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Sinhala Commentaries

It is obvious that Sri Lankan Buddhism was introduced by Mahindathera, son of the greatAsoka, who came to Sri Lanka in 3rdBC. a!i canon may have been brought a!ong with ArahantMahinda and his com"anions ever since. In the #th A$, Budhaghosa came to Sri Lanka to

trans!ate the Siha!atthakatha into a!i. Siha!atthakatha was the name given to the Sinha!atrans!ation of the commentaries. %ence, Siha!a commentaries were dis"!aced by the a!icommentaries and became famous.

&"on the arriva! of Buddhaghosa, there was a very rich commentaria! !iterature main!y inSinha!a and a few in other !anguage such as a!i and Andhaka. Buddhaghosa had theo""ortunity of using these and this is evident from the references he makes in his works.

Buddhaghosa, has made use of a number of sources for his works. %e rendered himse!fwith trans!ating Sinha!a'Atthakathas of the (i. $). M). S). and A) into a!i. %e is a!socredited with a few of *) and the commentaries on Abhidhamma. It is acce"ted the

commentaries on the +- maor )ikaya and the (inaya are his works. In com"i!ing these, heuti!i/ed many sources avai!ab!e at the time. 0he sources, Atthakathas referred to are1

+2- Maha or Mu!a, a!so referred to as Atthakatha. +22- Suttanta +- &ttaravihara +2- Abhidhamma +3- Maha"accariya +23- Siha!am4tik4 +- *urundi +2- $igha +#- Andhaka +2#- Mahima +5- Sankhe"a +25- Samyutta +6- Agama +26- Anguttara +7- orana +27- 8ataka +9- ubbo'"adosa or ubba +29- (ibhanga""akaranassa Siha!a

+2:- (inaya

Among these, the most im"ortant was Maha'atthakatha containing the Mahaviharatradition. 0he &ttaravihara'atthakatha, was be!ong to Abhayagiri. 0hen, Maha"accari and*urundi'atthakathas were a!so in Sinha!a and "erha"s originated in Sri Lanka. 0he Andhaka'atthakatha cou!d be in the Andhaka !anguage. 0he Sankhe"a'atthakatha was of south Indianorigin.

0here are other three grou"s of Atthakathas1 the ;gama, dea!t with the )ikayas. orana,were very much used by $hamma"a!a. ubba"adesa were fo!!owed by &"asena and Mahanama.Besides these various s"ecific atthakathas such as1 Mahima, Anguttara, are a!so to be used assources. A"art from these Buddhaghosa makes use of severa! other sources.

Some scho!ars are in the o"inion that the commentaria! "eriod of S ihala Atthakathastarted about the 3rd BC u" to the time before #thA$, it covers the "eriod of 7:: years.0herefore, the Sinha!a Commentaries, which may be regarded as the ear!iest !iterary works inSri Lanka.But, some of them have been !ost and we cannot trace of their e

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commentaries, which in addition were used more e