The Sasanavamsa was published by the Pali Text Society, London in Roman script edited by Dr. Mabel H. Bode as early as in 1897 based on two palm-leaf manuscripts preserved in the British Museum. The book had become out of print for long. The Nava Nalanda Mahavihara (The Nalanda Institute of Buddhist Studies and Pali) proposes to bring out all the available Pali texts in Devanagari script. The present volume of the Sasanavamsa a is being published for the first time in Devanagari script as a part of the scheme of the Institute. We depended upon the Roman version of the text; but the headings and sub-headings and other punctuations are our own. This was thought necessary in order to make it more useful and systematic. We have however indicated the page numbers of the Roman text in the margin.
I am fully conscious of my obligation to Dr. Mabel H. Bode. I also utilised the English translation of the Sasanavamsa by Dr. B. C. Law. The Pali Literature of Burma by Mabel Bode and the Theravada Buddhism in Burma by Niharranjan Ray were also found to be helpful in editing the text.
I take the opportunity to express my gratitude to Professor S. Mookerjee, M. A., Ph. D., Director of Nava Nalanda Mahavihara whose unfailing erudite guidance and inspiring zeal for the search of knowledge made this book available in Devanagari script. My thanks are due to the authorities of the Nava Nalanda Mahavi-hara whose generousity is responsible for the publication of this text. I also thank Shri Pashupati Nath, M. A. and Shri Mahabir Sharma, M. A. for their kind help in the preparation of the Index of the book. My friends Shri L.N. Tiwary, M.A. and Shri Angaraj Chaudhary, M.A. deserve every thanks for their cooperation which they readily gave to me.
The Sasanavamsa, as the name suggests, is an ecclesiastical chronicle which gives an account of the growth and expansion of Buddhism. It is a non-canonical literature written in Burma by Bhikkhu Pannasami who was the tutor and Rajaguru of the Burmese king Meng-dun-Meng. The king was benevolent enough to confer the title of 'Sirikavidhajamahadhammarajaguru' upon Pannsami. Paññasami calls himself the pupil of the Sangharaja of Mandalay. Besides the Sasanavara, Pannasamī is credited with the authorship of a number of other books; viz. Silakatha, Upayakatha, Akkharavi-sodhani, Apattivinicchaya, Nagarajuppatti-Katha, Voharatthabheda, Vivadavinicchaya, Rajasevakadipani, Nirayakathadipika, Uposathavini-echaya The author of the text gives unmistakable evidence of sound knowledge of the canonical as well as non-canonical literature of Burma and Ceylon. It is gleaned from the text that he had first-hand knowledge about India and Ceylon. He uses the imagery of the confluence of the Ganga and the Yamuna as the type of unification, and refers to the Kasivattha (Benares silk). The toddy of cocoanut is usually referred to as the produce of Ceylon." Probably he had had an occasion to travel in India and Ceylon on pilgrimage. The Sasanavamsa was completed, as the author records, on the full-moon day of the month of Migasara in the year 1223 of the Kali age (i.e. 1861 A.D.)
The Sasanavamsa is a modern Pali work and its sources are derived from many Pali texts and Burmese traditions. The Pali Asthakathas, the Ceylonese Chronicles-the Dipavamsa, and the Maha-vamsa, the Samantapasadika (Atthakatha of the Vinaya) the Burmese Rajavamsa and the Kalyaņi Inscriptions (I.A. Vol. XXI. p. 383) of king Dhammaceti (1474 A.D.) are some of the sources utilised unreser vedly by the author. The Porana ie. the ancient texts are also referred to. Many verses from the Mahavasa are reproduced verbatim.
The whole text is written in prose except for a few verses here and there. The style is plainly founded on that of Buddhaghosa and his successors', says Mabel Bode and so no linguistic peculiarities could be traced. But the author has not been so able as to bring out that lucid and placid style which is manifested in the Atthakathas. The text sometimes remains rather weak in expression and inferior in style. Mabel Bode further observes that the obscuri-ties that occur here and there may be set down to the difficulties a Burman author would meet with in rendering into Pali some phrases characteristic of the Burmese language'.
The text opens with salutation to the Buddha in verse and next follows a table of contents, the Matika, which supplies a list of nine countries. The countries are Sihala, Suvannabhūmi, Yonaka, Vanavasī, Aparanta, Kasmira-Gandhara, Mahimsaka, Maharattha and Cina. It appears from the content that the author sets himself the task of narrating the history of Buddhist Religion in nine countries; but as a matter of fact, the two-thirds of the text are devoted to Aparanta country alone. This is not a matter of surprise as the author himself belongs to Aparanta and his knowledge of his own country would be sure and reliable. The account of the history of Religion of other countries is rather truncated. The description of the history of Religion in Vanavasī, Kasmira-Gandhara, Mahimsaka, and Cina is hopelessly sketchy. The narration of the history in Mahimsaka is disposed of in six or seven lines, while that of Maha-rattha and Cina occupies only a page or two.
In the First chapter an outline of Buddha's life is given and then follow the accounts of the three Buddhist Councils. The First Buddhist Council was held after eight years of Ajatasattu's reign at Rajagaha and after a little more than five years since King Jambudīpadhaja had ascended the throne at Takom-samta in the Maramma country.
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