pandita, whose name appears in a list of 'learned laymen' composed in the 13th Century. == Translation and publication History ==

• The Chronicle of the Thupa and the Thupavamsa, Being a Translation and Edition of Vacissaratthera's Thupavamsa. N.A. Jayawickrama, London 1971. • Thupavamsa, translated into Bengali by Sadhankamal Chowdhury, Karuna Prakashani, Kolkata, 2005 == References ==