[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.s5.152 # A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s5.152 A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s5.152 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c19.s5.152](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s5.152) There is also a greatly augmented recension of the Mahāvaṁsa, in 5,791 verses as against the 2,915 verses of our text; and, though quite insignificant as a work of art, it is extremely instructive from the point of view of the history of literature, as showing how in India (for the Singhalese writers took their pattern from Indian models) epics were augmented by the insertion of more and more new themes.¹ A work of greater importance is the Mahāvaṁsa-Ṭīkā, written between 1000 and 1250 A.D., being the commentary on the Mahāvaṁsa. This is not merely an exegetic and dogmatic commentary, but it also contains numerous myths, fairy tales and legends by way of a supplement to the contents of the epic. These are culled partly from monkish and partly from popular traditions. For instance, the particularly interesting legends of Candragupta and Cāṇakya,² which the commentator, as he himself says, has taken in part from the Aṭṭhakathā of the "Northern Monastery," are of the popular variety. Otherwise he has drawn chiefly on the Aṭṭhakathā of the "Great Monastery," at the same time using Buddhaghosa's commentaries Sumaṅgala-Vilāsinī and Samanta-Pāsādikā, and a great number of other works among which a Sahassavatthuṭṭhakathā, "Commentary of the Thousand Stories" which is quoted several times, is especially worthy of notice.1) - [Previous: v2.c19.s5.151](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s5.151) - [Next: v2.c19.s5.153](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s5.153) - [Up: v2.c19.s5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s5) ## Cites (2) - [Mahāvaṃsa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada_postcanon.vamsa.mahavamsa) — Pāli - [Samantapāsādikā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.vinaya.sastra.samantapasadika) — Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s5.152](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.winternitz-1927.v2.c19.s5.152) · Pramāṇa