>^ /;>^ '% ,# .>>; '.»' :> ,A'^f-CAl!FOP/,'. =Tn — i-n - ^ O / ~"!^ -32 :3 Lf J ^ .<-- C3 ^ <^ CD JIJ JI 111 Ml J » ,^Of-CAliF0f?4> 30 '>t; = A^^ A^^-' % ^ s,--/ '3^ 3-, < < -J ^ 1^ ^^O/ N(]3WV^ %Qimi^'^ %0JITOJO'^ M;OFCAUF0% ^^.OF-CAI.IFr%iZ, \WEllNIVER5//j .ii; 9r C3 'O > > -o < > as so in 1 -< s?.^ ^t?Aavaan# ^TiUDNysOV^" LlBRARYttr , ^^^t UNivERi'/A vj^l(JS-ANCa% ^^NStUBKARYQ^ >i. o 1nl S3 O %a3AiNrtmv ^<^OJI1V3-J0'f- .11 ^\^f UN!VEf?5/A ^v^lOSANCflfj> FO/?^ ^OfTAIlFO/?^ C3 -X. y^ <y^^ A^^UBRARYQ.* -j^UiBRARYOc .5MI:-UN!VtR% \ norm-i^"^ ^;OFCAl!FO% ,^\^F•llMVFR% ^QFCA1!F0%%. 4^^ ^ -- ^a >- i /'—.?"< cc - < , ,.- eel Ot C~5 ^ '7 c? «•-> ^' V .^ %a3AiNa-3y\v ^6'Aavaan-i^ pall Zc^t Society SASANAVAMSA EDITED BY MABEL BODE, PH.D. LONDON PUBLISHED FOR THE PALI TEXT SOCIETY BY HENRY PROWDE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, AJIEN CORNER E.C. 1897. Printed by W. Dtngulin, Leipzig (Germany). PREFACE. The present edition of the Sasanavamsa is based on the following MSS. in the British Museum Collection: 1. Or. 2253 (A) and 2. Or. 2252 (B) both on palmleaf and in the Sinhalese character. I also compared my own transcript with one that Prof. Serge D'Oldenbourg was kind enough to send, from the papers of his predecessor, the late Professor of Sans- krit in St. Petersburg. Prof. Miuaev had himself intended editing this interesting modern work, and had collated, for this purpose, the abovementioned MSS. (A and B) in the British Museum, with two (paper) MSS. from Ceylon, viz. a copy made for Prof. Rhys Davids (D) and another sent by Sul)huti (S). In some doubtful passages I have followed corrections made by Minaev. Where I have preferred the reading of MSS. A and B the Minaev transcript is cited as Min: in the notes. The chief difficulty with the clear and well-written palmleaf MSS. has been the transcription of frequently occurring Burmese names. Many sounds in Burmese are not adequately represented by the Sinhalese (Pali) alphabet and the copyists appear to have been sometimes at a loss, for Burmese letters are even wedged in here and there among the Sinhalese. In revising my own copy I have adopted Minaev's system (following the Pali MSS. syllable for syllable) though I have observed that the usual method of representing 1062095 •^ IV H$- Burmese pronunciation in European books gives to these same names (of places and persons) a very different form. For instance, in my transcript from the Pali, the vowel a appears after a nasal n (in place of a final n(/ or ngh), while the diphthongs an or ou are represented by the Pali 0. I owe sincere thanks to Prof. E. Miiller-Hess who gen- erously spent much time in going through the proof-sheets with me. I wish also to thank Prof. Rhys Davids for his patience and cordial kindness, during the many delays that occurred before I could complete the edition. M. B. INTEODUCTION Among the modern works on Buddhism written by Buddhists is a PaH Text of Burmese authorship, entitled Sasanavamsa. The Sasanavamsa (now edited for the first time) has been known for many years to scholars. Prof. Kern in his recent Manual of Indian Buddhism {Grundriss der Indo-arischen Philologie und AUerthum- shmde, III. Band, 8 Heft., p. 9) speaks of it as "highly important for the ecclesiastical history of Ceylon." The late Prof. Minaev's Becherches sur le Bouddhisme con- tains critical remarks on this text and several extracts (Appendices A and B to Becherches, also pp. 189, 208, 231, 232, 273). Eeferences to it occur in Childers' Pali Dictionary, and Prof. Hardy has drawn on it for his article Ein Beitrag zur Frage oh DhaminajJdla, &c. Z.D.M.G., 51 Band, 1897. Louis de Zoysa, in his Beport on the Inspection of Temple Libraries in Ceylon " (1873), mentions the Sasanavamsa as a very interesting historical work." The author, Pahhasami, who dates his book 1223 of the Burmese Common Era (1861 a.d.), was the tutor of the then reigning King Meng-dun-Meng-, and himself a pupil of the Samgharaja, or Head of the Order, at Mandalay. The Mdtikd [table of contents] and opening chapter of the Sasanavamsa seem to promise a general history of Buddhism. Beginning from the birth of the Buddha, the author gives a brief summary of the orthodox Sinhalese— tradition, drawn from a few well-known Pali works 1 2 INTRODUCTION. the Atthakatha (of the Mahavihara in Ceylon^), the Samantapasadika,2 (commentary of Buddhaghosa on the ViNAYAPiTAiCA, the Mahavamsa and the Dipavamsa (Chronicles, historical and religious, of Ceylon). Events are brought up to the time of the Third Council in the time of AcoKA Piyadasi 3 and the sending forth of Missionaries from Pataliputra to nine different countries by the thera, Maha-Moggaliputta-Tissa. The later history of religion is then followed in the countries mentioned, a separate chapter being given to each. The v^hole of these nine chapters fall, roughly speaking, into two Books or Parts, by which division the scope of the Sasanavamsa, as a History of Buddhism, becomes clear. i Part I., as we may call it (departing slightly from the of the is a of of order Matika) , group chapters unequal length, mostly very short, and consisting of a few legends, strung together with quotations from Buddha- ghosa and the Dipavamsa. The accounts of Sihala and Suvannabhumi, however, show far more care^^indncompleteness, or we should rather say, more knowledge of the subject than the others of this group. That of Sihala is drawn chiefly from the same sources as the opening chapter, with some additions from a work of Burmese origin, Buddhaghosuppatti A For Suvan- nabhumi the author gives as his sources the Atthakatha, the Bajavamsa (probably the Pegu Chronicle), and lastly ^ Introduction to Oldenberg's edition of the Vinayapi- xli. Ind. takam, p. ; Kern, Manual Buddli., p. 110, et seq. 2 Written some time between 410-432 a.d. Kern, Man. Ind. Buddh. p. 125. 3 Dated 238 year of Eeligion in Chap. I. of the Sasana- vamsa, but 235 in Chapter II. (The Third Council is now placed at about 241 B.C. Man. Ind. Buddh., p. 109). 4 Edited and translated by Jas. Gray. London, 1892. INTRODUCTION. 6 — the Inscriptions—dating from the fifteenth century of the celebrated Kalyani SIma, the remains of which still exist in a suburb of Pegu city.^ Part II. is the longer and more important. It takes up about three-fifths of the book, but consists solely of Chapter VI., which treats of the history of religion in ^ Aparanta, that is, in Mramma or Burma proper. Before this chapter is examined a few characteristic traits of Part I. should be pointed out. The resume of the early history of Buddhism (including the three Councils and the Great Schism, followed by the rise of seventeen sects, in the second century of Eeligion) is, as I have said, drawn from well-known Sinhalese sources, but a few chronological details are added from Burmese history—or rather, legend. At the time of the First Council the mahathera Kassapa is said to have established the new era. 3 Further a certain jam- BUDiPADHAJA 4 is named as the king reigning at Tagaung, the ancient capital of Upper Burma, in the time of ^ The Text and Translation of the Inscriptions, edited in the Indian by Taw Sein Ko, appeared Antiqiiarij , vol. xxii. (1893). See the same author's ArchcBological Tour through Bamafihadesa (Ind. Ant., vol. xxi. p. 383), and Bemarks on the Kalyani Inscriptions {Ind. Ant., vol. xxiii., April, 1894). 2 Mramma (Maramma or Myanma) see Phayre, Hist. Bur. passim. The derivation of the name is not yet settled; see Taw Sein Ko, Folk-lore in Burma, Ind. Ant. vol. xxii. p. 160, Note; also Ind. Ant., vol. xxii. p. 30. 3 According to Burmese tradition the era which was suppressed by Kassapa had been established 148 years before by the maternal grandfather of Gotama (Bp. Bigandet, Life or Legend of Gaudama, p. 361). 4 276 See Sir Arthur Phayre's History of Burma, pp. 9, ; A. Bastian's Geschichte der hido-Chinesen, p. 12. 4 INTRODUCTION. the friend of the Buddha ^ Ajatacatbu, ; Dvattaponka is mentioned as the contemporary of Kalacoka, the former being king of Burma in the year 100 of KeHgion. Finally, the date of the Third Council is said to have fallen in the 12th year of the reign of Eamponka,^ King of Sirikhetta (Prome). The Section of Chapter I. that deals with the Missions may be said to strike the keynote of the Sasana- vamsa. The author gives a few explanatory notes on the Nine Regions visited by the first Missionaries, and, of these nine, five are placed in Indo-China. His horizon seems to be limited, first, by an orthodox desire to claim most of the early teachers for the countries of the South (and hence to prove the purest possible sources for the Southern a certain doctrines) ; and, secondly, by feeling of national pride. According to this account, Maha- Moggaliputta Tissa (as if with a special care for the religious future of Mramma) sent two separate missionaries to neighbouring regions in the valley of the Irawaddy— besides three others, who visited Laos and Pegu. A few notes the nine geographical —explain regions (leaving out Sihala) as follows : SuvANNABHUMi is (as in the Atthakatha) identified with Sudhammapura—that is Thaton at the mouth of the Sittaung River. 3 ^ Dwottabaung 101 (Year of Religion). See Phayre's list of Kings of the Prome dynasty.