[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Literature, language and dating](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature) › [A History of Indian Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927) › v2.c19.s5.131 # A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s5.131 A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s5.131 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c19.s5.131](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s5.131) The first, though very imperfect, attempt to mould into an epic the traditions stored up in the Singhalese Aṭṭhakathās is the Dīpavaṃsa, the "History of the Island." The author, whose name has not come down, but who probably wrote his work between the beginning of the 4th and the first third of the 5th century A.D.,¹ still betrays much awkwardness in the handling of language and metre. The offences against the laws of grammar and versification are numerous. It is evident that it is still an unaccustomed thing for a Singhalese to write in Pāli. He keeps slavishly to his models. He moulds his verses according to recollections of the Tipiṭaka, especially the Buddhavaṃsa, Cariyāpiṭaka and Jātaka.² His chief source of material was, however, the historical section of the Aṭṭhakathā³ preserved in the "great monastery" of Anurādhapura, besides which he probably also used one or two other Aṭṭhakathās. This is most likely the reason why, not infrequently, the same subject is treated twice, or even thrice in different versions. Thus, for instance, immediately after a short, somewhat sketchy account of the three councils, follows a more complete, more finished account. These cannot possibly be cases of interpolation; the author found various versions available, and as he considered them of equal value, he passed them on. A poet, of course, would not have done so; but in other respects, too, the composition is as unsatisfactory as the language and metre. The narrator jumps straight from one subject to another without ado. Often gaps are left in the presentation. Some episodes are set out ballad-wise, whilst others are barely hinted at. In some cases, indeed, we find merely memorial verses in which a series of catch-words enumerates the chief points of a narrative or description. Obviously there were such verses in the Aṭṭhakathās, in which the setting forth of familiar scenes was left to the discretion of the reciters. Frequently also speeches follow upon speeches after the style of the primitive epic without any interceding narrative verses.¹ In some instances, as is so often the case in the ancient ballads, it can be seen from the context who the speaker is. But occasionally we have to assume that the reciter supplied the link between the speeches by means of prose narratives. In this, again, the author presumably only followed his models which were intended for recitation by monks at large assemblies.² - [Previous: v2.c19.s5.130](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s5.130) - [Next: v2.c19.s5.132](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s5.132) - [Up: v2.c19.s5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s5) ## Cites (5) - [Jātaka](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.jataka) — Pāli - [Buddhavaṃsa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.buddhavamsa) — Pāli - [Cariyāpiṭaka](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada.sp.khuddaka.cariyapitaka) — Pāli - [Dīpavaṃsa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada_postcanon.vamsa.dipavamsa) — Pāli - [Aṭṭhakathā (Buddhaghosa)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada_postcanon.manuals.atthakatha) — Buddhaghosa, Pāli --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s5.131](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s5.131) · Pramāṇa