A Comparative Study of the Two Translated Versions of the Mahavamsa by Kyee Thei leHtatt Sayadaw and Wilhelm Geiger

Abstract

Mahavamsa is a Great Chronicle compiled by Venerable Mahanama in Ceylon (Sri Lanka)Island. Originally, it was most likely a palm-leaf manuscript inscribed in Pali with Ceylonese scripts. It is one of the celebrated religious treatises of Ceylon and includes 37 chapters with 1873 verses. But the Ceylonese version includes 2906 verse. The palm-leaf manuscript was edited as the Mahavamsa by Wihelem Ludwig Geiger (1856-1943) in 1912. KyeeThei leHtatt Sayadaw Muninnabhidhaja (1817-1894) from Myanmar translated it into Myanmar with the name "Jambudipa Sardan" and "Mahavamsa Vutthu" in 1878 because Sayadaw included the People, the Animals, the Mountains, the Forests and Mount Maru which had been in Zabudate Island as a article was named Zabudipa Sardan. Moreover Sayadaw wrote the translation of Mahavamsa as a Vutthu style. The Mahavanvatthu, is a monumental work by Kyee Thei LeHtatt Sayadaw. His contributions in Myanmar as well as Buddhism are taken as great and important. In fact he was a great name in the history of Myanma literature. The comparative study of the Myanmar and English translated versions of the Mahavamsa is made with the following objectives: 1. To recognize Myanmarmonk scholars’ great erudition and understanding of Pali language 2. To check the differences and discrepancies between the English translated version of Wilhelm Geiger and the Myanmar translated of KyeeThei le HtattSayadaw.