Stephen C. Berkwitz
Buddhist chronicles have long been had a central place in the study of Buddhism. Scholars, however, have relied almost exclusively on Pali works that were composed by elites for learned audiences, to the neglect of a large number of Buddhist histories written in local languages for popular
consumption. The Sinhala Thupavamsa, composed by Parakama Pandita in thirteenth-century Sri Lanka, is an important example of a Buddhist chronicle written in the vernacular Sinhala language. Furthermore, it is among those works that inform public discussion and debate over the place of Buddhism in
the Sri Lankan nation state and the role of Buddhist monks in contemporary politics.
In this book Stephen Berkwitz offers the first complete English translation of the Sinhala Thupavamsa. Composed in a literary dialect of Sinhala, it contains a richly descriptive account of how Buddhism
spread outside of India, replete with poetic embellishments and interpolations not found in other accounts of those events. Aside from being an important literary work, the Sinhala Thupavamsa. is a text of considerable historical and religious significance. It comprises several narrative strands
that relate the life story of the Buddha and the manner in which Buddhist teachings and institutions were established on the island of Sri Lanka in ancient times. The central focus of this work concerns the variety of relics associated with the historical Buddha, particularly how the relics were
acquired and the presumed benefits of venerating them. The text also relates the mythological history of the Buddha's previous lives as a bodhisattva and concludes with a prediction about the future Buddha Maitreya. Reflection on Buddhist ethics and instruction on the Dharma, or the Buddha's
teaching, are found throughout the work, indicating that this historical narrative was meant both to recall the past and give rise to religious practice among contemporary readers and listeners.
This new translation makes a significant work more widely accessible in the West and adds to
our knowledge of how local Buddhist communities imagined and represented their religious and cultural heritages in written works.
Notes on the Translation
Introduction
The Text in Translation: The History of the Buddha's Relic Shrine
Prologue
1. The Careerof the Bodhisattva
2. The Story of Prince Siddhãrtha
3. The Defeat of Mãra
4. The Awakening of the Buddha
5. The Enshrining of the
Relics
6. The Story of King Asoka
7. Establishing the Dispensation in Lankã
8. The Early Career of King Dutugämunu
9. The Victory of King Dutugämunu
10. The Commencement of the Relic Shrine
11. The Description of the Relic Chamber
12. The Relic Deposit
13. The Death
of King Dutugämunu
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index
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Stephen C. Berkwitz is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Missouri State University. He is the author of Buddhist History in the Vernacular: The Power of the Past in Late Medieval Sri Lanka.
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