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The oldest extant Pāli Chronicle of Ceylon. Like the
Mahāvamsa, it was based on the Atthakathā
handed down in the Mahāvihāra of Ceylon. It gives the contact not of an
evenly worked out whole, but rather of a stringing together of fragments, a
composition of whole lines, sometimes whole stanzas, borrowed from the
Atthakathā. It is generally agreed that the Dīpavamsa assumed its present form
about the fourth century A.C. It is stated (Cv.xxxviii.59) that Dhātusena made
endowments for the regular recital of the Dīpavamsa.
The work was edited and published by Oldenberg in 1879. For details see
Geiger: Dīpavamsa and Mahāvamsa.

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